Happy New Year 2025

Tag: voter

Hall of Fame voter says Eli Manning discussion was one of ‘most contentious’ ever among committee

Eli Manning came up short of Pro Football Hall of Fame induction on Thursday night, and as a matter of fact, he wasn’t particularly close.

Manning was not inside the top 10 of voting for this year’s class, which features just four players: Jared Allen, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe.

The New York Giants legend has been a polarizing figure for the Hall of Fame, even well before he retired. On the one hand, he was never an All-Pro or got an MVP vote. On the other hand, he’s responsible for two of the greatest Super Bowl drives of all time, and he ranks 11th all time in passing yards and touchdowns.

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Giants quarterback Eli Manning warms up as the New York Giants face the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday, September 8, 2013. (Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

So, when the committee met, Hall of Fame voter Gary Myers and another New York-based voter made their case, and Myers said the battles are hot.

“I’ve been on the committee for 15 years. Other than the Terrell Owens conversation that we had for three years, this was the most contentious discussion that I’ve been a part of,” Myers said Friday on ESPN New York’s “DiPietro and Rothenberg.”

“I knew there was going to be some anti-Eli sentiment . . . but I was really surprised at the amount of criticism and degrading his accomplishments that went on in that room.”

That criticism, Myers said, was apparent hypocrisy from the other voters.

“What they said, that the Giants defense won those two Super Bowls, but Eli was responsible for only having a .500 record. Voters wanted it both ways. They didn’t want to give Eli credit for beating the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl and having those two-minute drives. They wanted to put it all on the defense. But then, they wanted to say the reason he was 117-117 was because of him, not because it was a team game,” added Myers.

Eli Manning after being named MVP after Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, February 5, 2012. (IMAGN)

HOW TO WATCH SUPER BOWL LIX BETWEEN CHIEFS, EAGLES STREAMED ON TUBI

“My point was, you can’t wait away the credit for the Super Bowls but put the blame of the record on him. . . . To make it seem like the Giants go into those games with a shutdown defense and that Eli was along for the ride, I thought was really wrong.”

Myers also pointed to the fact that Plaxico Burress, who caught the Super Bowl XLII winning touchdown, shot himself in the leg the following season while Big Blue was threatening to go back-to-back with an 11-1 start. They lost in the divisional round that year. He also tried to argue that the front office decisions later in Manning’s career were not beneficial to the quarterback at all.

“His career would’ve looked a lot more differently if he got more support from his teammates, and more importantly, his front office,” Myers quipped.

Myers said he compared Manning to Warren Moon and Dan Fouts, who went 102-101 and 86-84-1, respectively, with zero Super Bowl appearances (Moon never even made a conference title game) and worse counting stats than Manning, mostly across the board, yet were inducted on the first ballot.

“His numbers are superior, and throw in he won two Super Bowl MVPs . . . then what are we doing here?”

Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi. (Tubi)

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It will be tougher for Manning to get in next season. The new rules state that only five people can be elected per year. Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Jason Witten and other ex-stars are eligible next year, all while Manning will have to beat out finalists from this year, including Luke Keuchly and Adam Vinatieri.

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February 7, 2025
Stacey Abrams-founded voter activist group hit with mass layoffs after record-breaking ethics fine

A nonprofit voter engagement group founded by high-profile Georgia perennial candidate Stacey Abrams reportedly suffered dozens of layoffs two weeks after facing a six-figure state ethics fine for campaign finance violations.

Scores of workers at the New Georgia Project (NGP) have been laid off since Dec. 27, with a dozen more being pink-slipped at the end of January, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

The group describes itself as a “nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority… the growing population of Black, brown, young and other historically marginalized voters.”

It received attention for helping Democrats flip Georgia in 2020 – when Republicans lost both the presidency and its two Senate seats within three months’ time.

JIMMY CARTER’S DEATH SPURS OUTPOURING OF TRIBUTES FROM STATE LEADERS OF BOTH PARTIES

A sign welcomes travelers to the Peach State at the I-20 East Welcome Center near Tallapoosa, Georgia, on Oct. 3, 2022. (Charlie Creitz)

NGP could not be reached by phone and did not respond to a comment request through its contact form.

