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Former President Donald Trump at Waco Regional Airport on March 25 in Waco, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

CHICAGO There may be a Trump Tower right in the middle of Chicago, but voters here are no more amenable to Donald Trumps brand of politics than the residents of his native New York. In 2020, Trump won only a single ward in the city, the 41st, on Chicagos northern edge.

One of the more surprising of the 558,269 votes for Trump in Cook County which includes Chicago and some of its suburbs came from the South Side, a majority-Black area that is among the most reliably Democratic sections of the city, as well as the onetime home of former President Barack Obama.

It came courtesy of Devin R. Jones, who heads the Southside Republicans, an organization he founded in 2000. Fix Where We Live goes the organizations motto, alluding to decades of official disinvestment and neglect.

A native South Sider who served in the Navy, Jones is unapologetic about his conservative beliefs. If anything, he thinks that many Black Americans would benefit from Republican policies, if only the national GOP stopped waging culture wars and focused instead on economic empowerment and policies.

Republican politics is especially moribund in Chicago, whose most famous GOP candidate for many years was simply known as Spanky. At the same time, Black voters are showing signs of disenchantment with Democrats. If that trend holds, Chicago could present an opportunity for Republicans to court Black voters.

Yahoo News spoke to Jones with the Chicago mayoral runoff looming. Moderate Paul Vallas is facing off against progressive Brandon Johnson, in a race widely seen as having national implications. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Devin R. Jones. (Southside Republicans)

What made you start this organization?

Being a native South Sider, I had never had an option. Oftentimes, there werent even Republicans on the ballot. And so I felt that, as Americans, we deserve, at the very least, a two-party system. We deserve options.

Some people would say that the Republican Party, despite becoming more diverse in recent years, is mostly attuned to white concerns.

People would say that, but its a party that was founded for Black liberation. Frederick Douglass was a huge Republican. Booker T. Washington. Ida B. Wells, who was a native Chicagoan and Second Amendment rights proponent.

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Even [former President Richard] Nixon won with a sizable Black vote.

Do the Democrats take the Black vote in Chicago for granted?

Absolutely. And the Republicans allow it to happen. There are no policies from the Republican Party in the state that address Black people.

Do the Democrats deserve the Black vote?

A man casts his ballot at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 3, 2020. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

No, no, no. Not in this city, not in this state. When you go through the South Side, you go to Bronzeville, Englewood, Roseland, the depth of poverty and destruction, the disinvestment, the institutional racism they have allowed it. We havent had Republicans running this area for 100 years.

How would you describe the mood of this city ahead of next weeks election?

People are nervous. A lot of people dont know what to make of this election. People are tired. They are not feeling hope from either camp. Theres no sense of hope. Its just like, Whichever one we get, well just figure out how to deal with, and thats a terrible place to be.

[Mayor] Lori Lightfoot said that she lost because she is a Black woman.

I think some of the attacks on how she looks were because she is a Black woman. But who cares? I dont think she lost because people hate Black women. I think she lost because she was not able to win the battlefield of ideas. She was not able to prove why her policies were best.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot at an election night rally on Feb. 28 in Chicago. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)

Some have said the crime issue has been exaggerated.

Its not exaggerated. The numbers dont lie.

Are you afraid for your safety and your property?

Im not afraid. I carry.

[Jones clarifies he is a legal gun owner.]

Do you know a lot of Black people who carry?

I know more who carry than who dont. We have seen crime for so long in the Black community, we just know we need to carry.

To you, the Second Amendment is empowering.

That was instilled in me by my grandparents. They grew up in the Jim Crow South, outside of Vicksburg, Miss. They had shotguns to keep the Klan from coming back. I know a lot of people who have similar stories.

Jordan Landis, a gun collector, examines a pistol in EJBs Gun Shop in Capitol Heights, Md., on March 14. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats claim theyre fighting for equity and social justice.

The only thing that will allow for the movement of Black people and we have seen this throughout history is for the government to move out of our way.

Did you vote for Trump?

I voted for him the second time. I did not vote for him the first time.

Thats odd, because there are people who voted for him the first time but not the second.

I saw his policies. I saw what he wanted to do. I saw his Platinum Plan, which I dont think went far enough. But it was more than what the other side offered. Democrats offered lip service and no tangible policy.

Will you support Trump next year?

[Laughing] No. Absolutely not.

Why not?

He produced a lot of good policies. I just dont see where hes going this time. Hes reverted back to his reality TV personality. We have serious political work that needs to be done.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a GOP town hall in 2021. (Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

What do you think of [Florida Gov.] Ron DeSantis?

