(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Biden orbit has been rocked by yet another murder scandal, this one allegedly involving a former White House staffer.
Nation Wood, a 22-year-old member of former President Joe Biden’s “advance” team, faces murder charges in connection with the shooting death of his 22-year-old girlfriend, Samantha Emge.
An advance team typically oversees the planning and execution of events for a political candidate or government official.
Wood’s LinkedIn profile states that his experience includes “site walkthroughs and advance coordination alongside U.S. Secret Service for senior government and high-net-worth principals.”
BREAKING: Former Biden security staffer who posed with Kamala Harris is charged with killing his girlfriend at a San Francisco home
Nation Wood, 25, was arrested after his girlfriend Samantha Emge, 22, was found shot at a home near San Francisco’s Ocean Beach
The profile claims he worked for the White House from November 2023 through 2025, after President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term.
A photo posted on LinkedIn shows Wood standing just a few spots away from then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
The San Francisco Police Department said officers responded to a residential shooting on Tuesday at about 10:43 p.m. local time.
Emge was found bleeding from a gunshot wound and transported to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Homicide investigators found “probable cause” to arrest Wood on involuntary manslaughter charges.
Follow-up reports suggest that Wood may have accidentally fired his gun.
Social media posts reviewed by Headline USA suggest that Wood and Emge had been dating since at least 2024.
Jail records show Wood was booked on Wednesday at approximately 5:00 a.m. He is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear before a judge on April 1.
The charges came just months after Bill Stevenson, the ex-husband of former First Lady Jill Biden, was arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Linda.
(Money Metals News Service) In a recent episode of the Money Metals podcast, host Mike Maharrey sat down with renowned precious metals analyst Jeff Clark to unpack the sharp pullback in gold prices and the dominant narratives driving market sentiment. As of their Thursday afternoon recording, gold had declined again, with many analysts attributing the weakness to rising oil prices, inflation fears, and expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer.
Clark pushed back on the certainty of that narrative. While acknowledging that higher inflation could justify rate hikes, he emphasized that the outcome is far from inevitable. Much depends on how geopolitical tensions unfold and whether economic conditions deteriorate. If the conflict drags on and begins to damage economic growth, the Fed could just as easily pivot toward rate cuts, even in the face of elevated inflation.
Maharrey reinforced this point by highlighting historical precedent. During crises such as 2008, the 2019 market instability, and the pandemic, the Fed consistently chose monetary easing over tightening. The assumption that rates must rise in response to current conditions, therefore, may be overly simplistic.
(Interview Starts Around 5:39 Mark)
Inflation Fears and the Paradox of Selling Gold
A central contradiction discussed in the episode is the current wave of selling in gold despite widespread expectations of rising inflation. Traditionally viewed as an inflation hedge, gold is being liquidated at the very moment many investors fear inflation could accelerate.
Clark noted that while oil price spikes may temporarily lift certain prices, inflation is measured monthly and may prove short-lived if geopolitical tensions ease within a month or two. Even a brief surge in inflation readings during March and April would not necessarily justify a sustained tightening cycle or a wholesale abandonment of inflation hedges.
Both Maharrey and Clark suggested that markets may be overreacting to short-term headlines. The assumption that inflation will persist long enough to drive policy changes remains uncertain, and selling gold on that premise could prove premature.
Mining Sector Margins Remain Exceptionally Strong
Turning to the mining sector, Clark offered a striking perspective on profitability. The average all-in sustaining cost across the gold mining industry currently sits around $1,500 per ounce. Against an average gold price exceeding $4,500 in the first quarter, this implies margins of roughly 66%.
Even if gold were to average $4,000, miners would still enjoy margins near 62%, far surpassing most industries. Clark contrasted this with grocery stores, which often operate on margins of just 1% to 2%, and even highly profitable companies like Apple, which report margins around 32%.
Despite these robust fundamentals, mining stocks have not yet fully reflected this profitability. This disconnect, Clark argued, represents significant untapped upside potential.
