– Progressive stars Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are teaming up with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani Sunday night for a ‘New York is not for sale’ rally at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York City.

The high-profile campaign event comes nearly one week before Election Day, as New Yorkers head to the polls for the first weekend of early voting, closing out a contentious mayoral battle where Mamdani’s unanticipated success has landed him on the national stage.

‘Zohran Mamdani is modeling a different kind of politics,’ Sanders, the former Democratic presidential candidate and longtime progressive leader, said in a statement ahead of the rally. 

The trio of self-identified Democratic socialists have invigorated the Democratic Party’s progressive base at a time when Democrats are still grappling with devastating losses in 2024 amid growing discontent with President Donald Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda.

When Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez teamed up for the ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour earlier this year, they sparked sizable buzz, firing up thousands of Democrats at rallies across the United States who had been left without a clear party leader.

‘As mayor, he will not run a top-down, billionaire-funded, consultant-driven administration. Instead, Zohran will be a champion for the working people of New York,’ Sanders said.

Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have campaigned alongside Mamdani in his bid to lead the nation’s most populous city. 

On Friday night, Sanders appeared for a virtual ‘Get Out the Vote’ event with Mamdani. Last month, Sanders and Mamdani teamed up for a ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ town hall in Brooklyn. 

Ahead of the Brooklyn town hall event, the two progressive leaders marched alongside union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. That afternoon, Mamdani posed for a photo with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez in Astoria, Queens, amassing millions of views.

Sanders, a two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, was an early endorser of Mamdani’s primary campaign, along with Ocasio-Cortez. Their endorsements helped Mamdani consolidate progressive support in the 11-candidate field during the final weeks of the primary race.

Mamdani’s primary upset triggered a political earthquake as the democratic socialist handily defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was widely expected to secure the Democratic nomination.

Mamdani’s cross-endorsement with fellow progressive New York City Comptroller Brad Lander cleared the path for Mamdani to consolidate support against Cuomo through ranked-choice voting. 

Cuomo has since launched an independent campaign, teeing up a competitive and contentious general election battle. 

Since Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination, Trump has labeled him a ‘100% Communist Lunatic,’ and ‘my little communist,’ ushering Mamdani onto the national political stage. Mamdani has rejected the moniker, maintaining that he identifies as a democratic socialist, like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez. 

As Trump began criticizing Mamdani, New York Democrats chose to withhold their endorsements of the socialist candidate, who has made a slew of ambitious campaign promises, like fast and free buses, city-run grocery stores and free childcare, all of which he plans to pay for by raising taxes on corporations and the top 1% of New Yorkers. 

After months of withholding their endorsements, Gov. Kathy Hochul finally endorsed Mamdani last month and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries finally affirmed his support in a statement Friday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has still yet to endorse. 

Pressure had been mounting since Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June for Mayor Eric Adams, who was also running as an independent, or Cuomo to drop out of the race to consolidate support against Mamdani. Adams dropped out of the race and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday. 

That pressure reached a boiling point last week as billionaires, including Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, called on Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out of the race in order to clear a pathway to victory for Cuomo.

The latest Fox News survey, conducted Oct. 10-14, ahead of the first general election debate last week, revealed that Mamdani has a substantial lead in the race. According to the poll, Mamdani has a 21-point lead among New York City registered voters with 49% of voters backing Mamdani, while 28% go for Cuomo and 13% favor Sliwa.

Mamdani also rose above the 50% threshold among likely voters, garnering 52% support, while Cuomo picked up 28%, and Sliwa received just 14%.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said the next Democratic presidential nominee must vow to demolish President Donald Trump‘s White House ballroom, proposing the pledge a litmus test for the party’s 2028 contenders.

‘Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE,’ Swalwell wrote on X on Saturday.

Swalwell’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital for additional comment.

For the first time in its history, the White House will have a formal ballroom, a new addition built where the East Wing once stood, a project that has become a political flashpoint as photos of the demolition fuel debate over President Trump’s mark on the historic residence.

On July 31, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the planned construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The sprawling ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 seated guests and will stay true to the classical design of the White House.

‘The White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders in other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building’s entrance,’ Leavitt said, adding the new ballroom will be ‘a much-needed and exquisite addition.’

Construction on the White House grounds, which began earlier this month, is estimated to cost $250 million and will be financed by Trump and private donors.

The ballroom isn’t the only update. 