I like many of Ron DeSantiss policies. I am still iffy on his approach to attacking critical race theory. I think, oftentimes, what Republicans do is, they throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have never had Black history taught with American history. So many Americans dont know that Crispus Attucks, a Black man, was the first person that died in the Revolutionary War. Many people dont know how impactful Frederick Douglass was on the Republican Party and on Abraham Lincoln.

DeSantis says Florida is where woke goes to die. What do you hear?

Anti-Blackness.

Woke [is] originally a term for Black people waking up. Republicans could be woke. Theres a lot of Republicans that are woke.

I think I just found your presidential slogan. Whom are you going to support in 2024?

Just based on whos out there now, it would probably be DeSantis. Im leaning towards DeSantis. But I am so undecided. Definitely not a Democrat.

I want to ask you about a couple other national figures. Ill say the name and you give me your impression.

Lets start with [South Carolina Sen.] Tim Scott.

If I had to choose between DeSantis and Tim Scott, itd be Tim Scott. I like his policies. He has offered criminal justice reform. Hes staying true to what it means to be a conservative. You dont really hear him getting into the culture wars. Hes very policy-focused. If he ran, hed be my top choice.

Sen. Tim Scott at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

[Former Vice President] Mike Pence.

I like Mike Pence. We have a similar vision of faith. Ive been a fan of Mike Pence since I was a kid.

[Virginia Gov.] Glenn Youngkin.

Hes doing a good job in the state of Virginia. I like his lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, a lot more. Id like to see them switch.

Should we be supporting the war in Ukraine?

We need to completely cut that off. That is not for the defense of the United States.

That is not our fight. We have too much going on at home.

That money should stay at home. We can pass bills to send billions of dollars to another country. And then we have a debate about whether Englewood deserves a water system without lead in it.

We need to reallocate resources.

Concertina wire covering the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Nogales, Ariz., in 2019. (Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty Images)

Do we need a border wall?

I think there should be whatever is going to close that border to illegal substances and people crossing. Take the entire United States Army and put it across that southern border.

People would say youre not being an ally to immigrants.

We dont allow people from Africa to come the way we allow them to from Central and South America. We dont allow Haitians. I mean, how Haitian migrants are treated when they come illegally is abysmal.

Mexico is not going to allow me to come down there and roam around, homeless. Theyre gonna send me back after I spend time in prison.

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'Republicans could be woke': A Black conservative from Chicago's South Side makes the case for ditching Democrats - Yahoo News

ALBANY, N.Y. Several influential members of New Yorks congressional delegation are pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to embrace a climate bill that would compel the state to build wind and solar energy projects when private industry falls short of state environmental goals.

The effort an unusual show of force by Washington into Albanys affairs was made public on Wednesday in a letter sent to the governor that strongly encouraged Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, to fall in line with the states left-leaning Legislature and support the bill, known as the Build Public Renewables Act.

Nine of New Yorks Democratic members of Congress have signed on: Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Yvette Clarke, Grace Meng, Adriano Espaillat, Daniel Goldman, Nydia Velzquez, Patrick Ryan and the efforts leader, Jamaal Bowman.

The measure would lay the groundwork for a publicly owned renewable energy system by allowing the New York Power Authority to build, own and operate renewable energy generation. Each year, the Power Authority would assess the progress made by private industry on the goals set out by New Yorks 2019 climate law and would launch its own projects when the private sector falls short.

The proposal has been a top priority for the progressive wing in Albany and was included in the Senates one-house budget resolution. The Assembly included a similar version, but omitted a provision that would impose accountability measures on the board of the Power Authority.

Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, has signaled her support for allowing the power authority to own and operate renewable energy projects and included the measure in her own budget proposal. But she fell short of agreeing to mandates that the power authority build to meet climate benchmarks, or the inclusion of labor protections, which proponents say are crucial to ensuring the measure delivers on economic and environmental justice goals.

When New York leads, the nation follows, the letter says, crediting the states landmark 2019 climate act as a partial inspiration for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the largest climate investment in United States history, which made available hundreds of billions of dollars to transform energy use and consumption. The letter urges the governor to include additional labor protections and mandate that the power authority build to meet renewable energy shortfalls.

The more the governor moves forward and is aggressive in these areas, the more moneys going to come in from the inflation act, said Mr. Bowman, who represents parts of Westchester County and the Bronx.

But a spokeswoman for the governor, Hazel Crampton-Hays, questioned whether the labor standards in the Senates bill were truly necessary, noting that existing labor law would seem to cover many prospective projects.

