With former president and now President-elect Donald Trump unable to run again for the White House in 2028, Vice President-elect JD Vance appears to be the heir apparent to the America First movement and the Republican Party's powerful MAGA base.
But even though the 40-year-old Vance will be considered the front-runner in the next GOP presidential nomination race, the chair of the Republican National Committee says the party will hold to its traditional role of staying neutral in an open and contested presidential primary.
"We will," RNC chair Michael Whatley said in a Fox News Digital interview.
Vance, with Trump's support in a party firmly in the president-elect's grip, will be very hard to knock off in the 2028 Republican presidential primaries.
David Kochel, another longtime GOP strategist with plenty of presidential campaign experience, said that Vance is the front-runner due to "the size and the scope" of Trump's Electoral College and popular vote victories last month, "and the implied passing of the torch from Donald Trump."
"There will be no shortage of people looking at it. But most people looking at it are seeing the relative strength of the Trump victory and the movement," Kochel said.
However, Kochel noted that "nobody will completely defer to JD Vance. There will be a contest. There always is."
Whatley, who was interviewed a week after Trump asked him to continue as RNC chair moving forward, said he's "very excited about the bench that we have in the Republican Party right now."
"You think about all the Republican governors, you think about all the Republican senators, the members of the House that we have, the leaders across the country that have been engaged in this campaign are going to be part of the president's cabinet," he added.
Whatley argued that the president-elect's "America First movement is bigger than Donald Trump. He is the tip of the spear. He is the vanguard of this movement. But. It is a very big movement right now."
The chairman on Thursday also emphasized that "Donald Trump has completely remade the Republican Party. We're now the working-class party. We're now a party that is communicating and working with every single voter, speaking to every single voter about the issues that they care about. So, as we go into 2028, we are in a great position to be able to continue the momentum of this agenda and this movement."
Unlike the rival Democratic National Committee, which in the 2024 cycle upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar, the RNC made no major changes to their primary lineup, and kept the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as their first two contests.
Asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley said "I've not had any conversations with anybody who wants to change the calendar on our side. I know the Democrats did during the course of this election cycle, not sure that it really helped them all that much."
"We're very comfortable with the calendar as it is. But as we move towards 2028, we'll have those conversations," he added.
Outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said that he thinks Vice President-elect JD Vance will become the GOP's 2028 presidential nominee, describing Vance as "smart" and "well-spoken."
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Vance to serve as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election, and the two trounced the Democratic ticket, consisting of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Romney, who made the comments on CNN's "State of the Union," said the GOP "has become the party of the working-class, middle-class voter," adding that Trump should be given credit.
The senator suggested that movements to defund the police and allow biological males in female sports led to some middle class flight from the Democratic Party, which he said is "in trouble."
"I don't know how they recover," he said. "They've lost their base," he said, noting that union workers have departed the Democratic Party and voted for the GOP. "And the Democratic Party is seen not as rich people, but as college professors and woke scolds," he said.
While interviewing Romney, CNN's Jake Tapper said "Trump has made it clear that he wants to go after his political opponents," and asked Romney whether he is worried that he or his family could be targeted "for retribution."
President-elect Trump took in the Army-Navy football game with a power posse that included his running mate, the world's richest man, a host of cabinet hopefuls and a newly cleared subway hero from New York City.
The soon-to-be 47th president arrived at the 125th edition of the game Saturday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, less than 15 miles from the White House. Trump was joined in a suite by his running mate, Vice President-elect JD Vance; Speaker of the House Mike Johnson; incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Elon Musk, nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's choice for director of national intelligence, and Daniel Penny, who was recently acquitted of charges in the death of subway menace Jordan Neely.
Navy won the game, 31-13, behind quarterback Blake Horvath, who passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more. The Midshipmen raised their record to 9-3, while the loss dropped Army to 11-2. Both teams have had strong seasons. Navy will face Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl, and Army is slated to play in the Independence Bowl, although no opponent has been announced since Marshall dropped out.
But as big a story as the game itself was the VIP spectators. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Navy veteran who has been floated as a possible alternate to Hegseth should his confirmation fail, was seen on the sidelines.
During the national anthem, Trump saluted along with the service members in attendance.
Trump attended the annual rivalry game throughout his presidency, first attending in 2016 shortly after winning that year's election. He also was at the game during each year of his presidency, including in 2020 at West Point.
Saturday marked his sixth time at the game since 2016 and his first since 2020. Throughout his presidency, he would be on the field for pregame events, including the coin toss.