Why Gold Stocks and Gold Itself Haven’t Broken Out
One of the most compelling insights from the discussion is that both gold mining stocks and gold itself have not yet broken out relative to broader equity markets. Clark pointed to ratios comparing gold and mining stocks to indices like the NASDAQ, noting that both remain near levels seen during the COVID period and even below 2016 in some cases.
This means that despite gold rising from around $2,000 to over $4,300, it has not meaningfully outperformed equities. For these ratios to return to prior peaks, gold and mining stocks would need to rise significantly, equities would need to fall, or both.
Clark suggested that the missing ingredient is a sustained bear market in general equities. While the NASDAQ has entered correction territory, down about 10% from its highs, there has not yet been the kind of prolonged downturn that forces mainstream investors to rotate into gold and mining stocks.
Until that shift occurs, institutional capital may continue favoring gold itself over mining equities.
Deleveraging and Short-Term Volatility
The episode also explored the mechanics behind gold’s recent decline. Clark explained that leveraged institutional positions can amplify selloffs. When gold prices begin to fall, funds may be forced to liquidate positions to meet margin requirements or cover losses elsewhere.
Maharrey pointed to historical examples, including the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis, when gold initially dropped sharply before embarking on a powerful rally. In that case, approximately 43% of the prior bull run was erased before monetary stimulus drove prices significantly higher.
This pattern suggests that short-term declines do not necessarily invalidate the broader bullish trend.
What the Market Is Missing Beneath the Headlines
Clark argued that the intense focus on war-related headlines is obscuring more important long-term drivers of the gold market. While daily news cycles emphasize oil prices and geopolitical developments, deeper structural issues remain unresolved.
Among these is the reality that all global currencies are now fiat, a historically unprecedented situation. Clark emphasized that gold serves as insurance against the long-term consequences of currency debasement and systemic instability.
He also noted that debt and deficit issues remain unaddressed, and monetary policy risks continue to build in the background. Even the assumption that interest rates will rise is not universally held, with roughly 44% to 46% of analysts expecting hikes and about 60% anticipating no change in April at the time of the discussion.
These uncertainties reinforce the case for maintaining exposure to gold despite short-term volatility.
A “$1,000 Sale” and Opportunity in the Dip
Clark framed the recent pullback as a rare opportunity rather than a warning sign. With gold trading more than $1,000 below its late-January peak, he described the current environment as a “sale” for investors.
For those with less than 5% of their assets allocated to gold, he suggested this dip represents a chance to build positions at more favorable prices. Importantly, he emphasized that investors do not need to deploy capital all at once but can accumulate gradually.
This perspective aligns with the broader theme of the episode: volatility creates opportunity. Rather than reacting emotionally to short-term price swings, investors should focus on long-term fundamentals and strategic positioning.
Navigating Volatility with Discipline
In closing, Clark offered a philosophical framework for navigating turbulent markets. Drawing on an analogy from his colleague Jeff Valks, he noted that sailors do not expect calm seas every day. Instead, they prepare for storms and continue forward.
Applying this to investing, Clark encouraged maintaining positions, buying during dips, and keeping sight of the larger macroeconomic picture. The combination of volatility and opportunity, he argued, is precisely what defines successful long-term investing.
Clark also revealed that his firm has been actively buying during the current correction, underscoring confidence in the long-term trajectory of gold and mining stocks.
As Maharrey concluded, many of the reasons investors were bullish on gold before the current geopolitical tensions—rising debt, currency debasement, and unresolved fiscal imbalances—remain firmly in place. The war may dominate headlines, but the underlying drivers of the gold market have not changed.
(Headline USA) A man accused of planning to firebomb the home of a prominent Palestinian activist has been arrested following a weekslong undercover operation led by the New York City Police Department, officials said Friday.
The target of the plot was Nerdeen Kiswani, who frequently leads protests in New York against Israel and the war in Gaza through the organization Within Our Lifetime.
Kiswani, 31, said law enforcement officials informed her late Thursday that they had disrupted “a threat on my life that was about to take place.”
Federal authorities said they arrested Alexander Heifler on Thursday at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, as he was assembling Molotov cocktails that he planned to throw at Kiswani’s home. For weeks, he had discussed the plot with an undercover NYPD detective who had infiltrated a group chat used by Heifler, according to a police department spokesperson.