However, a GoFundMe for affected employees set up by NGP policy director Stephanie Ali described the layoffs and said those subject to the latest round had only three days’ notice.

The GoFundMe description said the NGP “has stated these reductions in force (RIFs) are due to economic downturns, reductions in fundraising in an ‘off’ election year, and other contributing factors.”

Last month, the state ethics commission found both the organization and its political action fund unlawfully performed work for Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial bid while failing to report donations and expenditures.

The Georgia Ethics Commission probed the groups and discovered more than $7 million combined was raised for Abrams – a former state House minority leader from Atlanta – and others that cycle.

It administered a Peach State record $300,000 fine via a settlement that involved admission of 16 examples of illegal activity, according to Atlanta News First.

The panel also found that the groups stepped out of legal bounds in connection to a 2019 voter referendum aimed at expanding transit services in Gwinnett County, Georgia’s second-most populous county after Fulton, which includes Atlanta.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHING MASSIVE VOTER REGISTRATION OPERATION IN GEORGIA

Abrams founded the NGP in 2014, but told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she left the group in 2017 when she decided to run against now-Gov. Brian Kemp.

“The setbacks at NGP are disappointing, and my thoughts are with those laid off,” she told the paper’s “Politically Georgia” vertical. “Regardless of [NGP’s] structure, I will never stop believing in the mission of ensuring every Georgian can make their voice heard.”

After Abrams’ departure, Ebenezer Baptist Church Rev. Raphael Warnock led the group until 2019. Fox News Digital reached out to the now-Democratic U.S. senator for his reaction.

Cody Hall, a senior advisor to Kemp, told Fox News Digital he wondered: “What did Stacey Abrams know and when did she know it?”

“Abrams founded NGP, her people ran it for years, and we’re all supposed to believe she knew nothing? Give us a break,” Hall said.

“Everything we said for the last 10 years about Abrams and her organization was true.”

When asked for comment, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones slammed Abrams for using “activists in the mainstream media to try to pull the wool over Georgians’ eyes.”

The likely future candidate for higher office added Abrams was “embarrassed” by Kemp two cycles in a row and is “embarrassed again” that her group’s “illegal grift is being exposed.”

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“The people of Georgia are good judges of character, and the liberal national media are not. Stacey Abrams will go down as one of the biggest frauds in the history of Georgia politics, but I have no doubt the media will learn nothing from this,” Jones said.

“We as Georgia Republicans must stay ready to defeat whoever the next Marxist grifter is in 2026.”

Georgia’s Republican Senate President John F. Kennedy called the NGP news “the tip of the iceberg” for Abrams.

“How many more millions will she fleece from donors to enrich herself or skirt campaign finance rules until the spigot turns off?”

Georgia Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, a Democrat, declined comment.

According to Atlanta’s FOX affiliate, NGP helped 55,000 Georgians register to vote, more than 80% of whom were Black and 40% were ages 18-25.

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 [email protected].

February 3, 2025
House GOP elections chair reveals which voter blocs Republicans are targeting ahead of 2026

DORAL, Fla. — The lawmaker in charge of House Republicans’ elections arm is feeling confident that the GOP can buck historical precedent and hold onto their majority for the entirety of President Donald Trump’s term.

The 2024 elections saw Republicans make significant inroads with Hispanic and Black voters.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said progress would continue heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

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NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson spoke with Fox News Digital about efforts to keep the House in 2026. (Getty Images)

“We’ve done well with African Americans, comparatively,” Hudson told Fox News Digital, referring to years prior. “We’ve put a lot more effort in reaching out to that community as well and letting them know that we want your votes, and we want to represent you, and we care about the issues that matter to you and your family.”

“I think we can do better, and we’ll continue to attempt to do better. But, look, our message, our values, our principles are all universal.”

He said Republicans’ values also lined up with Hispanic and Latino voters, 42% of whom supported Trump, according to the Associated Press.