Trump has introduced gold accents in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, a new monument dubbed the ‘Arc de Trump,’ the ‘walk of fame’ with portraits of former presidents, including a photo of the autopen representing former President Joe Biden’s time in office, added stone pavers to the Rose Garden lawn and installed two 88-foot flagpoles.

History is being rewritten on the White House grounds, where a new formal ballroom is rising in place of the East Wing. The project has become a political lightning rod, as images of its construction reignite debate over President Donald Trump’s imprint on the nation’s most iconic address.

While the White House has hosted countless ceremonial events, it has never had a dedicated ballroom. The new structure will fill that void, replacing the historic East Wing with a space designed instead to host large-scale gatherings.

The ballroom is estimated to cost $250 million and will be financed jointly by Trump and private donors.

While the White House has pledged to release details on the individuals and corporations funding the ballroom’s construction, a comprehensive breakdown of contributions has not yet been made public.

During a July 31 briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt detailed the administration’s plans to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the White House grounds.

Leavitt said the new ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 seated guests and will stay true to the classical design of the White House.

‘The White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders in other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building’s entrance,’ Leavitt said on July 31.

She added that the new ballroom will be ‘a much-needed and exquisite addition.’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday accused President Donald Trump of ‘skipping town’ for a trip to Asia during the ongoing government shutdown.

Trump departed for Asia Friday night for a weeklong trip that will include stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Republicans and Democrats remain divided on negotiations to end the shutdown that began earlier this month, with each side blaming the other as the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.

‘In the midst of the longest full government shutdown in American history — a crisis of his own making — President Trump’s priorities are severely misplaced,’ Schumer said in a statement.

‘While Americans are struggling to make ends meet, federal workers are going without pay, and millions of families are bracing for soaring health care costs, the President is leaving the country,’ he continued.

Schumer added: ‘America is shut down and the President is skipping town.’

The senator said Democrats have sought to meet with Trump, but that the president is ‘abandoning’ his responsibilities.

‘Democrats have asked, again and again, for President Trump to meet with us to negotiate a bipartisan deal that would address the healthcare crisis, and find a path forward to reopen the government. But instead of doing his job, President Trump is abandoning it,’ Schumer said.

Schumer also called on GOP lawmakers in Congress to work across the aisle to reach a deal to end the shutdown.

‘With the President out of the country, the responsibility falls squarely on Congressional Republicans to act — to come to the table, to do their jobs, and to deliver an agreement that reopens the government and protects Americans from another health care disaster,’ he said.

‘Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do— not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most,’ the top Senate Democrat added.

While in Asia, Trump is expected to meet with regional allies about trade, including the trade war with China, as well as Beijing’s tightening of export controls on rare-earth minerals critical for certain technologies. 

The president is also expected to address security in the region and affirm America’s commitment to supporting its allies.

Analysts say China has developed a chilling strategy for fighting a war with the United States: destroy America’s fighter jets before they ever leave the ground.

In nearly every modern conflict, disabling enemy aircraft on the ground has been the first move. When Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year, it began by destroying Iranian runways — grounding Tehran’s air force before it could take off. Russia and Ukraine have done the same throughout their ongoing war, targeting airfields to cripple enemy aircraft. And when India clashed with Pakistan, the opening salvos hit Pakistani air bases.

Beijing has taken that lesson to heart. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has spent years building an arsenal of long-range precision missiles — including ‘carrier killers’ like the DF-21D and DF-26 — capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers and striking American airfields across the Pacific. The goal: keep U.S. air power out of range before it can even launch.

Now, a U.S. defense technology firm says it has built a way to fight back. Shield AI, based in San Diego, has unveiled a new AI-piloted fighter jet designed to operate without runways, without GPS, and without constant communication links — an aircraft that can think, fly, and fight on its own.

Shield AI says the jet, called X-BAT, can take off vertically, reach 50,000 feet, fly more than 2,000 nautical miles, and execute strike or air defense missions using an onboard autonomy system known as Hivemind. It’s designed to operate from ships, small islands, or improvised sites — places where traditional jets can’t. The aircraft’s dash speed remains classified.

‘China has built this anti-access aerial denial bubble that holds our runways at risk,’ said Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, in an interview with Fox News. ‘They’ve basically said, ‘We’re not going to compete stealth-on-stealth in the air — we’ll target your aircraft before they even get off the ground.’’

