Left-wing Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is spotlighting a local church in an ad seeking to win over voters – but the congregation says it wants nothing to do with his campaign.

Sullivan Harbor Baptist Church, located in Platner’s hometown, appears in a 30-second spot the Platner campaign rolled out earlier in March. The video, titled “The Veteran Who Came Home,” features military veterans endorsing Platner’s campaign and is interspersed with shots of the American flag and the white clapboard church.

“We as Sullivan Harbor Baptist Church do not endorse this or any candidate,” the church wrote on Facebook last week. “We wish that he would remove our photo on his post.”

The ad comes as Platner, a staunch progressive backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has faced fierce backlash over his since-removed chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol and controversial online comments that resurfaced in 2025.

He is running to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November’s midterm elections, but first he faces Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary, in a battle pitting the Democratic Party’s establishment against its far-left flank.

MAINE GOV MILLS TAKES BRUTAL SHOT AT JOE BIDEN WHEN PRESSED ON AGE CONCERNS IN SENATE RACE

The Platner campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital about whether it would take down the ad or remove the church from campaign materials.

Despite the church’s plea, versions of the ad continued to run on Facebook and Instagram, according to a Fox Digital review of the Platner campaign’s digital ad spending.

The campaign’s appeals to patriotism and faith come as he attempts to overcome a host of controversies tied to old Reddit posts that reemerged in fall 2025.

The Mills campaign, which has the tacit support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., unveiled its first negative ad last week ripping Platner for making crude remarks in 2013 suggesting women deserved sexual assault.

REPUBLICAN SEN SUSAN COLLINS SAYS SHE’S RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION

Platner’s campaign immediately fired back with an ad seeking to move past the controversy.

“These are words and statements I abhor,” Platner says in the spot. “So, Maine, I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago, but who I am today.”

The Republican National Committee slammed Platner for featuring the church in his campaign ad.

“Invoking religion in this ad was a transparent attempt to distract people from the fact that Graham Platner is a morally bankrupt, Nazi-sympathizing, rapist-apologizing, chauvinist,” RNC spokeswoman Kristen Cianci said in a statement. “It’s no wonder Platner’s hometown church can’t stomach being associated with him.”

Platner also referred to himself as a communist, denigrated law enforcement as “bastards” and suggested white Americans are “racist” and “stupid” in other since-deleted posts on Reddit.

He has largely blamed his comments on a period of “disillusionment” he experienced after his military service concluded. The Maine Democrat is a combat veteran who served multiple overseas deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer, has consistently led Mills in polling ahead of the state’s June primary despite the two-term governor’s high name recognition from decades in public life. 

He is running on an anti-establishment, far-left platform that has drawn large crowds on the campaign trail. Platner, 41, also frequently talks about the need for generational change — a direct hit on Mills, 78, who would be the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history if elected in November.

House conservatives are firing a warning shot at their Republican counterparts in the Senate as a deal begins to take shape on ending the six-week Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown. 

Senate Republicans are eyeing a second “big, beautiful bill” via the budget reconciliation process aimed at funding portions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would likely get little to no Democratic support.

That bill would also include parts of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE America) Act, legislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast ballots in federal elections.

But a growing contingent of House Republicans who are refusing to vote for any Senate-led legislation are crying foul on that portion of the plan.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE ‘TALKING FILIBUSTER’ AND THE SAVE ACT

“Senate Republicans refused to force a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act because it would have allowed Democrats to offer unlimited amendments. Now, Senate R’s claim they will pass SAVE America Act via reconciliation (which may not even be possible under the Senate’s arcane rules), which would… checks notes …allow Democrats to offer unlimited amendments,” the conservative House Freedom Caucus said in a statement posted to X on Tuesday.

“This is gaslighting. The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.”

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who led a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., vowing to oppose Senate bills until the SAVE America Act was passed, signaled he would reserve final judgment until a legislative proposal was released. But he did signal some skepticism in comments to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH JOHNSON TO GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER SAVE ACT

“It will not resolve my issue. I mean, look, they can say they’ll put it in reconciliation if they want. But I will continue to vote no on all Senate bills until the SAVE America Act is passed,” Fine said.