An official who was briefed on the investigation said Heifler, 26, identified as a member of the Jewish Defense League, or JDL 613 Brotherhood, a New Jersey-based group founded in 2024 that describes its membership as “Jewish warriors” fighting back against rising antisemitism.
A website for the group says they are inspired by the original Jewish Defense League, a group linked to numerous bombings and attempted assassinations of Arab American political activists in the 1970s and 1980s.
Heifler planned to flee to Israel following the attack, according to the official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of an ongoing investigation.
An email inquiry sent to the JDL 613 was not returned.
Kiswani, who lives in Brooklyn with her infant son and husband, said the plot would not deter her continued activism.
“I feel very blessed that they were able to thwart this, but it’s something that is a constant possibility for people who speak up on behalf of Palestine,” she said.
Heifler was charged in a criminal complaint with separate counts of making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A message left with his attorney was not returned. He made an initial appearance in New Jersey federal court on Friday afternoon.
“Let me be clear: We will not tolerate violent extremism in our city,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “No one should face violence for their political beliefs or their advocacy. I am relieved that Nerdeen is safe.”
According to a court filing written by an FBI agent, Heifler spoke on a video call in February with a group that included an undercover detective about his interest in training for “self-defense” and wanting space where he could throw Molotov cocktails.
The next day, he met with the undercover detective in person and discussed his plan to use them against Kiswani and flee the country, according to the complaint. “We have (Kiswani’s) address,” Heifler allegedly told the undercover. “So it’s like that, that would be easier if you’d be more comfortable with that.”
Heifler and the undercover detective drove to Kiswani’s residence on March 4 to “conduct surveillance” and discussed making a dozen Molotov cocktails to throw at her home and two cars parked outside, the complaint said.
On Thursday, the undercover detective met Heifler at his Hoboken residence, where Heifler had assembled components to make the Molotov cocktails, including a large bottle of Everclear, a highly flammable alcohol, the complaint said. Law enforcement officers then executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered the eight Molotov cocktails, the complaint said.
Kiswani co-founded the group Within Our Lifetime, which frequently organizes protests against Israel that draw hundreds of participants and often end in arrests. The group’s calls to “abolish Zionism” and support for “all forms of struggle,” including violence, has drawn fierce criticism. Kiswani denies that her criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism.
Kiswani has been a frequent target of online vitriol. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, sparked backlash after writing in a social media post that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” The post was a response to a message Kiswani shared about dog owners, which she said was a light joke.
“That hate against Palestinians has been bolstered by public officials, by Zionist organizations, who are never held accountable,” she said. “This is the inevitable result of that.”
The operation was carried out by the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism unit within the NYPD’s counterterrorism bureau, a police spokesperson said.
“This is exactly how our intelligence and counterterrorism operation is designed to work — a sophisticated apparatus built to detect danger early and prevent violence before it reaches our streets,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump on Thursday again said he was delaying his plan to order major strikes on Iran’s power plants, claiming that negotiations with Iran were going well despite Tehran’s continued insistence that talks with the US aren’t even happening.
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 PM, Eastern Time,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.
The president initially threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants by this past Monday if Tehran didn’t “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz, then backed off and pushed the deadline to this Friday. For its part, Iran has said that it would retaliate with major attacks on energy infrastructure in Israel and countries hosting US bases, which would exacerbate the global economic crisis and spike in oil prices caused by the war.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump contradicted himself in a post on Truth Social about the purported negotiations with Iran, suggesting that Tehran was desperate for a deal but was also not taking talks seriously.
“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only “looking at our proposal.” WRONG!!!” he said. “They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”
Iranian officials have acknowledged that the US has sent messages through mediators, but they maintain they’re not engaged in negotiations or seeking a ceasefire. Iranian media reported that Iranian officials had rejected a 15-point US proposal to end the war and set their own conditions.
Trump has previously used negotiations with Iran as cover for war preparations, as Iran has now been attacked twice while engaging with the US diplomatically. Trump’s new deadline on the power plant strikes could be related to the timing of when thousands of US Marines are set to get to the region, as the US is reportedly preparing for a major escalation of the war that could involve ground attacks on Iranian islands.
