As fracking continues to be a key issue in many of the Rust Belt swing states that could decide the 2024 presidential election, incumbent Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is facing increased criticism from his GOP opponent for previously held positions on the matter.

In 2021, Brown was one of 43 senators to vote against a bill to “establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating rules or guidance that bans hydraulic fracturing in the United States.”

Brown also voted no on a motion in the Senate in 2022 giving states “sole authority” to permit and enforce fracking regulations.

While speaking to CNN in 2020, Brown suggested that most of the fracking jobs in Ohio go to “out of state” workers and that “there just aren’t that many jobs in fracking or, unfortunately, even coal in Ohio now” when answering a question about his level of concern about Ohio workers losing their jobs in the fracking industry. 

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR RIPPED FOR IGNORING QUESTIONS ABOUT BIDEN’S PUSH TO ‘BAN’ GAS-POWERED CARS

Some estimates have suggested that fracking supports over 300,000 jobs in Ohio and contributed $55 billion to the state’s economy in 2021. 

When confronted by Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn on the issue of fracking and VP Harris backing away from her position to ban fracking, Brown declined to call Harris out for changing positions and said he believes in an “all of the above strategy.”

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR FLIP-FLOPS ON SUPPLYING ENERGY TO CHINA IN MIDDLE OF RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Brown, who has been criticized for supporting the Biden administration’s policies nearly 100% of the time according to the VoteView database maintained by UCLA political scientists, has bucked the Biden administration on certain issues related to climate change. However, his critics say he is more in line with the progressive “Green New Deal,” than he is the oil and gas industry in Ohio. 

“Sherrod Brown is in lockstep with San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris on all of her radical policies, including a complete ban on fracking. Brown and Harris would rather rely on our adversaries for energy instead of using our resources here at home,” Brown’s GOP opponent, businessman Bernie Moreno, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“In November, Ohioans will reject their radical, anti-energy agenda.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Brown campaign spokesperson said the senator “supports fracking” when it’s “done right.”

“Bernie Moreno is lying and trying to distract from his long record only looking out for himself — from refusing to pay his employees the overtime they were owed and shredding the evidence to get out of it to selling the Chinese-made Buick Envision, which shipped Ohio jobs overseas,” the spokesperson said. 

“Sherrod has been clear that he supports fracking and shale development when it’s done right and supports Ohio workers, has led legislation to connect Ohio workers with jobs in the shale and fracking industry, and has stood up to his own party to protect Ohio jobs.”  

The campaign also pointed to a 2012 press release where Brown said, “Shale development has tremendous potential to bring new economic development and new jobs to our state. Not only do we have to protect our public safety and health, but we must make sure that these new jobs are going to Ohioans—not out-of-staters.”

The Ohio Senate race will be one of the most highly watched in the country as Republicans view the Buckeye State as a prime location to take back control of the Senate in a state that Trump won by eight points in 2020.

The Cook Political report ranks the race as a “toss up.”

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., is blitzing through battleground states in the lead-up to the election, helping boost Republicans in their quest to take the Senate majority as he simultaneously vies to be their next leader. 

The Senate is in recess for the month of October and won’t be back until after the election, but Thune doesn’t seem to be slowing down in the meantime. This weekend, the minority whip will be in Nevada for events with Senate candidate Sam Brown, who is taking on vulnerable Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., a source shared with Fox News Digital. 

Afterward, he’s heading to New York City to raise money for Brown, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick, and Michigan Senate candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

KAMALA HARRIS ISN’T ALONE: VULNERABLE DEMS WANT CURRENT FILIBUSTER GONE

Later in the month, the source told Fox News Digital that Thune would be joining McCormick in Pennsylvania, Senate candidate Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., in Indiana and Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in Montana. 

He also has an array of events lined up with several senators who aren’t up for re-election as he looks to lock down more support in the GOP conference. 

“It’s an insider’s game,” said Ron Bonjean, a former chief of staff of the Senate Republican Conference told Fox News Digital of the leader race. 

“John Thune is playing the inside game while showing enthusiasm—showing public enthusiasm by going to the states.”

