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A 33-year-old pastor has been arrested for allegedly forging signatures in his bid to win the Democratic primary for a state House seat in 2024.Rev. Robert Hoggard of Middletown, Connecticut, was reportedly an associate pastor at New Jerusalem Christian Center when he submitted signatures in support of his campaign for the 33rd House District.'There's a political class that does everything in its power to try to dissuade voters from wanting to serve their communities and cancel this election.'Connecticut allows non-endorsed candidates to get onto a primary ballot by collecting signatures from voters in the district. Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Alston flagged the signatures as suspicious and began an investigation."The alarming evidence includes multiple voters who stated that they did not sign a primary petition for the candidacy of Robert Kyle Hoggard and that the signature listed on the documents turned into the registrar's office is fraudulent," Middletown Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mike Fallon said in June 2024.Hoggard responded by accusing the Democratic Party of conspiring against him."Tactics like these dissuade people from wanting to run for office," he said at the time. "There's a political class that does everything in its power to try to dissuade voters from wanting to serve their communities and cancel this election. There's nothing this political class can do to dissuade me from wanting to run where I was born and raised."Hoggard ran under the "We the People Party" in the general election and was absolutely crushed by incumbent state Rep. Brandon Chafee (D) by a vote of nearly 7,600 to less than 700.Investigators with the Chief State's Attorney's office arrested Hoggard on Thursday and charged him with 14 counts of second-degree forgery and six counts of perjury. He was released on a written promise to reappear in court.In response to a request for comment, Hoggard directed Blaze News to his attorney, John Kennelly, but Kennelly did not respond. New Jerusalem Christian Center also did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.RELATED: Top Oklahoma Democrat forced to resign after trying to pay Ethics Commission with a forged check The CT Insider reported other election shenanigans in the state, including hundreds of voters being assigned to the wrong district in 2022 and 2024, and another incident where ballot petitions went missing.Hoggard was also required to sign the petition forms in front of a notary public, attest to the veracity of the signatures, and certify that each signature was made in his presence. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Customs and Border Protection agents prevented more than $984,000 worth of suspected cocaine from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas last weekend, according to a press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News.“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers along the southwest border stop illegal activity and facilitate lawful entry for millions of legitimate travelers into the United States,” the press release read.'These drugs will not reach American streets thanks to the continuous vigilance of our frontline officers.'CBP highlighted two separate incidents that the agency claimed occurred at the Laredo Field Office ports of entry.On Friday, federal officers at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge in Laredo referred the driver of a 2020 Nissan Frontier for a secondary inspection, which included a canine unit and a nonintrusive inspection system examination. CBP officers discovered several packages of suspected cocaine, totaling 50.75 pounds, with an estimated street value of $677,617, concealed within the vehicle, the press release said.CBP seized the suspected narcotics, and Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested the driver, a 56-year-old male Mexican citizen. RELATED: Exclusive: CBP stops 300+ hatching eggs at the border — possibly preventing bird flu outbreak Image source: Customs and Border ProtectionThe following day, CBP officers at Camino Real Bridge in Eagle Pass seized another 22.97 pounds of suspected cocaine after they referred a 53-year-old male Mexican citizen for a secondary inspection, the press release said. Federal agents discovered 13 packages of suspected narcotics, with an estimated street value of $306,723, hidden within the driver’s 2015 Toyota Camry.He was also arrested by HSI special agents, who are investigating both incidents. RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: CBP dogs on high alert as World Cup-destined third-worlders smuggle in rotten souvenirs JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images“These back-to-back cocaine seizures at different ports of entry within the Laredo Field Office area of responsibility underscore not only the reality of the drug threat we face daily, but our officers’ keen ability to apply inspection experience and technology to take down these drug loads,” stated Donald Kusser, the director of field operations for the Laredo Field Office. “These drugs will not reach American streets thanks to the continuous vigilance of our frontline officers.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) broached the subjects of God and damnation in his remarks on Friday to the 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention, characterizing Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico as a radical blasphemer in desperate need of prayer.Preempting possible criticism by the media over his discussion of Jesus and "standing up for God," Patrick noted that "it's James Talarico who decided to bring the Bible into this election — and let me tell you, that's not a Bible I've ever read. I've never seen so much blasphemy from anyone running for office."'That's the darkness.'Democrat state Rep. James Talarico is a part-time Presbyterian seminarian who has, among other things,attempted to use Scripture to justify abortion; preached at a leftist church that regards abortion as a "blessing"; protested the public display of the Ten Commandments;attributed the beginning of the "story of Jesus" to an "extraordinary act of feminism";fought to keep the Bible out of schools; characterized curricula that "elevate[s] Christianity over the other major world religions" as "deeply un-Christian"; concern-mongered about traditional Christian views; voted against sparing kids from sex-rejection mutilations and claimed there are six sexes.Talarico has desperately attempted in recent weeks to adopt a less radical, less effeminate persona. In addition to posing with meat — after having previously clutched pearls over animal welfare and the impact of meat consumption on "climate change" — he recently walked back some of his more provocative theological claims.RELATED: Democrats can’t escape their trans problem F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesIn a 2021 speech protesting legislation that prevents male athletes from playing on girls' K-12 school sports teams, Talarico stated, "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between; God is nonbinary."In an interview last month, Talarico called some of his previous religious statements "cringey comments" that were "meant to be deliberately provocative."Lt. Gov. Patrick evidently isn't buying what Talarico is selling, stating on Friday, "Let me tell you what, I'm going to pray for that guy because when he loses the Senate race, if he campaigns against God as he's been doing, he's going to hell for sure. That's what we're up against. That's the darkness."Talarico responded to Patrick on X, writing, "For decades, Dan Patrick has sold out the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable to enrich his donors. Love feels like blasphemy when you worship power."Paxton recently stated that his Democratic opponent — whom he has referred to as "Tofu Talarico" and "Low-T Talarico" — "is a threat to our values, our way of life, and the future of Texas."A pair of recent polls indicate that the race is unnervingly close. While Paxton was up 45%-43% in a recent Quantus Insights poll, the two candidates were dead even in a Siena University poll earlier this month.