Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona will challenge independent Grand Canyon State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her Senate seat in 2024.

Gallego is set to release a video announcing his campaign against Sinema, who left the Democratic Party last year, according to multiple sources briefed by the congressman’s campaign.

The video was shot in the congressman’s home district and will be released in both English and Spanish on Monday.

Newsweek first reported the congressman’s upcoming announcement.

Gallego has been a longtime critic of Sinema, even before the senator left the Democratic Party, and has been hinting at a run for months.

Last month, Gallego told CBS News that several members and even ‘some senators’ were encouraging him to challenge Sinema.

‘There have been some senators that have encouraged me to run,’ Gallego said. ‘There are some senators, some of Sen. Sinema’s colleagues, that are encouraging me to run.’ 

Gallego did not identify which of Sinema’s colleagues are telling him to run, but predicted they would ‘absolutely’ support him in a Senate race next year.

Sinema stunned political observers and infuriated progressives on Dec. 9 when she announced she was switching to an Independent, citing increasingly partisan interests and radicalization in both parties in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic.

‘Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes,’ Sinema wrote in the op-ed.

‘Most Arizonans believe this is a false choice, and when I ran for the U.S. House and the Senate, I promised Arizonans something different,’ she continued. ‘I pledged to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama.’

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed reporting.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Arizona on Thursday to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for an energy infrastructure project, where she defended her decision not to visit the southern border. 

The vice president was in Tonopah, Arizona, which is nearly 100 miles away from the border with Mexico. She was there for the groundbreaking ceremony of a 125-mile-long transmission line that will deliver wind and solar energy to homes and businesses around the area. 

‘I am here to talk about what we are doing around bringing down the cost to American families and creating jobs,’ Harris told local news station KPHO, when asked why she did not plan a border visit. ‘Let me say on the border that it is one of our highest priorities to continue to work on making sure that the border is secure and that we also do what is necessary to have a fair and humane system. 

‘Frankly, Congress needs to act,’ Harris continued. ‘We’ve put an historic number of agents on the border. We have upgraded and are in the process of upgrading technology. But Congress needs to act.’ 

Though tasked by President Biden to investigate the root causes of the migrant crisis overwhelming border states, Harris has only visited the southern border once since taking office, in 2021. 

‘I visited the border. I will not on this trip, but I have, and I will again,’ Harris told KPHO. 

The vice president’s office did not immediately respond when asked for a timeframe of Harris’ next visit to the border. 

Harris has spent three days in Latin America on two separate trips in her role. The last public appearance Harris made on the topic of immigration was on June 15, according to a tracker of Harris’ scheduled events and meetings from the Los Angeles Times. Harris had 20 events on immigration as vice president, with all but three taking place in 2021.

Southern border encounters have hit more than 200,000 each month since June, according to Customs and Border Protection. These numbers are expected to increase after the pending expiration of the Title 42 policy that allows agents to turn away migrants in order to stop the spread of COVID.

Fox News’ Patrick Hauf contributed to this report.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia announced Friday he will be running for a third term in office in 2024.

Kaine made the announcement Friday morning from the state capital, Richmond, after meeting with local business leaders and participating in a discussion on economic development.

‘I’m a servant. I love Virginia. I’m proud of what I’ve done,’ Kaine said in the announcement.

Kaine’s decision is a major relief for Democrats who have been pushing for him to run and avoid the uncertainty of a newcomer in the 2024 election.

While Democrats performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections, the 2024 election cycle – where Democrats will be defending seats in several battleground states – could have a far different outcome.

Democrats will be defending 23 of the 34 Senate seats up for grabs next cycle. Of their 23 seats up for election, seven are in states won by former President Trump in either 2016 or 2020. 

Republicans, however, will not be defending any seat in a state won by President Biden, unlike the 2022 midterms where the most competitive races were in states Biden won: Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Former President Trump’s Fourth of July celebration at the Mount Rushmore monument in 2020 sparked calls to alter or even tear down the monument that are still having a political impact years later.

Just this week, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., introduced the Mount Rushmore Protection Act, which would prohibit the use of federal funds to change, destroy or rename the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. That bill is aimed at heading off a renewed push from protesters and activists who oppose the memorial, which features the busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Historically, those protesters have been Native American tribes who have argued that the monument was built on sacred land that was stolen from them after gold was discovered.