“They’re going to remember that Thune was there over the last few weeks before the election,” said Bonjean, who was a spokesman for Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott when he was majority leader.

“Money is important, but showing up matters. And if you can do both, that really can do wonders . . . for racking up Senate votes.”

SENATE PASSES FUNDING BILL WITHOUT SAVE ACT, AVOIDING POTENTIAL SHUTDOWN

Thune is one of three announced leader candidates, alongside Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla. 

Cornyn has established himself as a prolific fundraiser during his tenure, a factor that is certain to play into the race, given outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reputation as a fundraising behemoth. 

A source familiar with the Texas Republican’s political operation told Fox News Digital, “Sen. Cornyn plans to visit multiple battleground states across the country to campaign with candidates over the October recess and raise valuable hard dollars as he’s done for the last two decades, totaling more than $400 million since 2002.” 

His all-time fundraising is something he’s looked to emphasize in recent days, sending his donor network a letter this week highlighting the data and further specifying that he has brought in $500,000 for 33 different Republican senators and candidates over the years and even raised over $1 million each for four senators. Additionally, the source shared that since 2009, Cornyn has driven $287 million to the NRSC through both transfers and direct fundraising.

This cycle alone, the senator has brought in $26 million for Republicans, and $11.8 million specifically for the NRSC. He notably served as NRSC chair twice and was lauded for his leadership in the role. 

JOHN CORNYN FLEXES FUNDRAISING CHOPS AS BATTLE TO SUCCEED MITCH MCCONNELL RAMPS UP

Thune has raised over $29 million this cycle, and a source familiar shared with Fox News Digital that the South Dakota senator expects to hit $30 million during his October travels. 

Recently, he announced a record-breaking $4 million transfer to the NRSC to assist with competitive races. Thune was the previous record-holder, with a prior $2 million transfer. According to the source, the minority whip’s lifetime transfers to the GOP campaign arm now exceed $9 million. The leader hopeful has been the most active senator with the NRSC this cycle, second only to NRSC Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont.

At a recent fundraiser with former president Trump’s campaign in Washington, D.C., Thune brought in $2 million, which was half of the night’s entire fundraising haul, a source familiar with the matter revealed. 

The source also detailed that the minority whip has so far headlined or is scheduled to headline nearly 200 events this cycle for either Republican candidates or the NRSC. 

Thune has been making more publicized appearances on the road than the other leader candidates, doing a similar battleground blitz during the Senate’s August recess. However, Cornyn has been keeping busy in his state of Texas, known for its fundraising potential. 

“Texas has a huge concentration of wealthy donors with conservative values,” one national GOP strategist said.

JOE MANCHIN SAYS HE WON’T ENDORSE HARRIS OVER SUPPORT FOR ELIMINATING FILIBUSTER

Cornyn has attended a series of in-state fundraisers alongside the Trump-Vance campaign and has additionally made trips to Ohio and Pennsylvania to raise money for Moreno and McCormick. The Texas Republican has been a longtime fundraiser for his colleagues, ramping up his giving roughly around 2008. 

Scott faces the disadvantage of being currently in-cycle for his own re-election. As Florida endures a hurricane turned tropical storm, the senator is understood to be spending his time focusing on the storm and his constituents’ safety. 

Afterward, Scott is expected to spend the bulk of his time campaigning for his re-election bid in-state, with less ability to travel the country than his out-of-cycle counterparts. 

Notably, Thune is the only candidate thus far with public endorsements from colleagues, with the backing of both Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.

President Biden is resisting Republican demands to warn Iran in no uncertain terms that killing former President Trump would be an act of war.

The White House declined to comment on the specific demands but referred to a statement on the recent Iranian threats to Trump’s life.

“We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savitt said.

Savitt said Iran has long sought revenge against Trump and his officials for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

“We have ensured that appropriate agencies are continuously and promptly providing the former president’s security detail with evolving threat information. Additionally, President Biden has reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service should receive every resource, capability and protective measure required to address those evolving threats to the former president.”

TRUMP BRIEFED ON ‘REAL AND SPECIFIC’ THREATS TO ASSASSINATE HIM

On Tuesday, top U.S. intelligence officials briefed Trump about threats from Iran to assassinate him, his campaign said. 