He made an exception for funding DHS, however, particularly if the final Senate bill was a modified version of that which the House already passed in January.

Republican senators huddled with President Donald Trump and others at the White House late on Monday, and emerged hopeful that an end to the shutdown could be in sight.

MULLIN CONFIRMED AS DHS CHIEF AS LAWMAKERS NEAR SOLUTION ON SHUTDOWN STANDOFF

The working framework would see ICE funding carved from the broader DHS spending bill, something Senate Democrats have tried to do in recent weeks but were blocked by Senate Republicans. That means most of the agency would be reopened, and ICE would be dealt with in the future through budget reconciliation, the process that nearly ripped the GOP apart last year when they passed the “big, beautiful bill.” And part of the deal would also see Republicans pair portions of the SAVE America Act tossed in with ICE funding, which some Senate Republicans are already skeptical of.

Only parts of ICE would be left to reconciliation, however, with the majority of the agency, save for its enforcement and removal operations, being funded in the initial compromise deal, according to PBS.

The remainder of DHS would be funded via a bipartisan deal that could be released as soon as Tuesday.

But the budget reconciliation process is a long and politically arduous path that could take months — a particularly difficult feat in an election year.

There’s also been skepticism in both the House and Senate that Republicans’ razor-thin majorities could unite enough to pass another massive bill, like the one signed into law by Trump in July that mainly dealt with his tax plans.

Conservatives have also noted that there’s little chance many of the SAVE America Act’s provisions could survive the strict guardrails around what can be included in reconciliation.

A source familiar with the House Freedom Caucus’s thinking also panned the prospective deal to Fox News Digital.

“Radical progressive Democrats shut down Homeland Security to protect criminal aliens. Why on earth would we hand them exactly what they want by keeping the deportation wing unfunded?” the source said on Tuesday. “We hold the leverage. Don’t surrender it. No more kicking immigration enforcement down the road, so Democrats can take a victory lap.”

It would put the group at odds with not only Republican leaders in the Senate, but potentially the White House as well.

A White House official told Fox News Digital before the deal became official that, “Conversations are ongoing, but this deal seems to be acceptable.”

And a source familiar with negotiations on DHS retorted to Fox News Digital that the Freedom Caucus’ argument comparing the talking filibuster with reconciliation was “not even close to being the same.”

The key difference is that during reconciliation there is limited debate and only amendments that deal directly with what’s in the package can be offered, while in a talking filibuster there is unlimited debate and unlimited amendments.

The Senate GOP wanted to avoid the latter scenario, given that they aren’t unified to block every Democratic amendment that could have drastically altered the SAVE America Act.

Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent sparred with conservative radio host and Fox News personality Mark Levin on his syndicated radio show Monday, denying leak allegations, breaking with the Trump administration over Iran, and claiming Israel “forced President Trump into this war.”  

“I never leaked any classified information,” Kent said, as Levin pressed him on reports that he was under investigation by the FBI for leaking. 

Three sources familiar with the matter have told Fox News the FBI probe into Kent predated his resignation. 

INSIDE JOE KENT’S ABRUPT FALL AS GOP BACKLASH GROWS OVER ANTISEMITISM ACCUSATIONS, FBI PROBE

Kent also disputed the administration’s case for the conflict with Iran, saying “there was no imminent threat coming from Iran against Americans.”

Kent resigned March 17 as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), issuing a public letter claiming the U.S. entered the conflict due to “pressure from Israel” — a position he has since defended in multiple media appearances.

Kent maintained that U.S. intelligence did not support the administration’s justification for military action in Iran, asserting “we had no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon,” a claim that runs counter to assessments publicly cited by top administration officials.

Kent’s resignation makes him the highest-ranking figure in the Trump administration to step down over the Iran war, a rare instance of open dissent from a senior national security official. His assertions put him at odds with top intelligence and defense officials who have said Iran posed an immediate threat to the United States. 