‘Nothing stands as a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep a promise of treaty than the faces carved into our sacred land on what the United States calls Mount Rushmore,’ Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said at the time of Trump’s visit.

‘The United States of America wishes for all of us to be citizens and a family of their republic, yet when they get bored of looking at those faces we are left looking at our molesters,’ Frazier wrote. ‘We are the ones who live under the stare of those who have wronged us while others have the privilege to look away and move on, we cannot.’

Julian Bear Runner, president of the Ogala Sioux tribe, echoed that sentiment around the time when Trump’s visit was being discussed, and advocated for the monument to be torn down.

‘I don’t believe it should be blown up, because it would cause more damage to the land,’ he said, according to a report in the Argus Leader. ‘But there are other methods to take down the monument that would have less environmental impact.’

‘Removed but not blown up,’ he said.

The controversy dissipated some after Trump left office, but last year, former NBA player Jalen Rose called on people to retire the term ‘Mount Rushmore,’ because the monument sits on land that was ‘stolen . . . when it was discovered that it contained gold.’

Johnson’s bill, cosponsored by several House Republicans, acknowledged this week that ‘our nation’s history is not without its flaws.’

‘But there is no doubt the faces on Mount Rushmore represent democracy, freedom and the great American experiment,’ Johnson said. ‘Removing or changing Mount Rushmore will not change the past and will not move us forward as a country. We must protect Mount Rushmore for generations to come.’

It’s likely Johnson’s bill will be met with opposition from those tribes and other organizations who are advocating for the monument’s removal if House Republicans try to move it this year.

Meanwhile, the monument is wrapped up in another controversy. Earlier this month, South Dakota Republican governor Kristi Noem announced that the Biden administration, through the National Parks Service, had rejected her request for a July 4, 2023, fireworks display at the historic monument in the Black Hills for the third year in a row.

The Ogala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the new legislation.

Republicans believe President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation, the crisis at the southern border and the national crime spike are just a few of the reasons his presidency deserves an ‘F,’ two years in.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the president deserves an ‘F’ grade for his first two years in office, citing the economy and border crisis as some of the many reasons he believes Biden has let down the American people.

‘Halfway through President Biden’s term in office, he deserves an ‘F’ for failing the American people. Wyoming families can’t afford another two years of Joe Biden’s failures,’ Barrasso said Friday, which marked two years since Biden was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2021.

‘For two years Joe Biden has waged a war on Wyoming and American energy,’ continued Barrasso. ‘He’s driven inflation to a 40-year high and borrowed trillions of dollars to pay off his liberal base. President Biden caused the worst border crisis in history. As commander in chief, he embarrassed the nation with his deadly surrender to terrorists in Afghanistan. The American people want more American energy, lower inflation, a strong military, a secure border, and safe communities.’

‘Senate Republicans will continue to fight for the American people’s priorities every day. We will hold Joe Biden accountable for his failures. We will work to undo the historic damage Democrats have done in such a short time,’ the Republican senator continued.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., also agreed with the president’s failing grade, saying the Democrats’ ”success’ is America’s failure.’

‘My evaluation of their performance is the same as last year, with a capital F. F for failure, flagrant, feeble, fruitless, and futile,’ Donalds told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

‘Under this administration, America is more divided, in debt, and in danger due to its reckless handling of the border, out-of-control spending, the dismantling of America’s energy infrastructure, weaponization of our federal government, and constant division based on race and cultural movements. Their ‘success’ is America’s failure, and House Republicans will now hold them accountable in the 118th Congress,’ continued Donalds.

Agreeing with her fellow members of the GOP, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., shared with Fox News Digital that Biden’s presidential record grants him an ‘F.’

‘Joe Biden has earned an F for his failed leadership. Due to two years of his failed policies, every American is paying more for almost everything, and his failure to enforce the law at our southern border is making this humanitarian and fentanyl crisis worse. This is Biden’s state of crisis, but House Republicans in the new majority are committed to providing a critical check on this administration.’

‘Joe Biden has been in office for two years and all he has to show for it is an open border, rampant crime, and skyrocketing inflation,’ Senate Republicans tweeted on the two-year anniversary of Biden’s inauguration.