She pointed to Ms. Hochuls past climate achievements and a raft of budget proposals aimed at addressing energy affordability and spurring job creation, including hundreds of millions to help New Yorkers with energy bills and to prepare workers for new green jobs.

Governor Hochuls executive budget makes transformative investments to make New York more affordable, more livable and safer, she said.

The pressure from the Washington politicians arrives just three days before the states April 1 budget deadline, as the governor and Legislature attempt to sort through a panoply of issues and priorities in the states annual budget battle royale.

The environmental legislation is just one of the areas in which Ms. Hochul has found herself at odds with her partys left flank, which also opposes her efforts to again strengthen the states bail laws.

In New York, the governor wields a disproportionate amount of power over the budgetary process. But in this conflict, Ms. Hochul faces a largely united Legislature, whose efforts are backed by powerful labor groups.

The landmark 2019 act required that 70 percent of energy be renewably generated by 2030 and entirely carbon-free by 2040. But environmentalists believe that in order to meet the electricity needs of the state, projects will need to be undertaken in locations that are unattractive or unprofitable for private industry.

Those opposing the measure include a coalition of industry groups, including the Independent Power Producers of New York, which contends that it would do little to solve the siting and approval obstacles delaying renewable energy production in New York. They also say that New Yorkers would potentially be on the hook for cost overruns and other liabilities that the Power Authority might incur.

And they fear that the measure would give the state an unfair advantage in the marketplace over the private sector.

To meet its renewable energy mandates, we need the private sector to remain acutely interested in New York and aggressively develop, invest in, and build wind, solar, and battery storage energy projects, the groups wrote in a legislative memo opposing all three versions of the law.

Mr. Bowman is hoping the letter persuades Ms. Hochul to support the Legislatures measure. But if the carrot doesnt work, he said, theres always the stick.

The stick comes from constituents, right? It comes from voters, Mr. Bowman said. Everywhere I go, throughout my district, all I hear is energy costs.

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In Rare Show of Force, House Democrats Pressure Hochul on ... - The New York Times

TOPEKA Democratic Sen. Dinah Sykes proposed supplementing resources for firearm safety instruction in Kansas public schools beyond National Rifle Association and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks programs for students in kindergarten through high school.

Sykes, who previously denounced a bill giving rise to the NRA firearm initiative in Kansas, offered an amendment Tuesday to House Bill 2304 incorporating materials from Everytown for Gun Safety that promoted responsible gun ownership and storage along with the goal of reducing child gun deaths. She suggested the NRAs Eddie Eagle advice could be paired with Everytowns Be Smart insights.

As the children are learning gun safety from Eddie the Eagle, they would also receive information on the Be Smart curriculum, Sykes said.

Her suggestion was rejected 11-28 by Senate Republicans eager to avoid disruption of legislation requiring the Kansas State Board of Education to establish curriculum standards for teaching firearm safety in schools. Under the bill, local school districts would decide whether to take advantage of a new program featuring NRA materials in K-8 grades and making use of KDWP hunter safety training in grades 6-12.

On final action Wednesday in the Senate, the bill was approved 23-16. It moved to the gray area in which the House and Senate could engage in talks in search of a compromise.

The Legislature should not be making decisions about school curriculum, said Lawrence Democratic Sen. Marci Francisco, who voted against the bill. The Legislature should be adopting legislation with requirements for secure storage to make gun ownership safer.

Shawnee Republican Sen. Mike Thompson, chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, said he wasnt familiar with the Be Smart program but didnt believe materials prepared by Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocated for gun control and against gun violence, would complement work of the National Rifle Association, the nations prominent gun rights advocacy group.

He said a quick review of an Everytown for Gun Safety website revealed text alleging champions of the right to bear arms were aligned with extremist ideologies. He said Everytown for Gun Safety was dedicated to convincing youth to be frightened of guns rather than adopt a healthy respect for firearms.

This is community organizing. This is not teaching gun safety. This is a program designed to indoctrinate young people instead of teach them gun safety, Thompson said. We want to teach these children how to handle firearms safely starting at a young age.

Sykes rebuttal: The NRA is known for community organizing. If you have trouble with my amendment, you should have trouble with the underlying bill about indoctrination.

Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita, said it was evident Everytown for Gun Safety and NRA had vastly different approaches to firearm safety. She said the Eddie Eagle curriculum was aimed at reinforcing respect for the 2nd Amendment.