“Joe Kent’s self-aggrandizing resignation letter and recent comments are riddled with lies. Most egregious are Kent’s false claims that the largest state sponsor of terrorism somehow did not pose a threat to the United States and that Israel forced the President into launching Operation Epic Fury,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital. “As Commander-in-Chief, President Trump took decisive action based on strong evidence which showed that the terrorist Iranian regime posed an imminent threat and was preparing to strike Americans first.”

Levin, a staunch advocate of the U.S. alliance with Israel and host of weekend program “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Fox, repeatedly challenged Kent’s claims throughout the roughly 22-minute interview, turning what began as a policy discussion into a pointed back-and-forth over intelligence, Israel and Trump’s decision-making. 

Levin rejected Kent’s assertion that Israel drove the U.S. into war, calling it “conspiratorial” and pushing back on the idea that a foreign government could dictate American military action.

“Why do you create a conspiratorial notion that Israel dragged the powerful Donald Trump into war?” Levin asked on his radio show, “The Mark Levin Show.” “Do you have no respect for Donald Trump’s agency that he has the capacity to make these decisions himself?”

Kent responded, “I believe that he was influenced by a media echo chamber and by the Israelis.”

Kent also argued that “the Israelis forced President Trump into this war,” a claim Levin repeatedly pushed back on during the exchange. 

Kent elsewhere described the decision as influenced by Israeli pressure.

Kent maintained that “there was no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon.”

As director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent would have had access to high-level intelligence assessments, including threat reporting and interagency analysis used to brief senior policymakers. 

Administration officials have told Fox News he was not included in discussions surrounding the Iran conflict known as Operation Epic Fury. 

Levin countered, saying, “The president agrees with his own conclusions. The CIA director says you’re wrong.”

Asked Wednesday during a Senate hearing if he disagreed with Kent’s resignation assessment that Iran did not pose an imminent threat, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he did. 

“I think Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time and posed an immediate threat at this time,” Ratcliffe said. 

Levin also questioned Kent’s credibility Monday, telling him, “I hope when you tell me you haven’t leaked that you are telling me the truth.”

Kent also indicated that efforts to investigate potential foreign links to the killing of Charlie Kirk and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, were not fully carried out.

GABBARD SIDESTEPS IRAN ‘IMMINENT THREAT’ CLAIM UNDER SENATE GRILLING

“What I know is that there were foreign leads that we didn’t get a chance to look into. From my vantage point at the National Counterterrorism Center, that was not thoroughly looked into,” Kent said, referring to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In other interviews, Kent has pointed to social media posts made before the attack against Kirk and suggested authorities should examine whether any individuals had prior knowledge or made threats. 

Levin pressed Kent on whether he was suggesting a specific country, including Israel, may have been involved in Kirk’s death, but Kent stopped short of naming any nation, saying only that potential foreign links should be investigated.

On Thomas Matthew Crooks and the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Kent said: “We should investigate to see if there’s any linkage, particularly between Iran and the Iranian agent who was convicted for plotting an assassination attempt against President Trump.”

Kent pointed to the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national convicted in U.S. federal court in March for attempting to orchestrate a political assassination plot tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Endorsed by Trump in two unsuccessful congressional campaigns, Kent rose to MAGA stardom in large part in his opposition to “endless wars” after the death of his wife, Shannon, in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.

Kent could not be reached for comment. 

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, has not publicly weighed in on Kent’s claims and largely has deferred to the president’s assessment of the Iran threat in recent public appearances. It’s not clear who has taken on Kent’s duties as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Israeli embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. 

A resurfaced post by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy discussing the people Democrats “care about most” is sparking social media outrage from conservatives, making the case it points to their priorities in the current fight on Department of Homeland Security funding. 

In the clip, posted on Monday night by the conservative influencer account End Wokeness, MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Murphy in 2024 about negotiations between Democrats and Republicans happening at the time about a border security bill. Hayes pressed Murphy on why Democrats were pushing to get funding for Ukraine instead of pushing for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, as the party had done in the past.

“Well, I mean, Chris, that’s been a failed play for 20 years,” Murphy replied. “So you are right that that has been the Democratic strategy for 30 years, maybe, and it has failed to deliver for the people we care about most, the undocumented Americans that are in this country.”

