Welcome to the Fox News’ Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

DON’T MISS IT: Vance vs. Walz this Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. What might set this VP debate apart from the rest?

– 3 hackers with ties to Iran indicted in plot against Trump campaign

– President Biden declines to say if Iran killing Trump would be an ‘act of war’

– NYC Mayor Eric Adams turns himself in to face charges in federal corruption case

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.

“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. …Read more

AFRAID TO ESCALATE: White House declines to say if Iran killing Trump would be an ‘act of war’ …Read more

BOYCOTTED: Democrats skip testimony from GOP lawmakers with sniper experience at Trump assassination attempt hearing …Read more

‘WE’VE GOT TO’: Kamala Harris isn’t alone: Vulnerable Dems want current filibuster gone …Read more

BATTLEGROUND BLITZ: As leader race looms, John Thune takes Senate map by storm to boost GOP candidates …Read more

PLOT AGAINST TRUMP: 3 hackers with ties to Iran indicted in plot against Trump campaign: DOJ …Read more

BORDER BATTLE: Harris heads to southern border looking to flip script on immigration criticisms …Read more

‘VERY GOOD RELATIONSHIP’: Trump meets Ukraine’s Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, says Russia’s war must end with ‘fair deal’ …Read more

UNDER SCRUTINY: Harris visits crucial border state as immigration record sparks scrutiny: A timeline …Read more

DAY IN COURT: Mayor Eric Adams arrives to turn himself in to face charges in federal corruption case …Read more

‘APPEASING’ RADICALS: Harvard went easy on students for antisemitic conduct, House committee finds …Read more

‘SECRET CONVERSATIONS’: Trump-endorsed House candidate sounds alarm on China’s growing influence in battleground state …Read more

HIGHLY REGULATED: 800-plus bills left on Newsom’s desk illustrate California’s overregulation problem: experts …Read more

‘ANTI-ENERGY AGENDA’: Vulnerable Dem senator ripped for votes on key 2024 Rust Belt issue: ‘Lockstep’ with Harris …Read more

‘DEFIES ALL COMMON SENSE’: Tens of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals, including sex offenders, loose on the streets: ICE data …Read more

HUNGARY FOR TRUMP: Hungarian FM recalls strong Trump admin ‘experience,’ claims ‘our hope is all’ on former president …Read more

THE COVID EXCUSE: China tried to smuggle drones to Libya disguised as Covid aid with help of UN workers, investigator says …Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore his name to New York’s election ballot.

The appeal was denied by the country’s highest court without comment and without any noted dissents.

Kennedy has been trying to get his name off ballots in key battleground states since he suspended his campaign in August and endorsed former President Trump.

The candidate has simultaneously tried to stay on the ballot in states like New York, where his presence is unlikely to make a difference in the battle between Trump and Vice President Harris.

NEW YORK MAG PUTS REPORTER OLIVIA NUZZI ON LEAVE FOR ALLEGED ‘PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP’ WITH RFK JR.

When he suspended his campaign, Kennedy said he planned to keep his name on the ballot in safe Democratic and Republican states, but didn’t want to be a spoiler in the battleground states. 

RFK, JR.: WE’RE TRYING TO GET OFF THE BALLOT IN ALL THE STATES I MIGHT BE A SPOILER

“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.”

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Since suspending his campaign, Kennedy backed former Trump’s White House bid. 

And since Kennedy’s endorsement, Trump added him and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team.

A new poll in the race for a crucial electoral vote that could potentially determine whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump wins the 2024 White House race suggests that Harris holds a sizable lead.

Harris stands at 53% support, and Trump at 42% among likely voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, according to a new CNN poll conducted Sept. 20 to 25 and released on Friday.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the nation that divide their electoral votes by congressional district. A competitive district in each of the states could help decide whether Harris or Trump succeeds President Biden in the White House.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Nebraska is solidly red in presidential elections. Trump carried the state by 25 points in his 2016 White House victory and by 19 points in his 2020 re-election defeat.

But Nebraska’s 2nd District, an urban-suburban area anchored by the city of Omaha, has a history of being competitive. 

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS SHOW

In 2008, then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama narrowly won the district, capturing its single electoral vote. In 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney won the district by single digits. Trump narrowly carried the district in 2016, but Biden won it four years ago.

