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Dem Rep Ruben Gallego beats Kari Lake in battle for Arizona Senate seat

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has won the race for Arizona’s open Senate seat, beating out Republican Kari Lake, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, according to The Associated Press Monday night.

Gallego has served in the House of Representatives since 2015, representing the 7th and 3rd congressional districts in Arizona. 

ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFICE SHARED WITH HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN SHOT AT FOR THIRD TIME IN LESS THAN A MONTH

Lake ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor in 2022 and was defeated by Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz. Prior to her gubernatorial run, she was a news anchor for a local Arizona television station and worked in the media for 27 years. 

After the 2022 loss, she challenged the results, citing fraud concerns in the state. Lake still contends that there were significant irregularities in 2020 and 2022, echoing claims that Trump and many of his supporters have made. The concerns have led to the Republican National Committee devoting significant resources to election integrity efforts. 

SWING STATE GOP CHAIR SLAMS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN FOR BEING OUT OF TOUCH ON KEY ISSUE: ‘ABANDONED THIS COUNTRY’

Lake faced off against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Republican Senate primary, while Gallego had an advantage, running in the Democratic primary unopposed. 

The Fox News Power Rankings in September rated the Arizona Senate race as “Leans Democrat.” Similarly, the Cook Political Report, a top political handicapper, also considered the race “Lean Democrat.” 

TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE CANDIDATE RIPS BIDEN’S ‘JOKE’ BORDER POLICY FOR INVITING GANG VIOLENCE TO SWING STATE

The Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who was elected as a Democrat. She still caucuses with Democrats in the Senate but officially registered as an independent years ago after opposing her fellow Senate Democrats on the legislative filibuster. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., are credited with going against the Democrats to uphold the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold. 

Both senators decided not to run for re-election. 

NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION HAS TO ‘GET SERIOUS’ ABOUT IMMIGRATION, SAY VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

Before she announced that she was not going to seek another term, Sinema’s potential run as a third-party candidate threatened to upend the Senate race, with strategists unsure how her supporters would break. 

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In polling leading up to the Senate election, Gallego frequently led Lake by single digits. He had even managed to lead his opponent in surveys that saw Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Experts speculated that his connection with Latino voters could have fueled split-ticket voting in the state, despite the practice becoming relatively rare. 

While Lake often played up her relationship with Trump, who had polled higher than her in the state, Gallego did not often do the same with Harris during his campaign. 

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

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Trump expected to name Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State

President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as Secretary of State, a source familiar tells Fox News.

The source noted that while Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, as of now he’s planning on offering the job to Rubio, the three-term senator whom the former president considered as his running mate this summer before naming Sen. JD Vance as the GOP vice presidential nominee.

Spokespeople for the Trump transition didn’t immediately comment.

The news was first reported by the New York Times earlier this evening. 

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Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, was first elected to the Senate in 2010 as part of the Tea Party wave. He is known on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy hawk who favors maintaining U.S. alliances overseas, including NATO. 

But Rubio, who sits on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, has taken similar positions to Trump on international conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas. 

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP’S INCOMING BORDER CZAR TOLD FOX NEWS

In April, the 53-year-old senator voted against the $95 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine and has urged the eastern European nation to negotiate an end to its war with Russia.

Rubio was a rival to Trump during the combustible 2016 Republican presidential nomination battle [with Trump deriding him as ‘Little Marco’] but over the years has become a strong Trump ally in the Senate.. 

Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, would become the first Latino Secretary of State in the nation’s history.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a major backer of Trump this year, applauded the news. 

RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement that “we know that with Senator Rubio leading the State Department, America will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and confront our enemies.”

“In these extraordinarily dangerous times, Senator Rubio is an outspoken defender of Israel who has always had the Jewish state’s back,” they added.

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Less than a week after winning a second term in the White House, Trump has already begun to shape his cabinet.

In the past 24 hours, Trump has selected Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, Tom Homan as the new “border czar,” Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida to be his national security advisor, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York to steer the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

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Cuellar says he will ‘sit down and work together’ with Homan

Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar (D) said on Monday that he would “sit down and work together” with President-elect Trump’s pick for “border czar” Tom Homan.

