With time running out in the election cycle, JD Vance participated in a primetime town hall on Fox News, which was largely unremarkable except for one unexpected exchange.
A local college student told the vice president that the right routinely tells young people to get married and have children but that conservatives have failed to acknowledge how financially difficult this is for many. She asked, “So my question is, how does the right, and yourself, expect us to start families young when the average price of a home in America now costs more than $415,000, which just feels out of reach for us?”
It’s worth emphasizing for context that the question came from a young woman who identified herself as the vice president of her university’s Turning Point USA chapter. That is, Vance wasn’t confronting a political opponent; the question came from someone inclined to agree with the Trump White House.
Almost immediately, the Ohio Republican demonstrated the kind of political instincts that have made him famous.
Q: How do you expect us to start families young when the average price of a home feels out of reach?JD VANCE: I want to point out that I've only gotten one question about Jon Husted's ass
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-10-30T01:28:44.964Z
“I want to point out that I think that I have been asked four or maybe five questions by my count,” the vice president began. “I have only been asked one question about [Republican Sen.] Jon Husted’s ass — and it was by [Fox News’] Jesse Watters.”
So, during a nationally televised event, a young conservative voter asked a sincere question about one of the most pressing issues facing her generation, and Vance’s first thought was to make a joke about a senator’s backside.
It’s impossible to say just how many young voters watching at home were amused by this clumsy attempt at humor, but it seems likely the number was small.
It only got worse when Vance actually tried to answer the question with some substance.
“I think we have to take stock of the fact that the reason why housing exploded in the United States of America is in part because we allowed 20 million illegal aliens into our country to buy homes that ought, by right, go to American citizens,” the vice president argued.
Except that’s absurd. Vance’s statistic is wildly inflated and totally at odds with actual data — the idea that 20 million undocumented immigrants have the resources to buy up American real estate is nonsensical. (Last fall, he similarly complained to Fox News about importing “more and more low-wage servants” from other countries. How “low-wage servants” can afford to purchase homes has never been clear.)
The vice president went on to say, “Another reason why housing got too expensive in this country is because we allowed homes to be bought up by Wall Street and foreign investors.”
Unlike the rest of his response, this actually made some sense, though it touched on a problem Vance neglected to mention: Congress approved a bipartisan housing bill earlier this year that was designed to address the very problem he referred to. President Donald Trump, however, refused to sign it as part of a tantrum over a voter suppression proposal that he wanted but couldn’t have. (The housing bill, thankfully, became law anyway.)
This exchange didn’t have to be so politically messy for the vice president, but his unerring political instincts won out in the end anyway.
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After months of speculation about Democrats recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in Alaska, The New York Times uncovered credible evidence to suggest that the allegations have merit.
To put it mildly, the GOP reactions have fallen somewhere between hair-on-fire apoplexy and unbridled rage. Donald Trump, in particular, has spent recent days in total hysterics, demanding that former Rep. Mary Peltola be, among other things, prosecuted for crimes the president failed to identify. (Peltola on Thursday again denied having had knowledge of the alleged scheme, saying she’s “not interested in tricking voters.”)
But of particular interest was the reaction from Gov. Mike Dunleavy. On Wednesday, the Alaska Republican announced that he had ordered an investigation into whether Peltola’s campaign should face criminal or civil penalties, and on Thursday he went even further. Axios reported:
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) suggested Thursday the state could withhold certification of the U.S. Senate election results if Democrat Mary Peltola wins.
Withholding certification could complicate Peltola’s path to the Senate, as Republicans investigate allegations that Democrats recruited a candidate with the same name as GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan.
During a NewsNation interview, the governor hedged when asked if he was prepared to certify the results, even if his preferred candidate loses. “We’re going to ensure that we aren’t going to send a scam to Washington,” Dunleavy said.
In other words, with only a handful of days remaining before Election Day, the state’s sitting governor publicly declared that even if Alaskans back the former congresswoman, he may not be prepared to accept the will of the voters.
That, in and of itself, is a radical move that puts a thumb on the scale. Governors are not supposed to effectively tell their state’s electorate, “Vote how you want, but the results might not count.”
But just as notable is the fact that the partisan outrage is wildly inconsistent with the alleged offense.
It’s more than fair to argue that ballot-stacking is underhanded campaign mischief. But it’s equally fair to note that it’s a common tactic, employed by both parties, going back generations.
As for the legality, the Times also reported, “Ballot-stacking strategies are common in politics and generally considered legal, if misleading. Republicans engaged in the tactic in Alaska this year, too, trying to prop up Democratic candidates in the Senate primary to siphon votes from Ms. Peltola.”
What we’re left with is a story in which Republicans appear to be engaging in performative outrage, not in response to a genuine scandal, but in response to polls showing them behind.
