All eyes will be on the governor’s mansions in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Washington this November as voters in 11 states head to the polls.

The biggest challenge for gubernatorial candidates this year is getting noticed. 

With the presidency at stake and control of the House and Senate also up for grabs, it is easy to forget that a few governor’s races could also change hands. 

But there are exciting statewide races.

In New Hampshire, Democrats are chasing a win in a hotly contested race after Republican Gov. Chris Sununu decided not to run for re-election.

Republicans are looking to flip North Carolina. In the last two cycles, voters elected term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to office twice while simultaneously choosing Trump for president. That battle will be won or lost on ticket-splitting.

Additionally, while Democrats have a clear advantage in Washington, the GOP hopes that bringing a sheriff to town will keep the race close. 

Republicans will also play defense in seven safe states, including North Dakota, Utah and Vermont, while Democrats have a safe race ahead in Delaware.

The most competitive race on the map is New Hampshire, where Sununu announced he was not running for a fifth term this year.

The governor is one of a handful of Northeast Republicans who have proven popular with the electorate for sound fiscal management while staying out of the culture wars. Last time he was on the ballot in a presidential cycle, he won by nearly 32 points.

New Hampshire is yet to hold its gubernatorial primary, but leading Republican candidates this time include former Sen. Kelly Ayotte and New Hampshire state senator Chuck Morse. Ayotte is running closely to Sununu’s playbook and received his endorsement last week.  

The Democrats’ leading candidates include former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington; they have been running center-left campaigns focusing on families and healthcare, respectively.

New Hampshire’s leftward drift at the presidential level is good news for Democrats, who have been hungry to compete in an open race.

However, Sununu’s strong brand may well live on in Ayotte, making this a toss-up.

North Carolina has a long history of ticket-splitting in its presidential and gubernatorial elections. 

Republicans have won all but one presidential race in the Tar Heel State since 1980 (Obama eked out a win in 2008), but Democratic governors have won all but three of their elections over the same period. 

There are signs that the tradition could continue this year. 

Democrats have fielded Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general since 2017. He is running a pro-business, pro-police campaign and has talked up the need to protect abortion rights on the trail. That is the right mix of issues for any Democratic candidate running in a close state. 

Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is the Republican candidate. He is closely aligned with former President Trump, who has endorsed him, and gave an impassioned speech at the RNC about rising costs and the American dream. 

But Robinson brings a lot of baggage to this race. He has condemned homosexuality, promoted conspiracy theories and used antisemitic language, and previously endorsed a ‘no compromise’ anti-abortion policy. He now agrees with a 12 week ban with limited exceptions.

Stein also nearly tripled Robinson’s fundraising in the second quarter this year.

A strong Trump performance will help Robinson get over the line, but Stein starts with an edge. This race is rated Lean D.

Voters in Washington will choose a new governor after Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee said he would not run for a fourth term last year. 

Inslee presides over a blue-leaning state. Washington last chose a Republican for governor in 1985, and Inslee has improved his margin in every election since his first victory. 

However, the first time he ran – also the last time this state had an open race – voters delivered a close result. Inslee took 51.5% of the vote to the Republican candidate’s 48.5%, putting just three points between them. 

Twelve years later, and it is Dave Reichert’s turn to try to make this a race. The Republican challenger and former congressman is banking that his long career as a county sheriff will be salient in a state still struggling with crime. He has also avoided aligning himself with Trump. 

Democrat Bob Ferguson, a three-term attorney general, starts this race with a clear lead. Ferguson has raised over $9.3 million, more than double Reichert’s $4.5 million, thanks in part to leftover cash from previous campaigns. He is campaigning on abortion and worker rights.

This race is rated Likely D. 

Fox News Power Rankings are now available for more than 500 races this November. The complete set of forecasts is available on the Elections Hub.

On Sunday, Fox News Democracy 24 special coverage for the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago. 

Tune in to Fox News Sunday on your local station and Fox News Channel, and check back here to see the first Power Rankings Issues Tracker with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket.

A new poll has found that American adults view Vice President Kamala Harris as a more honest person than former President Trump, but are less likely to trust her when it comes to handling key issues such as the economy and immigration. 

The AP-NORC survey of 1,164 adults revealed that around 4 in 10 say ‘honest’ better describes Harris, compared to 24% for Trump. About 4 in 10 respondents also say Harris is someone who ‘cares about people like you,’ compared to around 3 in 10 saying that about Trump. 