The poll indicates Harris grabbing the support of 96% of Democrats, 61% of independents and even 10% support among Republicans.

According to the survey, Harris also holds a 24-point lead among female voters, while Trump’s advantage among men is just five points.

Six in ten of those questioned in the poll said that Nebraska should keep its current system of rewarding electoral votes in a presidential election, with 40% saying it should switch to the system employed in 48 states, where the statewide winner grabs all the electoral votes.

Trump and national Republicans made a full-court press in recent weeks to urge Nebraska Republican lawmakers to change the law and switch to a winner-take-all system, but their lobbying effort fell short.

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is downplaying past disagreements with former President Donald Trump following a meeting in New York City.

Zelenskyy visited Trump Tower on Friday to meet with the Republican presidential nominee, then sat down with Fox News’ Griff Jenkins to discuss what seems to have been a good-spirited conversation.

“We understand that even in any kind of future negotiations, Ukraine has to be strong. That’s what it’s about,” Zelenskyy told Jenkins when asked why he met with Trump. “We spoke with Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and the Congress of the United States.”

TRUMP MEETS UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY AT TRUMP TOWER, SAYS RUSSIA’S WAR MUST END WITH ‘FAIR DEAL’

Jenkins pressed Zelenskyy about his comments that appeared in a New Yorker article earlier this week — in which he was quoted saying that he believes Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how” — and whether Trump had said anything to change Zelenskyy’s mind.

“No, I said that I think that we understand much more better than everybody, really, including Donald Trump, what’s going on in Ukraine and how to stop him. It’s difficult to understand,” Zelenskyy responded.

The Ukrainian president said his country is now a completely different nation from the one that was first invaded in 2022.

ZELESNKYY SAYS ‘TRUMP DOESN’T KNOW PUTIN,’ RUSSIAN DICTATOR WILL ‘NEVER STOP’

“Ukraine, during the war in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion — two different countries. So without this experience, you can’t really understand how to stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin],” Zelenskyy continued. “And that’s what I wanted to share to president . . . and the price of this tragedy of bloody invasion of Putin.”

At one point during their meeting, Trump told the press that he had a “good relationship” with both Zelenskyy and Putin. Zelenskyy then interjected to say he hopes the U.S. has a better relationship with Ukraine than Russia.

Jenkins asked the Ukrainian president whether Trump’s comment about maintaining a good relationship with Putin concerned him.

Zelenskyy said he was not necessarily concerned, acknowledging that “Trump has relations and had relations when he was the president, during his term” and maintains “relations with a lot of countries and a lot of UN leaders.”

During the exclusive interview, Zelenskyy lamented the lack of response Putin received from the rest of the world when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 with the taking of Crimea.

“Nobody kicked him, and that meant he understood that he can occupy it and go further. He can occupy new territories of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “He began to prepare to do this — his plan — and he did it.”

The former director of Project 2025 did not step down in July, as was initially reported, but was fired due to “dismissive and unprofessional” workplace behavior, the conservative think tank revealed Friday. The man at the center of the controversy says he’s being made a “scapegoat.”

Project 2025 is only the latest iteration of a longstanding Heritage Foundation initiative to establish a conservative governing blueprint. But incessant attacks by Democrats focusing on Project 2025 have led to intense scrutiny and frequent misrepresentations of the plan’s details.

Still, Paul Dans’ departure from the institution had little to do with that firestorm, according to Heritage.

“Paul Dans was terminated from the Heritage Foundation due to a number of related issues, including his dismissive and unprofessional approach to interacting with a number of his colleagues,” Kelly Adams, director of people operations at Heritage, told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP HITS BACK AT HARRIS WITH ‘KAMALA’S PROJECT 2025′

“After some specific disconcerting interactions were brought to the attention of senior management, an internal review was conducted, and a decision was made to separate Mr. Dans’ employment as amicably as possible.”

At the time, Dans was said to be stepping down as the Project 2025 head.

But Heritage soon reportedly received multiple communications from Dans that accused the think tank of terminating him on false grounds.

“I was made a scapegoat by The Heritage Foundation to cover up for their own mishandling of the public relations fiasco over Project 2025,” Dans told Real Clear Politics. “It appears that the Heritage Foundation continues to trash my good name and professional reputation for their benefit.”

