Republicans sharply criticized former President Joe Biden over rising prices at the gas pump, but a spike in energy prices amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran threatens to scramble the party’s affordability messaging.

The Iran conflict has led to a surge in gas prices for Americans, leading to an average 50 cents a gallon increase since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28.

The average price of gas reached $3.54 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA. Diesel prices have also risen to $4.72 per gallon. The increases have been mostly fueled by volatility in oil prices, which rose above $100 per barrel on Monday as the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shuttered.

The president characterized the gas price hike amid the Iran conflict as ‘a very small price to pay’ in a Truth Social post Sunday.

That statement represented a sharp break with Trump’s typical messaging touting low gas prices prior to Operation Epic Fury.

‘Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor — it was quite honestly a disaster — is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states. And in some places, $1.99 a gallon,’ President Donald Trump said during his Feb. 27 State of the Union address. ‘And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.’

The surge in gas and diesel prices threatens to undermine the economic message of President Trump and congressional Republicans, who have touted low gas prices as a major win in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections. Cost of living issues are expected to be a key concern among voters as both parties claim to be laser-focused on making everyday life more affordable.

During the 2024 presidential contest, Trump frequently campaigned on ending Biden’s ‘war on American energy’ and pledged to reverse a surge in gas prices that occurred under his predecessor’s tenure.

Gas prices averaged $3.45 per gallon across all fuel grades during Biden’s four-year term, surging to a record high of more than $5 per gallon in June 2022 after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

‘Starting on Day 1, we will drive down prices and make America affordable again,’ Trump said during a speech at the Republican National Committee convention in July 2024. ‘People can’t live like this.’

Democrats have seized on rising prices at the pump amid the conflict in Iran.

‘I wish the administration thought about this before they started this unnecessary war,’ Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, said Monday when asked about the gas price hike.

‘Donald Trump’s war has sent gas prices skyrocketing through the roof,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on social media Monday. ‘What contempt. What cluelessness.’

Schumer has called on the president to release oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat supply bottlenecks in the Middle East. The top Democrat notably opposed a Trump-led effort to replenish the stockpile in his first term when oil prices were much lower.

Republicans have voiced confidence that the rise in gas prices would be temporary. GOP lawmakers have frequently cited their efforts to roll back Biden-era energy regulations and boost domestic production as evidence that their policies are working to lower energy prices.

‘It’s going to be probably volatile for a period of time. I think what’s going to be key is ensuring we can get safe access to the Strait of Hormuz,’ Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said Monday, adding that he was confident the disruption would be short-lived.

Daines, who abruptly suspended his re-election campaign last week, highlighted that average gas prices were under $3 per gallon prior to Trump’s State of the Union speech. 

‘That’s an important win for the American people,’ the retiring Montana lawmaker said. ‘Something you’re reminded of usually weekly when you’re gassing up your vehicle.’

Some Republicans and Trump administration officials are also arguing that a defeated Iran will ultimately spur lower gas prices, even if there is pain in the short run.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the recent increase in oil and gas prices as ‘temporary’ during a briefing Tuesday.

‘Once the national security objectives of Operation Epic Fury are fully achieved, Americans will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly, potentially even lower than they were prior to the start of the operation,’ Leavitt said.

‘At the end of the day, we’re going to destroy this regime, and their ability to disrupt oil is going to be less, and we’re going to have more production, not less,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Monday. ‘Once you take the largest state sponsor of terrorism off the planet, who depends on oil for their revenue, that’s a more stable world.’

Nearly seven in 10 Americans — including 44% of Republicans — expect gas prices to keep increasing in the coming months, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released Monday.

Trump has threatened Iran with unprecedented force if the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz is further restricted.

‘Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!’ Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

Republicans sharply criticized former President Joe Biden over rising prices at the gas pump, but a spike in energy prices amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran threatens to scramble the party’s affordability messaging.

The Iran conflict has led to a surge in gas prices for Americans, leading to an average 50 cents a gallon increase since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28.