TRUMP DEMANDS SAVE AMERICA ACT BE TIED TO DHS FUNDING AMID AIRPORT CHAOS

Conservatives quickly picked up on the clip and argued it’s emblematic of why Democrats haven’t been motivated to end the DHS shutdown that they voted for in February in opposition to ICE, even as concerns about national security during the war with Iran linger. 

“This has absolutely proven to be true and never more than this week,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted on X. “Senate Democrats have allowed 260,000 American workers to be used as political pawns so that they could protect criminal aliens that invaded our nation. Sick stuff.”

“Treachery,” Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk posted on X.

LIZ PEEK: VOTERS TELL CONGRESS ‘DO YOUR JOB’ AND END THE DHS SHOWDOWN

“He really said it,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.

“And this guy is going to run for President…,” former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer posted on X.

“Bookmarked for later this year!” White House deputy chief of staff James Blair posted on X.

“He accidentally said the truth out loud,” Congressman Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Murphy’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Hannah Panreck contributed to this report

Nearly a dozen Illinois Democrats are declining to defend their votes against the Laken Riley Act after the killing of a Loyola student allegedly by an illegal immigrant who, under the law, could have been detained following a prior arrest.

Sheridan Gorman, 18, was shot and killed by Jose Medina-Medina, authorities allege, who had previously been picked up for shoplifting in Cook County. That charge would have qualified him to be held for federal detention and processing instead of being released back onto the streets, where he could reoffend, under the act named for a Georgia college student slain by another illegal immigrant repeat offender.

DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that Gorman’s death could have been prevented if not for sanctuary state and city policies and if a law like the Laken Riley Act had been in effect sooner.

“Sheridan Gorman — just like Laken Riley and countless other American victims — would still be with us today and with their families if it were not for sanctuary politicians’ refusal to cooperate with ICE,” Bis said.

CHICAGO LAWMAKER RIPPED OVER ‘DISGUSTING’ RESPONSE TO COLLEGE STUDENT KILLED BY ALLEGED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

The Illinois delegation voted 11-5 against the Laken Riley Act, with Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider not voting due to a medical emergency but later saying he would have voted “no.”

All three Republicans, along with Democratic Reps. Nikki Budzinski and Eric Sorenson, voted for the act, but 11 other Democrats opposed it, along with Schneider.

“While I firmly believe that the government has a responsibility to keep our communities safe and do everything in its power to keep dangerous criminals off our streets, this bill, as written, opens the door to the targeting and detention of innocent people, something clearly prohibited by our Constitution,” Schneider said in a January 2025 statement, going on to say he would support something more along the lines of the Lankford-Sinema immigration bill opposed by President Donald Trump.

Schneider said at the time the Laken Riley Act used the student’s death to “score cheap political points.” He did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Nine of the 11 Democrats who voted “no” did not respond or did not provide comment, except Reps. Jonathan Jackson of Chicago and Jan Schakowsky of Evanston.

Jackson, the son of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, told Fox News Digital that Gorman’s murder is a “senseless tragedy.”

“My deepest condolences go out to her family, friends, and the entire community who are mourning this unspeakable loss. The person responsible for Sheridan’s murder must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

“But let’s be clear: this is about more than a single piece of legislation,” Jackson said in reference to the Laken Riley Act.

DEM GOVERNOR UNDER FIRE AFTER ILLEGAL ALIEN ALLEGEDLY STABS WOMAN TO DEATH AT BUS STOP: ‘HEINOUS’

“I encourage my colleagues to prioritize bills that strengthen, not divide, our communities and policies which would build safer, thriving communities, and save lives, by investing in effective community-based violence interventions.”

A Schakowsky spokesperson directed Fox News Digital to a public statement by the retiring Democrat:

“There are no words for a loss like this. Sheridan Gorman was just 18 years old, with her whole life ahead of her. My heart is with her family, her friends, and every member of the Loyola community mourning this senseless tragedy,” Schakowsky said, while however offering no comment on the Laken Riley Act itself.

DHS was adamant that Gorman’s death was preventable had the Laken Riley Act been made law.