The Heritage Foundation defended its decision and said it was Dans’ workplace behavior that led to his firing.

HERITAGE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT CONFIRMS TRUMP HAD NO INVOLVEMENT IN PROJECT 2025

“The Heritage Foundation deeply values all of our staff and is committed in both practice and principle to maintaining a positive work environment where abusive or demeaning behavior is not welcome,” Adams said.

“We are deeply disappointed that Mr. Dans is using the liberal media to attack Heritage’s decision to terminate him, thereby making the rationale behind his dismissal public. We will not allow him to falsely attack Heritage and its people, without defending the difficult decision to terminate Paul’s employment based on facts. We will continue to defend our staff and our institution from false narratives and disgruntled former employees.”

New reports have surfaced detailing Dans’ behavior leading up to the termination, specifically allegations about his conduct at the Republican National Convention in July, when he reportedly cursed at colleagues while critiquing their performance and was issued a warning by Heritage President Kevin Roberts. 

“He was being so demeaning,” a source told Real Clear Politics. “It was constant, and he refused to listen.” 

After he was fired, Dans, through his legal counsel, reportedly sought $3.1 million from Heritage and wanted the funds delivered in two days, according to documents reviewed by RCP. Heritage rejected the request.

Soon after he was fired, Dans became a vocal critic of the Trump campaign, telling The New York Times in September the former president should replace two of his senior advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. Dans claimed their mismanagement had prevented Trump from surging ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump has repeatedly denied any involvement in Project 2025’s formation, saying, “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with sex offenses and homicide convictions are loose on the streets, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data provided to lawmakers this week. 

The agency provided data to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, about national data for illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions. The data, as of July 2024, is broken down by those in detention, and those who are not in detention — known as the non-detained docket.  The non-detained docket includes illegal immigrants who have final orders of removal or are going through removal proceedings but are not detained in ICE custody. There are currently more than 7 million people on that docket.

The data says that, among those not in detention, there are 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 with pending criminal charges.

ICE NON-DETAINED DOCKET EXPLODES TO 7.4M CASES

Those include 62,231 convicted of assault, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 56,533 with drug convictions and 13,099 convicted of homicide. An additional 2,521 have kidnapping convictions and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions. 

There are an additional 1,845 with pending homicide charges, 42,915 with assault charges, 3,266 with burglary charges and 4,250 with assault charges.

“As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket—13,099 criminally convicted MURDERS!” Gonzales said in a statement. “Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities.”

In a statement accompanying the latter, ICE took aim at so-called “sanctuary” cities, which refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement in deporting illegal immigrant criminals.

“ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations. However, ‘sanctuary’ policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities,” it said.

It also stressed DHS’ efforts to remove illegal immigrants: “From mid-May 2023 through the end of July 2024, DHS removed or returned more than 893,600 individuals, including more than 138,300 individuals in family units. The majority of all individuals encountered at the Southwest Border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled.”

‘POLITICAL STUNT’: CRITICS DISMISS HARRIS’ EXPECTED ARIZONA BORDER VISIT AS IMMIGRATION REMAINS TOP ISSUE

However, the Biden administration came under fire for releasing many migrants who came to the U.S. border into the interior, which coincided with a sharp drop in deportations as it focused on prioritizing public safety and national security threats. There were 142,580 removals in FY 23, up considerably from 72,177 in FY 22 and 59,011 in FY 21, but still down from the highs of 267,258 under the Trump administration in FY 19. 

The number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket, meanwhile, has soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to over 7 million in FY 2023. 

Republicans have blamed the border crisis on the policies of the administration, including rolling back Trump policies that limited “catch and release.”

“It may be shocking to hear that the Biden-Harris administration is actively releasing tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens into our communities, but their own numbers conclusively prove this to be the case. This defies all common sense,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green told Fox News Digital. “Under President Biden and his ‘border czar,’ Vice President Harris, DHS law enforcement has been directed to mass-release illegal aliens whom they know have criminal convictions or are facing charges for serious crimes—and these dangerous, destructive individuals are making their way into every city and state in this country. How many more Americans need to die or be victimized before this administration is forced to abide by the laws they swore to uphold? This is madness. It is something no civilized, well-functioning society should tolerate.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

The administration has said it needs more funding and reforms from Congress, including via a bipartisan Senate bill introduced this year – which has been rejected by Republicans.