The average price of gas reached $3.54 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA. Diesel prices have also risen to $4.72 per gallon. The increases have been mostly fueled by volatility in oil prices, which rose above $100 per barrel on Monday as the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shuttered.

The president characterized the gas price hike amid the Iran conflict as ‘a very small price to pay’ in a Truth Social post Sunday.

That statement represented a sharp break with Trump’s typical messaging touting low gas prices prior to Operation Epic Fury.

‘Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor — it was quite honestly a disaster — is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states. And in some places, $1.99 a gallon,’ President Donald Trump said during his Feb. 27 State of the Union address. ‘And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.’

The surge in gas and diesel prices threatens to undermine the economic message of President Trump and congressional Republicans, who have touted low gas prices as a major win in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections. Cost of living issues are expected to be a key concern among voters as both parties claim to be laser-focused on making everyday life more affordable.

During the 2024 presidential contest, Trump frequently campaigned on ending Biden’s ‘war on American energy’ and pledged to reverse a surge in gas prices that occurred under his predecessor’s tenure.

Gas prices averaged $3.45 per gallon across all fuel grades during Biden’s four-year term, surging to a record high of more than $5 per gallon in June 2022 after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

‘Starting on Day 1, we will drive down prices and make America affordable again,’ Trump said during a speech at the Republican National Committee convention in July 2024. ‘People can’t live like this.’

Democrats have seized on rising prices at the pump amid the conflict in Iran.

‘I wish the administration thought about this before they started this unnecessary war,’ Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, said Monday when asked about the gas price hike.

‘Donald Trump’s war has sent gas prices skyrocketing through the roof,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on social media Monday. ‘What contempt. What cluelessness.’

Schumer has called on the president to release oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat supply bottlenecks in the Middle East. The top Democrat notably opposed a Trump-led effort to replenish the stockpile in his first term when oil prices were much lower.

Republicans have voiced confidence that the rise in gas prices would be temporary. GOP lawmakers have frequently cited their efforts to roll back Biden-era energy regulations and boost domestic production as evidence that their policies are working to lower energy prices.

‘It’s going to be probably volatile for a period of time. I think what’s going to be key is ensuring we can get safe access to the Strait of Hormuz,’ Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said Monday, adding that he was confident the disruption would be short-lived.

Daines, who abruptly suspended his re-election campaign last week, highlighted that average gas prices were under $3 per gallon prior to Trump’s State of the Union speech. 

‘That’s an important win for the American people,’ the retiring Montana lawmaker said. ‘Something you’re reminded of usually weekly when you’re gassing up your vehicle.’

Some Republicans and Trump administration officials are also arguing that a defeated Iran will ultimately spur lower gas prices, even if there is pain in the short run.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the recent increase in oil and gas prices as ‘temporary’ during a briefing Tuesday.

‘Once the national security objectives of Operation Epic Fury are fully achieved, Americans will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly, potentially even lower than they were prior to the start of the operation,’ Leavitt said.

‘At the end of the day, we’re going to destroy this regime, and their ability to disrupt oil is going to be less, and we’re going to have more production, not less,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Monday. ‘Once you take the largest state sponsor of terrorism off the planet, who depends on oil for their revenue, that’s a more stable world.’

Nearly seven in 10 Americans — including 44% of Republicans — expect gas prices to keep increasing in the coming months, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released Monday.

Trump has threatened Iran with unprecedented force if the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz is further restricted.

‘Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!’ Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

A suspected retaliatory drone attack by pro-Iranian militias struck a major U.S. diplomatic facility in Baghdad on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

The newspaper said the strike hit the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, and no injuries were immediately reported.

Six drones were launched toward the compound, five of which were shot down.

The Post, citing a security official and a State Department alert, reported one drone struck near a guard tower and people at the facility were instructed to ‘duck and cover.’

‘Accountability is ongoing,’ the alert said.

Iraq’s ministry of defense condemned the drone and missile attacks targeting the Martyr Muhammad Alaa Air Base and the Martyr Ali Fallah Air Base in a post on X but did not mention the hit on the U.S. facility or Iran directly.