For the first time, both programs entered the game with a combined 19 wins (Army is 11-1, while Navy is 8-3).
Penny was acquitted earlier this week in a racially charged trial. He could have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, but in the end was found not guilty by a jury that believed he acted to defend fellow subway riders when he put Neely in a fatal chokehold. He attended as a guest of Vance.
With Army playing in the American Athletic Conference this season, both teams have spent time in the Top 25. This will be their first meeting this season and will be a non-conference game.
Outside of bragging rights for their respective military academies, this year’s game marks the first time since 2017 the winner will have a chance to secure the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, thanks to wins by Army and Navy over Air Force this season. It also marks the first time since 2017 that both teams enter the matchup having clinched spots in bowl games.
Army won its first conference title earlier this month after a win over Tulane in the AAC championship game to improve to 11-1. But that accomplishment pales in comparison to what’s at stake Saturday.
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance attended the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, and they brought along some high-profile guests.
In the 125th meeting of the Black Knights and Midshipmen, Trump brought Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, while Vance's guest was Marine veteran Daniel Penny. Also on hand were House Speaker Mike Johnson, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Trump's director of national intelligence pick, Tulsi Gabbard, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Navy won the game, 31-13, behind quarterback Blake Horvath, who passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more. The Midshipmen raised their record to 9-3, while the loss dropped Army to 11-2. Both teams have had strong seasons. Navy will face Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl, and Army is slated to play in the Independence Bowl, although no opponent has been announced since Marshall dropped out.
While the game was a highly anticipated matchup, the guests brought by Trump and Vance created a pregame buzz.
Penny was found not guilty in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely in New York City earlier this week, a decision which was criticized by some commentators on the left and underscored a divide between crime and mental health. Neely had been menacing riders when Penny acted to defend fellow straphangers. Penny faced up to 15 years in prison, but was acquitted of all charges.
Hegseth is still courting members of the Senate to secure his nomination for the top defense role, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whoi has been floated as a possible alternative, was also in attendance.
Hegseth’s appearance will mark a very public declaration of support from Trump, as some senators are still holding out on committing to his confirmation. Hegseth, an Army National Guard and former longtime Fox News host, deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has been the focus of misconduct reports.
Trump's defense secretary nominee has denied allegations that he mistreated women but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won't drink "a drop of alcohol" if confirmed as defense secretary.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Elon Musk were also spotted in Trump's box at the game.
Meanwhile, Vance took a swipe at New York City prosecutors for taking on the case in a post on X confirming Penny’s attendance.
"Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance wrote. "I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage."
Penny, 26, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the May 2023 subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.
Trump attended the game as president in 2018, 2019 and 2020, while he also appeared as president-elect in 2016.
President Biden has never attended the annual clash as president, although he did appear as vice president.
This season has been a banner year for both football programs, adding buzz to the annual rivalry match. The teams have a combined 19 wins this year and with victories over Air Force, the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy will be awarded to the winner of Saturday’s game.
Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie, Paulina Dedaj and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
As President-elect Trump gets ready to return to the White House, a leading Democratic pollster and strategist highlights that her party needs a new game plan to confront the former and soon-to-be future president.
"The 2025 playbook cannot be the 2017 playbook," Molly Murphy, a top pollster on Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, emphasized as she gave a presentation at the first meeting of the Democratic National Committee's executive committee since last month's election.
Trump's convincing win over Harris — he captured the popular vote and swept all seven key battleground states — as well as the GOP flipping the Senate and holding on to their fragile majority in the House, has Democrats searching for answers as they now try to emerge from the political wilderness.
Murphy, pointing to post-election polls, said most Americans give the president-elect a thumbs up on how he's handling his transition, and that Trump will return to the White House next month more popular compared to eight years ago, when he first won the presidency.
And she noted that voters "give him a pass on the outrageous" comments he continuously makes because they approve of his handling of the economy.
Murphy, in her comments Friday as DNC leaders huddled at a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, said the Democrats' mission going forward is to change that perception.
"We want to focus on this term … and tell the story about how this term is worse and things are not going to be good for the American people," Murphy said.
The Democrats' message should be "Donald Trump does not care about you. He is going to screw you," Murphy argued. "As a north star, I think we need to stay focused on … the economy and costs."
"A lot of people are expecting the price of milk to go back where it was," Murphy noted.
She said Democrats need to borrow a page from the GOP's 2024 campaign playbook: "We can do what they did to us … even if the economy is stronger, costs are still going to be too high for people."