“Despite the challenges of operating within a broken immigration system, and in the face of an enormous workload and consistently limited funding, DHS continues to enforce the law to secure our borders.

That bill would increase the number of ICE detention beds, but critics of the administration have pointed to numbers showing not all beds are being filled currently.

The data’s release comes as Vice President Kamala Harris visits the southern border in Arizona as she seeks to blunt criticism from former President Trump on the matter. Conservatives were not swayed by the visit.

“Border Czar Kamala Harris has had nearly four years to protect America and failed,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE), told Fox News Digital in response to the data. “She is allowing tens of thousands of murderers and rapists to roam free. She puts criminals first and the safety and security of you and your family last.”

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

China attempted to send $1 billion worth of drones disguised as COVID-19 aid to a Libyan warlord through the assistance of corrupt U.N. officials, according to a Canadian government investigator. 

New court documents accuse Chinese state officials of conspiring to hide the $1 billion deal to offer 42 drones to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar through U.N. officials, who would mark the arms shipments as COVID-19 aid. 

Through FBI intercepts, Canada’s Royal Mounted Police found alleged plots to sell Libyan oil to China and to buy drones from 2018 to 2021. 

“The Chinese government seems to have approved a strategy to aid Libya in the procurement and delivery of military equipment through designated and approved companies to obscure the direct involvement of government agencies,” the investigator stated.

Two Libyan nationals working in Canada at the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, were charged with conspiracy for the scheme in April. A preliminary hearing is expected in the spring.  

REPUBLICANS PROPOSE BILL THAT WOULD DOUBLE TARIFFS ON CHINESE IMPORTS 

The accusations, first reported by Defense News, are part of documents submitted in court in Montreal to obtain warrants to access the phones of the men involved. 

“This scheme appears to be a deliberate attempt to circumvent U.N. sanctions that were in effect at the time,” the report said. 

Haftar, who received the drones, is a Russia-backed strongman who controls eastern Libya. He unsuccessfully tried to seize control of western Libya in 2020. The aim of the drones’ shipment was “‘using war to end war quickly’ without attracting the attention of the international community,” said the investigator, adding “the fight against the Coronavirus” was used as cover. 

95 LIBYAN NATIONALS ARRESTED AT SUSPECTED SOUTH AFRICAN MILITARY TRAINING CAMP 

One of the Libyan nationals involved in the scheme – Fathi Ben Ahmed Mhaouek – was arrested while the other, Mahmud Mohamed Elsuwaye Sayeh, is still at large. 

The court documents also accuse a U.S. citizen, who has not been charged, of involvement.

“My client will plead not guilty – he denies all wrongdoing,” said Mhaouek’s lawyer in Canada, Andrew Barbacki.

Investigators uncovered a May 2020 message from Sayeh to an official at the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs requesting a meeting in Egypt between the Chinese ambassador and a Libyan military official close to Haftar, Major General Aoun Al-Ferjani.

In the messages, the drones are “clearly described with weaponry, attack and lethal strike capabilities.”

Investigators are unsure if the deal went through or if talks failed. 

Italian authorities in July said they seized Chinese military drones that were headed for Benghazi, Libya, in violation of a U.N. embargo. 

Vice President Kamala Harris heads to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday, the first time she has been to the border since a visit to El Paso in 2021 and coming on the heels of her campaign being dogged by her past on the subject of illegal immigration.

Harris has faced frequent attacks from her Republican opponent, former President Trump, and the Border Patrol Union who argue that she is weak on border security, an issue that many Republicans see as the vice president’s political Achilles’ heel.

“After years of not just ignoring the problem, but helping create it, Vice President Kamala is finally headed down to the border,” the National Border Patrol Council said in a statement. “This is nothing more than for her to check the box, but what it is in reality, is a slap in the face towards the men and women that put their lives on the line every day, and also a slap in the face to the American public. Where has she been?”