On Wednesday, Trump prodded Biden to warn Iran it was risking hot war with the U.S. with such threats.

“As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve – but possibly do – Iran,” Trump said at a campaign event in North Carolina.

“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he added.

Trump said he and the nation had been “threatened very directly by Iran” and the regime needed to know the consequences of harming a U.S. political candidate.

“The best way to do it is through the office of the president, that [if] you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say.”

House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner also demanded Biden warn Iran.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris must make it clear to Iran that any attempt on President Trump’s life would be an act of war,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement Thursday. 

But it comes as Middle East watchers believe Iran could be weeks to months away from the capacity to build a nuclear weapon – fast approaching the capability to enrich uranium to the 90% threshold and with renewed activity at two nuclear weapons test sites. 

Trump also called it “strange” to see that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was in New York this week and was offered substantial protection as he attended the United Nations General Assembly.

DOES IRAN WANT KAMALA HARRIS TO WIN? EXPERTS WEIGH IN 

“We have large security forces guarding him, and yet they’re threatening our former president and the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States,” Trump said, referring to himself.

The U.S. is obligated to offer security to foreign heads of state at the General Assembly under its treaty with the U.N.

Iran recently hacked the Trump campaign and obtained information that it then peddled to the Biden campaign and the media, U.S. intelligence officials revealed last week. 

Pezeshkian, who took office in July, ran on a platform suggesting that he would moderate the regime to get sanctions lifted from the West. 

Multiple people with connections to Iran have been indicted in relation to a hacking plot against former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

It is not yet known how many people are being charged in connection to the alleged cybercrime. Specific charges have also not yet been released.

The details of the indictments could be unsealed as soon as today. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI and Department of Justice but did not receive a response.

This is a developing story and will be updated. 

North Carolina has removed over 700,000 individuals from its registered voter list, officials say. 

The State Board of Elections announced Thursday that 747,000 people have been removed from voter rolls in the last 20 months due to ineligibility. 

“The county boards follow careful policies to ensure that only ineligible records are removed, not those of eligible voters,” the Board of Elections said in a press release.

NORTH CAROLINA GOP FOCUSING ON ‘HAND-TO-HAND POLITICAL COMBAT’ TO RAMP UP GROUND GAME IN BATTLEGROUND STATE

“Meanwhile, newly eligible voters are constantly being added to the registration rolls in our growing state,” the board added. “Currently, North Carolina has nearly 7.7 million registered voters.”

A common reason for removal from voter rolls was moving residences — either within the state without notifying election officials or to another state altogether.

Other removed individuals failed to vote in the last two federal elections and did not respond to follow-up notifications from the government seeking to confirm their registration.

NC RALLYGOERS ‘PRAYING’ THAT TRUMP WINS, SLAM DEM RHETORIC CALLING HIM A ‘THREAT’ AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

Death, felony conviction, requests to be removed, and lack of U.S. citizenship were also listed as reasons for dropping individuals from voter rolls.

The Marist Poll released Thursday finds that Harris and Trump are tied at 49% among likely voters in North Carolina who were asked which candidate they were leaning toward. Of those polled who have made up their minds, 91% said they strongly support their choice.

North Carolina last voted for a Democratic president in 2008, when then-Sen. Barack Obama won the state by 0.3 points, or 14,177 votes. 

Trump pulled out a convincing 3.7 point win in 2016, but that margin shrank to 1.3 points against President Biden in 2020. 

North Carolina began absentee voting for registered voters on Tuesday, having begun sending absentee ballots to military and overseas voters on Friday. Applicants do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. 

The state must receive a ballot application by Oct. 29, and that ballot must be delivered to county officials by Nov. 5.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo, Rémy Numa, Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

China’s growing influence in Michigan has brewed into a “huge issue of concern” for voters in the key battleground state, according to a Trump-backed House candidate sounding the alarm on “failed Democratic” policies in the Great Lakes State. 

