Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson announced on his popular podcast that he will have a major medical operation this week. His show will continue with co-host Jack Fowler as Hanson recovers. “I’m having a major operation, and I’ve been presented with a serious problem, but I’m going to do all I can to solve it. And that’s all I can do and trust in the power of prayer, and faith—and in a wonderful surgeon,” Hanson said. “I finally ended up going to the best medical center that I know, Stanford Med, and the people there have been absolutely wonderful. It’ll work out one way or the other.” Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Wayne and Marcia Buske distinguished fellow in history at Hillsdale College. He joined The Daily Signal as a senior contributor earlier this year, providing daily video commentaries. His popular podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” is available four times throughout the week. At the start of Friday’s episode, Hanson announced that he would have an operation Tuesday to address an ongoing health problem. “I don’t want to talk about my own problems, but I’ve had people call me and say, ‘You don’t look well, you’re hoarse, or you’re coughing.’ But it’s been a nine-month odyssey because the problem I had for a nonsmoker and nondrinker was a rare type and very hard to diagnose, so it’s no one’s fault other than my own perhaps for not realizing why I was not getting well,” Hanson said. After recently having a biopsy, Hanson decided to proceed with an operation that will interrupt his work—but hopefully not for long, he said. “I’ll be fine. At least I’ll do my best for everybody,” Hanson said. “I think I have an obligation to all of our readers and listeners from whom I get wonderful letters expressing support and good wishes; our listeners and viewers are extraordinarily kind people.” Fowler noted that Hanson’s legion of fans left hundreds of comments offering their prayers. In addition to his podcast and syndicated column, Hanson writes exclusive content for his website, Blade of Perseus, at victorhanson.com. While he is recovering, Fowler will continue to host the show in Hanson’s absence. The post Victor Davis Hanson: ‘Not Yet and Not Today’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As the year draws to a close, Fox News Channel once again dominated its cable news competition—and challenged broadcast networks for ratings supremacy. Leading the way, Fox News’ popular 5 p.m. show, “The Five,” claimed the top spot for the fourth consecutive year. “The Five” averaged 4.1 million viewers in 2025. This year marked the show’s best performance since its 2011 launch. The show features hosts Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Jesse Watters, Jessica Tarlov, and Harold Ford Jr., along with rotating guests, who discuss the day’s top news stories. Not only did “The Five” trounce other cable news shows, but it also beat broadcast programs like CBS’ “Hollywood Squares” and “The Neighborhood” and ABC’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Overall, Fox News delivered its highest ratings in a non-election year in the channel’s history. It marked the network’s second-best year ever with an average of 3.2 million weekday primetime viewers—beating NBC and rivaling ABC and CBS, even though those networks are more widely available. Throughout the week, average primetime viewership on Fox News reached 2,718,000 viewers, a 14% increase from 2024, according to according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel. EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Scores Record Ratings in 2025 https://t.co/W51i217gbX— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) December 16, 2025 MS Now dropped 25% in 2025, reaching an average of 923,000 primetime viewers. CNN finished down 15% and averaged 580,000 viewers. The decline of its cable news rivals gave Fox News a commanding 64% of the cable news audience in primetime and across the day—its highest audience since since its launch in 1996. Fox News not only dominated on TV but also expanded its reach on YouTube, garnering 4.3 billion views across the platform. These numbers also outpaced MS Now, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS, according to Emplifi. “Delivering another record-breaking year, outpacing broadcast networks, and reaching new highs on YouTube is a testament to the strength of our brand and our ability to meet the audience where they are,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said. “I am incredibly proud of our unrivaled team on and off camera, whose journalism, global newsgathering skills and powerful voices continue to set the standard in news and connect with Americans nationwide,” Scott added. The top 1,080 cable news telecasts in 2025 were aired by Fox News. The network also produced the top 12 most-viewed cable news programs: “The Five” “Jesse Watters Primetime” “Hannity” “Special Report with Bret Baier” “Gutfeld!” “The Ingraham Angle” “The Will Cain Show” “Outnumbered” “The Faulkner Focus” “America’s Newsroom” “The Story with Martha MacCallum” “America Reports” Each of the 12 shows had double-digit year-over-year growth with viewers. Fox News also has the most politically diverse audience in cable news, serving as the choice for more Democrat and independent viewers than its competition, according to Nielsen/MRI Fusion. The post Fox News’ ‘The Five’ Is Once Again Cable TV’s Big Winner appeared first on The Daily Signal.