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On Thursday’s edition of CBS’s “The Takeout,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) stated that “we might even see a vote” on impeaching Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “when we get back in the lame duck.” But when it comes to impeaching
The post Dem Rep. DelBene: Might Vote to Impeach Hegseth in Lame Duck, ‘Top Priority’ Is Costs appeared first on Breitbart.
On Thursday’s edition of CBS’s “The Takeout,” host and CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett stated that he doesn’t hear a lot about what Democrats’ actual agenda is. While speaking with Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Garrett asked, “Is this
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Far-left "squad" member Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) appeared to suggest Democrats revisit the 2021 January 6 Capitol riot if they win back the House, saying, "we ... have to hold these people accountable for everything they've done."
The post Pramila Jayapal Says a Democrat-Controlled House Should Revisit Jan. 6 Witch Hunt appeared first on Breitbart.
Chart: Carson Elm-Picard / MS NOW; Source: Forbes
Elon Musk was worth almost $200 billion at the beginning of 2024, the year he went all in on aligning himself with Donald Trump’s re-election bid. Since then, Musk briefly became the world’s first trillionaire — and the biggest known political donor in the United States.
Musk’s ballooning wealth over the past two years — a gain of about $700 billion — has coincided with a political transformation, from a Democratic funder to one of the GOP’s most enthusiastic and generous backers. Now his future is increasingly intertwined with those new alliances — including through federal contracts with the Trump administration and defenses against Democratic-led congressional investigations.
Musk is on track to be the election’s single biggest known political donor, with almost half a billion dollars in spending ahead of the midterms, according to MS NOW’s tally of top individual donors at the federal level since 2010 based on campaign disclosures to the Federal Election Commission. He beat his own record this year after he contributed some $290 million to help Trump and Republicans win in 2024.
While there is not a clear direct link between Musk’s campaign contributions and the rapid growth in his fortune, his businesses’ contracts with the federal government have expanded over the past two years.
This cycle, Musk is pumping tons of cash into political organizations backing Republican candidates. So far he’s given at least $446 million in political donations to his own super PAC, America PAC, and other political groups and campaigns, according to FEC disclosures.
His single biggest fiscal priority this cycle so far has been the competitive Texas Senate contest between Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Musk has poured well over $200 million into the race through various super PACs supporting Paxton.
He has been a prolific commenter on X, the social media platform he owns, attacking Democrats and warning that he will retaliate if lawmakers investigate him after the midterms. “Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets,” Musk wrote on X. “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
His enormous spending has itself become a central focus for Talarico and his supporters. “This Senate seat doesn’t belong to Elon Musk. This Senate seat belongs to you. It belongs to the people of Texas,” Talarico said at a rally on Tuesday. “We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.”
It’s an about-face for Musk, who just last year indicated that he would rein in his vast political spending. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said in May 2025 after fierce public blowback to his role in the early months of Trump’s second term.
Since that period, which marked the end of his governmental role in policymaking, public opinion about Musk has failed to improve. The majority of Americans, 65%, say they dislike Musk, according to YouGov’s popularity tracker, as of early October.
Musk’s enormous political contributions this year will represent less than one-tenth of 1% of his net worth.
The tech mogul is nearly a trillionaire. He officially crossed the trillion-dollar threshold earlier this year, but that valuation is tied to regular fluctuations in the stock market. His net worth was estimated to be almost $920 billion as of Thursday, according to data compiled by Forbes. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, meanwhile, put his wealth at $913 billion.
The figure largely reflects his company stakes, including in his aerospace venture SpaceX and automaker Tesla, which both trade publicly. Both businesses have received billions of dollars in federal funds over the past two decades. Neither company responded to a request for comment on Thursday. Musk’s super PAC did not immediately offer a comment for this story, and MS NOW was unable to reach Musk directly by email.
Overnight, Musk asserted on X that his “biggest concern” is that Democrats will add Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as states, “open the borders,” and expand the Supreme Court if the party keeps notching political wins through 2028. “Other reasons are irrelevant compared to this one,” he added.
By December 2024, Musk’s net worth doubled in the wake of Trump’s election victory and his forthcoming return to office for a second term. Musk, who was the world’s richest billionaire at the end of that year, was frequently seen spending time with Trump’s inner circle during the transition period, including at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago golf club and traveling on his private plane.
Between 2024 and 2026, SpaceX’s valuation rose sharply as a result of the expansion of Musk’s artificial intelligence business, known as SpaceXSI, along with the growth of his satellite-internet company, Starlink.
Some of his key firms are closely linked with the federal government, and a backlash among Democrats could weigh on parts of his empire in the long run. Under Trump, federal agencies have signed multiple contracts for the use of Musk’s AI software, Grok, including the Pentagon and the General Services Administration.
An online chatbot recently launched by the White House to disseminate federal information also utilizes Grok, along with Google’s AI software. Musk recently changed the name of his AI business from xAI to SpaceXSI, after Trump’s rebranding of AI as “super intelligence.” Earlier this month, he told a user on X — the social media platform he owns — that he would reflect Trump’s preferred moniker in the company’s name. If the House comes under Democratic control, as polls suggest, Musk is likely to face investigations into his business dealings and his four-month stint in the Trump administration.