“This is a huge issue of concern both from national security and economic security standpoint,” Republican House candidate to represent Michigan’s Tom Barrett told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this week. “Here in Michigan, the Democrats are giving nearly $200 million of state tax money to a Chinese-backed, Communist Party affiliated company that’s going to come to Michigan to build a battery plant. They’ve already purchased a bunch of rural farmland to go out and build a Chinese Communist Party-backed battery plant in Michigan, not far from a military installation where I trained for countless hours during my career in the Army.”

Barrett is an Army veteran who previously served in Michigan’s state House and state Senate before launching his race to represent the 7th District in the U.S. House. Barrett earned Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” for the House seat earlier this year, and spoke to Fox News Digital about the top issues he’s highlighting from the campaign trail, including spiraling inflation, border policies, fentanyl overdose deaths, as well as China’s growing influence in the state. 

“While families are struggling in Michigan to make ends meet and just buy groceries, pay for their home heating costs, our state government, backed by my opponent, is sending nearly $200 million of their state tax money to a Chinese communist company just so they can come here and spy on us. This is rotten to the core,” Barrett said. 

MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO SPAR WITH DEMS OVER DEAL WITH CHINESE EV COMPANY IN KEY HOUSE RACE

In 2022, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Gotion, a China-based manufacturer, would construct a $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in a rural area of the state near Big Rapids. The announcement was met with outrage from residents, including local leaders working to reverse a water supply agreement that would have crippled the plant’s construction. Gotion sued the township, Green Charter, and notched a legal victory last month when a federal judge upheld a preliminary injunction allowing construction to continue. 

Barrett’s competitor this cycle, Curtis Hertel, worked as Whitmer’s director of legislative affairs from 2015 to 2023, before serving in the state Senate. 

“My opponent signed a nondisclosure agreement to negotiate sending this money to this Chinese company while he was a member of the state Senate and then later went to work as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s chief lobbyist. He’s listed in the Foreign Agents Registries Act filings with having secret conversations with this Chinese company about maneuvering through the legislature to get their funding approved,” Barrett said of his competitor and Democrats in the state. 

Hertell’s campaign and Whitmer’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for contact. 

Barrett pointed to remarks from former Obama administration CIA director Leon Panetta, who warned earlier this year that China would likely use the battery plant for espionage purposes. 

“I don’t think there’s any question that they’re going to take advantage of that situation,” Panetta warned in January when asked about the plant during a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party hearing. “And I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on. That’s just the way they operate. They’ll establish a manufacturing unit, they’ll establish whatever they can, and then they will use that for their own intelligence purposes. They will use that for their own economic purposes.”

Barrett said the deal is not only a national security threat, but also risks American jobs. 

MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN TOM BARRETT LEAPS BACK INTO CRUCIAL HOUSE RACE AFTER SLOTKIN EXIT

“It is all in the pursuit of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s electric vehicle mandate that will systematically replace and eliminate existing manufacturing jobs in Michigan that make up the very fabric of our economy here. So we have a Chinese company threatening with national security concerns to replace American jobs in traditional manufacturing with electric vehicle mandates that are borne by the Biden administration. So this has so many problems. It’s an absolutely horrible deal,” he said. 

“Michiganders are stepping up. They’re aware of this. It is terribly unpopular here. And we need to take this fight to the ballot box to make sure that we don’t let this go forward.”

Trump joined farmers during a panel earlier this week in another battleground state, Pennsylvania, where they discussed China’s recent purchases of American farmland and again enforcing a trade deal against China that benefits American farmers. 

“My first call, I’m going to call up President Xi. I’m going to say, ‘You have to honor the deal you made. We made a deal. You’d buy $50 billion worth of American farm product.’ And I guarantee you he will buy it. 100% he will buy it,” Trump said Monday during a campaign event in Smithton, Pennsylvania. 

SENATE GOP UNLEASHES CAMPAIGN BLASTING DEM CANDIDATE FOR HUSH AGREEMENT INVOLVING CCP-TIED COMPANY

Trump struck a trade deal with China in 2020 that included Beijing’s commitment to halt intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate in financial services and purchase an additional $200 billion of U.S. products over two years, including up to $50 billion of U.S. agriculture. 