And she added that Democrats need to spotlight what she called unpopular parts of the Trump agenda, including "tax breaks for the wealthy" and "letting corporations drive up prices and making you pay for it."
And she said the party needs to frame Trump's proposed tariffs on key American trading partners "a sales tax on the American people that will drive up prices," which was a line that Harris used on the campaign trail.
Murphy also spotlighted that Trump and Republicans made gains with key parts of the Democratic Party's base - younger voters, Latinos, and Black voters because of the economy, but also because of the Democrats' "wonky" messaging.
"A lot of times we’re talking about polices," Murphy said, while Republicans have "culture conversations that create a connection between the party and the people that go beyond polices."
Murphy argued that "these culture conversations that conservatives have been able to have in an organic way have been able to draw a connection that we know is not supported by policy … and we know that we have a lot of shared values with these working Americans and we need to find ways to have more authentic connection points there."
DNC chair Jaime Harrison complimented Murphy's presentation.
But, Harrison, who is not running for a second four-year term steering the national party committee, pointed to the next White House race and offered that the party should also target Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance.
"I think it will be a big error on our part if we focus all of our attention on Donald Trump and not JD Vance, particularly as we start to look at the 2028 race," Harrison highlighted.
The DNC's meeting came as Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley said that Trump would play a "significant" role in supporting GOP candidates.
Whatley argued that "as we go forward into this next election cycle, the fundamentals are going to remain the same" during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday.
"We need to make sure that we are building our state parties, that we're building our ground game, we're building our election integrity apparatus to be in place to make sure that when we get those candidates through those primaries in ‘26, that we're going to be in a position to take them all the way to the finish line," he emphasized.
But the party in power traditionally suffers setbacks in the following midterm elections. And Trump, who was a magnate for voter turnout, won't be on the ballot in 2026.
Whatley said that even though he won't be a candidate, "President Trump is going to be a very significant part of this because at the end of the day, what we need to do is hold on to the House, hold on to the Senate so that we can finish his term and his agenda."
And Whatley predicted that "Donald Trump will be very active on the campaign trail for Republicans. And his agenda is the agenda that we're going to be running on."
Vice President-elect JD Vance confirmed Friday that Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran found not guilty in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, has officially accepted his invitation to be his guest at the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland.
NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman first reported that Penny had been invited early Friday morning, adding that he would join President-elect Donald Trump in his suite at Northwest Stadium, the home of the Washington Commanders.
Vance responded on social media confirming Penny’s attendance.
"Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance wrote in a post on X.
"I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage."
Penny, 26, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the May 2023 subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.
Last week, jurors couldn’t reach a decision on the second-degree manslaughter charge. Prosecutors moved to dismiss it, and the judge allowed the jurors to deliberate on the second charge alone, and they found Penny not guilty on Monday.
Penny is expected to join Trump and Vance at the 125th meeting of the Black Knights and Midshipmen. Sources told Fox News Digital last week that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will also be present at the game on Saturday.
This season has been a banner year for both football programs, adding buzz to the annual rivalry match. The teams have a combined 19 wins this year and with victories over Air Force, the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy will be awarded to the winner of Saturday’s game.
This will also mark Trump’s fifth time attending the Army-Navy game. He first attended in 2016 and appeared three times during his first administration.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, CB Cotton, Grace Taggart, Paul Steinhauser and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Vice President-elect JD Vance commended his Ohio State Buckeyes after their shocking loss to rival Michigan Saturday. The internet was not so kind in response.
Vance posted on X, saying the Buckeyes played like "champions" and that he's "proud of them."
"To the OSU seniors on that team: I know it sucks to lose four to Michigan, but for your entire college career you guys have conducted yourselves like champions. I speak for nearly all of us fans when I say: we’re proud of you!" Vance wrote.
The Buckeyes blew the game as 21-point favorites, losing to their top rival for the fourth straight time. Michigan's 2024 team is the worst the program has fielded in years, entering the game with a 6-5 record.
Entering the game, Ohio State was ranked No. 2 with a record of 10-2 and was vying for a spot in the Big 10 championship game and a College Football Playoff berth. Now both of those goals are in question for coach Ryan Day and his team.
The Buckeyes were also involved in a brawl with Michigan players after the game.
Vance was the recipient of plenty of shots for his pledged loyalty to the team in response.
"Ohio State sucks and so do you!" one user wrote.
Another user said Vance's post prompted him to rethink his approval of Vance as Trump's VP pick.
