Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue, accusing them of misleading donors about safeguards meant to block fraudulent and foreign political contributions.

“BREAKING: I just filed a landmark lawsuit against ActBlue for deceiving Americans by lying about its donation processes that allow fraudulent and foreign donations,” Paxton wrote Monday on X.

The state’s lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County district court, seeks injunctions barring ActBlue from accepting contributions made through gift cards and prepaid debit cards, along with civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and costs.

“The radical left has relied on ActBlue as a way to funnel foreign donations and dark money into their political campaigns to subvert our laws and compromise the integrity of our elections,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the case. “ActBlue lied to Congress and to the American people, and I will ensure justice is served.

“It has blatantly ignored state law that prohibits deceptive practices, and it must pay for its illegal conduct. Fair elections are the foundation of our democracy, and I will work to ensure no illegal campaign donation flies under the radar.”

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The state is suing under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, alleging that ActBlue engaged in false, misleading and deceptive practices by marketing its service as compliant and secure, while continuing to allow payment methods Texas says can facilitate unlawful donations.

The allegations in the lawsuit have not been proven in court.

In the complaint, Texas alleges that ActBlue falsely claimed it had tightened donor-vetting procedures and stopped accepting certain high-risk forms of payment while continuing to process donations that, according to the state, could mask a donor’s true identity.

The lawsuit argues that gift cards and prepaid debit cards are especially vulnerable to abuse because they can be used without the same level of identification tied to traditional payment methods.

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Paxton’s office said the lawsuit grew out of an investigation opened in 2023 into whether ActBlue was enabling donor fraud in violation of Texas law.

The attorney general’s office later petitioned the Federal Election Commission in 2024, arguing that suspicious actors appeared to still be using the platform to make straw donations.

Paxton now says recent reporting and the office’s own investigation show ActBlue’s public claims about its compliance systems were false.

The lawsuit leans heavily on allegations that ActBlue misrepresented its security practices to Congress and the public.

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According to the filing, the platform told congressional investigators it had stopped accepting gift card donations and had implemented multilayered checks to screen for foreign or otherwise impermissible contributions. Texas alleges those assurances were untrue and says investigators were later able to make donations through ActBlue using gift cards, including donations to the Democratic National Committee and Texas candidates.

“ActBlue claimed it stopped its illegal operations,” Paxton’s news release read. “Now, recent reporting and internal OAG investigations have shown that ActBlue lied about its donor vetting policies and its operations. As The New York Times recently reported, ActBlue’s own outside counsel acknowledged that the organization’s representations about its donation safeguards were not true.”

The complaint says those internal findings showed a “substantial risk” that some impermissible foreign contributions might have been processed, and alleges that ActBlue chose not to fully correct the record with Congress.

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The issue comes as the Democratic National Committee reportedly carries more than $17.5 million in debt, according to the FEC.

The House Administration, Judiciary and Oversight committees, amid an ongoing investigation, had issued a 2025 report titled “Fraud on ActBlue.”

“This report reveals that ActBlue made its fraud-prevention rules ‘more lenient’ twice in 2024 — even though there is extensive fraud on the platform, including from foreign sources,” a House Judiciary Committee news release related to the report said. “Internal documents show that ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously. In fact, they attempted to hide the changes to avoid sparking discussions about fraud on the platform.”

ActBlue, founded in 2004, has processed more than $16 billion for Democrat and progressive candidates and causes, according to Paxton’s filing.

In the lawsuit, Texas says the platform handled $1.78 billion in donations in 2025 alone.

A Pennsylvania Democrat is apologizing for Facebook posts defending police officers during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and supporting gun rights as he runs for his party’s nomination in a key battleground race.

Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and former union leader, is seeking to unseat Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Penn., who was first elected in 2024 after beating Democratic incumbent Susan Wild by roughly 4,000 votes. Brooks has centered his campaign around appealing to blue-collar Americans without college degrees on a platform that includes advocating for vocational trades training and support for unions, while also embracing more liberal policies like Medicaid for All.