“Second thing I’m going to do is, I’m going to say you have to give the death penalty to your fentanyl dealers who are sending fentanyl. You know, in China, they give the death penalty. They don’t have a drug problem because they give the death penalty,” Trump said. 

Fentanyl and overdose deaths are again one of the top concerns for Americans this election cycle, with Trump tying the fatal drug to the influx of illegal immigrants who have poured over the southern border under the Biden-Harris administration. 

Barrett said his area and district are among the communities across the nation that have been rocked by the influx of the synthetic opioid from across the border. 

TRUMP AND VANCE TO HOLD FIRST RALLY IN MICHIGAN

“Every single community in America, in every town, not just in the district where I’m running, but every town in America has been touched and affected and devastated by the outcomes of illegal immigration and lax border policies that have flooded every community with fentanyl. And now the leading cause of death of Americans my age is fentanyl overdose. It’s a crippling and devastating tragedy. And we have to fix the problem,” he said. 

“We have to secure our border with more structures. We have to reinstate the remain in Mexico policy. We can’t allow the exploitation of asylum claims to overwhelm our social welfare system, to overwhelm our border security. We need to put Border Patrol agents on the border instead of processing asylum claims all day as they’re doing right now. And we need to get back to two policies that deter illegal border crossing,” he continued. 

Barrett is an Army veteran who signed his contract over the Christmas break of his senior year in high school. He spent 22 years in the Army, serving in the Iraq War, Guantanamo Bay, Kuwait, and at the DMZ separating North and South Korea. 

Barrett pointed to his military career amid his calls to secure the border. 

EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN ILLINOIS, NORTH DAKOTA, FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN

“I spent a year of my life deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom to Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, where there were terrorists that we were securing in that facility. And they told us straight to our face, that they wanted to come to America and kill Americans. I believe them. We need to keep them out of our country. We’ve had hundreds on the terror watch list that we already know have crossed into this country just during this administration. We need to remove them and we need to make sure that we don’t allow any further terrorists into our country,” he said. 

Barrett is in the lead in his race against Hertell, but underscored he’s not taking anything for granted while 

“I think President Trump is very well poised to win Michigan. We know this is going to be a very close race and absolutely nothing we can take for granted. The seventh Congressional District in Michigan, where I’m running, is also highly competitive. And we also have a very competitive United States Senate race in Michigan,” he said. 

“This really is going to shape the direction of our country. And we can go down the same failed path we’ve been on already with the high cost of living and groceries that are unaffordable for families, and mortgage rates that don’t allow a young couple to begin their own family. Or we can turn the corner. Secure our border. Get our costs of living under control, get crime under control, put our foreign adversaries back in check where they belong, and really forge a new path for America.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Vice President Harris’ controversial filibuster comment isn’t out of line with a group of vulnerable Democrat senators vying to keep their seats in the upper chamber who are also willing to do away with the legislative filibuster.

In fact, Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Casey, D-Pa., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., all voted to change the rules in 2022 to allow a bill that would loosen federal voting requirements to be passed by a simple majority, which Democrats had in the Senate.

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris, a former senator, told Wisconsin Public Radio this week, referencing changing Senate rules to codify the precedent set in Roe v. Wade into law and protect the ability to get an abortion federally.

SENATE PASSES FUNDING BILL WITHOUT SAVE ACT, AVOIDING POTENTIAL SHUTDOWN

Immediately afterward, Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., said he would not endorse her for president: “I’m not endorsing her,” he told Fox News. 

The legislative filibuster requires 60 votes to end debate on a bill and advance to a final vote. If a measure is unable to meet this threshold on a cloture vote, it cannot move forward for final passage consideration. 

In 2022, both moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Manchin bucked Democrats to join Republicans in preventing the rule change that would have allowed Democrats to pass the voting requirements bill with the party’s razor-thin majority. The senators were both Democrats at the time but subsequently left the party to become independents. They each later announced they wouldn’t seek re-election. 

Ahead of the filibuster standoff, Brown told one outlet in 2020, “We’ve got to eliminate the filibuster.” 

Rosen remarked to another in 2021 that she supported suspending the filibuster’s rules “in the case of protecting democracy,” such as passing the voting requirements bill. 