"First time I’ve disagreed with JD in a [minute], maybe Trump should have went a different route for the VP role!" the user wrote.
Another user questioned Vance praising players who would start a postgame brawl.
"'Conducted yourselves like champions' didn’t they just get into a brawl that resulted in Michigan players being pepper sprayed because they were sore losers?" the user wrote.
Several law enforcement officers were also involved in breaking up the fight. Videos shared on social media appeared to show players being pepper sprayed, and both Michigan and Ohio State players appeared to be in pain from it.
In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Michigan running back Kalel Mullings told FOX Sports in an on-field interview the incident was "bad for the sport."
"It was such a great game. You hate to see stuff like that happen after the game. Bad for the sport, bad for college football. But, at the end of the game, they gotta learn how to lose, man. You can't be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game."
Vance previously revealed he had told Trump his loyalty to the Buckeyes could affect Trump's chances of winning the key battleground state of Michigan.
"When he first asked me to be a VP, I was like, 'Well, you know, hopefully we don't lose Michigan by like 900 votes, because you're going to regret it. 'Cause it's probably just a thousand p---ed-off Wolverine fans who wouldn't vote for a Buckeye," Vance said during an appearance on OutKick's "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show."
"But I think that most Michiganders are going to be able to put sports rivalries aside and put the country first, which is what, of course, all of us believe is the most important thing."
The Democratic National Committee attempted to exploit Vance's connection to Ohio State with a campaign strategy in Michigan in early September. The DNC flew a plane over a Michigan football game Sept. 7 with a banner that said, "J.D. Vance [loves] Ohio State [plus] Project 2025."
The Trump-Vance ticket ended up easily carrying Michigan.
Vance also suggested in that interview that Trump and Vance would attend Saturday's game if they won the election.
"Well, let's go to the Ohio State-Michigan game, assuming we win, because I bet I can get some pretty sweet tickets as the VP-elect, and we'll be in a celebratory mood," Vance said on OutKick. "And, look, it's, it's going to be a big game this year. I think it's going to determine ultimate seeding in the College Football Playoff.
"I mean, now both teams might actually make the playoff. I know Michigan's, you know, sort of people aren't putting them as high this year, but you never know, because it's always a good program. So, we'll see, guys. I'm feeling very good about the Buckeyes. I'm feeling very good about the Bengals."
Neither Trump nor Vance attended Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan game.
The end of the election season does not mean the end of political betting, with many platforms allowing users to place wagers on everything from the 2028 election to who will be confirmed to President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
"Some people will be amazed by this, but people are already betting on 2026 and 2028," Maxim Lott, the founder of ElectionBettingOdds.com, told Fox News Digital. "There’s been about a quarter million dollars bet already."
The comments come after the 2024 election produced plenty of betting action, with users across multiple platforms wagering over $2 billion on the outcome of the latest race.
While mega sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the recent Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight, gives gamblers plenty to wager on after the election, those looking for something political to bet on will still have plenty of options.
One of the most popular topics is who will be the nominees for both major parties in 2028, with ElectionBettingOdds.com showing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President-elect JD Vance being the current leaders for Democrats and Republicans, respectively.
Other names with a significant amount of attention for betters include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the Democratic nomination, while Vance is trailed by names like entrepreneur and future head of the new Department of Government Efficiency Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump Jr. on the Republican side.
"The big Democratic governors are favored to be the next nominee," Lott said, noting that Vance currently holds a sizable lead over other options on the GOP side.
Vance is also the current betting leader on who will win the 2028 presidential election, ElectionBettingOdds.com shows, followed by Newson and Shapiro as the next two likely options.
However, Lott warned it is still too early to tell what the future holds, noting that the markets will start to provide more clarity as more information becomes known over the next few years.
"As the future becomes clearer… as we get closer to 2026, 2028, these odds will change," Lott said. "So if the Trump administration is doing really well, the economy is booming, inflation is not out of control, wars are ending, Vance’s odds will certainly go up."
Bettors also are not limited to wagering on elections, with platforms such as Polymarket allowing users to place bets on Trump’s picks to serve in his Cabinet and whether they will be confirmed. Bettors can also place wagers on questions such as if they believe the war in Ukraine will end in Trump’s first 90 days or if there will be a cease-fire in Gaza in 2024.
According to Lott, taking a look at the current betting odds for many scenarios can help inform you about what is going on in the world, even if you do not place bets yourself.