The jet launches vertically, and three X-BATs can fit in the space of one legacy fighter or helicopter.

According to Harris, the U.S. has spent decades perfecting stealth and survivability in the air while leaving its forces vulnerable on the ground. ‘The way to solve that problem is mobility,’ he said. ‘You’re always moving around. This is the only VTOL fighter being built today.’

X-BAT’s Hivemind autonomy allows it to operate in denied or jammed environments, where traditional aircraft would be blind. The system uses onboard sensors to interpret its surroundings, reroute around threats, and identify targets in real time. ‘It’s reading and reacting to the situation around it,’ Harris said. ‘It’s not flying a pre-programmed route. If new threats appear, it can reroute itself or identify targets and then ask a human for permission to engage.’

That human element, he emphasized, remains essential. ‘It’s very important to us that a human is always involved in making the use of lethal force decision,’ Harris said. ‘That doesn’t mean the person has to be in the cockpit — it could be remote or delegated through tasking — but there will always be a human decision-maker.’

Shield AI says X-BAT will be combat-ready by 2029 and is designed to deliver fifth- or sixth-generation performance at a small fraction of the cost of manned fighters. The aircraft’s compact footprint allows up to three X-BATs to fit in the deck space of a single legacy fighter or helicopter, giving commanders more flexibility in launching sorties from limited space.

While Shield AI isn’t disclosing specific numbers, the company says X-BAT is priced in the same range as the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the next generation of autonomous wingmen meant to fly alongside — and eventually ahead of — manned fighters. Costs vary depending on mission systems and configurations, but the company’s goal is to scale production to keep the jet affordable and sustainable throughout its lifecycle, breaking what it calls the traditional ‘fighter cost curve.’

The company estimates the aircraft will deliver about a tenfold improvement in cost per effect compared to legacy fifth-generation jets, including the F-35, while remaining ‘affordable and attritable’ enough to be risked in high-end combat.

Shield AI is in discussions with both the Air Force and Navy about integrating X-BAT into future combat programs and with several allied militaries exploring joint development opportunities.

Harris said the company views X-BAT as part of a generational shift toward distributed airpower — one that mirrors what SpaceX did in space. ‘Historically, the United States had a small number of extremely capable, extremely expensive satellites,’ he said. ‘Then you had SpaceX come along and put up hundreds of smaller, cheaper ones. The same thing is happening in air power. There’s always going to be a role for manned platforms, but over time, unmanned systems will outnumber them ten-to-one or twenty-to-one.’

For Harris, that shift is about restoring deterrence through flexibility. ‘X-BAT presents an asymmetric dilemma to an adversary like China,’ he said. ‘They don’t know where it’s coming from, and the cost of countering it is high. It’s an important part of a broader joint force that becomes significantly more lethal.

In his Oct. 13 address to Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem, President Donald Trump upset Israeli leftists when he called for Israel’s largely ceremonial President Isaac Herzog to use his one actual power – the power of pardon – and pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been on trial for more than five years on absurd charges regarding cigars and champagne he received over 20 years ago from old friends.

Those charges fell apart in the opening months of the trial as one prosecution witness after another exposed the emptiness of Israel’s Netanyahu-hating prosecutors’ indictments against the country’s longest-serving and most successful leader. All the same, the Netanyahu-hating judge presiding over the trial is now requiring Netanyahu to appear in court three days a week for a total of 24 hours a week to testify.

Leftists in Israel dominate the country’s media and legal fraternity, much as they do in America. And they were incensed that President Trump dared to interfere in Israel’s ‘internal affairs.’ One anchorman referred to Trump’s call for a pardon as ‘disgusting, and revolting.’

But the truth is that by asking Israel’s left-leaning president to put an end to Israel’s Deep State’s assault on Netanyahu, Trump was defending America’s national interests.

This is true for two reasons.

First, the corrupt legal authorities involved in the trial are abusing their power over Netanyahu in a way that undermines American interests.

On Wednesday, just two days after President Trump gave his address, Netanyahu was back in the courtroom in Tel Aviv. He had asked the judges to let him delay his testimony so that he could hold certain meetings. The judges and prosecutors demanded to know what meetings could possibly justify delaying his testimony. He explained one was highly classified, and they demanded to know what it was about.