‘In response to these sinful aggressions, the Ministry wishes to clarify and confirm the following facts: These air bases are fully sovereign and Iraqi, subject entirely to the authority of the state and the law, and there is no representation of any foreign forces in them under any designation,’ the government account wrote.

The security official told The Washington Post the attack was likely conducted by militias affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose umbrella group of Iran-aligned Shiite armed factions that have claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. forces in the region.

At the start of Operation Epic Fury, the State Department had urged Americans to depart immediately from more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, warning of ‘serious safety risks’ as the Iran war intensified.

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar said on March 2 that U.S. citizens should leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The department said Americans who need help arranging departure via commercial means can contact the State Department 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 from abroad or +1-888-407-4747 from the U.S. and Canada.

Officials warned conditions in the region remain volatile, and security situations could change quickly as fighting tied to the conflict continues.

At least nine U.S. missions, including Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar and Israel, issued repeated shelter-in-place directives or advisories at the outset of Iran’s retaliatory attacks against U.S. forces and Israel.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is hammering Democrats over the partial government shutdown as its effects begin to hit millions of travelers at airports across the country.

‘This is expected to be one of the busiest spring travel seasons on record. Over 171 million travelers are estimated to fly in the coming weeks, and they expect the agencies responsible for keeping them safe to be fully operational,’ Scalise told Fox News Digital.

‘The longer Democrats hold the Department of Homeland Security hostage, the longer they’re forcing [Transportation Security Administration (TSA)] agents to work without pay and the worse the pain will be that Democrats inflict on regular Americans.’

It comes as TSA agents, whose agency operates under DHS, are set to miss their first full paychecks next week. And with Democrats continuing to withhold the department’s funding in protest of President Donald Trump’s handling of illegal immigration, the standoff still has no clear end in sight.

Scalise’s own hometown travel hub, the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, is facing hours-long delays due to the ongoing shutdown.

The airport’s official X account warned travelers to arrive two to three hours before their scheduled departure time earlier this week due to a ‘shortage of TSA workers’ at its security checkpoints owing to ‘impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown.’

‘The recent chaos at my airport in New Orleans, and airports across the country, is impossible to miss — wait times longer than three hours, lines stretching out to the parking lot,’ Scalise said. ‘It’s ridiculous, shameful, and it never should have happened.’

Scalise said his office was in contact with airport staff about the issue, and that they are concerned about their own welfare as the shutdown continues.

‘They’re worried about the impact the shutdown will have on TSA employees and the ability for the airport to get travelers through security and make their flights in a timely fashion,’ he said. ‘This is the third time in six months that TSA agents are being forced to worry about missing a paycheck because Washington Democrats keep using them as leverage.’

The airport in New Orleans is not the only one battling staffing issues because of the shutdown.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas urged travelers to arrive earlier than planned due to fewer airport security lines being open due to personnel shortages. Nearby William P. Hobby Airport asked people to arrive three hours early for domestic flights and four hours early for international flights.

The partial shutdown is in its 25th day as Democrats continue to refuse the GOP’s compromise offers on funding DHS.

Unlike last year’s 43-day government shutdown, however, roughly 97% of the federal budget has been accounted for already. In other words, all agencies but DHS are funded through the remainder of the fiscal year.

But DHS is a wide-ranging department that oversees the TSA, U.S. Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Secret Service, and others.

In addition to travel delays hitting U.S. airports over TSA shortages, the shutdown’s effects have also come into sharper focus as national security threats grow in the U.S. over the Trump administration’s joint operation with Israel targeting Iran.

The House has now twice passed a bipartisan DHS funding bill, the product of bipartisan negotiations in the previous shutdown’s wake. But in the Senate, where Democrats are critical to advancing the legislation past the 60-vote filibuster threshold, progress has all but stalled.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rolled out a new platform, backed by artificial intelligence, that will streamline publicly accessible reporting of negative or unexpected health effects linked to medicines, vaccines, cosmetics, animal food and other consumer products.

The FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) began operation Tuesday and will consolidate outdated systems used to process millions of adverse event reports and produce results in real time for consumers to access online. 

‘The FDA’s fragmented adverse event systems have wasted taxpayer dollars and created large blind spots in our post-market surveillance,’ FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘We’re addressing this critical issue by conducting a major modernization initiative on an accelerated timeline.’ 

‘Moving forward, the FDA will have a single, intuitive adverse event platform that will better equip us and any interested researcher to access key data and insights about the safety of products on the market,’ Makary added.

Adverse event reports are critical to determining the safety and effectiveness of certain drugs and products after they are approved for clinical trials and reach the wider consumer market, though the agency says the reports have been undermined due to current inefficient infrastructure.

The general concept of AEMS is that consumers will be able to access the new website and search for FDA-approved cosmetics, drugs, vaccines, or foods that have adverse effect reports as they are reported by healthcare professionals, consumers, manufacturers, and user facilities for medical devices. 

The agency estimates that roughly 6 to 7 million adverse event reports per year are evaluated through a seven database system. The FDA says that the collective cost of utilizing the database is an estimated $37 million bill to taxpayers. AEMS is expected to save the FDA approximately $120 million over the next five years, according to the agency.

The new website will be more accessible than the current quarterly report issued by the agency, and senior sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital they saw a 3,000% increase in users in a pilot program that launched last September.

‘Consolidating the FDA’s adverse event systems and converting to real-time publication was challenging, but made possible by a highly aggressive schedule,’ the FDA’s Chief AI Officer Jeremy Walsh told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘The team executed with perfection and delivered the biggest technical transformation in agency history. This is the new FDA.’

The legacy systems that are currently in place include the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS),  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), which will be replaced with the new system effective immediately. 

In May, the AEMS will also replace the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE), Human Foods Complaint System (HFCS), and Center for Tobacco Products Adverse Event Reporting System (CTPAE).

Each one of these systems will be integrated into the new AEMS, with artificial intelligence assisting for manual data entries and coding adverse events. 

Sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital that the next phase of the rollout will be implementing a front-end system that makes it easy for reports to be submitted. The agency estimates that 80% of reports are never entered due to the complexity of filing a report — potentially resulting in some untold side effects never being made public. 

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

About 60% of Texas Republicans voted last Tuesday to end John Cornyn’s career in the Senate, but it wasn’t really Cornyn they were rejecting. It was the feckless, do-nothing GOP Senate leadership that makes ‘Waiting for Godot’ look like a ‘Fast and Furious.’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wound up in a virtual tie with Cornyn, and headed to a runoff precisely because Republican voters, not just in Texas, but across the country, are incandescently angry at the GOP-controlled Senate’s inability to do, well, much of anything.

This righteous fury is why Paxton’s political play in the face of a runoff was so brilliant. He said that if the Senate would pass the Save America Act, and its voter ID provisions, he would drop out, saving President Donald Trump from having to swoop in with a decisive endorsement.

For Cornyn, and more importantly for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., this occasioned a crisis, a much-needed one, in fact, as GOP voters stare across the desk at Senate leadership, like the Bobs in ‘Office Space,’ asking, if they can’t pass a bill with massive public support, what would they say they do there?

Thune responded Monday to growing public calls to pass the Save America Act in the stupidest, most infuriating way possible, by asserting that voters aren’t really angry, and the furor is all just a campaign by paid influencers.

The fact that Thune has not apologized for this yet is incredible. It is as condescending to working-class voters as anything a politician has ever said.

Does Thune think that 60% of Republicans in Texas voting against the Senate status quo is a sign that they think he’s doing a great job?

It is not.

All across the country, Republican voters tell me that they are apoplectic about the Senate. Yes, they understand the arcane 60-vote filibuster stuff. They just don’t care. They want and need action from a body that refuses to act.