A local blogger argued Brooks should not run on the Democratic ticket because he posted a pro-gun rights meme on his Facebook page a day after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, The Washington Post first reported. Twenty-three people were shot and killed by a white nationalist inside a Walmart.

Brooks shared a photo of Clint Eastwood holding a rifle with the following words overlaid on the image: “The problem is not guns. It’s hearts without God, homes without discipline, schools without prayer and courtrooms without justice.” The meme also included an image of a skull with the Roman numeral III across its forehead. The symbol is linked to the Three Percenters, a far-right extremist militia group rooted in anti-government ideology.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Brooks for comment.

On his campaign page, Brooks said he respects the Second Amendment and that he has been around guns his whole life. However, he is calling for stronger gun laws.

“We need common-sense laws: universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, and enforcing waiting periods so dangerous people don’t get their hands on guns,” Brooks’ campaign page stated. “This wouldn’t change things for responsible gun owners, but it would for kids who are afraid to go to school.”

In another Facebook post from 2019, Brooks reportedly called NFL athlete Colin Kaepernick a “douchebag” amid controversy over Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem to protest police brutality. Kaepernick had publicly pushed for Nike to pull merchandise featuring the Betsy Ross flag from retail, prompting Brooks to share a meme of the American flag with the phrase “Colin Kaepernick doesn’t like this flag, so I’m gonna share it.”

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Brooks wrote that people should not forget that there are good police officers. He cited police responses to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing as examples of officers stepping up to the call of duty.

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“I guess we have forgotten the good ones,” Brooks wrote. “Wanting change within the police departments to weed out the bad cops is fine. But please remember the good ones.”

In response to reports on the Facebook posts, Brooks accused “a bunch of DC insiders who don’t want more working people in office are selectively digging up years-old Facebook posts.” He also gave a vague apology.

“I’ve shared a few stupid things over the years, and for that I am sorry,” Brooks said in a statement to the Washington Post. “I believe who I’ve fought for and my values have always been clear.”

Brooks has received endorsements from prominent Pennsylvania Democratic leaders, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, as well as national Democratic figures such as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Pennsylvania’s primary is Tuesday, May 19.

With the six-month mark until Election Day 2026 closing fast, President Donald Trump’s top political advisers are meeting behind closed doors Monday with dozens of leading Republican political consultants from across the country for a strategy session as the party defends its razor-thin House and slim Senate majorities in the midterms.

The meeting, organized by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who was co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, comes as the party in power in the nation’s capital faces traditional political headwinds and is expected to lose congressional seats. Republicans are also battling a challenging political climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran, and the president’s underwater approval ratings.

The gathering, which was first reported by Politico, is aimed at establishing better coordination and sharing of data and strategy between the White House political team and consultants advising candidates in midterm showdowns.

STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP’S TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING

The meeting also comes two weeks after Trump announced that Blair would temporarily step down from his White House role to steer midterm strategy from the outside. The president said in a social media post that Blair would take “a short leave of absence to lead the charge from the outside” against Democrats, and after the midterms would “return again to the White House, so we can finish the job.”

This is the second major gathering ahead of the midterms. Wiles, Blair and other top Trump political advisers met in February at the party’s Capitol Hill Club with Cabinet officials and their top aides to discuss promoting the Trump agenda and other midterm messaging.

Trump made a two-day swing last week to Nevada and Arizona, two crucial swing states in this year’s elections, to highlight the tax cuts that congressional Republicans passed, and which he signed into law last summer.

BACK ON THE TRAIL: TRUMP HITS BATTLEGROUND STATES TO TOUT TAX CUTS

The president’s stops were part of a full-court press last week by Republicans, around last Wednesday’s tax filing deadline, to spotlight the tax cuts, which they insist will give them a political boost with voters in the midterms.

The tax cuts were a key component of Republicans’ massive domestic policy measure, which passed almost entirely along party lines in the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

The law, originally titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act but rebranded as the Working Families Tax Cuts, is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities, including extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. 