“We are focused on the issues you care about,” Hudson said the pitch was. “It’s crime in your neighborhoods. It’s education for your children. It’s securing the borders. It’s the price of things for your family. I mean, these are all things we campaigned on. But we deliberately went out into the Hispanic community and said, ‘We want your vote.’ And they responded.”

Earlier in the interview, he credited Trump with delivering on those values in 2024, and argued that Trump’s policies would get Republicans over the line again next year.

Hudson credited Trump with Republicans’ victories in Congress. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Historically, the first midterm after a new presidential term serves as a rebuke of the party in power.

Democrats won the House of Representatives in a “blue wave” in 2018 during Trump’s first term. Four years later, Republicans wrestled it back under former President Joe Biden.

But the circumstances are somewhat different this time, something Hudson noted.

“We’re in a unique time in history, where you had a president serve four years with all his policies, and then he was replaced by another president who had completely different policies. . . . And then the two ran against each other,” Hudson said. “So the American people sort of had a referendum on which president they wanted, which policies they chose, and they overwhelmingly selected Donald Trump.”

NONCITIZEN VOTER CRACKDOWN LED BY HOUSE GOP AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS

Trump is in his second term, and Hudson argued that the 2024 presidential race was a referendum between two clear White House records.

“He has a mandate that I think is unique in history. And so this isn’t a first-term president going into his first midterm. I mean, this is someone the American people know, and they’ve chosen,” Hudson said.

Hudson pointed out that just three House Republicans are in districts won by former Vice President Kamala Harris, compared to 13 House Democrats in seats Trump won. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hudson also pointed out that Democrats will be defending 13 lawmakers whose districts Trump won, while Republicans only had to hold onto three seats that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

“The battlefield out there for us going into 2026 favors Republicans,” Hudson said.

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He spoke with Fox News Digital at Trump National Doral golf course and resort in South Florida, where Republicans held their three-day retreat to strategize their agenda.

Hudson was one of the senior Republicans who gave a presentation to fellow lawmakers during the event, where his message was: “We’re on offense this cycle.”

“We’re going to lean in. We have a lot of opportunity in those Donald Trump seats,” Hudson said he told colleagues. “We’re going to hold Democrats accountable for their voting against the policies the American people want.”

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 2, 2025
Democrats rally around lightning rod issue during unruly DNC debate despite voter backlash in 2024

There was a heavy focus on systemic racism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during the final debate among the eight candidates vying to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as the party aims to exit the political wilderness.

The forum, moderated and carried live on MSNBC and held at Georgetown University in the nation’s capital city, develed into chaos early on as a wave of left-wing protesters repeatedly interrupted the primetime event, heckling over concerns of climate change and billionaires’ influence in America’s elections before they were forcibly removed by security.

Thanks in part to their repeated targeting of DEI efforts under former President Joe Biden’s administration, President Donald Trump recaptured the White House in November’s elections, with Republicans also retaking control of the Senate from the Democrats and the GOP holding onto its razor-thin majority in the House.

Jaime Harrison, the DNC chairman for the past four years, declined to seek another term steering the Democrats’ national party committee. The DNC will vote for a new chair on Saturday, as they hold their annual winter meeting this year at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.

FIRST ON FOX: AFTER 2024 ELECTION SETBACKS, DEMOCRATS EYE RURAL VOTERS

The eight candidates vying for Democratic National Committee chair sit for a forum that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“Unlike the other party, that is demonizing diversity, we understand that diversity is our greatest strength,” Harrison said at the start of the debate before bringing the candidates out.

Biden and many Democrats portrayed DEI efforts as a way to boost inclusion and representation for communities historically marginalized. However Trump and his supporters, on the 2024 campaign trail, repeatedly charged that such programs were discriminatory and called for restoring “merit-based” hiring.