We want to teach our kids how to safely handle firearms, Erickson said. From what I can tell from the Everytown for Gun Safety, their approach is to eradicate guns. Is that the goal?

Sykes said the Be Smart curriculum urged people to secure all guns at home and in vehicles, model responsible behavior around weapons, ask about unsecured firearms in homes, recognize the role of guns in suicide and encourage peers to be smart about weapons.

Any reasonable gun owner would want to have a secure gun, would want to model responsible behavior, Sykes said.

The NRAs core advice, presented to students via Eddie Eagle, was for youth encountering an unattended gun to stop, avoid the weapon, run away and inform an adult.

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, said she awoke to news of the shooting death of six people in a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Officials said a former student at The Covenant School killed three children and three adults before being fatally shot by law enforcement officers.

I believe that all of us in this chamber, and those listening, are in support of gun safety measures, saving lives, Faust-Goudeau said. I think an added piece to any information of safety that our children can receive would be positive.

The Senate originally approved an NRA and KDWP instruction bill in February on a vote of 30-8. The decision to debate the bill again was necessitated by the Kansas Houses conversion of the Senates gun safety bill into a liquor regulation package. Transition of Senate Bill 116 was completed Monday with a 102-21 vote in the House.

In 2021, Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a comparable firearm instruction bill.

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Senate Democrat rebuffed for trying to blend NRA, Everytown ... - Kansas Reflector

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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., on Wednesday, threatened to sue the Biden administration over electrical vehicle tax credits.

Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said he was prepared to go to court ahead of the U.S. Treasury's expected release of battery sourcing guidance for electric vehicle tax credits later this week, Reuters reported.

"If it goes off the rails and violates the intent of the climate legislation approved in August, I will do whatever I can - if that means going to court and I can do it, I'd do it," Manchin said, according to the report.

Manchin, a regular supporter of the fossil fuel industry's interests in Congress, said he intends to transfer the EV supply chain from China, noting that he will pay attention to how the Treasury will classify processing and manufacturing in determining eligibility for $7,500 EV tax credits. "Manufacturing is meant to bring manufacturing back to the United States," he told reporters Wednesday. "It's not basically allowing everyone to put all the parts and build everything you can for that battery somewhere else and then send it here for assembly."

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he was prepared to sue over the Treasury's EV tax credits. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)

MANCHIN BLASTS BIDEN IN SCATHING WSJ OP-ED, CLAIMS HE'S IGNORED DEBT CRISIS: POLTICAL MALPRACTICE

The Treasury is expected to release its battery-sourcing rules for electric vehicle tax credits by Friday. Reuters previously reported that the new rules are expected to result in fewer vehicles qualifying for full or partial credits.

The rules for electric vehicles are included in the $430 billion climate change, healthcare and tax bill dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in August.

In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Manchin accused the Biden administration of flouting the bill's original intent.

"Instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security," Manchin wrote. "The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed."

A Tesla showroom posted information about Federal Tax Credits eligibility at Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sen. Joe Manchin threatened to sue over the Treasury's expected new rules coming Friday. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Manchin also demanded that Biden "sit down with fiscally minded Republicans and Democrats to negotiate common-sense reforms to out-of-control fiscal policy."

CLIMATE CZAR JOHN KERRY SAYS BIDEN WILL IMPOSE MORE MANDATES, GO FARTHER THAN THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

In response to the op-ed, a White House official told Fox News Digital: "We have a strong and productive relationship with Senator Manchin. We are proud of the Inflation Reduction Act and our shared goals it achievespromoting Americas energy security, strengthening supply chains, creating good-paying manufacturing jobs, and investing in energy communities and towns across America that have been left behind."

This aerial photo shows large engineering vehicles at the site of the Chuneng New Energy (Yichang) lithium battery Industrial Park project in Yichang, Hubei Province, China, Nov 23, 2022. China dominates the EV industry. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The bill says 50% of the value of battery components must be produced or assembled in North America for EV buyers to qualify for $3,750 of the credit, and 40% of the value of critical minerals must be sourced from the United States or a country with which it has a free trade agreement to qualify for another $3,750 credit. China currently dominates the global supply chain for EV batteries.

Those quotas rise by 10 percentage points annually.

Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

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Democrat Manchin threatens to sue Biden administration over electrical vehicle tax credits: report - Fox Business

Howard Schultz was the star witness, but the hearing revealed almost as much about the party in power as it did about the longtime Starbucks chief executive.