FIRST ON FOX: GOP TAKES AIM AT DEMOCRATS FOR OPPOSING TRUMP TAX CUTS

But much of the GOP messaging last week was overshadowed by coverage of the war with Iran and Trump’s very public spat with the pope.

Republicans in Congress are increasingly concerned about the political climate ahead of the midterms.

“If we lose the midterms, it’ll be because we didn’t talk about what moms and dads are worried about when they lie down to sleep at night…and that’s primarily the cost of living, GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Saturday in an appearance on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

And pointing to the tax cuts, Kennedy said the “One Big Beautiful Bill is going to help a lot of people in terms of their taxes and a lot of small businesses. And that’s what I wish the president would talk more about. If we talk about it, we’ll win the midterms.”

Despite the Democratic Party’s poll numbers hitting all-time lows over the past year, Democrats are energized heading into the midterms thanks to a slew of off-year-election and special election victories and over performances, thanks in part to their laser focus on affordability since Trump returned to the White House.

The Democratic National Committee, in an email release Monday to supporters, claimed that “Republicans are in trouble ahead of the midterms — and they know it.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the Supreme Court majority on Monday of overstepping its role to “wordsmith” a lower court in Washington, D.C., in a pointed break from her colleagues in a Fourth Amendment case about whether a police officer had reasonable suspicion to stop a man.

Jackson, a Biden appointee, was the lone justice to defend the D.C. appeals court, which had found last year that the officer improperly stopped the man while he was in a vehicle. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision 7-2, approving the police stop. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee and the high court’s most senior liberal justice, also broke with the majority but declined to join Jackson’s dissent, further isolating Jackson as an outlier even among the liberal justices.

The Supreme Court’s decision emphasized that police officers have the broad ability to rely on a “totality of the circumstances” when making stops, noting that sometimes seemingly trivial standalone facts about a situation can be combined with more suspicious behavior to justify reasonable suspicion for a police stop or arrest.

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But Jackson argued against what she said was the high court’s intervention in a lower court’s routine evaluation of which facts are relevant and which are not.

“I cannot fathom why that kind of factbound determination warranted correction by this Court,” Jackson wrote.

The case arose from a 2023 dispatch call to Washington, D.C., police at 2 a.m. reporting a suspicious vehicle. When an officer arrived on scene, two people ran from the car while the remaining passenger slowly began backing out of the parking lot with a door still open. The D.C. attorney general’s office argued on behalf of police that this “totality” of facts amounted to reasonable suspicion to stop the person who remained in the car.

The Supreme Court’s unsigned per curiam opinion said the lower court improperly ignored that two people fled the vehicle before the third person was stopped by an officer. Jackson said the D.C. appeals court had done basic “culling” of facts to reach its conclusion that the stop was unwarranted.

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“Under these circumstances, with only seconds to decide whether to intervene, the officer was entirely justified in detaining the driver,” lawyers for the police argued.

They added that “within moments of stopping the driver, the officer observed a smashed window and punched-out ignition, confirming that the vehicle had been stolen.”

While Jackson has become known for aggressively supporting court intervention in broader constitutional fights involving presidential power, in this case, her dissent emphasized a need for judicial restraint.

Jackson argued that the lower court properly considered the Fourth Amendment, which says people have a right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” She said the case was not worthy of taking the “unusual step of summary reversal.”

“I am not sure why our Court sees fit to intervene in this case, let alone to do so summarily,” Jackson said. “If the intervention reflects a worry that the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (DCCA) misunderstands the Fourth Amendment’s totality-of-the-circumstances analysis, that worry seems unfounded.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced the loss of his adult daughter Madison Warner at age 36 after a long battle with juvenile diabetes and other health problems.

“We are heartbroken beyond words by the passing of our beloved daughter, Madison, 36, after a decades-long battle with juvenile diabetes and other health issues,” Warner wrote in a joint statement with his wife Lisa Collis. “She filled our lives with love and laughter, and her absence leaves an immeasurable void.”

“We are grateful for the loving support of friends and family during this difficult time and ask for privacy as we navigate this profound loss,” the statement concluded.