"People often ask… is there any value to this… it’s just gambling. It’s silly," Lott said. "But actually it’s very useful… if you want to know what’s going to happen in 2028 or if the Trump administration is going to be a success, you could read 100 news articles on it. Some will misinform you. Or, you can just go to the prediction markets and see… is Vance a 20% chance of becoming the next Republican nominee or is he a 90% chance? That tells you a lot."
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is faced with a crowded field of candidates vying to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance's seat in the Senate, but a new poll shows some candidates are going into the battle with an advantage.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose leads fellow candidates in a hypothetical GOP primary for Vance's seat conducted by WPA Intelligence. LaRose' closest competitor is Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted, who was favored by 10% of respondents compared to LaRose's 17%.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, another contender for the seat, received 9% support. Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, is in the midst of aggressively pitching himself for Vance's role, but he received just 2% support in the poll.
Attorney Mehek Cooke, a Republican attorney who served as a surrogate for the Trump campaign in 2024, received 1% support in the poll.
A large number of voters, 39%, remain undecided in the race, however.
WPA conducted the poll from Nov. 17-20, surveying 1,028 Ohio likely voters statewide via phone interviews and online. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.1%.
LaRose also leads the pack when filtering for candidates who have received an endorsement from President-elect Trump in the past. LaRose received 30% support under those parameters, with his closest competitor being former Ohio Rep. Jim Rennaci.
Carey has also received a Trump endorsement prior to the current contest, and he received 7% support.
Both Trump and Vance have so far been silent when it comes to filling the vacant Senate seat, and their endorsements are likely to be the deciding factor in the contest.
DeWine has confirmed that he is deliberating about whom to select for the seat, telling local media on Tuesday that he wants to have a candidate ready for whenever Vance formally resigns his seat.
"We want someone who's going to be fighting for Ohio every single day," he said.
WPA concluded from its polling that LaRose would "clearly be the strongest GOP choice" both to replace Vance and to defeat a Democratic challenger in the next election.
As Ohio's secretary of state, LaRose has led efforts to combat illegal voting. His office purged hundreds of thousands of wrongful voter registrations, including hundreds of non-citizen registrations, prior to Election Day. He also sued President Biden's administration in October in an effort to force the administration to assist in cleaning up voter rolls.
"I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places," goes the song by crooner Billie Holiday.
Those who toil in Congress certainly saw a lot of old friends in the old familiar places at the U.S. Capitol recently.
First, there was Vice President-elect and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.
Vance hasn’t even been a senator for two years. Yet he’s now bound for the vice presidency at age 40. He’ll be the youngest vice president since John Breckenridge worked alongside President James Buchanan in 1857.
But Vance hasn’t been spotted at the Capitol much since President-elect Trump drafted him as his running mate in July. Vance was at the Capitol in June for votes. Gone for Fourth of July. Then selected as running mate. Then nowhere near the Capitol for the August recess. Vance only dipped into the Capitol for a doctor’s appointment with the attending physician to Congress in September. Then there was the election.
Vance didn’t parachute back to Capitol Hill right away. But he did come back last week for votes – and primarily to shuttle Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominees through a series of meetings with senators. Vance facilitated sessions between senators and defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. Other meetings were in the Strom Thurmond Room in the Senate wing of the Capitol for former Rep. and former attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
At one point, Vance also took a strange diversion to the secure suite of rooms on the House side of the Capitol used by the House Intelligence Committee. It was never clear why Vance went there, who he met with or what was discussed.
A scrum of reporters tried to track Vance’s whereabouts when he and his entourage disappeared from the Strom Thurmond Room.
But the press corps stumbled upon someone else: former Trump Chief of Staff and former Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.
"I’m just leading a tour, guys," said Meadows when asked if he was there to talk with Vance or work on the transition. "This is just a private visit."
But Vance was soon back in the Strom Thurmond Room to talk with Gaetz.
Gaetz resigned from Congress after the President-elect tapped him as his first attorney general candidate. The Florida Republican abruptly resigned from the House the next day. Vance escorted Gaetz into the Senate wing of the Capitol last week for individual forums with members of the Judiciary Committee.
After his conclaves with senators, an ebullient Gaetz left the Capitol – departing via the House side.
"Senators have been giving me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive. They've been saying we're going to get a fair process. So it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Vance administration," said Gaetz. "We're going to tackle fentanyl. We’re going to ensure that we don't have the DoJ involved in censorship any more. And make sure that we get the country back on track."
Gaetz withdrew from consideration 18 hours later.