GOP SENATORS EYE COMPREHENSIVE CHINA STRATEGY TO CURB CCP INFLUENCE

Also in 2021, Casey said the threshold was “an arcane Senate procedure” and added, “If the choice comes down to the filibuster or democracy, I know which side I’m on.”

Tester told MSNBC during the same summer that if the filibuster continued being “weaponized,” he would be left with few choices.

Baldwin backed scrapping the legislative filibuster as far back as 2013, co-sponsoring a bill to do so at the time and reinstitute a “talking filibuster.” Under this change, the 60-vote threshold or legislative filibuster would be eliminated and those who want to filibuster a measure would be required to speak on the chamber floor. If and when those lawmakers stop speaking, a final vote by simple majority would take place. 

A spokesperson told Fox News Digital earlier in the year that “Senator Tester does not support ending the filibuster.”

But Tester told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, “Talking filibuster, that’s what I want, period.”

The talking filibuster would effectively eliminate the current legislative filibuster. 

TOP SECRET SERVICE AGENT IN PITTSBURGH SAYS HE WAS KEPT IN DARK ON ‘CREDIBLE’ THREAT AHEAD OF BUTLER RALLY

Casey also reiterated his interest in voting on the 60-vote rule to Fox News Digital in the spring. 

Baldwin on Wednesday told Fox News Digital she agreed with Harris’ recent comment and still backs returning to the talking filibuster.

In response to their interest in a talking filibuster, Manchin told Fox News Digital, “There’s only one filibuster, 60-vote threshold.”

Both Brown and Rosen ignored questions about whether they agreed with Harris’ comment from Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

Representatives for Casey, Rosen and Brown did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital regarding whether they agreed with Harris or if their positions had changed.

JOE MANCHIN SAYS HE WON’T ENDORSE HARRIS OVER SUPPORT FOR ELIMINATING FILIBUSTER

Tester is considered the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election as top political handicappers predict a Republican win and polls show the Montana senator losing traction.

The Ohio race is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report as Brown competes to keep his seat. 

Baldwin, Casey and Rosen’s races in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada are rated “Lean Democrat.” 

In 2021, voters were somewhat divided on the filibuster and many were unsure what they thought about it. According to an April 2021 Fox News Poll, 27% supported eliminating the filibuster while 29% opposed doing so. However, 39% didn’t have an opinion at all. 

In the aftermath of the dispute over Senate rules in early 2022, even fewer voters reported having an opinion. In a July 2022 Fox News Poll, those who supported eliminating the filibuster and those who opposed it were tied at 26% each, while nearly half, at 47%, said they didn’t have an opinion.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

In a legislative session marked by a surge in activity, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has more than 800 bills on his docket to either sign into law or veto by next week. The sheer amount of potential new legislation is further evidence of the Golden State government’s penchant for a heavy touch when it comes to governance, according to critics.

As California remains the most regulated state in the country, state lawmakers introduced over 4,400 bills for 2023-2024, eclipsing the 4,100 proposed in the 2020-2021 term, longtime Capitol lobbyist Chris Micheli noted.

California public policy expert Lance Christensen warned that many of the bills introduced serve as “vanity projects” for legislators. And with the governor signing the majority, the state’s lawbook is expanding into a labyrinth of complexity that poses significant challenges for citizens and small businesses, driving up compliance costs.

NEWSOM VETOES BIPARTISAN ACCOUNTABILITY LEGISLATION AIMED AT STATE SPENDING ON HOMELESSNESS CRISIS

“Who has the capacity to read literally millions of pages worth of state law, let alone the millions of pages of regulations … and the answer is zero,” Christensen told Fox News Digital. “Nobody ever reads all this stuff. Very few people really understand how complex it is, and because of that, most people are breaking the law every single day, and they have no idea.

“How can you manage that process without somebody else interpreting that for you? So, that increases the cost of knowledge, but it also increases the cost of compliance.”

Already, Newsom has signed a package of public safety bills aimed at reducing organized retail theft. He’s also vetoed a number of progressive bills, including several that would have expanded aid to illegal immigrants through housing loans and permitted employment through the University of California (UC) system and a reparations package for Black residents.