Madison was the eldest of Warner’s three daughters with his wife, Lisa. She is survived by sisters Gillian and Eliza.

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Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress responded with their sincere condolences over the family’s sudden loss.

“Our deepest condolences,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on X. “We’re keeping your family in our prayers.”

“Please join me in praying for Senator Mark Warner and his family,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted. “This is heartbreaking news.”

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“We’re praying for @MarkWarner,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote on X.

“I am incredibly sorry for your loss,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, wrote on X. “Keeping you and your family in my prayers.”

“Our prayers are with Sen. Warner, his daughter, and their whole family,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X. “What a terrible loss at such a young age. May God comfort them.”

Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said the “entire Virginia delegation stands with Mark and Lisa during this period of profound grief.”

“Suzanne and I are praying for Lisa and Mark Warner and their family today after the loss of their daughter, Madison,” former Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote on X. “Our prayers are with them on this most difficult of all days.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked officials in Democratic-run Harris County not to release an illegal immigrant suspect from custody after he allegedly beat a coworker to death with a sledgehammer on a construction site in a suburb of Texas’ largest city, Houston.

This comes as Texas officials feud with the City of Houston over a new policy limiting law enforcement cooperation with ICE. The confrontation mirrors the broader national debate between Democrats and Republicans over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Disagreements over immigration enforcement have resulted in an ongoing lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security during a partial government shutdown.

Now, Venezuelan national Josue Abraham Chirino-Leonice has been charged with the murder of carpenter Juan Antonio Salinas Leija at a north Houston home earlier this month, according to reporting by local outlet KHOU-11. The outlet said Salinas Leija was found dead at a home under renovation with severe wounds consistent with a sledgehammer attack. Chirino-Leonice was later arrested driving the victim’s truck in east Houston.

ICE lodged a detainer — a request to hold — with the Harris County Jail last week. According to DHS, Chirino-Leonice was released into the country under Biden administration in 2023.

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DHS said U.S. Border Patrol first arrested Chirino-Leonice in November 2023. The agency said the Biden administration “subsequently released him into the interior of the country.”

Gabriel Martinez, acting field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, called the alleged murder a savage attack by an illegal alien “who never should have been allowed into the country.”

“This criminal illegal alien — who never should have been allowed into the country in the first place — is accused of savagely beating a co-worker to death with a sledgehammer and leaving him to die in a house they were renovating together,” said Martinez.

He said ICE officers in Houston are “working tirelessly to restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system to bring an end to the carnage and unnecessary suffering in this country that’s caused by criminal illegal aliens,” adding, “We won’t rest until we’ve accomplished that mission.”

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ICE has arrested thousands of illegal immigrants in the Houston area since President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January 2025. Those arrests have included at least 414 criminal illegal aliens who have been charged with or convicted of child sex offenses, according to DHS.

At the start of the month, ICE Houston said that in the span of five days it arrested nearly 150 criminal aliens, including five child predators, two drug traffickers, 14 thieves, 62 violent offenders, one arsonist, seven hit-and-run DWIs, and nine immigrants convicted of a combined 31 DWIs.

The Democratic-majority Houston City Council recently voted to end a policy requiring law enforcement to hold illegal immigrants for ICE for at least 30 minutes. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has called the policy a “breach of contract” with the state. Last week, he issued an ultimatum to the city to reverse the move or pay the state back $110 million in funding.

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Democratic Mayor John Whitmire has called the situation a “crisis” for public safety. The city council is set to reconsider the policy this Wednesday.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is running as a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, is facing online blowback over a podcast appearance where he took several pointed shots at Vice President JD Vance’s personal life, including his relationship with Second Lady Usha Vance.

“What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks? She’s like, ‘Damn, I have to sleep with him,’” El-Sayed said on The Allen Analysis Show posted on Friday.

“I guess she’s pregnant so something is happening,” El-Sayed continued, “Can you imagine, he’s got brown kids, at some point he’s going to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like, you made your career hating people who are different.”