US officials and other sources speaking to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, a former IDF intelligence officer, described the potential escalation as a “final blow” that would give Donald Trump more leverage and room to “declare victory,” though all indications are that Iran is ready to face ground forces and that any such operation would prolong the war.
Ravid’s sources said the potential options for a “final blow” include:
Invading or blockading Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub.
Invading Larak, an island that helps Iran solidify its control of the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic outpost hosts Iranian bunkers, attack craft that can blow up cargo ships, and radars that monitor movements in the strait.
Seizing the strategic island of Abu Musa and two smaller islands, which lie near the western entrance to the strait and are controlled by Iran but also claimed by the UAE.
Blocking or seizing ships that are exporting Iranian oil on the eastern side of the Hormuz Strait.
Another operation being considered is sending troops deep inside Iran to secure Tehran’s stockpile of uranium enriched at 60%, though it’s believed to be buried under the rubble following the June 2025 airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, so it’s unclear if a team of US special operators would be able to access the material.
The report said that President Trump hasn’t made a decision, but that a major escalation was likely if negotiations made no progress, and there’s no sign that real diplomacy is underway despite Trump’s claims. Iranian officials have rejected a 15-point proposal that the US passed through mediators and have set their own conditions to end the war.
About 5,000 of US Marines and several thousand US Army Airborne soldiers appear to be on their way to the Middle East as the Pentagon prepares for ground attacks, operations that are fraught with risk and will likely result in major US casualties since any ground force would face significant and sustained Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Wall Street Journal reported later on Thursday that Trump is considering sending additional 10,000 ground troops.
In the meantime, US-Israeli strikes continue to pound Iran, and the Iranian military continues to launch successful attacks on Israel and US bases across the region. According to a report from The New York Times, the majority of US bases in the Middle East are now basically uninhabitable due to the Iranian strikes.
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Washington Postreported on Thursday that the Pentagon was considering diverting military aid meant for Ukraine to the Middle East for use in the US-Israeli war against Iran, as the US military continues depleting its stockpiles of air defenses and other munitions in the conflict.
Since last summer, the US has been sending military aid to Ukraine through a NATO program under which the US’s allies pay for the equipment, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. The Post report said that the US could divert air defense munitions paid for through PURL for use against Iran.
The US has already begun bringing in air defense systems and munitions from across the globe as it is running low on interceptors. Just over a week into the war, the US began moving the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air defense system, based in South Korea, to the Middle East and also pulling Patriot air defense munitions from stockpiles across the Asia Pacific.
On March 10, the 11th day of the US-Israeli war, Bloomberg reported that the US and its Middle East allies had already fired more than 1,000 Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, more than the 600 interceptors Ukraine had received from the US and NATO since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Lockheed Martin currently produces PAC-3 interceptors at about 600 per year and has said it will aim to produce 2,000 missiles per year, but it will take years to reach that level.
The Post report said that a final decision on using the equipment meant for Ukraine hasn’t been made, but Trump suggested he was open to it when asked about the possibility. “We do that all the time,” he said. “We have them in other countries, like in Germany and all over Europe. Sometimes we take from one, and we use for another.”
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth held a “worship service” at the Pentagon on Wednesday, where he prayed for God to inflict violence on “those who deserve no mercy” and for “wicked souls” to be delivered to “eternal damnation,” as the US war chief continues to portray the US-Israeli war against Iran as one sanctioned by God.
Hegseth said that the prayer he recited was said by a US military chaplain to troops ahead of the January 3 attack on Venezuela to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“Snap the rod of the oppressor, frustrate the wicked plans, and break the teeth of the ungodly. By the blast of your anger, let the evil perish. Let their bulls go down to slaughter, for their day has come, the time of their punishment. Pour out your wrath upon those who plot vain things, and blow them away like chaff before the wind. Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence,” Hegseth said.
He continued, “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. Preserve their lives, sharpen their resolve, and let justice be executed swiftly and without remorse, that evil may be driven back, and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.”
Hegseth, a Christian Zionist and author of a book titled “American Crusade,” has frequently invoked God during his briefings on the Iran war, drawing criticism from Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land.