Yet when it comes to the economy, 45% of those surveyed said they believe Trump is more likely to do a better job handling it, compared to 38% for Harris, according to The Associated Press. A similar difference was reported on the topic of immigration, while independent voters are nearly twice as likely to trust Trump over Harris on handling economic issues. 

Harris has more of an advantage over Trump when it comes to handling issues related to race and racial inequality, abortion policy, and health care.  

Roughly half of U.S. adults say Harris would do a better job than Trump handling each of those issues, compared with about 3 in 10 for Trump. Harris is especially strong among Democrats, independents and women on the issue of abortion policy. 

About two-thirds of Democrats also say they are ‘excited,’ describing either extremely well or very well how they would feel if Harris were to be elected. 

The enthusiasm represents a sharp reversal from when Biden was the Democrats’ candidate: an AP-NORC poll from March found that only 4 in 10 Democrats said ‘excited’ would describe their feelings extremely or very well if he won another term. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

In a move critics say is designed to shield the Biden-Harris administration from election fallout, the administration has leveraged taxpayer funds to mask upcoming increases in Medicare premiums.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was intended to cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, insurers are poised to significantly hike monthly premiums, with average bids for Part D plans expected to triple by 2025.

In response to potential voter backlash, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out a three-year ‘demonstration project’ to subsidize these premiums, aiming to keep them artificially low. However, despite the appearance of relief, some critics are saying that taxpayers will fund a dramatic increase in subsidies — from $30 per recipient per month in 2024 to $142.70 in 2025 — raising concerns about the long-term impact on government spending and debt. 

Former President Trump advisor Joe Grogan has criticized the maneuver, arguing that it merely shifts costs rather than providing real relief.

‘They’ve destroyed part D premiums,’ Grogan told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘I’m not sure it’ll survive legal scrutiny if someone were to sue. Objectively, it shouldn’t be done. It’s just interjecting $5-10 billion of taxpayer dollars, while the taxpayers are paying the price 85 days before an election. It’s sickening.’

‘This is only going to get worse in 2025, 2026,’ Grogan continued. ‘The program is in a death spiral. They announced a three-year demo. It’s already broken. The demo is going to fail. Premiums are still going to go up.’

Paragon Health Institute, a health care research group, called the CMS demo plan a ‘fake, costly demonstration,’ in a recent analysis. 

‘Fearing the premium increases that the IRA redesign will impose on Part D plans, CMS has now launched a new voluntary, nationwide demonstration program that is neither a demonstration nor voluntary. Unlike this massive subsidization scheme, demonstrations are supposed to be limited in nature and test alternative features of program design,’ the institute wrote. ‘As a result of the IRA changes, insurers that don’t participate are expected to either be uncompetitive from a price perspective or face significant losses – hardly a choice for insurers.’

Research published by Fidelity, an investment research group, shows that a 65-year-old retiring today can expect to spend $165,000 on health care in retirement, a 5% increase from last year and more than double the estimate from 2002.

Yet, there appears to be a disconnect for many Americans between the actual projected cost of health care in retirement and how much they expect to spend on those expenses. The average American thinks they will spend about $75,000 on health care and other medical expenses, less than half of Fidelity’s calculation, according to the research.

The estimate assumes that an individual is enrolled in Medicare – including Part A and Part B, which cover most hospital care and doctor’s visits – and Part D, which covers prescription drugs. Other expenses such as Medicare premiums, over-the-counter medications, dental and vision care and other costs typically not covered by Medicare are ‘left to retirees to manage on their own,’ the report said.

As of April 2024, about 67.3 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of those, about half were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, while about 80% were covered by Medicare Part D.

‘They just want to get through the election,’ Grogan said. ‘They’re hoping after the election they can face it, but its gonna need to be dealt with in the next 12–18 months. They did not believe it would be this bad and its only gonna get worse.’ 

Americans are also dealing with a spike in the cost of prescription drugs, which has surged nearly 40% over the past decade, easily outstripping the pace of inflation. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to CMS for comment. 

Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report. 

Rep. Thomas Massie is suggesting that Republicans could dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) if the GOP wins control of both Congress and the White House in November.

‘Would [former President Trump] follow through with it? Honestly, I think it depends on who controls Congress and who his Cabinet secretary is,’ the Kentucky Republican told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

The Kentucky Republican made the comments the day after Trump’s interview on X with owner Elon Musk in which Trump suggested doing the same.