Gaetz announced that his nomination "was unfairly becoming a distraction." He added that "there is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle."
Colleague Alexis McAdams reported that Gaetz reached the conclusion on his own.
Gaetz’s resignation letter to the House made it clear that he did "not intend" to serve in the new Congress starting in January – even though he just won re-election.
So now Gaetz is a former congressman. He won’t be Attorney General and he’s a former nominee. And he won’t be a future congressman.
So, chalk down Gaetz as someone who probably won’t materialize around the Capitol often in the future.
Until he wants to. After all, former members are always allowed back into the building.
After Gaetz bowed out of the attorney general slot, I ran over to the Senate where I followed Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to the Hart Senate Office Building, and persuaded Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., to chat with reporters by the Senate Carriage Entrance. Once back inside, a man stood in a first floor hallway near the Brumidi Corridors, checking his phone. No one else paid him any attention. I’m not even sure other reporters had any idea who the man was.
"Glad you aren’t around here any more on a day like this?" I asked.
The man chuckled and nodded in agreement.
It was former Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
But another former member also graced the Capitol that same day. Mostly to hector House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and his preparation of a report on the conduct of Gaetz.
The House expelled Santos nearly a year ago, for, well, having less credibility as to who he was than Milli Vanilli.
"I’m completely, completely unrestrained from talking to you guys," said Santos to the press corps.
Santos was looking for Guest, the author of the House Ethics Committee report which ultimately led to the expulsion of the New York Republican.
Santos became just the sixth member ever expelled from the House. But as an expelled member, your status around the Capitol is the same as a former lawmaker who resigned, retired or lost. You are a former member. That means Santos has access to the Capitol complex. It’s a loophole that House members said they would fix after they booted Santos – but never did.
"If he runs away from me, I'll go stand in front of his office and scream at him through his door," said Santos of Guest.
"Have you been in touch with Gaetz at all?" asked one reporter.
"No. No. He's busy. He's lobbying the Senate, which he should," replied Santos.
Note this was the same day Gaetz was at the Capitol meeting with senators – but just hours before he withdrew his nomination for attorney general.
"What do you think of Trump's other nominees so far?" asked a reporter.
"Great. It's fantastic. It's transformative. It's a proverbial wrecking ball to the swamp. And they're dealing with an existential crisis. And they're grappling for their lives because the American people have served them with a existential crisis and a mandate with Donald Trump," said Santos.
"Is it fair to say you have an ax to grind as he was the one who led the charge against you?" asked a reporter of Santos about Guest.
"Do you remember that my ethics report was incomplete and that there was a footnote that said we do not recommend any kind of punishment because it's not a complete report. And yet he still went and filed an expulsion resolution of errors full of misleading information that basically contradicted what was in the report?" retorted Santos. "So he's full of sh-t."
Reporters then pivoted to whether the House Ethics Committee should publish its report on Gaetz – even though he’s a former member.
"He’s not scared," replied Santos. "I don't blame him."
"Do you plan to request a pardon?" asked another reporter.
"That's not a conversation I've had. I don't intend on that conversation," said Santos. "I am not entertaining that conversation."
Santos also told his audience that he did "not plan on running for office again."
Which means Santos may continue to surface at the Capitol, unabated, despite the ignominy of his expulsion.
Vance will certainly return to the Capitol periodically as Vice President to preside over the Senate and potentially break ties. But Gaetz, Meadows, Vitter, Santos and soon, Vance, all have the same status. They’re former members. And that means they can return to the Capitol any time they want.
Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, is among a crowded list of contenders vying to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance when he formally resigns from the U.S. Senate.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Carey, a former coal lobbyist and a veteran who won Ohio’s 15th congressional district for the third time since 2021, touted his experience working with President-elect Trump in the private sector. Carey argued that whomever Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine chooses to replace Vance will need to be ready on "day one" to help implement the new administration’s agenda. Vance has yet to formally resign.
With three endorsements from Trump under his belt, Carey said the president-elect "needs somebody in the Senate that will make sure that we get his agenda through."
"I think that's the most important thing, because I want the president to be successful. I think the American people want the president to be successful," Carey told Fox News Digital. "And I think that's what we need from a senator from the state of Ohio. And so I'd be honored to help him move his agenda forward in the U.S. Senate."
"I think you need to have somebody that's able to start on Day One, hit the ground running as a U.S. senator," Carey, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and Committee on House Administration, said. "You don't want to have somebody coming in from the great state of Ohio who has to be on the jobtraining. And so we've had a track record of success here in the, you know, in the 15th Congressional District. I can easily parlay that into the Senate."