About 70% of Americans said they didn’t have “very much” or any trust that news outlets would fairly cover President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a YouGov poll. Media Research Center found that 92% of the major network media coverage of Trump during his first 100 days in office was negative. As Trump’s second administration nears its one year anniversary, here are five stories about the president’s achievements that you won’t find in legacy media coverage. 1. Pardoning the FACE Act Prisoners On Jan. 23, Trump pardoned the 23 pro-lifers who were convicted for actions including praying outside abortion clinics and encouraging women in unplanned pregnancies to choose life. “They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted,” the president said. The predecessor Biden-Harris administration’s Justice Department had brought criminal or civil cases under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act against at least 50 pro-life advocates. Twenty-three were convicted. Ten were released from prison after the pardons. The Daily Signal spoke to several of the pardoned pro-life advocates, who thanked the president for setting them free. “I’m very thankful to the Lord to be pardoned and to get back into the fight against baby-murdering and to serve the Lord and to be with my family,” Calvin Zastrow, 64, told The Daily Signal. “I really believe that President Trump saved my life,” Paulette Harlow, 75, told The Daily Signal. “Because if I had ever gone to prison, I don’t think I would have made it. And I certainly would not have been able to have my back surgeries and everything that I needed to have and have taken care of.” 2. Expanding the Mexico City Policy On Jan. 24, President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy after President Joe Biden rescinded it. The State Department announced in October that it was working to expand the scope of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for foreign abortions. “The department will soon take additional steps to close loopholes that allowed taxpayer funding for promotion of abortion in previous iterations of the Mexico City Policy and expand the scope of the policy to ensure every penny of U.S. foreign assistance prioritizes American values, not the woke agenda,” a senior State Department official told The Daily Signal. The expanded policy will prohibit U.S. funding for gender ideology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. For example, the State Department is ending a $2 million grant to fund gender-affirming operations in Guatemala. The new provision restricts a broader range of nongovernmental organization programming, such as those for HIV/AIDS, President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, maternal and child health, nutrition, and infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. This scope of the policy will apply across all non-military foreign assistance. Trump also renewed America’s membership in the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a 40-nation coalition of countries that declare that there is no international right to abortion. 3. Classifying Transgender Procedures for Kids as Human Rights Violations As of November, the State Department is classifying “destructive ideologies” formerly promoted by the Biden administration in the United States as human rights violations. The State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices will now account for transgender procedures for minors, DEI hiring, attacks on free speech, and state-funded abortions, a State Department official told The Daily Signal. The State Department submits Human Rights Reports on all countries receiving assistance and all United Nations member states to Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974. Member states will be required to count the number of abortions taking place in their countries, and they will be denounced for funding abortions or the distribution of drugs which end an unborn baby’s life. 4. Ending Taxpayer-Funded Abortions for Illegal Migrant Children The Department of Health and Human Services is moving to roll back a Biden-era regulation that allows taxpayer dollars to pay for unaccompanied illegal alien children in the U.S. to travel to get abortions, The Daily Signal first reported. HHS is cleaning up the Biden administration regulation so that it is in compliance with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions, HHS officials told The Daily Signal.  “HHS is reviewing the relevant regulations and guidance to ensure they align with all applicable laws, including the Hyde Amendment,” an HHS official told The Daily Signal in a statement. On Nov. 10, 2022, the Biden administration proposed the “Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule,” which required the Office of Refugee Resettlement to “ensure unaccompanied children have access to medical care, including transportation across state lines and associated ancillary services if necessary to access appropriate medical services, including access to medical specialists, family planning services, and medical services requiring heightened ORR involvement.” The Biden rule violates the Hyde Amendment, the 1976 law prohibiting the use of federal funds to pay for most abortions, according to a July memorandum of opinion from Trump’s Office of Legal Counsel, a branch of the Department of Justice.  Now, the Department of Health and Human Services is undergoing the task of challenging a final rule on a topic with a history of court precedent.  5. Upgrading Human Trafficking Hotline The Trump administration has chosen a new provider to run its human trafficking hotline after complaints that the Biden administration’s provider failed to answer calls from victims, The Daily Signal first reported. HHS’ Administration for Children and Families announced a five-year, projected $35 million grant to Compass Connections to run the National Human Trafficking Hotline. HHS received complaints from victims and state attorneys general that with the previous provider under the Biden administration, wait times were too long, calls were dropped, and victims could not rely on the hotline to deliver the necessary quality of service. “State attorneys general were telling us that third-party tips were not getting delivered to law enforcement, so their investigations into human trafficking were hindered,” acting Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison told The Daily Signal, “and they had a much harder time getting criminals off the streets of human trafficking, to get information where it needs to go on time in an accurate way, so that law enforcement can make arrests and end human trafficking.” The award includes an increase of $1 million annually and will bring annual funding to $7 million, showing Trump’s commitment to protecting survivors of human trafficking, according to Gradison. This article was originally published Dec. 27, 2025. The post 5 Trump Moves From 2025 You Didn’t Hear About From Legacy Media appeared first on The Daily Signal.

For millions of Venezuelans, Cubans, and Nicaraguans living in South Florida, the question is no longer whether change will come to their homelands, but when—and at what cost. As United States pressure intensifies on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, the potential collapse of one regime could reshape the future of all three. The U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean has exposed Venezuela’s role in the drug trade contributing to 100,000 American deaths annually since 2021. But at minimum, Cuba is an enabler, providing thousands of intelligence, military, and other security “advisors” to Venezuela and despot Daniel Ortega’s government in Nicaragua. Cuba also exports its doctors to Venezuela and other countries, selling their forced services (aka “modern day slavery”) for billions of dollars in foreign exchange. As brought to light in recent days with the U.S. seizure of a sanctioned tanker on its way to Cuba, Venezuela also sends cheap oil to its two allies to keep those regimes in power. The three regimes, under a banner of faux socialism, are actually a criminal alliance of entitled groups of civilian and military elite profiting from greed. Researcher Juan Antonio Blanco calls the criminal element in Cuba a “modern day mafia” holding billions of dollars in secret accounts during a time when Cuba blames the U.S. embargo on a financing shortfall for annual food imports. Human rights atrocities and collapsed living conditions have systematically erased any lingering public support for Fidel Castro’s Marxist-Leninist Cuban policies, the “21st century” Venezuela socialism of Hugo Chavez, and Ortega’s Sandinista revolution. Not surprisingly, along with Haiti, the three countries have the highest rates of extreme poverty in the hemisphere. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the faux socialist “triad” of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela share a common tactical playbook: harassment of religious communities, legal obstruction, favoritism toward certain religious groups, and closure of civic space. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says they are among “the most flagrant violators of religious freedom worldwide” and international observers say the violations amount to “crimes against humanity.” The regimes’ motive for these abuses? Faith leaders and churches, who defend human rights and democracy, are far more respected than these corrupt government leaders—as such, the regimes feel compelled to silence their voices. These regimes continue to thumb their noses at religious rights advocates. On Dec. 10, Venezuela detained Cardinal Baltazar Porras, a staunch regime critic, and banned him from leaving the country. The next day, in Cuba, a Mexican priest, Father José Ramírez, who led feeding programs for senior citizens, was expelled from the country after he rang church bells in solidarity with