Promising to tackle the mental health crisis among young people, the blue state governor also signed a historic bill restricting cellphones in schools.

NEWSOM VETOES BILL THAT WOULD LET NONCITIZEN STUDENTS WORK AT STATE’S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Newsom often vetoes bills if they appear redundant or the cost would further burden the state’s budget shortfall, according to a CalMatters analysis. Last year, Newsom vetoed 156 bills and signed 890, reflecting a veto rate of about 15%, similar to the previous year. His veto rate in 2021 was under 8%.

From start to finish, the creation of a bill in California costs roughly $30,000, which does not include more complex legislation that takes longer to draft.

Because of this, Christensen said, “money (is) being sucked out of the economy for people just simply to understand — not even comply with — but just simply understand what the legislation is.”

NEWSOM’S DEEPFAKE ELECTION LAWS ARE ALREADY BEING CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT

Newsom has signed dozens of packages meant to fast-track certain initiatives, like expanding housing development and environmental policies. 

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“The governor has repeatedly taken action to streamline government,” Brandon Richards, deputy director of Newsom’s rapid response team, told Fox News Digital. “He is intentional with every measure he signs into law — focusing on solving problems and supporting Californians — while recognizing that not every problem warrants a new law.”

Vice President Harris stops in battleground Arizona on Friday to hold a campaign event along the U.S. southern border with Mexico as the Democrat presidential nominee works to turn the issue of immigration and border security from a negative into a positive.

Harris has faced frequent attacks from her Republican opponent, former President Trump, and his allies who argue she’s weak on border security, an issue that many Republicans see as the vice president’s political Achilles’ heel. Harris has faced intense criticism over the surge of migrants across the nation’s southern border during the first three years of President Biden’s administration.

The Trump campaign, on the eve of Harris’ first border visit as a presidential nominee, called it a “political ploy.”

But Harris, with a stop in Douglas, Arizona, aims to show that she’s better prepared than Trump to tackle the combustible issue of immigration and what Republicans have spotlighted as the crisis at the southern border.

HARRIS LEANS IN ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP RELISHES THE FIGHT

The vice president is expected to speak about how she is pushing what she describes as the toughest bipartisan border security plan in a generation, a measure that includes new border agents and technologies to stop fentanyl trafficking.

And she’s expected to reiterate her argument that Trump “has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk.”

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

She has repeatedly pointed to a border security bill with some bipartisan support that had been making its way through Congress this year before Republicans turned against the measure after prompting from Trump.

Harris has said that the former president “tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election” and has pledged that “as the president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.”

Since replacing Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket more than two months ago, Harris has described herself as a former “border state prosecutor” who took on international gangs and criminal organizations behind illegal drug, gun and human trafficking across the border.

The description comes as Harris and her campaign have also spotlighted a tougher stance on border security while still pushing for a pathway to citizenship for some migrants.

“We need a comprehensive plan,” Harris said Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC. “That includes what we need to do to fortify not only our border but deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways for people to earn citizenship.”

Biden tasked Harris in 2021 with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in Central American countries. It led to her being dubbed the “border czar” both by the media and some Republicans, although the White House has rejected that description. And the vice president has been pilloried over her role as “Biden’s border czar” by Trump and his allies.

Trump, as he runs to win back his old job in the White House, is calling for a major crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border and has suggested using police and the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

Speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump said Harris was traveling to the southern border for “political reasons.”

“When Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero,” Trump said. “I hope you’re going to remember that on Friday. When she tells you about the border, ask her just one simple question: ‘Why didn’t you do it four years ago?’”

And Trump has said the policies of the Biden-Harris administration have allowed millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally.

In June, after the collapse of the bipartisan border security bill, Biden announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials say the U.S.-Mexico border is overwhelmed. Following the implementation of the new rules through executive orders, arrests for illegal border crossings have plummeted.

Polls indicate that immigration and abortion are two of the top issues on the minds of American voters, following the economy and inflation.

And public opinion surveys, including those from Fox News, indicate that by double digits Americans believe Trump would do a better job than Harris handling the issue.