HARRIS HEADS TO SOUTHERN BORDER LOOKING TO FLIP SCRIPT ON IMMIGRATION CRITICISMS 

Harris’ campaign has pointed to her past as a prosecutor, taking on transnational criminal gangs, and says she is the candidate to secure the border as she backs a bipartisan funding bill. 

But Harris has a lengthy history on immigration at the national level.

Harris, as a California senator, was on the far-left of the Democratic Party on immigration, and in 2018 she pushed her colleagues in the Senate to reject a request by the Trump administration for more funding for immigration detention beds and Border Patrol agents.

In a letter to senators on the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2018, Harris and other senators called for them to “reject President Trump’s FY 19 funding request for a costly and ineffective border wall, new Border Patrol agents, and a large increase in U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and detention beds.”

“We urge you to reduce funding for the administration’s reckless immigration enforcement operations that are tearing families apart and harming our economy.”

HARRIS LEANS IN ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP RELISHES THE FIGHT

She also grilled Ronald Vitiello, who was former President Trump’s nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whether he was “aware of the perception” of parallels between ICE and the KKK.

“Are you aware that there is a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?” she asked again.

In recently revealed footage, Harris is seen at a rally chanting “Up, up with education, down, down with deportation” at a rally which also featured now-disgraced actor Jussie Smollett.

Harris launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2019. Her campaign included a promise to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) by executive order, which gives protection to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors. 

She said that she would eliminate age requirements on applications and use parole authority to create a “parole in place” program to put those illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. 

Also she promised to shield illegal immigrant parents of American citizens and green card holders from deportation by executive order. Overall, her plan was predicted to protect over six million illegal immigrants from deportation.

Harris became vice president in 2021 and the administration immediately rolled back a number of Trump-era initiatives and attempted to place a moratorium on deportations. 

Migrant numbers skyrocketed, and Biden told reporters in March that Harris would be put in charge of tackling root causes, issues like climate change, poverty and violence that the administration believes was driving migrants north.

It quickly led to Harris being dubbed by media outlets and Republicans as the “border czar.” The White House rejected that title, but it has stuck with her ever since and made her a figurehead along with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the crisis.

After the assignment by Biden, and with numbers skyrocketing through subsequent months to record highs, Harris immediately came under pressure to visit the border as the White House said her role was more diplomatic than related to the border directly. She instead went to Mexico and Guatemala and had a stern message for migrants that upset immigrant activists.

“Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders,” she said. “If you come to our border, you will be turned back.”

The pressure kept rising for her to go to the U.S. border.

“You haven’t been to the border,” NBC’s Lester Holt told her, after she claimed she had been to the border.

“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris quipped.

Later that month, she went to the border in El Paso, Texas, where she received a briefing and toured a processing center while meeting with advocates and providers.

Harris would largely be unseen through the rest of 2021 and 2022 on the root causes strategy, although a private sector initiative to draw investment to tackle those root causes would continue. 

In June 2022, she traveled to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles and met with other leaders to discuss ways to handle the crisis. During that summit, she announced that $3.2 billion in commitments from private sector companies had been secured.

She also came under fire for declaring the border was secure despite the ongoing crisis and mass releases into the interior.

“The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” Harris said on NBC.

Harris made few appearances in 2023 relating to the border crisis, although her private investment strategy continued to bring in additional commitments from companies.

But the crisis did not stay out of the news, and 2023 broke new records for enormous amounts of migrant encounters and a number of chaotic scenes at the border.

Fiscal year 2023 broke the record for encounters with over 2.4 million, while December had nearly 250,000 encounters in a single month.

While the White House continued to reject the “border czar” narrative, Harris put her support behind a bipartisan Senate agreement to provide more funding to the border and reduce migrant crossings when they reach a certain level.

She also backed a number of executive orders by President Biden, who would implement a limit on asylum and efforts to provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are spouses of U.S. citizens.

She has sought to portray herself as tougher on the border than former President Trump.

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

“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.”

Along with the border stop, the Harris campaign is launching a new ad that will play in Arizona and other battleground states that spotlights her past border efforts and plans.

“She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars, and she will secure our border,” the narrator in the commercial says.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

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.

This cycle, Cornyn has brought in $26 million for Republicans, $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 and the NRSC. 

Thune has been on the road the most out of the leader candidates ahead of the election, 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.

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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.