community members protesting intolerable living conditions. In Nicaragua, the Ortega government crushes freedom of religion, imprisoning and deporting Catholic and evangelical leaders, confiscating their schools and other property, and shutting down over 2,000 faith-based organizations. The Venezuela regime’s days may be numbered, and with it may go Cuba’s junta as it runs out of regional supporters. As well, last month the U.S. Trade Office surveyed stakeholders on a proposal to eject Nicaragua from the U.S. trade agreement with Central America, CAFTA-DR, possibly in early 2026. A forced exit could be a deathblow to Daniel Ortega’s tenuous relationship with Nicaragua’s business community. In the unlikely scenario that Maduro survives the next few months, Venezuela should be added to the U.S. Department of State’ list of Countries of Particular Concern for its “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” joining Cuba and Nicaragua on the list since 2022. My organization, Outreach Aid to the Americas, has defended religious freedom and provided for the humanitarian needs of persecuted peoples in the region, working through our extensive faith community networks, for more than 30 years. While we promote peacebuilding and non-violent solutions, we recognize the tragedy of totalitarian rule in these three countries and the regimes’ firm lock on power. As such, we fully stand by tougher measures to end these criminal operations and restore democracy and essential human rights for the people of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Originally published by The Washington Stand. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post If Change Is Inevitable in Venezuela, Will Cuba and Nicaragua Soon Follow? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—While the 2026 midterm elections have garnered widespread media attention for the fierce battle to control both houses of Congress, voters in three dozen states will also head to the polls to elect governors. Of the 36 governor’s mansions up for grabs in the midterms, half are controlled by Democrats and half by Republicans. With more than 10 months to go before Election Day, primary season is already in full swing, and several gubernatorial races across the country have been marked by unpredictability and drawn significant attention. Florida Incumbent Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won reelection by nearly 20 percentage points in 2022, is term limited and cannot run for a third consecutive time—paving the way for a contested GOP primary to succeed him. Long-regarded as a hotly-contested swing state, Florida is now a Republican stronghold that Trump carried by 13 points in 2024. Therefore, it is widely believed that the candidate that emerges as the party’s nominee for the governor’s mansion following the Aug. 18, 2026 primary will win the November general election. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the Sunshine State’s contest as “Solid R.” Trump had endorsed Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds for governor in February—five days before Donalds entered the race—cementing the 47-year-old congressman as the race’s early odds-on frontrunner. In addition to the president, Donalds also has received the support of Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a handful of his congressional colleagues, multiple members of Trump’s cabinet and billionaire Elon Musk. DeSantis, however, has yet to make an endorsement and may still back another GOP primary candidate. An anonymous source familiar with Florida politics told the Daily Caller in November that the state’s sitting governor is “point-blank trashing” Donalds to donors. Donalds, along with the vast majority of Florida’s congressional Republicans, notably endorsed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.  Republican Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a key DeSantis ally whom the governor appointed to the state’s No. 2 job in August, has signaled that he is open to entering the gubernatorial race but has also yet to either declare his candidacy or decline to run. Early in 2025, observers speculated that DeSantis’ wife Casey DeSantis may run to succeed her husband, but such talk has subsided. Mrs. DeSantis has yet to state her intention either way. Donalds’ only current primary challenger to have held electoral office is former Florida state House Speaker Paul Renner, a self-styled “pro-Trump, pro-DeSantis Republican.” Despite this, DeSantis has come out in vocal opposition to Renner’s longshot campaign, calling his former legislative ally’s decision to run “ill-advised.” Also in the GOP primary race is James Fishback, the 30-year-old CEO of investment firm Azoria Partners and a vocal critic of H-1B visas, who is campaigning to Donalds’ right. Fishback in February came under scrutiny after proposing the viral idea that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency  send $5,000 dividend checks to households using money saved by the initiative. Stopping short of entering the race, Collins in a Nov. 20 X post took a dig at Donalds writing, “In my first 100 days as Lieutenant