DEMOCRATS’ NEW SENATE CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS KEYS TO WINNING BACK MAJORITY IN 2026

Since his inauguration on Jan. 20 and his return to power in the White House, Trump has signed a slew of sweeping executive orders and actions to end the federal government’s involvement in DEI programs, reversing in some cases decades of hiring practices by the federal government. Trump’s actions are also pushing large corporations in the private sector to abandon their diversity efforts.

At Thursday’s showdown, there was plenty of focus on diversity and racism.

Candidates for the DNC chair position at the DNC chair debate at Georgetown University, on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

At one point, the candidates were asked for a show of hands about how many believed that racism and misogyny played a role in former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in the 2024 election to Trump.

All eight candidates running for DNC, as well as many people in the audience, raised their hands.

“That’s good. You all pass,” MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, one of the moderators of the forum, quipped.

However, far from everyone in the party wants to see such issues dominate the discussion without the added inclusion of economic concerns such as inflation, which were top of mind at the ballot box in November.

DEMOCRATS’ HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS HER PLAN TO WIN BACK MAJORITY

“The Democrats pathway to power runs directly through kitchen table economics and the notion we can fight for economic opportunity and ensuring everyone is treat with dignity and respect,” said Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, who is attending the party’s winter meeting.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, considered one of the frontrunners in the DNC chair race, in speaking with reporters after the forum, pointed to the gains made by Trump and Republicans among diverse voters in the 2024 election and argued that the party did not spend enough time concentrating on “the kitchen table issues.”

“Whether you’re Hispanic, whether you’re transgender, whether you’re gay, whether you’re straight, whether you’re Black, whether you’re White. Everybody needs to eat. And the people we lost in every segment were people who struggled the most to put food on their family’s table. And they were the ones we lost across the board,” O’Malley argued.

A protester is removed by security after heckling at a Democratic National Committee chair election debate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

The protests, staged in waves, include calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party’s ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations that was in effect during former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The youth-led, left-wing climate action organization known as the Sunrise Movement, said the first three protesters were affiliated with their group.

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Another protester, who was not believed to be affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, as he was dragged out of the debate hall by security, yelled, “What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!”

Much of the audience, which consisted of many DNC voting members, appeared frustrated by the repeated interruptions.

“Protest the Republicans. Protest the people who are actually hurting you!” a member of the audience shouted out.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

January 31, 2025
Democrats rally around lightening rod issue during unruly DNC debate despite voter backlash in 2024

There was a heavy focus on systemic racism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during the final debate among the eight candidates vying to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as the party aims to exit the political wilderness.

The forum, moderated and carried live on MSNBC and held at Georgetown University in the nation’s capital city, develed into chaos early on as a wave of left-wing protesters repeatedly interrupted the primetime event, heckling over concerns of climate change and billionaires’ influence in America’s elections before they were forcibly removed by security.

Thanks in part to their repeated targeting of DEI efforts under former President Joe Biden’s administration, President Donald Trump recaptured the White House in November’s elections, with Republicans also retaking control of the Senate from the Democrats and the GOP holding onto its razor-thin majority in the House.

Jaime Harrison, the DNC chairman for the past four years, declined to seek another term steering the Democrats’ national party committee. The DNC will vote for a new chair on Saturday, as they hold their annual winter meeting this year at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.

FIRST ON FOX: AFTER 2024 ELECTION SETBACKS, DEMOCRATS EYE RURAL VOTERS

The eight candidates vying for Democratic National Committee chair sit for a forum that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“Unlike the other party, that is demonizing diversity, we understand that diversity is our greatest strength,” Harrison said at the start of the debate before bringing the candidates out.

Biden and many Democrats portrayed DEI efforts as a way to boost inclusion and representation for communities historically marginalized. However Trump and his supporters, on the 2024 campaign trail, repeatedly charged that such programs were discriminatory and called for restoring “merit-based” hiring.

DEMOCRATS’ NEW SENATE CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS KEYS TO WINNING BACK MAJORITY IN 2026

Since his inauguration on Jan. 20 and his return to power in the White House, Trump has signed a slew of sweeping executive orders and actions to end the federal government’s involvement in DEI programs, reversing in some cases decades of hiring practices by the federal government. Trump’s actions are also pushing large corporations in the private sector to abandon their diversity efforts.