Within hours of the exchange, the story leaked that Netanyahu was scheduled to meet secretly with the president of Indonesia. The leader of the largest Muslim state in the world, President Prabowo Subianto, was scheduled to pay a top-secret trip to Jerusalem as a step toward opening diplomatic relations with Israel. This was to be one of the most important fruits of Israel’s U.S.-supported victory in its seven-front war against Iran and its axis of terror. But thanks to Israel’s corrupt legal fraternity, the meeting leaked to their press allies and President Subianto stayed away.

President Trump made clear in his speech that expanding the circle of peace between Israel and the Islamic world is a chief U.S. goal. Israel is America’s most powerful ally in the troubled Middle East. Trump sees it as an essential U.S. interest that the Arab and Islamic world accept Israel as a permanent entity and an allied state. But for Israel’s politicized Deep State, undermining and humiliating Netanyahu by chaining him to a courtroom and subverting his diplomatic actions is apparently more important.

These radical jurists must be stopped not only for Netanyahu to be able to devote himself entirely to serving his country, they need to be stopped to enable President Trump to secure America’s goals in the Middle East.

The second reason that ending this farce of justice against Netanyahu is in the United States’ interests is that there is a link between the forces of political warfare and lawfare in Israel and the U.S. If you scratch just beneath the surface, you’ll doubtlessly find that for the same billionaire agents of anarchy, who funded and brought the unprecedented lawfare against both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, working to undo Israel as a key way to unravel American society. For example, the Tides Foundation funds radical groups, including pro-Hamas protesters in America, and it funds groups involved in the protests and riots and political violence in Israel.

Tides is one of several foundations whose actions in the U.S. and Israel are the subject of multiple congressional investigations. One of the investigations focuses on well-documented claims that the billion-dollar, multi-year effort to criminalize Netanyahu that engulfed Israel in political instability for years, was funded in part by the Biden administration. That investigation must continue and the U.S. government officials who funded and facilitated political chaos in Israel should be forced to account for their actions.

Even more importantly, the IRS should investigate how U.S. non-profits groups that enjoy U.S. tax exemption valued in millions of dollars have abused their status to fund political violence, insurrection, and mayhem in Israel. In some cases, according to Hamas’s own internal documents, these U.S.-based non-profit-funded groups’ campaigns convinced the genocidal terror group that Israel was ripe for annihilation on October 7, 2023.

In his historic speech in Jerusalem, President Trump laid out great plans for building a new Middle East that will join Israel’s genius and power to the oil-wealth of its neighbors and transform the Middle East into a driver of global prosperity under American leadership. Trump would have been hard-pressed to lead this momentous undertaking if the Deep State were still persecuting him, his top aides and his children.

Netanyahu has miraculously been able to lead Israel to one of the most important military victories in its history. With Trump’s assistance, Israel destroyed Iran’s axis of terror across seven fronts. Netanyahu achieved this while forced to spend days on end in a courtroom answering asinine questions from shameless prosecutors before brazen judges.

Imagine what Netanyahu and President Trump would be able to do together if Netanyahu doesn’t have to spend 24 hours per week in a courtroom.

President Trump was right to ask President Herzog to put an end to the madness that is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trial. And he would be right to order the IRS to start investigating the role American non-profits have played and continue to play in destabilizing Israel and corrupting its legal system. Israel’s leftists, like their American funders, may not like President Trump for doing it, but generations of Americans, Israelis, and peoples of the wider Middle East will thank him.

With less than two weeks before critical elections across the country, Democrats have tough questions to grapple with in terms of their messaging and whether they can navigate the growing movement in their party that is embracing or downplaying political violence, attorney and political commentator Kaitlin Puccio told Fox News Digital. 

We do hear a lot of just the Democrats are against Trump, but we don’t hear a lot of what they’re actually for, which is problematic and it kind of seems to me like they don’t really have a cohesive message,’ Puccio, adjunct professor at Fordham Law and the Director of the Art and Bioethics Initiative of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

Puccio said the ‘No Kings’ protests last week, where several examples of promoting violence went viral on social media, show a ‘fracture’ in the Democratic Party that the mainstream elected officials will have to contend with. 

Additionally, messaging at those rallies, Puccio explained, lacked substance. 

It’s mostly ‘we are against Trump.’ Okay, but, specifically, what are you against? What is the specific policy that you are against?’ Puccio said. ”No Kings’: great. But we don’t have a king. We all know that. We’re not supposed to take this phrase literally, but what about the policies that are in place right now, do you think are authoritarian? And what do you want instead? So we’re hearing a lot of slogans and phrases and kind of catch phrases. And really that leaves the message without substance.’