“These politicians would rather release criminal illegal aliens from jails into our communities to perpetuate more crimes and create more victims. Sheridan Gorman was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who released this illegal alien twice before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” Bis told Fox News Digital.

She called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago leaders to stop releasing criminal illegal immigrants back on the streets and said Trump signed the Laken Riley Act to prevent cases just like Gorman’s.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN COLLEGE STUDENT’S MURDER HAULED INTO COURT IN LATEST ARREST

She said 21,400 illegal immigrants have been arrested or detained thanks to the Laken Riley Act in one year since its passage.

Meanwhile, nine other Illinois Democrats remained officially mum on their no votes.

A representative for Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago said the congressman was on another call when a reporter followed up earlier, but Fox News Digital never received a call back.

Requests for comment were sent to Reps. Delia Ramirez, Robin Kelly, Mike Quigley and Jesus Garcia of Chicago; Bill Foster of Aurora; Lauren Underwood of Naperville; Sean Casten of Downers Grove; and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg.

Sens. Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth also voted “no” and did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who authored the House version of the Laken Riley Act, said in a statement that he did so to get criminals like Medina-Medina off the streets.

“This young woman (Gorman) had her whole life ahead of her, and it was taken away by an illegal alien who had already been arrested in a sanctuary city,” Collins said. “If [the act] had been law in 2023, she would still be alive today.”

Former special counsel Jack Smith sought more than two years’ worth of phone records for now-FBI Director Kash Patel while Smith was investigating President Donald Trump, according to a tranche of documents released Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Two subpoenas showed Smith’s team asked Verizon for Patel’s phone records dating from October 2020 through February 2023. Patel first announced the subpoenas’ existence in February, calling them “outrageous and deeply alarming” at the time.

Patel worked in the first Trump administration from 2019 through January 2021, before becoming an outspoken pro-Trump firebrand as a private citizen, meaning the subpoenas stretched back into his time as a government official.

GOP LAWMAKER ACCUSES JACK SMITH OF ‘SPYING’ ON CONGRESS AT TENSE HOUSE HEARING OVER TRUMP PROBE

The subpoenas were accompanied by one-year, court-authorized gag orders, meaning Verizon was ordered by the court not to alert Patel of their existence. It is common for prosecutors to subpoena phone records, also known as toll records, as part of investigations. The records would not include contents of messages but would show with whom Patel communicated and when.

Grassley released the documents ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing examining Arctic Frost, the FBI investigation that led to Smith prosecuting Trump over the 2020 election. Patel was also a known witness in a separate FBI probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents, and it is unclear which of the investigations the subpoenas pertained to.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, voiced at the start of the hearing what many Republicans have said about the Biden DOJ’s efforts to investigate Trump, noting how the expansive probes targeted hundreds of Republican individuals and entities.

“If Watergate taught us anything, it is that even a single abuse of power carried out by a handful of individuals can shake the foundations of our republic,” Cruz said. “But what we confront today, the Biden administration’s Arctic Frost scheme is not a single act. It is a modern Watergate, trading a break-in at one office for a digital sweep into approximately 100,000 private communications. More than a dozen senators and thousands of individuals lives.”

Smith, who became special counsel in November 2022 and resigned when Trump took office, has since appeared before Congress for public and closed-door testimony and repeatedly defended his work as by-the-book and apolitical.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., noted during the hearing that Patel testified to a grand jury as part of the classified documents investigation and that it was “obvious” why Smith was interested in Patel.

“Patel made himself a fact witness in that investigation,” Whitehouse said. “He went on podcasts bragging about how he planned to post classified information online at Donald Trump’s direction, and how he’d personally witnessed Donald Trump declassify records.”

The new documents released by Grassley also included briefing materials Smith’s team prepared for Attorney General Merrick Garland that noted the FBI’s investigative work was “going well,” that meetings were happening among top FBI and DOJ officials and D.C. federal judges and that Smith was relying on the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Committee’s work to help with his investigation.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment.

President Donald Trump tapped Nick Adams to serve as special presidential envoy for American tourism exceptionalism, and values. 

“Mr. President, it is the honor of a lifetime to serve as your special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism and values,” Adams declared in a video that he posted on social media.