Since Biden took office in 2021, inflation hit a 40-year-high of 9% in June and the economy entered into a technical recession, millions of illegal migrants passed through the southern border, the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, and fentanyl overdoses became the leading cause of death among young adults, according to a U.S. government data analysis.

Despite the country facing major setbacks over the past two years, the White House sent out a ‘cheat sheet’ to Democratic lawmakers and Biden allies Friday that touted two years of the president ‘delivering results.’

The release comes amid rumors Biden is gearing up for another presidential run in 2024.

The White House compared Biden’s record to Republicans, whom they claimed ‘are creating chaos and proposing an extreme and divisive agenda.’

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden walked along the splintered boardwalk of this picture-postcard California beach town Thursday and heard from business owners struggling to repair damage to their shops after deadly storms caused devastation across the region and killed more than 20 people statewide.

Biden toured a gutted seafood restaurant and the badly flooded Paradise Beach Grille, not far from the collapsed Capitola Pier and the brightly painted pink, orange and teal shops that were all boarded up following the storms. Walls were crumbling, debris scattered everywhere and floors swept away by raging waters.

Paradise Beach Grille Owner Chuck Maier told Biden that water had gushed up from the floor and swamped his business on Monterey Bay not far from Santa Cruz. ‘No kidding,’ Biden exclaimed.

‘You don’t feel it until you walk the streets,’ Biden said later from nearby Seacliff State Park, speaking about how bad the damage was and blaming climate change for the severity of the weather. ‘If anybody doubts the climate is changing, they must have been asleep for the last couple of years.’

Flanked by first responders, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, the president highlighted the damage from the punishing rains, powerful winds, floods and landslides. He warned climate change would create more extreme weather.

‘We know some of the destruction is going to take years to rebuild,’ Biden said. ‘But we’ve got to not just rebuild, but rebuild better.’

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 17, California was deluged by 11.47 inches of rain and snow on average across the state, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, with some reports of up to 15 feet of snow in the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada.

California gets much of its rain and snow in the winter from a weather phenomenon known as ‘atmospheric rivers’ — long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over the ocean and flow through the sky.

California has been hit by nine atmospheric rivers since late December. The storms have relented in recent days. Forecasters were calling for light rain toward the end of this week followed by a dry period.

Criswell said Thursday on the trip from Washington that the president and staff have to be mindful of what people have been through when traveling to places devastated by storms and other natural disasters.

‘There has just been so much trauma to this community and it’s really important that we keep that in mind,’ she said. ‘These communities have had loss of life, loss of their well-being and their livelihood, and I think it’s incredibly important that they know that the president is here to support them and that the full force of the federal family is going to be behind them.’

Biden has already approved a major disaster declaration for the state, freeing additional federal resources for recovery efforts. Hours before the visit, he raised the level of federal assistance available even higher.

More than 500 FEMA and other federal personnel have been deployed to California to support the emergency operations. Thousands of bystanders gathered for the president’s visit and cheered him as he toured the boardwalk.

Newsom praised the fast federal response, but warned the threat remains high in a state that just a few years ago suffered devastating drought and is now facing record rainfall.

‘The scale and scope of these floods is hard to understand unless you get out, and that’s why I couldn’t be more grateful to the president for taking the time to come out again.’

Former President Trump on Friday voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit he filed in Florida against New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging she abused her position as the top attorney in the state to ‘recklessly injure’ his family and business. 

Trump attorney Honey Rechtin filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The filing states that Trump ‘voluntarily dismisses his claims in this action’ against James ‘without prejudice.’ 

Trump filed the lawsuit in November claiming James abused her position as attorney general to ‘recklessly injure’ him, his family and his businesses. Trump alleged James was pursuing ‘a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade’ against him ‘with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.’

James, a Democrat, has been investigating Trump since she took office in January 2019. James brought a lawsuit against Trump in September alleging he and his company misled banks and others about the value of his assets.

James’ claimed that Trump and his children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, as well as his associates and businesses, allegedly committed ‘numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation’ regarding financial statements.

James alleged Trump ‘inflated his net worth by billions of dollars’ and said his children helped him to do so.

When Trump was president, James sued his administration dozens of times, challenging policies on the environment, immigration, education, health care and other issues. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: A bill being introduced in the Texas legislature this week would keep Title 42 in place at the state level until the federal public health emergency for COVID-19, as well as related mandates and travel warnings, is lifted – as the Lone Star State struggles to deal with a historic surge in illegal migration.