Questions about Democrat support for political violence have been front and center in recent weeks after Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones was outed for past texts fantasizing about killing a Republican colleague and wishing death on that colleague’s children.

I don’t think that it’s lost on voters that there are these horrible texts that came out recently from Jay Jones and the strange thing is that there are very few people who are condemning these texts,’ Puccio said, highlighting that prominent Democrats, particularly in Virginia, have refused to call on Jones to drop out of the race. 

‘But I think the reason for that is that the party of tolerance, right, the Democrats, is actually, it’s become a very intolerant party,’ Puccio added. 

‘So if you have people condemning these texts, this sort of violent political rhetoric and things like that, they don’t want to be alienated by their own party. Look at what they’ve done or tried to do to John Fetterman. When he tries to think for himself instead of having the party tell him what to think, they ostracize him. I think that is kind of the reason that we’re in this weird place with our leaders, because everyone is kind of being quiet.’

In addition to Jones, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has faced scrutiny over advocating for political violence in the past and a tattoo that resembles a Nazi Germany symbol.

Puccio told Fox News Digital that Platner’s apology seemed to show remorse compared to the reaction from Jones, which could serve as a blueprint going forward on how Democrats can acknowledge past mistakes.

‘The point is that every situation has to be evaluated separately, but the conversation still has to be had over what to do within our Democratic Party about this violent rhetoric, which is, it’s basically being accepted right now,’ Puccio said. ‘What we’re about to see, I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I do think there’s going to be a shift toward the middle because I think there is going to be a realization that we are leaving out and by we, I mean, all Americans in general were forgetting from both sides of the political aisle about the middle.’

While Democrats are expected to perform strongly in next year’s midterms, given that, historically, the party not in power does well in those elections, Republicans have been closing the gap in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections being held in early November, which could send a signal that Democrats aren’t in as strong of a position as many experts think. 

Puccio said today’s Democratic Party is ‘unrecognizable,’ which will hopefully push leaders to come out forcefully and take back control.

‘I think that there will be this realization that the loudest voices on either side of the political aisle are not necessarily representative of the entire party and I think that people are going to be forced to say no to this kind of uncivil discourse that we’re seeing, because people, we citizens, are going to get very tired of seeing our leaders behave in very childish and frankly, disrespectful ways toward each other,’ Puccio said. 

‘These are not supposed to be the way our elected leaders act. And I would hope that there emerge some actual leaders and not just politicians in the future who recognize that they need to speak to everyone and not a small niche in their party.’

Election season is in full-swing, with only days left before races in 2025’s quiet election cycle are called. 

Fox News Digital compiled key deadlines for early in-person voting as it comes to a close. 

The 2025 election season is mild compared to the whirlwind federal election cycle of 2024, but will feature major races, including statewide elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and New York City’s high-profile mayoral election, the ballot proposition over congressional redistricting in California, and three state Supreme Court contests in Pennsylvania.

The races have seen a handful of political surprises in recent weeks as key races hit hot water — from Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones’s leaked text scandal to controversy over military records in New Jersey’s governor’s race, and backlash against Zohran Mamdani’s left-wing policies as the self-identified Democratic socialist works to secure Gracie Mansion. 

Voter enthusiasm is high across the country — and there’s still time for people to cast their ballots early.

Here’s when in-person early voting ends in each high-profile 2025 election:

New Jersey

New Jersey’s in-person early voting began Saturday and will conclude Nov. 2. Early in-person voting is held from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with Sunday hours running from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Appointments are not necessary to vote early. 

New York City

Big Apple residents began early in-person voting Saturday and will have until Nov. 2 to cast early in-person votes. 

Virginia

Early in-person voting kicked off in the Old Dominion State Sept. 19 and will run until Nov. 1. All localities in the state offer early voting. 

California

The Golden State is holding a special election in 2025 to decide ballot proposition 50, which would redraw state congressional district maps in response to efforts in Republican states to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterms. Early in-person voting begins Saturday and will run through Election Day. 

Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvanians can vote early and in-person by returning mail ballots to their local election offices until 8 p.m. on Election Day. Voters must apply for a mail-in ballot by Tuesday or vote on Election Day.