New Footage Shows Hamas Terrorists—and Gazan Civilians—Kidnapping Israeli Women and Children on Oct. 7

Previously unseen footage from Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacres shows both members of the terror group and Gazan civilians kidnapping women and children from a kibbutz in southern Israel, underscoring how jihadists and their allies systematically targeted Jews as they slaughtered more than 1,200 on this day two years ago.

The post New Footage Shows Hamas Terrorists—and Gazan Civilians—Kidnapping Israeli Women and Children on Oct. 7 appeared first on .

ROOKE: Republicans Rally Around Rising Star In Senate Race. Let’s Not Get Too Excited Yet

'She is at least open to backing Trump's agenda'

Pro-life senator announces she will not seek re-election

With the 2026 midterms looming on the horizon, one Republican senator has announced she will not be seeking re-election.

On Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) confirmed the rumors that have been swirling for months and officially announced that she will not seek a third term. She made the announcement in a video posted to X.

'Protecting life and the most vulnerable among us is the most important measure of any society.'

"It has been an honor to dedicate my life to the service of our great state and country. Having been raised in a family who has given me so much love and support, now as our family ages and grows, it's my time for me to give back to them," Ernst said in the video.

The Senate Leadership Fund quickly responded to the news. "We want to express our gratitude to Senator Joni Ernst for her dedicated service to our nation and the people of Iowa, both in the U.S. Senate and serving in the armed forces," executive director Alex Latcham said in a statement obtained by Blaze News. "Senator Ernst has been a steadfast conservative leader throughout her time in office, and we wish her the very best in her retirement. We are confident that Iowans will once again choose a strong fighter to represent them in the U.S. Senate next fall."

— (@)

Ernst, 55, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014, making her the first woman ever elected to federal office from the state of Iowa.

Since then, she has been a reliable Republican vote. As an Iraq War veteran, Ernst has advocated for servicemen and women. She even ruffled feathers in her own party after President Donald Trump's re-election win last fall when she initially lobbied against the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense following allegations of sexual misconduct. However, she ultimately voted to confirm him.

She has also been a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement, voting for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and to defund Planned Parenthood. "Protecting life and the most vulnerable among us is the most important measure of any society," she says on her website.

While Iowa has some of the strongest restrictions on abortion in the country, a recent Des Moines Register poll indicated that a solid majority of Iowans, 64%, say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

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3 Senate races that could flip the balance of power: 'This is a wake-up call'

With the 2026 primaries fast approaching, there are three U.S. Senate seats onlookers should keep an eye on.

Republicans are currently enjoying a supermajority after sweeping the 2024 elections, controlling the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.

The freshman senator narrowly won his seat in 2020 by just one point.

After November, Republicans flipped four seats: Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Montana. These victories flipped the Senate and put Republicans in a comfortable 53-seat majority while Democrats fell back to just 47 seats.

Although the GOP has a healthy majority, there are some more potential pick-up opportunities — and losses — for Republicans going into next year's primaries.

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images

One of the most contentious Senate races will be for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's seat in Georgia. Several prominent challengers have emerged in recent months, most notably with Republican Rep. Mike Collins throwing his hat in the race back in July. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has also been floated as a potential candidate, but she has not formally moved to run for the seat.

The freshman senator narrowly won his seat in 2020 by just one point against Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue. Given this razor-thin margin, Republicans have set their sights on taking back Ossoff's seat, and early polling suggests it's within reach.

The Cook Political Report currently rates Ossoff's seat as a toss-up, and some polls mirror this rating. In a hypothetical race between Ossoff and Collins, the Democratic incumbent has polled with an average three-point advantage, according to RealClearPolitics. Another recent poll shows Collins trailing Ossoff by just one point, according to findings from TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics.

Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Another pick-up opportunity for Republicans emerged in Michigan after Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced his retirement in January. Several Democratic candidates, like Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, have since launched their own campaign bids, but the future nominee will inevitably have to put up a fight against Republican challengers.

Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers is considered the frontrunner among the GOP candidates in the Michigan Senate race. Rogers previously ran and narrowly lost against Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024, but he has since relaunched his Senate campaign with the hopes of flipping the swing-state seat.

Slotkin managed to defeat Rogers by just 0.3% in November, signaling the support behind the Republican challenger. Earlier in the year, Rogers was polling several points ahead of his Democratic counterparts, and Cook Political Report has rated the Senate seat a toss-up.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Although Republicans are poised to potentially flip some seats, there may be some warning signs in the Midwest.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) reportedly will not seek re-election in 2026, leaving a vacancy in the deep-red state. The Cook Political Report has rated the seat as leaning Republican, and the GOP has maintained a prominent presence in Iowa at both the local and national level.

Despite the success Republicans have enjoyed in the Hawkeye State, Democrats have begun to secure their own electoral victories. Most recently, Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch for an open state Senate seat, flipping the GOP's supermajority for the first time in three years.

Steve Deace, a native Iowan and host of "The Steve Deace Show" on BlazeTV, told Blaze News that this swing in favor of Democrats is taking place because Iowans are not energized by any Republican candidates they have to choose from.

"There are danger signs, because if it can happen in Woodbury County, Iowa, this can happen anywhere in America," Deace said.

"Our people are just not motivated, by and large, to vote for the Republican Party brand as a brand anymore. So you’ve got to prove to them you’re worth their time and effort for them to show up, and I think that this is a wake-up call for the next midterm."

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Not Just California High-Speed Rail: Taxpayers Are on the Hook for $163 Billion in Delayed Infrastructure Boondoggles, Ernst Report Shows

California's long-troubled high-speed rail project is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to taxpayer-funded infrastructure boondoggles, according to a new report from Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The post Not Just California High-Speed Rail: Taxpayers Are on the Hook for $163 Billion in Delayed Infrastructure Boondoggles, Ernst Report Shows appeared first on .

New Footage Shows Hamas Terrorists—and Gazan Civilians—Kidnapping Israeli Women and Children on Oct. 7

Pro-life senator announces she will not seek re-election

3 Senate races that could flip the balance of power: 'This is a wake-up call'

Not Just California High-Speed Rail: Taxpayers Are on the Hook for $163 Billion in Delayed Infrastructure Boondoggles, Ernst Report Shows

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We’ll keep you informed with top stories for conservatives who want to become informed decision makers.