The bill is being introduced by State Rep. Brian Harrison, a former Trump-era Health and Human Services (HHS) chief of staff who was in office in March 2020 when the administration implemented Title 42 – a public health order that allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The Biden administration sought to end the order last year, but was blocked by a federal judge in response to a GOP lawsuit. It has since faced a different lawsuit calling for the expulsions to stop, saying the order is unlawful. That lawsuit is before the Supreme Court and will likely be ruled on later this year.

Amid that uncertainty, there has been a continued surge in migration at the southern border, with more than 200,000 encounters for months, overwhelming areas like El Paso, Texas – which has declared a state of emergency. Federal officials have predicted that migrant encounters could spike to 14,000 a day once the health order is ended.

With Title 42’s status unclear, Harrison’s bill would enshrine it for Texas using the state’s police powers. It would require non-U.S. citizens to enter through ports of entry, but require the return of all illegal immigrants between ports of entry. 

That would be in place as long as the federal public health emergency is in place for COVID-19 and as long as any form of COVID-19 vaccine mandate remains in place. Additionally, it would keep it in place as long as the State Department has a COVID-19 travel warning for any countries where illegal immigrants have originated.

‘Biden is intentionally opening the southern border to human traffickers, cartels and millions of unscreened illegal aliens, while at the same time keeping Americans under a federal COVID Public Health Emergency and tyrannical vaccine mandates,’ Harrison said in a statement. ‘We can’t let him have it both ways. Texas is the first impacted, the most impacted, and we must fight back using all tools available as a sovereign state.’

The bill marks the latest instance of Texas looking to take matters into its own hands when it comes to securing the border in the face of what Republican officials say is a lack of leadership by the federal government.

Texas has built its own wall at its border, and has also been bussing migrants deeper into the interior – moves that have sparked pushback from the liberal cities to which the state has been sending them. Gov. Greg Abbott also declared an ‘invasion’ at the southern border in November, and been returning illegal migrants to the border. 

Ken Cuccinelli, a former Trump-era acting deputy DHS secretary who has pushed for states to declare invasions and has faulted Abbott for not using the declaration to return migrants to Mexico itself, praised Harrison’s bill as an important additional step.

‘For the past two years of the Biden administration, we’ve been asking Gov. Abbott to declare an invasion and use his war power authority to remove illegals back into Mexico and keep the cartels from having operational control of our border. That has not occurred,’ Cuccinelli, now at the Center for Renewing America, said in a statement. ‘We are encouraged that the Texas State Legislature and Rep. Brian Harrison are using the powers they have to push this issue to ensure Texans and American are safe.’

The bill shows that action taking place at the state level is similar to the renewed legislative push by Republicans in the House of Representatives. There, having taken control of the chamber, Republicans have introduced a slew of bills to crack down on the crisis at the southern border.

The Biden administration recently announced an expanded parole program and expanded Title 42 expulsions, but has called on Congress to pass a sweeping immigration bill introduced on Biden’s first day in office. 

‘That work will not be done unless and until Congress enacts and funds a more comprehensive immigration plan that I proposed on day one,’ he said in a speech from the White House earlier this month.

But Republicans have balked at the bill’s inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to end proxy voting is more than a symbolic gesture to ensure lawmakers are in the Capitol serving their constituents – it suddenly makes the physical act of showing up to work a top priority for Republicans and Democrats in a closely divided House.

At the start of the 118th Congress, Republicans have 222 votes to Democrats’ 212 votes. That puts a premium on attendance – if a handful of Republicans get sick or take the day off, it may prevent voting on bills that need every GOP vote. Too many absent Democrats could tempt Republicans to push the boundaries on what they can pass.

An example of the importance of each vote could be seen in the frantic week-long voting exercise to pick a House speaker. As the voting commenced, Democratic leaders stressed to their members that everyone was expected to be present, as absences would lower the number of votes McCarthy needed to secure the gavel.

‘Members must remain on the Floor until the Election for Speaker of the House is completed and until directed otherwise by the Whip’s office,’ the notice read. ‘Members must contact the Whip’s office immediately if they expect to be absent at any time.’