Through his work on the House Committee on Administration, Carey said he helped secure bipartisan support for and ultimately President Biden’s signature on the bill that launched the Congressional Election Observer program. That program deploys congressional poll watchers to hotly contested House races.
"I've spent a lifetime in Ohio. Born and raised in Ohio. But I think the senator has to understand we are a unique state," Carey said. "There is a reason why Columbus, Ohio, is the test market for any product as it relates to food services, because we are a microcosm of the United States, and that is really Ohio."
Similarly, Carey said that his district, which has an approximately 22% minority population and stretches from urban Columbus west across suburban areas and smaller towns and rural farmland, "is really a microcosm of the state of Ohio."Carey said he outperformed Republican Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno in his district by over 18,000 votes.
Moreno, a Trump-backed Cleveland businessman, garnered 50.18% of the vote, defeating incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown in a significant flip earlier this month. Carey, meanwhile, secured re-election in the House, receiving 56.52% of the vote.
"In an R-5 district, we won by 13 points. So, you know, I think I have a track record. And I also think, you know, if people look at my voting record and the things that I have done, I brought back over $60 million in three years. I mean, I've only been in office for three years," Carey said. "I was in the private sector before that. So I'm not a career politician. But the opportunity to serve the state that I love, you know, I grew up in Cincinnati and Sabina and served in the military up at Camp Perry. My family's from Cleveland and spent my career in Appalachia. So there's nobody that knows the state any better than me. An opportunity to serve all the people of Ohio would be the honor of my life."
On the campaign trail, Trump highlighted two issues Carey said he worked on personally: tax credits for caregivers and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Most of the 27 bills Carey introduced in the House have had at least one Democratic co-sponsor, the congressman said, including the Credit for Caring Act, which provides aa $3,000 tax credit for home health care providers who want to stay at home to take care of their loved ones.
Over the past several months, Carey said he has also been working on a tax credit for Americans "who simply just can’t afford IVF."
"If somebody wants to have a child, we should do everything possible to give them the opportunity to have a child," Carey told Fox News Digital. "So, again, both very, I think, bipartisan ideas that the president has pushed forward. I'd be honored to work on those in the Senate and, you know, honored to work on them now in the House."
DeWine indicated that his selection must be well positioned to stave off Democrats’ chances of reclaiming a spot in the Ohio Senate delegation in November 2026, when a special election will be held for the remaining two years of the six-year term.
Besides Carey, other members in Ohio’s congressional delegation vying to replace Vance include Reps. Jim Jordan, David Joyce and Warren Davidson. But choosing a member of the House would temper the GOP’s already slim majority in the lower chamber, and DeWine could weigh how House vacancies take months to fill under Ohio’s election protocols.
The vast number of GOP candidates who competed in Ohio primaries in 2022 and 2024 makes for an even wider field of potential replacements for Vance.
Contenders include former Ohio Republican Chair Jane Timken; two-term Secretary of State Frank LaRose; and state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns baseball's Cleveland Guardians. Two-term Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Republican attorney and strategist Mehek Cooke, a frequent guest on Fox News, are also reported to be under consideration.
"The governor is somebody who I've admired since I was in grade school. He was a state senator. He was a congressman. He went to the Senate. He understands the nature of the body politic," Carey said. "But he also understands that we need to have somebody that understands Ohio. I mean, there's nobody that loves Ohio more than, I'd say more than me, as would be Mike DeWine.… And I think he wants to get somebody in office that loves the state just as much as he does. And I think I meet that measure of the mark."
As President-elect Donald Trump has aggressively set to work on building his new administration, some have noticed that many of those being selected as his closest advisors are parents with families well above the national average.
The current national average for a family in the U.S. is 1.94, which is below the minimum 2.1 required to replace the population. Meanwhile, some of Trump’s Cabinet members and advisers are well above the replacement level.
Trump is a father of five adult children. Though he has divorced two times, he is said to be a devoted grandfather to his 10 grandchildren, even reportedly spending the morning after election night golfing with his granddaughter, Kai Trump.
Secretary of the Interior nominee Doug Burgum and Deputy Chief of Policy Stephen Miller each have three children. Trump’s picks for the CIA, John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of State pick Marco Rubio have four kids each. Though from several marriages, Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Department of Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth both have seven kids.