“The United States is a nation that, since its inception, was destined for greatness. And the story of American greatness is the most captivating, exciting and inspiring in the history of the world. Now the greatest president we have ever seen has bestowed upon me the duty to tell this story near and far, to reignite a love for America at home, and relight the sacred beacon atop the shining city on a hill for the entire world to see,” he said.

OLYMPIC LEGEND KATIE LEDECKY SHARES WHAT SHE’S LEARNED ABOUT AMERICA

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, “Nick Adams is an America First patriot who will represent our country well as we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, and we look forward to working with him to further showcase and advance America’s excellence across the world stage.”

Adams wrote in a post on X, “I am deeply grateful for President Trump’s continued friendship and confidence in me to serve in this critical role. I will thrust forward into this role and never relent in spreading the message of the greatness of America!” 

TRUMP’S IRAN STRATEGY SHOWCASES ‘DOCTRINE OF UNPREDICTABILITY’ AMID STRIKE THREATS AND SUDDEN PAUSE

Adams is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia, according to the website nickadamsusa.com.

Last year, Trump announced he would nominate Adams to serve as ambassador to Malaysia, but the nomination never ultimately came up for a vote in the Senate.

TRUMP APPOINTS CHARLIE KIRK’S WIDOW ERIKA TO AIR FORCE ACADEMY BOARD OF VISITORS

Back in 2020, Trump appointed Adams to serve on the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ board of trustees.

A GOP state legislative candidate in Florida is aiming to keep Republicans in control of a long-vacant state house seat in a Palm Beach-anchored district that includes Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s home turf.

Republican Jon Maples is facing off in a special election in Florida’s House District 87 against Democrat Emily Gregory in the race to fill the seat left vacant last August, when GOP state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned to become Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller.

The ballot box battle is one of three special legislative elections being held in GOP-dominated Florida on Tuesday. And while the contests won’t change the balance of power in the state legislature, where for more than a quarter-century Republicans have held majorities in both the House and Senate chambers, bragging rights are up for grabs in the president’s home district.

Maples is backed by Trump, who moved his primary permanent residence in 2019 from Trump Tower in New York City to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also backed by a number of top Sunshine State Republicans.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

“There is a very important Special Election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th, for Florida State House District 87 in beautiful Palm Beach County — JON MAPLES HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” the president wrote in a social media post on Monday evening.

The 43-year-old Maples, a financial planner and former Lake Clarke Shores Council member who during his years at Palm Beach Atlantic University was an all-American athlete, has made cutting taxes and government spending, reducing regulations, promoting private sector job creation and advancing school choice.

FOR THE LATEST RESULTS FROM FOX NEWS NATIONAL POLLS, HEAD HERE 

Gregory, a 40-year-old Army spouse, owns and runs a Jupiter-based fitness center for pregnant and postpartum women. The first-time candidate has made affordability, increasing public education, tackling rising property insurance and housing costs, and access to healthcare key parts of her campaign.

Maples was the favorite heading into the special election, thanks to his fundraising advantage in a district that leads to the right. Trump carried the district by roughly 10 points in his 2024 re-election victory.

A victory by Maples would be further evidence of the GOP surge in Palm Beach County, which was once firmly blue.

In central Florida‘s Hillsborough County, Republican Josie Tomkow and Democrat Brian Nathan are facing off Tuesday in the State Senate 14 race to succeed Republican Jay Collins, who resigned from the seat in August to become the state’s lieutenant governor.

The district includes much of Democrat-leaning Tampa as well as the more GOP-leaning Northwest Hillsborough suburbs.

And Republican Hilary Holley and Democrat Edwin Perez are on the ballot in the special election in House District 51, in the race to replace Tomkow. The district covers parts of Polk County, in the central part of the state.

Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have launched an investigation into what they categorize as “rampant taxpayer fraud in California’s hospice programs.”

“Recent reporting has revealed alarming evidence of fraudulent activity in California’s hospice programs, including agencies overbilling Medicare and fraudulently enrolling beneficiaries without their knowledge,” a letter to Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom states.