El-Sayed went on to explain that Vance’s political philosophy is “incoherent” because of the racial makeup of his family and that the vice president’s soul is “corrupted” by power.

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“He’s got to look at his kids and be like, ‘Yeah, those are brown kids, they’re mine,’” El-Sayed said. “‘You know what I mean? And I had brown kids. I had brown kids?’”

Sayed continued, “I love my brown kids, and I think my brown kids are just as American as everyone else. JD Vance has brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else.”

El-Sayed also said on the podcast appearance that Vance has the “charisma of a doorknob” and the “aura of a toad” while urging Usha Vance to “get out” of the marriage.

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Former Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon was one of several people who took issue with El-Sayed’s comments and told Fox News Digital she doesn’t believe most Michigan voters will react positively to his message.

“When you’re running on racial division, you have to keep stoking racism, especially if you’re the racist,” Dixon said. “Imagine smugly trying to break up a family because you don’t believe a white man can love his children. Pretty pathetic, and I think Michigan voters will agree.”

Conservatives on social media quickly reacted to the clip, accusing El-Sayed of taking his criticism of the Vance family too far. 

“This isn’t politics,” Founder of Christians Against Antisemitism Institute Reverend Jordan Wells posted on X, calling the comments a “low blow.”

“This is personal, cruel, and straight-up disgusting.”

Conservative influencer Laura Loomer blasted the “derogatory sexual comments” in a post on X.

“Democrats are trash,” Townhall writer Amy Curtis posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Vance’s office and El-Sayed’s campaign for comment. 

Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary will be held on Aug 4 as El-Sayed squares off against Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens to advance to the general election in November against former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.

Houston, a major red-state city run by Democrats, is in “crisis” mode as it faces an ultimatum to repay the State of Texas approximately $110 million if it does not repeal a “sanctuary”-type ordinance limiting cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Houston City Council recently voted to end a policy requiring police to wait at least 30 minutes for ICE to arrive if a suspect had an immigration warrant. Afterward, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, drew a line in the sand, telling the city to immediately reverse its policy or face “extraordinarily difficult financial choices.”

Abbott asserted that Houston is “trying to renege on their obligations” after signing onto a public safety agreement to receive state funding that required it to cooperate with immigration enforcement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“The City of Houston right now is in breach of contract,” Abbott told reporters last week. “That’s going to require the City of Houston to immediately provide $110 million to the State of Texas.”

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Regardless of whether the city council cooperates, Abbott said city officials will face the consequences of their noncompliance. If officials refuse to repay Texas, Abbott said the state comptroller will withhold sales tax revenue that would otherwise go to the city.

“It’s not as if they’re going to say, ‘Well, we may or may not get around to writing a check,’” he said. “Know this, the way the law works… the comptroller will withhold the sales tax revenue that otherwise will go to the City of Houston and will be retained by the State of Texas until the State of Texas is fully repaid the $110 million that is owed by Houston to the state.”

Abbott shot down a reporter’s question on whether his ultimatum contradicts his public safety goals.

“Let’s be clear about a couple things,” he said. “If the city council was serious about public safety, they would not allow illegal immigrants to roam their streets and kill people like Jocelyn Nungaray.”

He added that “there are other people like that in Houston who have been raped, assaulted and victimized by people who are here illegally and allowed to roam the streets.”

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He further cautioned that the city council will have to find an alternate method of funding its police force, or it will be in violation of Texas law requiring cities to fully fund law enforcement forces.

“Houston will still be obligated to come up with the additional funds to fully fund their police,” he said.

He stressed to the city council that it is “in breach of contract,” adding, “We’ve given the opportunity to what’s called ‘cure’ that breach.”

“Failure to do so will lead to extraordinarily difficult financial choices that are purposefully made by the city council of Houston,” he concluded.