The grand prize goes to Sean Duffy, Trump’s pick for transportation secretary, who with wife Rachel Campos-Duffy has nine children. In 2019, Duffy stepped down from his role as a Wisconsin congressperson ahead of his ninth child’s birth to spend more time with his family.
"Raising a family is hard work," he said in a social media post explaining his decision. "I have always been open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire to serve both my family and my country."
By comparison, with four children, President Biden is more of an exception in his administration, which is mainly staffed by people with two or fewer children.
During the campaign, Vice President-elect JD Vance voiced his belief that the government needs to place a greater emphasis on being "pro-family" and make it easier for Americans to have larger families and more kids.
At 40 years old, Vance and his wife, Usha, have three children, and he has voiced his desire to have more.
In his first big speech on the national stage at the Republican National Convention, Vance said "the American Dream that always counted most [to me] was not starting a business or becoming a senator or even being here with you fine people, it was becoming a good husband and a good dad and of giving my family the things I never had as a kid. And that’s the accomplishment I’m proudest of."
He was hit repeatedly by the Kamala Harris campaign and the media over his 2021 criticism of the country being run by who he called "childless cat ladies." But the underlying problem of low birth rates in the U.S. poses an increasingly big worry to those paying attention.
Catherine Pakaluk, a social researcher and author, told Fox News Digital that the country’s low birth rate has gotten to a point where it is presenting real problems and dangers for the future.
"We Americans are not having enough children to replace the population," she said. "What we're seeing is an inversion of the normal population pyramid where we would think about the normal population pyramid would be a greater number of younger workers supporting a smaller number of older, retired workers."
Though not yet at the level of countries like Japan and China, which are now facing shrinking populations, Pakaluk said the result is that there are "fewer and fewer workers," fewer people paying into the tax base, and government programs such as social security and Medicare are becoming increasingly unviable.
Because of this reality, Pakaluk said she appreciates people like Vance pushing for larger families.
"I really value that Vice President-elect Vance is speaking positively about families and talking a lot about how much he would like to have a larger family. … I think a lot of what is very helpful to us today is to have role models talking about how having kids isn't really all that bad and, in fact, might be better than you expected."
Most crucial to Pakaluk, however, is advancing values that lead to people choosing to have bigger families. She recently published a book called "Hannah’s Children" in which she did extensive interviews with mothers who decided to have five or more kids. The common denominator among these women, who came from a wide array of faith backgrounds, was a strong religious belief in children as blessings from God.
This led Pakaluk to believe that the solution to what she calls the "birth dearth" is a return to religious convictions on the individual and societal level.
She pointed to Duffy, who is a practicing Catholic, as an example.
"What I like to say is, I don't know that you can get more children out of being pro-child. … But I think you can get more children if you're pro-church or pro-religious community," she said. "If people encounter strong religious communities on a more regular basis, this can change in a generation."
Vice President-elect JD Vance will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, arranging meetings between key GOP senators and Trump cabinet picks Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, a source told Fox News Digital.
"President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people," Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesman, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Rep. Collins (VA), Rep. Gaetz (DOJ), Pete Hegseth (DOD), and Rep. Stefanik (UN) will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess."
GOP senators say Vance, a Republican from Ohio elected to the Senate in 2022, is taking the lead in reaching out to gather support for Trump’s controversial nominees.
President-elect Trump announced Gaetz as his pick for attorney general Wednesday, an unexpected selection that took many, including fellow House Republicans, by surprise.
Gaetz almost immediately resigned from Congress after Trump tapped him for the job.
If confirmed, Gaetz will head the Justice Department after Trump is sworn in for his second term in January.
Gaetz, a longtime Trump ally, had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which subpoenaed him as recently as September for an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Gaetz in response told the panel he would "no longer voluntarily participate" in its probe.
It is unlikely the investigation itself would block Gaetz's path to confirmation in the Republican-led Senate, though it could make it more difficult.
Trump also nominated former FOX personality Pete Hegseth to serve as his secretary of defense.
Hegseth, 44, an Army National Guard veteran who served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, previously hosted FOX Nation's "Patriot Awards," which is the network's version of a Hollywood awards show honoring heroes like first responders.
Hegseth was nominated even though he has no senior military or national security experience.
Vance, who missed all of Monday night’s votes in addition to the first vote on Tuesday, received backlash from several senators.
The Vice President-elect initially said his reasoning for missing the meetings was to join Trump and be part of the interviews for potential candidates for the next FBI director, among other open spots.
"I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45," Vance wrote in a post on X.
Vance has since backtracked and deleted the post from X.
Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