Governor, I’ve already outperformed the guy in Congress still trying to convince people he’s ready to lead Florida.” In response to a user asking him to say Donalds’ name, the lieutenant governor replied “H1-Byron,” appearing to repeat a line of attack also used by Fishback to paint the Trump-endorsed candidate as too lenient on the issue of immigration. Democrat candidates vying to succeed DeSantis include former Republican Florida Rep. David Jolly—a former MSNBC contributor widely associated with the “Never Trump” movement—and Jerry Demings, deep-blue Orange County’s mayor and former sheriff. The Democratic Party has not won Florida’s governor’s mansion since 1994. Ohio Similar to Florida, Ohio is a former swing state that is now firmly in the Republican column, with Trump carrying it by double digits in 2024. The Buckeye and Sunshine states are also similar in that Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, like DeSantis, is term-limited and cannot seek reelection. However, unlike Donalds, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the Trump-endorsed candidate seems to have cleared the GOP field, with the Ohio Republican Party opting in May to endorse him. Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump and DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has also received the endorsements of Musk, Vice President JD Vance—a native Ohioan—and both of Ohio’s senators.  Trump originally announced that Ramaswamy would work with Musk to jointly run DOGE, but as the president began his second term, Ramaswamy instead pivoted to running for governor and never ended up joining the initiative. The businessman currently is the only well-known GOP candidate running for Ohio governor. Republican Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost have both in the first half of 2025 dropped out of the GOP gubernatorial primary with the former endorsing Ramaswamy. On the Democrat side, former Ohio Department of Health director Amy Acton seems poised to win the nomination as Democrat Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan passed on a run and Sherrod Brown announced a bid to return to the upper chamber instead. Acton notably presided over the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—which many critics have slammed as too heavy-handed. When asked by Daily Caller Senior Editor Amber Duke if she had regretted closing Ohio’s schools in the name of COVID, Acton replied, “No, actually, what we were following was the pandemic playbook.” Ramaswamy has himself hammered Acton on the issue, writing in a June post to X, “Dr. Amy Acton, the Chief Lockdown Officer of Ohio, led us to be the *first state in the nation* to close our public schools, while private schools remained open. … Acton owes our public school students an apology & shouldn’t come anywhere near the levers of power again.”However, recent polling shows that despite Ohio’s strong Republican lean, a Democrat upset in what many are saying is shaping up to be a “blue wave” year may just be on the horizon. A December 2025 Emerson College poll found Acton with a one point lead over Ramaswamy, with 46% of support to his 45%. Emerson College’s poll from four months earlier showed Ramaswamy with a 10-point lead over the Democrat, 49% to 39%. Cook Political report rates the race as “Likely R.” California As term-limited Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom likely gears up to mount his highly-anticipated 2028 presidential run, the state has the potential to elect a Republican to succeed him in 2026. Although California is a heavily Democrat state, its top-two primary could conceivably result in an all-Republican general election matchup if a crowded Democrat field splits the vote, allowing top GOP candidates—Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News host Steve Hilton—to finish first and second.  No clear Democrat frontrunner has emerged, with just six months before voters cast their ballots in the June 2, 2026 all-party primary. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s failed 2024 presidential nominee, announced in late July that she would not seek the California governorship two years after losing the race for the White House—something Richard Nixon tried and failed to do in 1962. A handful of well-known Democrats remain in the race to take up Newsom’s mantle including, most notably, former Democrat Rep. Katie Porter—who made headlines for appearing to abuse her staff and for allegedly dumping scalding hot mashed potatoes on her then-husband’s head—and Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell—a prominent Trump foe who announced his candidacy on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in late November. Swalwell was absent for more House votes than any one of his current colleagues, according to data analyzed by the New York Post. The Trump administration in November referred the congressman to the Department of Justice for alleged mortgage fraud. Other Democrats vying to replace Newsom include former Joe Biden-era Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, to name a few. While multiple recent polls show the possibility