“The abuse and manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit at this time,” Pizzaballa said last week when asked about Hegseth’s behavior. “War is first and foremost political and has very material interests, like most wars. We must do everything we can to leave no room for this pseudo-religious language, which speaks not of God, but of ourselves.”
Pizzaballa added that if “God is present in this war, He is among those who are dying, who are suffering, who are in pain, who are oppressed in various ways, throughout the Middle East.”
A few hours later, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill, which received unanimous approval from the Assembly on Monday. The March 31 state holiday will be known by its new name.
The Legislature moved to rename the day, originally in honor of late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, after a New York Times investigation published this month found that there were multiple allegations of sexual abuse and assault by Chavez against women and girls for years.
Chavez, who was president of United Farm Workers, died in 1993.
“For generations, farmworkers have labored under a relentless sun,” Sen. Maria Durazo, D-Los Angeles, said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “They built one of the most consequential labor movements in all of American history, not because of any one person, but because of their collective strength, their sacrifice and their refusal to be invisible.”
The legislation renaming the holiday was Assembly Bill 2156. It was introduced by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara.
State lawmakers in California also signaled support for female farmworkers this week by announcing legislation that would give women in fields, farms and other agricultural labor settings access to menstrual products for free. Women at a press conference held in the California Capitol on Tuesday said female relatives who worked in the fields often had to suffer in silence on their menstrual cycles, working in jobs that required hard physical labor while enduring cramps and not making enough money to afford menstrual products.
“There were times when she had to use rags, paper or even pieces of her own clothing because she had no access to menstrual products,” Perla Sanchez, the daughter of a migrant worker, said of her mother’s experience on Tuesday. “She could not afford them. There were no stores nearby, and she was too ashamed to ask for help.”
The California Legislature joins other governments across the country in removing Cesar Chavez’s name from parks, schools, streets and days honoring the U.S. farmworker movement, according to previous reporting from The Center Square. The Phoenix City Council on Wednesday voted to rename Cesar Chavez Day “Farmworkers Day,” while the city of Seattle took Chavez’s name off of one of its parks in the South Park neighborhood.
In addition, an Arizona Senate committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill repealing Cesar Chavez Day statewide. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors followed the lead of the city of Los Angeles and renamed the holiday “Farmworkers Day.” Likewise, the Los Angeles Unified School District board approved a motion Tuesday to remove Chavez’s name and likenesses from wherever it appears in the nation’s second-largest school district. That included renaming two schools.
The March 31 date for Cesar Chavez Day prompted quick action across the country to respond to the allegations made by women in the farm labor movement who, according to The New York Times, were assaulted by Chavez from the time they were children. Dolores Huerta, the farm labor movement’s most prominent female leader, also said in The New York Times investigation that she was raped by Chavez.
“When we talk about honoring farmworkers, this is not about one person,” Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Lancaster and the daughter and granddaughter of farmworkers, said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “This is not about one narrative. It’s about honoring generations of sacrifice, resilience and hope. No one person owns this story.”
(Elyse Apel, The Center Square) Minnesota lawmakers are raising concerns about reports that hundreds of millions of dollars are leaving Minnesota airports destined for foreign countries.
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, is chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee in the Minnesota legislature. During testimony this week, she addressed the issue, focusing especially on Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Robbins said this issue has been ongoing for decades with no real action taken by either the state or federal government to address it.
“The story of child care fraud back from the 2015 . . . period is when we first learned about suitcases of cash leaving the airport,” Robbins said.
Following a report in 2019 from the state’s legislative auditor that said those claims could not be substantiated, Robbins said many people, including herself, believed that issue had stopped.
“I was shocked in January, 2026 to see a TSA bulletin saying it had tripled,” she said. “In 2024, $343 million left MSP in cash. In 2025, that number grew to $350 million . . . That was a shocking number, and that really galvanized the public on this issue.”
Robbins said Minnesota is “an outlier” as a state in terms of the amount of cash leaving its airports. She stated that, despite the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport being the 16th-largest airport, it has the most cash flowing out of it of any airport in the nation.