TEXAS AG SUES HOUSTON MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OVER NEW SANCTUARY CITY ORDINANCE LIMITING ICE COOPERATION

In response to the ultimatum, Houston Democratic Mayor John Whitmire has called on the city council to reexamine the policy and vote on possibly repealing it. Whitmire called the situation a “crisis” that affects the Houston police and fire departments, public safety services across the city and even preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

According to Whitmire, Abbott has given the city a deadline of this Wednesday before the state moves to enforce the contract. He said a special session of the Houston City Council has been called for that day, giving his office “additional time to continue productive discussions with the Governor’s office, City Council members, law enforcement, and the community.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the city council for comment.

Pro-Palestinian activists shouted down Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., as the U.S. Senate hopeful spoke at Michigan Democrats’ spring convention on Sunday.

When Stevens, a pro-Israel Democrat, walked on stage with a group of union employees, the crowd erupted with party activists heckling her over her support for Israel. 

“Democrats, I love you, even when we disagree,” the congresswoman said, but audience members continued to drown her out with boos and jeers.

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As Stevens departed the stage following her remarks, several attendees stood up, put their fists in the air and started to chant: “Shame on you.”

The tense moment underscores the Democratic Party’s race to the left, and how support for Israel has become a central flashpoint in Michigan’s competitive three-way Democratic primary in a state with sizable Jewish and Arab constituencies.

Stevens has come under scathing criticism from progressive Democrats over her long-held pro-Israel stances and support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Her primary competitors, by contrast, have leaned further left on the issue.

Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow have accused Israel of genocide and sworn off AIPAC and the pro-Israel lobby.

Stevens recently upset Michigan progressives by unequivocally rejecting the far-left online streamer Hasan Piker, who has a history of making antisemitic and pro-Hamas statements. 

Piker has described some Orthodox Jews as “inbred,” claimed the United States “deserved 9/11” and downplayed sexual violence that occurred during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. He has denied accusations of antisemitism, but continues to maintain that Hamas is better than Israel. 

BATTLEGROUND DEM SAYS TERRORISTS ACT FROM ‘PAIN AND FRUSTRATION,’ ACCUSES AMERICANS OF BEING ‘HIGH AND MIGHTY’

Stevens has warned about the political fallout for Democrats if the party embraces Piker, telling Jewish Insider, “Someone who’s campaigning with someone like that is not going to win in Michigan.”

McMorrow, despite disavowing the pro-Israel stance, has also hammered El-Sayed for embracing Piker and has taken a tougher line against antisemitism than her left-wing foe.

Some attendees shouted “Abdul” when McMorrow exited the stage at the convention over the weekend, signaling support for the most radical Democrat candidate.

The swing state contest is viewed as a top pick-up opportunity for Republicans with former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, expected to cruise to the GOP nomination. Democrats are playing defense to keep the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., in the blue column.

The battleground race is one of three Senate contests rated as a “toss-up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Stevens, the only Democratic candidate in the race who has served in Congress, has been promoted by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. TIME reported that Schumer has also opened the door to supporting McMorrow, though has continued to hold El-Sayed at arm’s length.

Fox News Digital reached out to Stevens’ campaign for comment.

President Donald Trump rejected the notion that Israel convinced him to launch the war against Iran, asserting in a Monday Truth Social post that the outcome “will be amazing.”

The president said the heinous Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against Israel bolstered his view that Iran must be blocked from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” the president declared in the Truth Social post.

“I watch and read the FAKE NEWS Pundits and Polls in total disbelief. 90% of what they say are lies and made up stories, and the polls are rigged, much as the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged. Just like the results in Venezuela, which the media doesn’t like talking about, the results in Iran will be amazing – And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!” he added.

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The commander in chief launched the U.S. into the war against Iran in conjunction with Israel earlier this year, prosecuting a punishing air campaign against the Islamic Republic for more than a month.

While Trump announced a ceasefire earlier this month, tensions have remained high, and the president warned on Sunday that if Iran fails to accept the deal offered by the U.S., the American military will destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants.

US MILITARY ANNOUNCES ANOTHER DEADLY STRIKE AGAINST ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it?” Trump said in a Sunday Truth Social post.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” he declared.

The U.S. opened fire on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday.

“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) noted.

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“After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” CENTCOM added.