Trump last visited the border during a stop last month in Arizona, which is one of the seven crucial battleground states that will likely determine the winner of the presidential election.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced new executive actions Thursday aimed at reducing gun violence, and capped off the afternoon with a press conference touting all the work the Biden-Harris administration has done on the issue, while slamming Republicans for their response to it.

“Guns are the number one – hard to believe – they’re the number one killer of children in America. More than any other cause – accidents – more than any other cause. It’s almost unbelievable – it’s sick,” Biden said from the White House’s East Room on Thursday. “Last year, after another school shooting, my predecessor said – like other members of Congress say – ‘Just get over it.’ I’m going to be very blunt, Secretary Vance from Ohio has called these shootings ‘facts of life.’ Who the hell do these people think they are?”

“Never was the Second Amendment meant to be absolute,” Biden said Thursday afternoon.

In addition to attacking Republicans, Biden also spent time during Thursday’s press conference touting the work his administration has done to reduce violent crime overall. 

“A year before we came to the presidency, we saw the biggest increase in murder rates on record. Last year we saw the largest decrease in murder rates nationwide,” Biden said. “In the first half of 2024, in large cities across the country, the homicide rate dropped another 17%. Last year we also saw the lowest rates of all violent crime in more than 50 years.”

WHITE HOUSE GRILLED ON HARRIS’ GUN OWNERSHIP, MANDATORY GUN BUYBACKS

The Thursday press conference came the same week as the one-year anniversary of Biden’s first-of-its-kind Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Biden slammed Republicans for trying to “defund.” Prior to the Thursday afternoon press conference, the White House unveiled Biden’s plan to take new executive actions aimed at combating “emerging” firearms threats, such as unserialized “ghost guns,” which can be made via a 3-D printer, and improving the manner in which schools prepare for incidents involving an active shooter.

Biden said his new actions would establish a task force that will address the issue of 3-D printed “ghost guns” and machine-gun conversion devices, which are firearm components that can turn a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic one. Biden added that the task force will publish a “risk assessment” report within 90 days that will lay out “a strategy to address these emerging firearms threats.” 

In addition, Biden is directing the members of his Cabinet to share a report within 110 days that outlines “resources and information for schools to improve active shooter drills, minimize this harm, create age appropriate content and communicate with parents.”

“The lack of guidance today on how to prepare students while minimizing the trauma of active shooter drills is unacceptable,” Biden argued.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN WON’T GIVE DETAILS ON TYPE OF GUN SHE OWNS, LAST TIME SHE WENT TO RANGE

KAMALA HARRIS ONCE SAID POLICE COULD PAY SURPRISE VISITS TO LEGAL GUN OWNERS’ HOMES FOR SAFE STORAGE CHECKS

Meanwhile, Vice President Harris spoke at the Thursday event and reiterated her support for a nationwide assault weapons ban. Harris also called for the implementation of universal background checks, safe storage laws, red-flag laws and more mental health counselors in schools.

Both Harris and Biden also slammed the gun lobby and gun manufacturers as well, arguing they need to be held liable in certain instances of gun violence.

“If [Republicans] got their way, criminals could traffic guns and commit crimes,” Biden said Thursday. “There’s an amendment to defund the office of gun violence prevention. Bless me Father, as we say in my church. They attack the FBI and want to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives … Folks, you can’t be pro-law enforcement and be anti-FBI and ATF.”

HARRIS-LED OFFICE, ATF STONEWALLING PROBE INTO ‘COLLUSION’ WITH ANTI-GUN GROUP LAWSUIT: HOUSE OVERSIGHT CHAIR

Gun control critics, meanwhile, argue that Biden’s executive orders were an effort to distract from his administration’s poor record when it comes to reducing crime in major metropolitan cities. 

“This Executive Order is just one more attempt by the Biden-Harris Administration to deflect attention from their soft-on-crime policies that have emboldened criminals in our country,” said Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. 

“The orders are notably heavy on election-year rhetoric and light on substance,” Kozuch continued. “It’s no secret that Americans don’t feel safe under the Biden-Harris Administration, as evidenced by the record number of firearms being purchased for the defense of self and family.”