Good evening. I’m John Byrne, in for British Chris. Very quickly: If you’re reading or watching this on Substack, take a second to tap the ❤️ and restack this newsletter. Those two clicks help us reach the readers who really need to hear these stories.
Today, the biggest Republican super PAC in the country is pulling out of a major swing state in order to divert funding to an unexpectedly competitive Senate race in a rural red state. Two protesters are now suing MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson for defamation after he falsely labeled them as terrorists to millions of viewers. Donald Trump’s tariffs on tomatoes could soon bring an end to free chips and salsa at Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants. And a Florida restaurant owner who once pledged his loyalty to the president is now watching his business collapse, and he says Trump’s immigration crackdown is to blame.
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Republicans are all but admitted they’ve lost the face for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Semafor reported Friday that the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC dedicated to keeping the U.S. Senate in the GOP’s hands, has officially halted its spending in the Tar Heel State. Trump’s handpicked candidate, Michael Whatley, is trailing Democrat Roy Cooper by an average of nine points according to RealClearPolling.
SLF had previously promised to pour an eye-popping $71 million into the race and had already spent more than $30 million before pumping the brakes this week. None of those tens of millions of dollars seemed to move the needle in any significant way. Several polls in September showed Cooper, who is the state’s popular former two-term Democratic governor, ahead by as much as 15 points.
The PAC is now devoting its resources to Kansas, a state Trump carried by 16 points in 2024 and that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in almost 100 years. Incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall is locked in a dead heat with Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton, who led by two points in two separate polls last month.
According to the firm AdImpact, SLF has so far reserved $8.2 million in ad time in the Sunflower State, with the first spots airing Saturday. Nonpartisan election forecaster Cook Political Report shifted the Kansas Senate race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” last week. Vice President JD Vance is also campaigning in Kansas, holding rallies for Marshall and aiming to shore up GOP support in the rural heartland state.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated Republicans’ retreat, writing on social media that the SLF’s decision to move money from North Carolina to Kansas “says all you need to know about which direction the Senate Majority is headed.”
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority right now, but Democrats keep adding new competitive states to their November Senate map, including Kansas and Texas. On Friday, Hamilton picked up the endorsement of a second former Republican governor in the form of Mike Hayden, who led Kansas from 1987 to 1991. That endorsement comes just after former Governor Bill Graves endorsed Hamilton last month. If Democrats flip four states between Alaska, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas — along with keeping Georgia and Michigan in Democratic hands — they’ll retake control of the chamber. All of those states have the Democratic nominee either leading in the latest polls or well within the margin of error.
Sponsored Kalshi Question: Michigan Senate winner?
Benny Johnson — a far-right podcaster who built his brand by running pro-Trump propaganda — is now facing a lawsuit in federal court.
Harvard data scientist Kyle Frankovich and contract court reporter Maureen Foody sued Benny Johnson for defamation Friday in the Northern District of Illinois. Both were detained last fall while nonviolently protesting in a designated free speech zone outside the Broadview U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center near Chicago.
Johnson was at the facility that day alongside then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. He posted videos to his social media accounts showing a row of zip-tied protesters, including Frankovich and Foody, while calling them “left-wing terrorists” who supposedly attacked police and ICE agents.
But according to the complaint, none of Johnson’s claims were true, and he knew it. Neither one of the protesters were charged with a crime. They were held for roughly eight hours and ultimately released a half-mile from the jail. One of Johnson’s posts claimed that every activist protesting ICE had assaulted federal agents, and it garnered 1.7 million views. That post was full of comments from people who called for the protesters to be tortured, shot and killed.
DHS then turned the photo of Frankovich in zip cuffs into an ICE recruitment poster. The caption used the phrase “FAFO,” which stands for “F**k Around, Find Out.” Frankovich told MS NOW that seeing himself used as propaganda aimed at recruiting more agents to brutalize communities like Chicago was “disgusting.” He then added, “You shouldn’t get to lie about me.”
Before Johnson became a popular MAGA podcaster, he was a conservative writer for a BuzzFeed who was fired for plagiarism after being caught in dozens of instances copying sentences from other articles verbatim and putting them in his own articles. Johnson was given a “new media” seat in the Trump White House briefing room and was invited to ride-alongs with DHS and ICE agents. The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount in both compensatory and punitive damages.
Trump’s trade war with Mexico may bring an end to free chips and salsa at restaurants, according to a new report from Houston Public Media.
In July of 2025, the Trump administration imposed a 17 percent tariff on tomatoes imported from Mexico, defending it as necessary to protect American tomato growers. But that ultimately just raised tomato prices, since Mexico supplies roughly 90 percent of the tomatoes the U.S. imports. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension estimates that the U.S. has bought more $3 billion worth of tomatoes from Mexico since 2015.
At first, grocery stores and restaurants absorbed the hit without passing down the extra cost to consumers. But after a stretch of bad weather in Mexico and Florida affected supplies, tomatoes shot to their highest price in approximately two decades. Dante Galeazzi of the Texas International Produce Association told HPM that a box of tomatoes now costs roughly $80. That meant many grocery stores stopped putting tomatoes on produce shelves for a part of the year.
Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants held out a little longer because diners have grown accustomed to getting complimentary chips and salsa when they sit at the table. But overall food costs have climbed about 35 percent in two years, in part due to the president’s high tariffs. Texas Restaurant Association spokesperson Kelsey Erickson Streufert said in addition to food costs, restaurants have also been struggling with higher costs for labor, utilities, insurance and credit card fees, telling HPM those necessities are all significantly more expensive than they were even just a year ago.
According to the San Antonio Business Journal, that some restaurants in the city have had to spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just on salsa ingredients. Galeazzi said some owners are telling him they simply can’t afford to give out free salsa anymore.
Those issues plaguing restaurants brings us to Florida for our last story of the evening, where on restaurant owner who went out of his way to show his love for Donald Trump is learning exactly what his loyalty buys.
This spring, Maximo Alvarez welcomed Trump to his restaurant, El Arepazo. The eatery isn’t far from the Trump National Doral resort in Miami. Alvarez told Trump during his visit he simply wanted to be loyal to him.
But according to a new report from The Bulwark’s Adrian Carrasquillo, the restaurant’s sales have plummeted by roughly 80 percent as Trump’s ICE crackdown keeps the restaurant’s customers at home in fear of being apprehended by federal agents. One restaurant employee told Carrasquillo that regular customers are too scared to go out, and specials will sometimes go bad before anyone actually orders them.
Carrasquillo described Doral — a cultural hub largely populated by Venezuelans which Trump won by 23 points — as a ghost town. He wrote that Doral now feels completely subdued and fully drained of its former vibrancy. He wrote that many of the Venezuelan immigrants who have called Doral home for years have since been stripped of their legal protections and fear detention and deportation, while families struggle to pay bills.
The administration is showing no signs of letting up. During a Thursday trip to the president’s golf club on Thursday, border czar Tom Homan told reporters, “Wait until you see what we do next year.”
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Thanks for reading. I’m John Byrne, in for British Chris. If you haven’t already, click the ❤️ and restack this newsletter so we can reach the people who need these stories. Have a great weekend.