“The Committee is concerned your administration does not have sufficient internal controls to prevent and detect fraud and is not conducting proper oversight of these hospice programs. As a result, Americans across the country are paying for California’s rampant hospice fraud and vulnerable patients are being exploited,” the letter declares.

CALIFORNIA BUILDING WITH DOZENS OF HEALTH CARE, HOSPICE PROVIDERS RAISES EYEBROWS AMID FRAUD SPECULATION

The lawmakers are demanding information from Newsom.

“The Committee is requesting documents and communications regarding California’s oversight and internal controls to detect and prevent fraud for its federally funded hospice programs,” the document notes.

DOCTOR DENIES KNOWING ABOUT RAMPANT LA-AREA MEDICARE FRAUD USING HIS PROVIDER NUMBER

The letter is signed only by Republicans.

“California took decisive action on hospice fraud years ago. In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation placing a moratorium on new hospice licenses — a policy that remains in effect today, preventing bad actors from entering the system while strengthening oversight of existing providers,” a Newsom spokesperson said in a statement, according to CBS News.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES HOSPICE FRAUD REACHES BILLIONS AS MEDICARE PROVIDERS SCAM FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH FAKE COMPANIES

A statement released by the governor’s office in January says in part, “The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) facilitates a multi-department and multi-agency Hospice Fraud Task Force that includes representation from the California Health & Human Services Agency (CalHHS), Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), California Department of Social Services (DSS), and California Department of Justice’s DMFEA.”

CBS News reported that a Newsom spokesperson said, “This work is delivering results, as more than 280 hospice licenses have been revoked over the past two years and an additional 300 providers are under investigation. The state continues to take coordinated action to suspend Medi-Cal payments, revoke licenses, and pursue prosecutions.”

Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., is introducing new legislation aimed at closing a legal loophole protecting the beneficiaries of Medicaid fraud from prosecution, Fox News Digital has learned.

Moody’s STOP FRAUD in Medicaid Act is routed in her experience as Florida’s attorney general, where she was limited to prosecuting Medicaid fraud only on the provider side. The legislation would grant state attorneys general and their Medicaid Fraud Control Units to investigate and prosecute the recipients of fraudulent benefits as well.

“I fought fraud as Florida’s Attorney General, recovering millions of dollars for taxpayers, and I’m fighting it now as a U.S. Senator: finding and closing gaps in our laws to increase enforcement,” Moody said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

“The STOP FRAUD in Medicaid Act gives State AGs the authority to pursue and prosecute not just providers but recipients looking to bilk taxpayers. This will go a long way to winning our War on Fraud,” the statement continued.

COMER TO SAY TIM WALZ ‘ENABLED FRAUD,’ FAILED WHISTLEBLOWERS IN BOMBSHELL MINNESOTA HEARING

Moody’s office says federal prosecutors can go after fraud recipients under anti-kickback laws, but said federal groups often let the “small fish” skate by. Empowering MFCUs would go a long way toward picking up the slack, they say.

The proposed law could be particularly effective in states like Minnesota, where years of apparently rampant fraud has led to a quagmire of investigations and finger-pointing.

A new state audit investigating the fraud in Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota revealed that the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) failed for years to properly investigate Medicaid kickback allegations.

SENATE DOGE LEADER MOVES TO FORCE ‘RECEIPT’ FOR EVERY TAX DOLLAR AFTER MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

Kickbacks were a key component of fraud schemes uncovered in the state’s autism services program, with prosecutors describing how providers used financial incentives to attract and retain families in order to maximize Medicaid billing, CBS News reported in December.

In one case, investigators said an autism center operator fraudulently billed millions while using tactics that included offering payments or benefits tied to enrollment, illustrating how kickbacks helped drive inflated claims and contributed to large-scale misuse of public funds intended for children with autism.

The audit recommended that DHS “should amend its administrative rule defining ‘fraud’ to clearly include kickbacks” and said the legislature should intervene if that doesn’t take place.

In a press release, Minnesota House Fraud Prevention Committee Chair Kristin Robbins, a Republican state representative running for governor, wrote, “The continued lack of accountability for the rampant fraud in this state is astounding.”

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Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.