“We’ve been on some shows together, we’ve done certain things together,” Cuellar told NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill” of Homan. “We agreed on a lotta things, but we just gotta make sure that we don’t go extreme left or extreme right.”

“And — and I think people like Tom Homan … and I’ll say this, we can sit down and work together, because I’ve been doing this for many years,” he added.

Trump on Sunday unveiled Homan, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, as his “border czar” in his next administration. In an announcement via Truth Social, the president-elect said Homan’s responsibilities would include “the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security.”

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump posted. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”

Trump, for a while, has promised to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.

In his interview on NewsNation, Cuellar said “there are some things I might not agree” with Homan on, including “dividing families, things like that.” However, Cuellar also said he “is very passionate about the work.”

Late last month, in response to journalist Cecilia Vega asking him on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the possibility of going forward with “mass deportation without separating families,” Homan said “there is” and that “Families can be deported together.”

Homan also said on Monday in an interview on Fox Business that “U.S. citizens” and “legal immigrants are perfectly safe, for God’s sakes.”

The Hill has reached out to Border911, an organization Homan is president and CEO of, and a spokesperson for Trump for comment.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

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Trump’s granddaughter Kai shares vlog of family celebration on election night: ‘Extremely proud’

President-elect Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter shared a vlog of her experience on election night on Monday, capturing her thoughts and emotions as her grandfather clinched the presidency.

Kai Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump, Jr., posted the video on YouTube Monday afternoon. The vlog – which is short for a video blog – begins with the teenage girl getting her makeup professionally done and expressing her thoughts about the election.

“I am here in my house getting ready for the election night at Mar-a-Lago and the convention center,” Kai Trump says as she sits in a makeup chair. “I think today we’re going with straight hair. Jessica’s going to do my amazing makeup…I am still trying to pick a dress out.”

The teenager casually shares her plans in the video, including having dinner with her grandfather hours before he was elected president.

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“I’m going to see my grandpa, have family dinner with him, just, like, spend time with them,” Kai Trump says. “And then I think I’m going to head over to the convention center after… just see my friends and like, close family that have supported me and my grandpa over time.”

Kai Trump also discusses a recent golf competition she had and details about her life. The teenager is also seen singing along to songs with her friends in the car.

“I haven’t seen my grandpa in a while because he’s been campaigning,” she says in the video. “I’m super excited to see him again. He’s called me almost every other day.”

The vlog also depicts the 17-year-old’s emotions shifting from anxious to optimistic as the electoral votes were announced in her grandfather’s favor.

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“I’m a little nervous,” Kai Trump says at the beginning of the night. “Actually, that’s an understatement. I’m very nervous. The past five days I have been so nervous…I feel like I’ve had butterflies in my stomach for so long, and I really hope we find out [the results] soon.”

At the end of the video, the teenager described Nov. 5 as a “special night” and gushed about her grandpa. 

“I’m extremely proud of him,” Kai Trump says. “I think he deserves it more than anyone in the whole world. And he really has worked his butt off every single day for the past really eight years or more.”

“He’s such an incredible person and such a unique person,” the granddaughter continues. “And he just fights every single day for America over and over and over again. And he’ll never give up.”

The teenager has been candidly sharing facets of her life on social media in recent days. On Sunday, Kai Trump posted a collection of photos and videos on Instagram of her golfing with her grandfather.

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Trump’s border czar to critics: ‘Legal immigrants are perfectly safe’ 

Tom Homan, President-elect Trump’s pick for “border czar” in his upcoming administration, pushed back against critics of his immigration ideology.

Fox Business’s Elizabeth MacDonald showed recent clips featuring MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace saying Homan has “ties to Project 2025,” former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro saying he has “a cowboy attitude” and that Trump’s deportation plan will “require a lot of pushback” and “The View” co-host Ana Navarro saying “when he says ‘Yes, families can be deported together,’ what he is saying, is that U.S. citizens can be deported.”

“Are you saying that, Tom?” MacDonald asked Homan on “The Evening Edit,” referring to Navarro’s statement.