When Mr. Schultz appeared Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, at a session titled No Company Is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks, he encountered a Democratic Party much changed since some of his earlier trips to Washington.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton invited Mr. Schultz to the White House for a private briefing on the companys health care benefits. Two years later, the president praised Starbucks when introducing Mr. Schultz at a conference on corporate responsibility. At the time, Bernie Sanders was a backbencher in the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, Mr. Sanders, now chairman of the Senate committee, appeared to regard Mr. Schultz with something bordering on disdain.

Before a question, Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, felt the need to remind Mr. Schultz that federal law prohibits a witness from knowingly and willfully making a false statement relevant to an inquiry. The chairman then asked him if he had participated in decisions to fire or discipline workers involved in a union campaign. (Mr. Schultz said he had not.)

Mr. Sanders noted that an administrative law judge had found egregious and widespread misconduct by Starbucks in its response to the campaign, in which nearly 300 of the roughly 9,300 corporate-owned stores in the United States have voted to unionize. And he chided Mr. Schultz for what he said was the companys calculated and intentional efforts to stall, to stall and to stall rather than bargain with the union in good faith.

The hearing was held on the same day Starbucks reported that its shareholders had backed a proposal asking the company to commission an independent assessment of its practices as they relate to worker rights, including the right to bargain collectively and to form a union without interference.

Though the proposal is nonbinding, the 52 percent vote in its favor suggests unease among investors over Starbuckss response to the union campaign.

Mr. Schultz, who recently ended his third tour as the companys chief executive and remains a board member and major shareholder, seemed as mystified as anyone by his personal change of fortune in the capital. He chafed at what he described as the propaganda that is floating around the hearing and told Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, that I take offense with you categorizing me or Starbucks as a union-buster.

When another Democrat, Senator Patty Murray of Washington the home state of Starbucks said she had heard from constituents about widespread anti-union efforts, Mr. Schultz reminded her that they had known each other for years and that she had many times actually talked about Starbucks as a model employer.

He responded to Mr. Sanderss accusation that Starbucks was not bargaining in good faith by noting that the company had met with the union over 85 times. (The union points out that most of these sessions ended within 15 minutes; Starbucks says this is because union members sought to take part remotely.) And he denied that Starbucks had broken the law; it has appealed the rulings against it.

Aside from the accusations of labor law violations, the question at the heart of the hearing was: Can chief executives be trusted to treat their workers fairly?

Mr. Schultzs answer was an emphatic yes, at least in his case. He highlighted the companys wide-ranging benefits not just health care, including for part-time employees, but stock grants, paid sick leave, paid parental leave and free tuition at Arizona State University. He said that the average wage for hourly workers at Starbucks was $17.50, and that total compensation, including benefits, approached $27 an hour.

My vision for Starbucks Coffee Company has always been steeped in humanity, respect and shared success, he said near the outset of the hearing.

Republicans on the committee were quick to agree. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky called Starbucks an extraordinary tale of a company that started out of nothing and employs tens of thousands of people all making great wages.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former chief executive, said it was somewhat rich that youre being grilled by people who have never had the opportunity to create a single job. He suggested that while a union might be necessary at companies that are not good employers, that was not the case at Starbucks.

Democrats response came at two levels of elevation. First, they said the company was excluding unionized stores from the benefits that Starbucks had introduced since the union campaign began, such as faster accrual of sick leave and a credit-card tipping option for customers, showing that its commitment to such benefits was tenuous.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued complaints calling the denial of benefits to union stores an attempt to discourage workers from organizing. Mr. Schultz said at the hearing that the company couldnt offer the new benefits at union stores because the law said it must bargain over them first; legal experts have cast doubt on that interpretation.

More broadly, Democrats argued that unions acted as a corrective to a basic power imbalance between workers and management. A company might treat workers generously under one chief executive, then harshly under another. Only a union can ensure that the favorable treatment persists, said Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.

Yet in illustrating how far the politics of labor have changed in Washington in recent decades, there was perhaps no better bellwether than Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado, a former business owner and self-described extreme moderate.

Mr. Hickenlooper conducted himself more respectfully and deferentially than most of his Democratic colleagues, applauding Mr. Schultz for creating one of the most successful brands in American history and declaring that you know more about economics than I will ever know. But in his questioning he aligned himself squarely with his party, pointing out that the rise of inequality in recent decades had coincided with the weakening of unions.

I certainly respect the desire to be directly connected with all your employees, he told Mr. Schultz. But in many ways that right to organize, and that opportunity for people to be part of a union, is a crucial building block for the middle class and, I think, gave this country stability.

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Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Spars With Democrats at ... - The New York Times