‘What I’m going to do, one of the first acts – and this is where I need an Elon Musk; I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts – I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states,’ Trump said Monday night.

Massie introduced a bill late last year that would do just that, and it currently has more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors, including vocal Trump allies like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

While he has not had conversations with Trump or his campaign about the bill, Massie said it’s an issue he’s discussed with the Trump-aligned Republican lawmakers ‘all the time.’

It signals that the effort, long pushed by conservatives, could potentially materialize if Trump and Republicans take over the levers of power in Washington in November.

The DOE was established under former President Carter in 1979 when he split it from the Health and Human Services Department. It’s charged with regulating federal student aid funds and ensuring equal access to education, among other responsibilities.

It faced conservative backlash almost instantly, with former President Reagan threatening to dissolve it, though he was ultimately unsuccessful. 

‘Reagan promised that he would try to eliminate it, and he never did. And then [people] became comfortable with [the] Department of Education, and it started seeming like a radical notion just to do what Ronald Reagan said he would do, so I felt the need to reintroduce this bill,’ Massie said.

The Kentucky Republican, who has been at odds with Trump in the past, said he was ‘pleasantly surprised’ to hear him discuss it on Monday.

He argued that the funding that goes toward managing the DOE and its 14,000 Washington, D.C., employees ‘could be distributed to the school systems instead of burning … on extra red tape.’

Massie also said that other core facets of academic policy like student lunches and the Head Start program are run by the Department of Agriculture and HHS, respectively.

More than 160 Republicans voted for an amendment by Massie to dismantle the DOE in March 2023, though it ultimately failed.

But despite its foundations in the Reagan era, the push to dismantle the DOE has been used as a political cudgel by Democrats after its inclusion in Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed set of policies and recommendations for a new Republican administration.

Trump and his allies have distanced themselves from Project 2025, which Democrats have cast as a far-right and repressive vision for the country.

Massie similarly said he had no knowledge of Project 2025’s details, pointing out that he’s pushed to end the DOE before the initiative was formed.

‘I would just say, regardless of any other initiatives, this stands on its own. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation [and FreedomWorks] have been for getting rid of the Department of Education … since they were created, and Reagan was for it,’ Massie said. ‘So, I don’t think it’s a radical notion. I think what’s radical is having a federal school board. And I think education is better without it.’

Massie indicated he would support former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – who has advocated for phasing out the department she ran – to head it again.

The Trump campaign did not comment directly on Massie’s bill but told Fox News Digital when asked, ‘As President Trump has repeatedly stated on the campaign trail, he is committed to cutting the Department of Education and returning important decisions about education back to parents, teachers and educators at the state level. The DOE has been failing America’s students for too long, and it’s time for serious change.’

When asked for comment, the DOE referred Fox News Digital to Vice President Harris’ campaign, which did not immediately return a request for comment.

The State Department announced that it had approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel as the region continues to spiral towards a wider war in the Middle East.

The advance includes a myriad of weapons such as fighter jets and equipment worth nearly $19 billion, tank cartridges valued at $774 million, explosive mortar cartridges valued at over $60 million and army vehicles worth $583 million, the Pentagon said in a statement.

‘The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,’ the State Department said.

In a statement, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant thanked the U.S. for allowing Israel to maintain a ‘qualitative military edge in the region.’

‘Thank you to Secretary of Defense Austin and Secretary of State Blinken for advancing critical force buildup initiatives that assist Israel in developing and maintaining its qualitative military edge in the region,’ he posted on X. ‘This includes incorporating F-15IAs into the IAF fleet of fighter aircraft, and providing critical munition to ensure Israel’s capabilities and security.’

‘As we fight to defend Israel on 7 different fronts, your message of support and commitment to Israel’s security are clear,’ he said.

The impending sale comes as regional tension hurtles towards a breaking point. 

Regional sources told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst on Monday that they are concerned Iran and its proxies could attack Israel within the next 24 hours in retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month.

On Monday, the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah launched 30 rockets into northern Israel, although no casualties were reported, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). 

‘Following sirens that sounded a short while ago in northern Israel, approximately 30 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area of Kabri, a number of which fell in open areas,’ an IDF spokesman said. 

The $20 billion in arms sales are not expected to be delivered to Israel soon, with the sales expected to secure the nation’s resources long-term.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.