And it isn’t just Paxton who knows in his bones how vitally GOP voters need a win on the Save America Act, it is also Trump, who has shown a rare amount of patience with Thune’s ineptitude and incalcitrance. At least so far.

Even Cornyn has come around, if only in the face of his own potential political demise, penning a column in the New York Post calling for the filibuster to be abandoned and the act to be passed.

But Thune, with his long, sad face and low mournful voice like Eeyore the donkey, just keeps saying, ‘We don’t have the votes to break the filibuster.’

Ok, John, then how about this: Any Republican senator who refuses to vote to break the filibuster loses their committee assignments, gets no money from the party and is promised a primary.

The most dangerous thing I heard from GOP voters in Texas, and I heard it from plenty, is that they are starting to think their vote just doesn’t matter, that nothing can change anyway. And right now, who would argue with them?

I don’t know who Thune surrounds himself with who told him that the anger I see everywhere from Republican voters is just a paid influencer campaign, but I would urge him to go talk to some actual voters instead of his K Street cronies.

It was an ominous sign that more Democrats than Republicans voted in last week’s deep-red Texas primary, but not a surprise, because the demoralized aren’t eager voters. And if the Save America Act dies on the vine, even fewer will feel compelled to cast a ballot.

In the final moments of ‘Waiting for Godot,’ Vladimir says, ‘Well? Shall we go?’ To which Estragon replies, ‘Yes, let’s go.’ And then the famous stage direction, (They do not move.).

There is no direct evidence to show that Samuel Beckett was inspired by Senate Republican leadership when he wrote this, but he could have been, because it is the same old scene, over and over.

If nothing else, Thune needs to look GOP voters in the eye and say, directly, ‘We hear you. We know you are angry. We see it in the primary results and we will listen to what you want and try to do better.’

Right now, Thune and Senate Republicans are like the inattentive husband who doesn’t know the divorce papers have already been filed. It may not be too late to work it out with voters, but it’s getting pretty close.

In a sharp break from his long-standing defense of the Senate filibuster, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, urged Republicans Wednesday to enact ‘whatever changes’ necessary to send a Trump-backed voter ID bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before November’s midterm elections.

Cornyn, who is locked in a fierce runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is pressing Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE (Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility) America Act — even if it means scrapping the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.

His appeal marks a significant reversal for the Texas Republican, who long argued the filibuster served as a safeguard against Democrats advancing sweeping left-wing priorities with a simple majority.

‘For many years, I believed that if the U.S. Senate scrapped the filibuster, Texas and our nation would stand to lose more than we would gain,’ Cornyn wrote in a New York Post op-ed Wednesday morning. ‘But when the reality on the ground changes, leaders must take stock and adapt.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to put the SAVE America Act to a vote in the Senate next week, but the measure could fail on the floor given widespread opposition from Democrats. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also facing a weeks-long shutdown over Democrats’ refusal to fund the agency absent vast reforms to immigration enforcement.

Under Senate rules, both pieces of legislation would have to overcome the 60-vote threshold — meaning buy-in from some Democrats — to survive a key procedural vote before final passage.

‘Today, Democrats are weaponizing the Senate’s rules to block the SAVE America Act, defund the Department of Homeland Security and hurt the American people — all to spite President Donald Trump,’ Cornyn wrote.

‘After careful consideration, I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and Homeland Security funding past the Democrats’ obstruction, through the Senate and on the president’s desk for his signature,’ Cornyn added.

Trump has repeatedly called on the Senate to pass the voter ID bill, calling it the ‘number one priority’ during an address to House Republicans on Monday.

The House-passed legislation would require proof-of-citizenship to vote in federal elections, impose voter ID requirements and require states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Trump has asked Republicans to add provisions that crack down on mail-in ballots, prohibit biological males’ participation in women’s sports and ban child sex-change procedures. 

Trump has also threatened not to sign any legislation into law until the SAVE America Act clears the Senate. The White House later clarified that DHS funding was not included in the president’s ultimatum.

‘We can either unilaterally disarm, or we can stand and fight,’ Cornyn wrote. ‘The answer is clear: We need to stand, fight and win.