At Thursday’s showdown, there was plenty of focus on diversity and racism.

Candidates for the DNC chair position at the DNC chair debate at Georgetown University, on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

At one point, the candidates were asked for a show of hands about how many believed that racism and misogyny played a role in former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in the 2024 election to Trump.

All eight candidates running for DNC, as well as many people in the audience, raised their hands.

“That’s good. You all pass,” MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, one of the moderators of the forum, quipped.

However, far from everyone in the party wants to see such issues dominate the discussion without the added inclusion of economic concerns such as inflation, which were top of mind at the ballot box in November.

DEMOCRATS’ HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS HER PLAN TO WIN BACK MAJORITY

“The Democrats pathway to power runs directly through kitchen table economics and the notion we can fight for economic opportunity and ensuring everyone is treat with dignity and respect,” said Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, who is attending the party’s winter meeting.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, considered one of the frontrunners in the DNC chair race, in speaking with reporters after the forum, pointed to the gains made by Trump and Republicans among diverse voters in the 2024 election and argued that the party did not spend enough time concentrating on “the kitchen table issues.”

“Whether you’re Hispanic, whether you’re transgender, whether you’re gay, whether you’re straight, whether you’re Black, whether you’re White. Everybody needs to eat. And the people we lost in every segment were people who struggled the most to put food on their family’s table. And they were the ones we lost across the board,” O’Malley argued.

A protester is removed by security after heckling at a Democratic National Committee chair election debate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

The protests, staged in waves, include calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party’s ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations that was in effect during former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The youth-led, left-wing climate action organization known as the Sunrise Movement, said the first three protesters were affiliated with their group.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Another protester, who was not believed to be affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, as he was dragged out of the debate hall by security, yelled, “What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!”

Much of the audience, which consisted of many DNC voting members, appeared frustrated by the repeated interruptions.

“Protest the Republicans. Protest the people who are actually hurting you!” a member of the audience shouted out.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

January 31, 2025
Noncitizen voter crackdown led by House GOP ahead of 2026 midterms

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are rolling out a new package of election security legislation this week, with GOP lawmakers already setting eyes on 2026.

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced the bills this week, with four lawmakers co-sponsoring the entire package and various other members supporting specific pieces.

The three pieces of legislation are a bill to prohibit noncitizen residents of Washington, D.C. from voting in local elections, a bill to block noncitizens from helping administer elections, and a constitutional amendment to prevent noncitizens from voting.

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Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger is rolling out a series of bills to crack down on noncitizens voting. (Getty Images)

It’s currently illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Though the law does not apply to state and local elections, there is currently no state in the U.S. that allows noncitizens to vote in statewide elections.

Some areas, however, allow for noncitizens to vote in local-level elections – including Washington, D.C.

“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, which is why protecting them from noncitizen influence is essential to our nation’s sovereignty and will ensure America has a flourishing democracy for decades to come,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital.

“These bills are three commonsense steps we can take to ensure noncitizens are not influencing our elections by voting in them or administering them. We must safeguard the integrity of our electoral system, and these bills will work to do just that.”

Congress has jurisdiction over Washington, D.C. (Fox News Digital)

Earlier this year, House Republicans passed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which requires proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.

The majority of Democrats have cried foul at GOP-led efforts to crack down on noncitizen voting, with progressive lawmakers accusing Republicans of trying to spread doubt about the country’s election processes by targeting something that’s already illegal in most cases.

Democrats also criticized Republicans for pushing bills like the SAVE Act just weeks before the November election.

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But Pfluger and his GOP allies are now side-stepping that criticism by introducing the bills well ahead of the 2026 midterm races, where historical precedent suggests that House Republicans face an uphill battle to keeping their majority.

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Among the co-sponsors of the entire package is House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, who is playing a critical role in congressional Republicans’ efforts to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.