Homan responded that “U.S. citizens” and “legal immigrants are perfectly safe, for God’s sakes.”

Late last month, in response to a question from journalist Cecilia Vega on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the possibility of going forward with “mass deportation without separating families,” Homan said “there is” and that “Families can be deported together.”

Earlier in his interview on “The Evening Edit,” Homan said the Biden administration has “deported families together.”

“I mean, look … if these people demand due process, they demand the right to claim asylum, they demand the right [to see a judge], and we give them to ‘em at an [exorbitant] taxpayer cost, at the end of that due process, if [a] federal judge [says] ‘You must go home,’ they have to go home,” Homan added. “If they don’t, then what the hell are we doing?”

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Harris fundraiser page says portion of donations will be directed to ‘recount account’

A portion of donations to a fundraising committee associated with the Harris-Walz campaign will be directed toward a recount effort.

Those who want to donate on ActBlue, a nonprofit fundraising platform, will see a fine print that warns them that the campaign could launch a recount effort.

The push to beef up the “recount account” comes as the Harris campaign is reportedly $20 million in debt. The donations are made to the Harris Victory Fund, which is part of a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.

“The first $41,300/$15,000 from a person/multicandidate committee (“PAC”) will be allocated to the DNC. The next $3,300/$5,000 from a person/PAC will be allocated to Harris for President’s Recount Account,” the fundraising page states. 

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There was no indication that Harris was seeking a recount for herself after having lost to President-elect Trump in a decisive victory in which he swept all the battleground states as well as the popular vote. 

The Harris-Walz campaign reportedly spent $1 billion during its failed run. 

“With a handful of key Senate and House races still too close to call, we are keeping our organizers and volunteers on the ground in those states to see the election across the finish line,” the Harris campaign’s website says.

“If you are able, please donate to the Harris Fight Fund today to ensure we have the resources to elect Democrats down the ticket ready to hold the Trump administration accountable,” it said. 

TRUMP VICTORY PROVES IMPORTANCE OF CANDID, LONGFORM PODCASTS AS PLATFORM SHOWED ‘HUMAN SIDE’ OF ONE CANDIDATE

Over the weekend, Trump called for people to chip in and donate to help Harris pay off her campaign debts. 

“I am very surprised that the Democrats, who fought a hard and valiant fight in the 2020 (sic) Presidential Election, raising a record amount of money, didn’t have lots of $’s left over,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Now they are being squeezed by vendors and others. Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do,” he added. “We have a lot of money left over in that our biggest asset in the campaign was ‘Earned Media,’ and that doesn’t cost very much. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign and ActBlue.

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Trump expected to name Rubio as secretary of State

President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to serve as secretary of State, according to multiple reports and one source familiar with the matter who spoke to The Hill.

Rubio’s selection to serve as Trump’s top diplomat completes a drastic turnaround from 2016, when the two were fierce rivals in a GOP presidential primary. Earlier this year, Trump nearly chose Rubio as his running mate before selecting Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).

The New York Times first reported Trump planned to nominate Rubio.

Multiple lawmakers and Trump allies took to social media to congratulate the senator.

“He will restore American leadership around the world, especially in Latin America, as he represents the United States with dignity and courage!” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) posted on X. “It’s been an honor to serve the people of Florida alongside him and look forward to continuing our work together.”

The Florida senator is seen as a foreign policy hawk who is tough on China and Iran. In a September interview with NBC, Rubio said it was apparent the war between Ukraine and Russia would end “with a negotiated settlement.”

Trump has vowed to quickly restore his “America First” foreign policy vision upon taking office. He has expressed skepticism about continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia and called for European allies to do more to aid Kyiv and to support their own defense through the NATO alliance.

Rubio’s selection comes as Trump has rapidly rolled out his national security team after winning last week’s election. He has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as his ambassador to the United Nations and tapped Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to serve as his national security adviser.

Rubio is expected to be confirmed by his colleague. His departure will narrow an expected GOP majority in the Senate. The party has secured 52 seats, with David McCormick (R) leading in Pennsylvania in a race that is still too close to call.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will appoint a replacement for Rubio to fill the seat until the next statewide election.

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