Both Cornyn and Paxton are vying for Trump’s endorsement ahead of the late May runoff election that will decide who will face Democratic candidate James Talarico, a Texas state senator, in the November general election. Trump said last week that he would ‘soon’ back a candidate, but he has yet to issue an endorsement. Cornyn, who has served in the upper chamber since 2002, is seeking his fifth Senate term.

Paxton said last week that he would consider exiting the race if the Senate were to circumvent the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act.

‘The SAVE America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I’m committed to helping President Trump get it done,’ Paxton wrote. 

Despite Cornyn’s new openness to filibuster reform, the SAVE America Act still faces an uphill battle in the Senate. The bill passed the House last month in a vote mostly along party lines.

Thune, a supporter of the SAVE America Act, has repeatedly said that the votes do not exist to scrap the 60-vote filibuster and advance the voter ID measure.

The majority leader has also warned against using the talking filibuster — a little-used maneuver preferred by some conservatives — arguing that approach would have unintended consequences and risks jamming the Senate floor for an indefinite period.

‘The votes aren’t there for a talking filibuster,’ Thune said Tuesday.

‘I’m the person who has to deliver sometimes the not-so-good news that the math doesn’t add up, but those are the facts and there’s no getting around it,’ he continued.

President Donald Trump took a bow Tuesday night for his 5-0 record for his endorsed candidates in the Republican elections held in Mississippi and Georgia.

‘March 10th election update: 5 wins, 0 losses,’ an election night image posted to Truth Social blared. ‘President Trump endorsements 100%.’

The image hailed a 4-0 record in Mississippi (Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss.; Reps. Mike Ezell, R-Miss.; Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss.; Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss.) and 1-0 in Georgia, albeit with a bullet.

‘President Trump’s endorsed candidates keep winning because Republican voters trust his leadership and want America First champions in Congress,’ RNC spokeswoman Emma Hall told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘From cutting taxes to securing the border, every Republican candidate in the country is proudly running on President Trump’s record and competing for his endorsement because it remains the single most decisive factor in GOP primaries.’

In one of the marquee matchups, an all-party special election for an open House seat, Republican Clay Fuller earned an April 7 runoff against Democrat Shawn Harris for the seat vacated by former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in Georgia’s ‘solid red’ 14th Congressional District.

‘Clay Fuller is going to be a fantastic Congressman in representing the Great State of Georgia,’ Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social.

‘Now we have to be careful and finish it off. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!’

While Fuller did not earn the special election victory, and Harris won the most votes (37.3%) in a 17-candidate field that included nine Republicans, Harris only had to outdistance two Democrats. Fuller trailed Harris by only 3,000 votes at 34.9%. Republican Colton Moore finished third and out of the running at 11.6%, while no other candidate reached 5%.

‘I think the Republican Party is going to unite around us because they know that the Democrat is too dangerous,’ Fuller said Tuesday night. ‘We can’t have a Democrat representing Georgia 14. That would be a tragedy for our community, a tragedy for Georgia 14 and a tragedy for the MAGA movement.’

The total number of votes cast across all candidates in this election result thus far is 115,823, and Republicans outdistanced Democrat votes by nearly 20 points. GOP candidates garnered a total of 59.7%, while Democrats had 39.8% and independents had less than 1%.

‘Congratulations to Clay Fuller, of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, on getting such a high percentage of the vote with 12 Republicans running,’ Trump wrote Tuesday night on Truth Social. ‘We want to make the next vote ‘TOO BIG TO RIG.’ Clay will be a GREAT Congressman — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!’

Fuller was a White House fellow in the first Trump administration and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard. He finished fourth in the 2020 Republican primary that Greene won. He credited Trump’s nod for propelling him to the runoff.

‘They want to know who President Trump was endorsing in this race,’ Fuller said. ‘And that’s why they came out in droves to support him, because they want an America First fighter on Capitol Hill fighting for his policies that are going to make a difference for our community.’

Harris said he is not worried about further Trump intervention.