Border security and immigration reform are expected to be a significant part of that forthcoming legislation.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

January 31, 2025
Johnson considering Trump’s call to condition California wildfire aid on voter ID crackdown

DORAL, Fla. — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested Monday that he is open to conditioning California wildfire aid on forcing the state to embrace voter ID laws.

President Donald Trump floated the idea on Friday, the same day he visited flame-ravaged Los Angeles.

Johnson said he had not spoken with Trump personally about the issue yet but criticized the progressive stronghold’s handling of elections and other policy decisions that led to the fire.

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Speaker Mike Johnson suggested he could support President Trump’s call to condition wildfire aid to California (Getty Images/Shutterstock)

“Listen, there are a lot of issues going on in California, and we have been lamenting the lack of voter security there for some time,” Johnson said.

He then referenced three seats in California that Republicans lost in close House races this past November – though there have been no reports or instances of fraud detected in any of those match-ups.

“We saw three of our seats, frankly, slip away from us in the weeks that it took to continue counting ballots in California, when seemingly every other state in the nation, in America, can get it done. It’s inexcusable,” Johnson said. “[California Gov. Gavin Newsom] provides, I think, such a lack of leadership there in so many ways, and it was highlighted by the disaster with the fires.”

Newsom and Trump face off on the tarmac in Los Angeles. (Pool)

Democrats, including Newsom, have widely panned Republican suggestions of conditioning wildfire aid to California. Several have noted in their attacks that Johnson’s home state of Louisiana has been a recipient of federal aid through multiple hurricane seasons.

But Johnson said the discussions were “a common sense notion that is supported by the vast majority of the American people who do not want to subsidize crazy California leftist policies.”

“Now, what the terms are and the details of that, we will be working it out. But entwined in all of that is the concern about election security in California. And voter ID is a matter that, again, comports with common sense, that most American people see the value in,” Johnson said.

‘NO BETTER DEALMAKER’: TRUMP REPORTEDLY CONSIDERING EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ‘SAVE’ TIKTOK

People watch the smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Jan. 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)

Johnson and other House GOP leaders held a press conference to kick off their annual issues conference at Trump’s golf course near Miami, Florida.

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They will be in South Florida through Wednesday discussing how to carry out Trump’s vision for an active first 100 days of his new administration.

Johnson also suggested that conditioning wildfire aid to California will be a topic of discussion when Trump meets with House Republicans during their retreat on Monday evening.

Newsom told reporters when asked about Trump’s suggestion, “I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out.”

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

January 27, 2025
Ichiro Suzuki wants to sit down and talk to Hall of Fame voter who kept him from being a unanimous inductee

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Baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki isn’t overlooking the fact a single voter prevented him from becoming the second unanimous Hall of Fame inductee in the sport’s history.

Suzuki, who was inducted Tuesday but fell just one vote shy of being unanimous, said during a press conference Thursday he wants to meet with the one person who voted against him.

“I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together and have a good chat,” Suzuki said via a translator.

Suzuki would have joined legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera as the only other unanimous Hall of Fame inductee in MLB history.

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Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki tosses a ball to the dugout before throwing out the first pitch for a game against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park. (Joe Nicholson/USA Today Sports)

News that Suzuki was a vote shy of being unanimous prompted widespread outrage from fans and media pundets on social media in the hours after the announcement.

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Former Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki speaks during his induction to the Mariners Hall of Fame before a game between the Seattle Mariners and the Cleveland Guardians at T-Mobile Park. (Steven Bisig/USA Today Sports)

Suzuki is the first player from Japan to be inducted.

Suzuki moved to Major League Baseball from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001 and joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with the Seattle Mariners (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami Marlins (2015-17).

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Ichiro Suzuki before a game between the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals at T-Mobile Park April 21, 2023, in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Suzuki is perhaps the best contact hitter in baseball history with 1,278 hits in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB. His combined total of 4,367 is higher than Pete Rose’s MLB record of 4,256. Suzuki had a record 262 hits in 2004.

CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner join Suzuki in the 2025 Hall of Fame class.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

January 23, 2025