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

I remember telling our son that Donald Trump was going to win.This was before the ride down the escalator 11 years ago this week — before the rallies, investigations, indictments, impeachments, and endless outrage that would dominate American political life for the next decade.'The first guy through the wall — he always gets bloody.'“Washington’s not prepared,” I told him. “Americans are so angry, so frustrated, and so convinced that nobody is listening to them that they are going to send Donald Trump to Washington.”I was not predicting policy. I was describing a mood.Americans had spent years listening to politicians from both parties promise action on border security, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, government waste, trade deficits, and manufacturing losses. Election followed election. Promise followed promise. The problems remained.Recently, I rewatched “Moneyball,” and one line explained more about the last decade than most political commentary ever has: “The first guy through the wall — he always gets bloody.”The context was baseball, but the observation was about human nature.As Red Sox owner John Henry pointed out, Billy Beane’s real offense was not merely challenging a way of doing business. He was threatening the people whose livelihoods depended on perpetuating that system. When that happens, people rarely respond with calm reflection. More often, they panic. They say things, do things, and defend things that would have seemed irrational only a few years earlier.Henry’s colorful diagnosis involved bat guano and mental illness, but his insight still holds.Trump did not arrive with new information. He arrived with a willingness to say publicly what millions of Americans already believed privately. Like baseball, the stats were known to everyone. Politicians from both parties had talked about border security, warned about a nuclear Iran, criticized trade arrangements, lamented government waste, and acknowledged manufacturing losses. Some made those arguments more eloquently than Trump ever did.The information was already there. The debate was never over whether the problems existed. It was over whether anyone intended to do anything about them.What many Americans heard from Trump was not a new diagnosis. They heard a willingness to act on one.If the ideas were not new, why the reaction?RELATED: The right to life cannot depend on a baby’s zip code Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesThe answer lies more in incentives than policy. America’s founders would have understood this immediately. Influenced by Scripture, the Reformation, and centuries of political conflict, they assumed that people rarely become less self-interested when they acquire power. Their confidence rested not in the virtue of those who governed but in the restraints placed upon them.Barack Obama called those restraints “negative liberties.” The founders understood something that remains true today: Institutions, like individuals, possess a powerful instinct toward self-preservation.Washington excels at discussing problems. Politicians campaign on them. Consultants raise money around them. Advocacy groups organize around them. Media outlets build business models around them. The issues generate donations, airtime, influence, and careers.At some point, many Americans began to suspect that Washington had grown more comfortable managing problems than solving them. Problems generated funding, influence, elections, power, and relevance. Solutions threatened budgets, bureaucracies, consulting contracts, media narratives, and political leverage.A solved problem is often bad for the institutions built around managing it.That suspicion did not begin with Trump. He simply walked into it. Then he broke the fourth wall.Like theater, politics depends on a fourth wall separating the actors from the audience. Newspapers, television networks, political parties, and pundits interpreted events, while the public sat in the seats and a relatively small number of institutions controlled the stage.Trump ignored the arrangement. He bypassed the traditional gatekeepers and spoke directly to the audience.He did not create that distrust. He brought it to the center of the national conversation and turned the spotlight on institutions accustomed to holding it. Once enough people concluded those institutions were protecting themselves rather than serving the public, the structure became unstable.Millions of Americans began looking at the stage differently. They noticed the lighting, the script, and the stagehands moving the props. More important, they began questioning whether the performance was as authentic as they had been led to believe.The reaction was immediate and fierce — not because Trump threatened a policy preference, but because he threatened a system.RELATED: The left wants to put MAGA on the couch — then on trial Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesIronically, many Americans concluded that the people who claimed they could not secure the nation’s border found remarkable energy when it came to securing the institutional wall Trump smashed in Washington. It was a wall of authority, protected narratives, and unquestioned assumptions.Whether he exposed corruption, incompetence, self-interest, or simply a system disconnected from the people it served is almost secondary. Once people have seen behind the curtain, they cannot be persuaded that they never looked.That is why the fight continues. Trump remains on the stage, but millions of Americans have already seen what was behind the scenery.The question is what happens after Trump.Will Americans still challenge institutions that have grown more committed to preserving themselves than fulfilling their missions? Will leaders still treat public problems as responsibilities rather than campaign themes? Will citizens still maintain a healthy suspicion of concentrated power, regardless of which party controls it?The first guy through the wall always gets bloody.The question now is whether America intends to keep walking through the opening — or spend the next generation rebuilding the wall.