‘If Donald Trump wants to come and do what he wants to do, that’s his business,’ he said.

The House GOP majority is a narrow 218-214 right now, making the Fuller-Harris April 7 runoff an important one for upcoming 2026 votes. There are two other vacancies awaiting special elections this year, including blue-state seats formerly held by New Jersey Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who resigned from the House in November, and the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., who died Jan. 6.

Illinois is next up on the GOP primary schedule on Tuesday, March 17, when three Trump-endorsed candidates are incumbents: Reps. Mike Bost, R-Ill., Mary Miller, R-Ill., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill.

The next big GOP primary challenge forged by Trump is frequent MAGA foil Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on May 19. Trump-backed Ed Gallrein is vying for that seat.

‘I predict that ‘Representative’ Thomas Massie will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress, even worse than Crazy Liz Chaney, Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger, and Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown under stress!),’ Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social.

‘They are all misfits and losers, but Massie, who is running against a great American Patriot in the Kentucky Primary, will hopefully lose BIG. I LOVE KENTUCKY!!!’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. forces destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said, in what officials described as a move to prevent Iran from disrupting one of the world’s most critical maritime choke points.

The strikes come as oil traffic through the strait remains at a near standstill, threatening a corridor that carries roughly 20 million barrels per day — about one-fifth of global consumption — and squeezing Gulf exporters like Iraq and Kuwait that rely on the narrow passage to ship their primary source of revenue.

Prior to taking out the mining vessels, Trump demanded Iran remove them ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ warning that if it doesn’t, ‘the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.’

U.S. officials have long warned that Iran maintains a significant naval mine inventory and has rehearsed tactics designed to threaten commercial shipping in the Gulf. The destruction of the vessels appears aimed at stopping any potential deployment before mines could be laid in shipping lanes.

The Strait of Hormuz, bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south, is a critical artery for global energy markets. Even the threat of mining operations can further disrupt traffic and spike insurance and shipping costs.

It was not immediately clear whether any mines had already been placed in the water before the U.S. action. Citing intelligence sources, CNN reported Iran had laid a few dozen mines in the strait in recent days and had the capability to place hundreds more. 

Since Friday, seven vessels, including four tankers and three bulk carriers, have passed through the strait, according to data from trade intelligence platform Kpler.

The U.S. Navy has been weighing escorts for commercial ships through the strait. 

‘We’re looking at a range of options there and will figure out how to solve problems as they come to us,’ Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told Fox News Tuesday. 

The world is watching to see whether the Navy will step in to try to free up shipping. Immediately after an inaccurate and since-deleted post from Energy Secretary Chris Wright claiming the Navy had escorted a tanker, oil prices fell nearly 12%.

European allies are moving in as well: France sent two frigates to join a European Union-led escort mission for ships through the strait, though their arrival timeline is unclear.

While U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has claimed the U.S. and Israel have ‘total air dominance’ over Iran’s skies, that doesn’t mean the threat from missiles and drones is entirely eliminated yet. 

The Navy won’t escort tankers until Iran’s missile and drone threat is eliminated, retired Gen. Jack Keane told FOX Business. 

‘Makes no sense in terms of the risk when we’re going to finish them off entirely in a few weeks,’ he said.  

Recognizing the squeeze on prices around the globe, Trump announced Monday the U.S. would remove oil-related sanctions. 

‘We are also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,’ he said during a press conference. ‘So in some countries, we’re going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. Then, who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on.’

The United States currently maintains sanctions affecting oil Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Syria and North Korea. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail what that relief would look like. A 30-day waiver was already recently issued for Russian oil stranded at sea to reach India.

A naval mine costing only a few thousand dollars can cripple or even sink a $2 billion U.S. destroyer. 

The danger is not theoretical: In 1988, USS Samuel B. Roberts nearly sank after striking an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. 

Mine-laying operations are often conducted covertly at night using small vessels such as fishing dhows or fast-attack craft, allowing mines to be deployed with little warning and potentially devastating consequences.