After financially backing Trump’s presidential campaign, Musk was appointed to serve as a senior adviser and a co-leader of the government’s cost-cutting initiative, which he labeled the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE made a series of controversial moves, including the reduction of more than 300,000 federal workers, the shuttering of agencies created by Congress and the sudden slashing of funding to aid programs that fed poor people around the world.
Democratic lawmakers serving on the House Judiciary Committee accused the administration of targeting staff and leadership at agencies that pursued investigations into Musk’s businesses, pointing to personnel firings that included inspectors general, according to a February 2025 fact sheet. The White House said Musk did not play a direct role in firing decisions, and Musk dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns.
Musk’s powerful role drew scrutiny, given his numerous contracts with government entities. Trump notably attributed his departure in May 2025 to his criticism of a Republican-passed tax-and-spending bill that ended electric-vehicle tax credits for Americans last year, earlier than expected. Musk denied that the EV credits contributed to his decision to leave Washington. He instead cited the statutory requirements for special government employees.
The president threatened to review Musk’s federal contracts amid their falling out, causing Musk’s personal wealth to nosedive by $34 billion that day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the second-largest loss in the tracker’s history.
The two men made amends sometime in late 2025. Musk made a sharp political shift in 2024 after previously supporting mostly Democrats, to whom he referred as “the kindness party,” which notably largely supported the EV boom that Musk championed. Prior to 2024, he donated modestly to Democratic candidates, but at a much smaller scale than his million-dollar donations to Republican groups in recent years.
The post Elon Musk’s 180: From ‘I’ve done enough’ to the biggest GOP donor of 2026 appeared first on MS NOW.
Former Health and Human Services senior adviser Calley Means told Breitbart News that Iowa is positioned to play a central role in advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, emphasizing the importance of the state's agricultural economy, concerns about cancer rates, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn's willingness to address difficult questions surrounding food and health policy.
The post Exclusive: Former HHS Senior Adviser Calley Means Calls Iowa ‘Ground Zero’ for MAHA Movement appeared first on Breitbart.
Republican Iowa congressional candidate Joe Mitchell vowed to investigate former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci if elected to Congress, expressing his desire to serve on an oversight committee while recounting his grandmother's death following a COVID-19 vaccination during a Make Iowa Healthy Again rally Wednesday.
The post Iowa GOP Congressional Candidate Joe Mitchell Eyes House Oversight Seat to ‘Investigate the Hell Out of Anthony Fauci’ appeared first on Breitbart.
CLIVE, Iowa–Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn took aim at the establishment media during a Make Iowa Healthy Again rally on Wednesday, accusing the press of contributing to public forgetfulness about the past and what is at stake ahead of the midterm elections, while Steak 'n Shake Chief MAHA Officer Michael Boes challenged media portrayals of the Trump administration's efforts to improve Americans' health.
The post MAHA Rally Speakers Call Out ‘Fake News,’ Establishment Media: ‘Likes to Help Us Have Amnesia’ appeared first on Breitbart.
On Thursday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) said that because Alaska has ranked-choice voting, “if you recruited a third-party candidate who can take votes away from your opponent, that’s part of the process,” and he wishes his
The post Subramanyam: Alaska Ballot Stacking ‘Part of the Process’ of Ranked-Choice Voting, Wish My State Had Ranked-Choice appeared first on Breitbart.
Pope Leo XIV may not only be the first American to lead the Catholic Church, but he may also be the first American to lead the Catholic Church who votes in an American election.
The post Report: Pope Leo XIV Requested a Mail-In Ballot for the Illinois Midterm Elections appeared first on Breitbart.
ABC's left-wing late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel suggested that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) is transgender while attacking President Donald Trump during Wednesday's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!."
The post Jimmy Kimmel Calls Sarah Palin Transgender in Rant Bashing Trump’s Stump Speech appeared first on Breitbart.
The left-wing hosts of ABC's "The View" are taking Alaska Democrats to task for the dirty trick of adding a second Dan Sullivan to the Alaska election ballot to confuse voters in an attempt to torpedo incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan's chances at reelection.
The post ‘The View’ Hosts Blast Alaska Democrats’ ‘Shady Tactic’ Putting a Second Dan Sullivan on the Ballot appeared first on Breitbart.
A federal judge refused to force California to set aside mailed ballots from more than 20,000 people the Justice Department says are noncitizens.
The post Federal Judge Blocks DOJ Effort to Sequester 20,000 California Ballots appeared first on Breitbart.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged an additional 18 foreign nationals with illegally voting in North Carolina, a swing state.
The post Justice Department Charges 18 More Foreign Nationals with Illegally Voting in 2024 Election appeared first on Breitbart.
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