of a fiercely split Democrat primary field locking the party out of the general election, Cook Political Report still rates the race “Solid D.” Bianco told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a December interview that the lack of a Democrat frontrunner shows that the party is in “shambles” and has “no leadership.” “If you look back in history, there’s always a secession plan. There’s always someone else in line. That’s how Newsom got in there,” Bianco added. “But the problem for them [Democrats] now is Newsom is the biggest narcissist, probably, in the world and, in his eyes, there is no one capable of filling his shoes.” Arizona  Meanwhile, California’s neighbor Arizona, the adopted home state of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, presents the Republicans’ best chance to unseat an incumbent Democrat governor. Democrat Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is seeking a second term in office after defeating her Republican opponent by only 17,000 votes in 2022. Hobbs has faced numerous controversies while in office, including a “play-to-pay” campaign finance scandal and her reported lack of transparency about her legal donations. In addition, the vulnerable governor had a dismal 39% approval rating, compared to a 40% disapproval, according to an Emerson College poll released in mid-November. Hobbs will take on the winner of what is now a three-way Republican primary, scheduled for Aug. 4, 2026. Cook Political report rates Arizona’s gubernatorial race a “Toss Up.”  The three Republicans currently vying for the GOP nomination to take on Hobbs in the general election are Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson and Republican Arizona Rep. David Schweikert. Trump has co-endorsed Biggs and Robson while Kirk had solely endorsed Biggs prior to his Sept. 10 assassination. Schweikert entered the race months after both of the other two candidates. Emerson College’s mid-November poll showed Hobbs trailing the two Trump-endorsed candidates by one point each and Schweikert by four points. Biggs had a massive lead over both of his primary opponents with 50% of support compared to Robson’s 17% and Schweikert’s 8%, according to the same poll. In an interview with the Daily Caller’s Ashley Brasfield at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December, Biggs said that he is “acting like I’m the only one that has [Trump’s] endorsement,” highlighting his close relationship with the president.“Trump and I go back to the first election … he knows I’ve been in the foxholes,” Biggs, who’s been in Congress since 2017, told Brasfield. “I’ve gone through two impeachments with him and about five investigations where I was one of the lead defense counsels, so to speak, for him on all of those. And he knows that. And even know he’ll call me and we’ll talk and we have that relationship ongoing.” “You can say anybody’s endorsed by you but if you don’t have a relationship with him, it doesn’t really matter,” the GOP frontrunner added. Michigan Finally, Michigan proves another prime chance for Republicans to flip a governor’s mansion from blue to red—but this time because of a left-leaning independent candidate who might play spoiler. Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, like Newsom, is both a rumored potential 2028 White House candidate and barred from running for a third term due to term limits. Cook Political report rates the race to succeed Whitmer as a “Toss Up.” The open Democrat primary to succeed the incumbent governor features three main candidates, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. Whitmer has stated she has no plans to endorse any candidate in the primary. Meanwhile, Republican Michigan Rep. John James is the heavy frontrunner to capture the GOP nomination, with his most prominent intraparty rival being former Republican Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the GOP primary, but has previously endorsed James during his successful runs for the House as well as his unsuccessful runs for U.S. Senate in both 2018 and 2020. However, the presence of independent Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan—a former lifelong Democrat who left the party in 2024—on the ballot may swing the race in James’ favor. A Plymouth Union Public Research poll released in mid-October showed James in the lead with 35% of support among likely voters, compared to 31% of support for a generic Democrat and 12% for Duggan. Similarly, an EPIC-MRA poll released in early November showed 34% of support for James, 33% for Benson and 20% for Duggan. Duggan blasted his former party in October, telling Politico, “Everything the Democrats have to say is terrible about Republicans.” “I am waiting for the Democratic Party to step forward and say, ‘Here’s our affordable housing proposal. Here’s our mental health treatment proposal,’” the independent gubernatorial candidate added at the time. “It’s just been so frustrating to watch the Democratic Party lose its way.” Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The post Five Chaotic Gubernatorial Races to Watch in the New Year appeared first on The Daily Signal.