“That number, $350 million, leaving our airport in cash, is higher than the cash leaving any other airport in the country,” Robbins said, “Including much larger airports: JFK, LAX, Chicago O’Hare.”
She expressed concern this money flow is directly related to fraud cases in the state, especially within Minnesota’s Somali community.
“This is not a new issue,” she said. “This has been going on in our state for decades.”
Democrats on the committee, including Rep. Steve Elkins, expressed disbelief about the scale of the cash flowing out of the airport.
“It is completely implausible to me that hundreds of millions of dollars could have made it through that process undetected. That is impossible,” Elkins said. “That could not have happened without the TSA’s knowledge.”
Robbins said the transfers are technically legal if the sender files a form for amounts more than $10,000.
“It is absolutely legal, and that’s what we are trying to make sure the public understands,” she responded to Elkins.
A retired TSA agent, speaking anonymously during the hearing, said the official estimates are likely low.
“I really think the money that goes through the airport is on the low end, because we’ve never actually counted the money,” she explained. “They just fill out that form and get through the airport.”
She responded directly to Democrat claims that it was not possible.
“To the gentleman that’s questioning this, I feel like you’re questioning my integrity,” the agent said. “I saw it firsthand. There was millions and millions that added to billions and billions of dollars that went through that airport while I worked there.”
Robbins called for both state and federal law to be tightened.
“It’s incumbent on us to understand the issue, to learn from our federal partners what their jurisdiction is, what’s the jurisdiction of the state, and to think together how we can do better to address this issue,” she said.
This all comes amid increased scrutiny of Minnesota’s taxpayer-funded programs, particularly as Vice President J.D. Vance recently announced he will be leading a federal, nationwide “War on Fraud.”
This hearing is one of many as state Republicans push for stricter oversight and greater accountability to address alleged widespread fraud across the state’s programs. Robbins previously labeled the fraud as a “web.”
“I just feel like we are still missing the mark to dismantle these webs of fraud,” she said earlier this month.
Independent investigators and federal officials estimate the potential loss to fraud schemes in Minnesota could range from $9 billion to $20 billion.
(Merrilee Gasser, The Center Square) Democrats flipped two red seats in the Florida Legislature this week, including in President Donald Trump’s home district.
Democrat Emily Gregory secured just over 51% of the vote, winning District 87’s House seat in Palm Beach and defeating Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Jon Maples. The district covers the president’s Mar-a-Lago home.
A small business owner and Army spouse, this is Gregory’s first step into public office.
“House District 87, thank you for the honor of a lifetime to serve as your representative,” Gregory said Thursday.
She ran on issues related to addressing property insurance and improving public schools.
Meanwhile, Democrat Brian Nathan flipped District 14’s state Senate seat in Tampa, which was previously held by Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.
Nathan won with a little over 50% of the vote while his Republican opponent, Josie Tomkow received just over 49% of the vote. Tomkow has served in the Legislature since 2018.
Like Gregory, Nathan is a political newcomer. He previously served in the Navy then went on to become a union leader, according to his campaign website.
His campaign messaging focused on good wages, strong labor protections, and affordable housing.
Democrats heralded the victories as a sign of more wins to come in November and potentially breaking the Republican supermajority in the Senate.
“Florida Democrats won big in Trump’s backyard and sent a clear message that when we organize early, often, and everywhere, we can win anywhere,” the Florida Democratic Party posted on social media.
The shake up comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis has already called for a special session to take place next month where legislators will address congressional redistricting. It’s scheduled April 20-24.
“Democrats flipped a state House seat in Palm Beach that Trump won by 11 points in 2024,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “Mar-a-Lago will now be represented by Emily Gregory, a strong Democratic voice. We will crush House Republicans in November if DeSantis tries to gerrymander the Florida congressional map.”
States typically redraw district lines once a decade after census results. However, several states have been looking at mid-decade redistricting.
“Every Florida resident deserves to be represented fairly and constitutionally,” DeSantis wrote on social media at the start of the year. “This special session will take place after the regular legislative session, which will allow the Legislature to first focus on the pressing issues facing Floridians before devoting its full attention to congressional redistricting in April.”