In the penultimate vote that McCarthy thought would give him the gavel, Republicans miscounted and fell short by a single member – McCarthy won 216 votes, but 217 were needed. That set off a furious round of negotiating on the floor as McCarthy lobbied holdout Republicans for their vote.

A final vote was needed, and the six remaining GOP holdouts voted ‘present,’ which effectively lowered the number of votes that counted by six and allowed McCarthy to win a majority with 216 votes.

Those are the sorts of close calls that House leaders can expect to wrestle with given the narrow GOP majority and the new requirement for members to be in the House chamber in order to vote. It’s a management challenge that Democrats have not had to wrestle with since early 2020, when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed members to vote from a distance.

As lawmakers return to work next week, both parties signaled they were ready to return to the new normal of going into the office again. Republicans indicated they would fare better under the new schedule.

‘It’ll be a tough adjustment for House Democrats to now have to show up for work both for votes and committee hearings and markups,’ a senior GOP aide told Fox News Digital. ‘The days of voting from a boat in a committee markup or handing over your vote to another member of Congress in order to attend a space launch are over.’

That’s a reference to May 2020, the first time Pelosi allowed proxy voting. Dozens of Democrats voted remotely, and former Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., and current Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., both tweeted on the same day that they were at a SpaceX launch that same day.

But House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said the Democrats’ near-perfect attendance record in the 15 votes for House speaker, in which they voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York every time, shows Democrats are up to the challenge.

‘As House Democrats have already demonstrated in the first two weeks of the 118th Congress, we are united, organized, and ready to get to work,’ Clark told Fox News Digital.

On the two-year anniversary of President Biden’s inauguration, the White House is touting the president’s accomplishments and previewing what Biden’s re-election message will look like, should he decide to run.

Job growth, cooling inflation, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent to boost manufacturing are the major accomplishments of Biden’s first two years in office, as told by the White House in a ‘cheat sheet’ sent to Democratic lawmakers and other Biden allies, Politico’s Playbook newsletter reported Friday morning. 

The memo highlight’s Biden’s successes, which include rallying foreign partners to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, ushering a bipartisan gun safety law through Congress, confirming Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, and advancing ‘the most significant legislative record since the Johnson administration.’ 

On the economy, the White House points out that gas prices are down more than $1.60 compared to last year and inflation is at its lowest level since 2021. Biden signed a law that caps insulin prices at $35 per month for seniors. And nearly 11 million jobs have been created in 2021 and 2022, with 750,000 jobs created in the manufacturing sector. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Biden signed has funded 6,900 specific projects across the nation, according to the White House. And, the memo notes, nearly 10.5 million Americans applied to start a business since Biden took office, making 2021 and 2022 the two best years for small business applications on record. 

‘Due to the overwhelming popularity of the President’s economic agenda, the President had the best first midterm election results of any Democratic President in 60 years,’ White House communications director Kate Bedingfield wrote. 

This record stands ‘in contrast to MAGA Republicans in Congress who are creating chaos and proposing an extreme and divisive agenda,’ the White House says.  

Democrats are accusing the new Republican House majority of advancing an agenda for the ‘super-wealthy.’ The Biden White House is attacking Republicans on four points: efforts to restrict abortion; a GOP plan to abolish the IRS and replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax; Republican-backed legislation that would restrict Biden’s authority to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the Biden administration says would raise gas prices; and putting Social Security and Medicare ‘on the chopping block’ by demanding spending cuts.

Sources have told Fox News Digital that Biden will not make an announcement about the 2024 presidential race until after he delivers the State of the Union address next month. Even so, the messaging from the White House offers a glimpse into what will be themes of Biden’s address and talking points on the campaign trail. 

Of course, this memo is meant to portray Biden’s record in the best light possible. Annual inflation remains at 6.5%, though down from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. The federal debt has ballooned to $31.38 trillion from $27.6 trillion when Biden assumed office. And the president has an immigration crisis to contend with, a special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents, and a newly-empowered Republican House preparing to investigate his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. 

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has already launched his comeback campaign for the White House and is scheduled to hold the campaign’s first public event in Columbia, South Carolina, next week. When the 2024 campaign begins in earnest, Republicans will strike back with their own attacks on Biden’s record.   

READ THE WHITE HOUSE MEMO. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.