Fresh off declaring “victory” over Virginia’s roughly $65 million redistricting ballot measure — which Republicans criticized as a “dark money”-backed gerrymander — the Republican National Committee is looking to capitalize on that momentum.

Describing the RNC as “disciplined and ruthless,” Chairman Joe Gruters revealed that the committee launched a multimillion-dollar election integrity push ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The effort involves hiring directors in 17 states to recruit poll workers, poll watchers and election observers, while coordinating legal and Election Day oversight across key battlegrounds, Fox News Digital has learned.

The directors will be the legal “eyes and ears on every vote cast and counted” in every battleground these midterms, according to officials. It is all coming from the top down, echoing President Donald Trump’s longstanding argument that the people counting votes are as important as those casting them.

WHERE TRUMP, GOP VS DEMOCRATS REDISTRICTING BATTLE HEADS NEXT IN WAKE OF KEY COURT RULINGS

“President Trump made it clear in 2024: secure our elections — and we haven’t let up since,” Gruters said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We’re building a ground game across the country with poll workers, poll watchers and lawyers to protect every legal ballot.”

“This is a permanent, nationwide effort backed by legal muscle and disciplined operations. The RNC is all-in, year-round, to safeguard election integrity and ensure only legal votes count,” he added.

The RNC is aiming to defy history in maintaining the president’s party majority in the House and Senate through a midterm election.

NEW RNC CHAIR JOE GRUTERS VOWS TO ‘RIDE THE PRESIDENT ALL THE WAY TO VICTORY’ IN MIDTERMS

Rather than relying on high-profile national election attorneys, the RNC is turning to local legal experts in key states — a strategy officials say was key to its legal approach in Virginia, where a multimillion-dollar ballot measure ultimately failed.

The plan revolves around smart data and even artificial intelligence to feed actual, actionable intelligence in the midterm battlegrounds. And the spending and swath of the operation will expand as the conditions on the ground warrant, according to officials.

The RNC hires are part of an initial seven-figure investment and build on the 2024 election integrity operation, which officials said recruited more than 230,000 volunteers in 18 target states for poll watching, poll work and legal support, along with more than 6,000 volunteer attorneys both remotely and on the ground.

MINNESOTA FRAUD CASE IS ‘CANARY IN THE COAL MINE’ FOR GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS — INCLUDING ELECTIONS, LAWYER WARS

The initial “seven-figure” spend remains a “moving target,” officials added, with the expectation that the investment will climb into the tens of millions nationwide.

Democrats spent comparable amounts in Virginia alone, according to critics of that effort. Republicans hope saving tens of millions will have a domino effect on the midterm battlegrounds.

Supporters argue that approach reflects fiscal responsibility and a broader strategic shift — something that seemingly left Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias publicly frustrated.

‘JUSTICE’: CELEBRATION, MOCKERY ERUPT AFTER SPANBERGER ‘GERRYMANDER’ IS BLOWN UP IN BLOCKBUSTER DECISION

“We’ve got the Republican National Committee waging litigation in courtrooms around the country,” Elias lamented to MS NOW last month.

RNC officials pushed back, saying Elias’ “record is terrible” against them, as they outlined their next battle plan Monday.

The RNC said it will avoid hiring what it views as expensive national election attorneys who would be inexperienced and less informed on local law. The officials behind the multimillion-dollar campaign said hires “will not be names you recognize,” but they are the experts in those states and districts.

DAVID MARCUS: VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS STEP ON A $70M RAKE AND NOW THEY’RE CRYING

Officials compared the strategy to long-term conservative legal efforts that ultimately led to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Rather than lawlessly condemning SCOTUS, Dems should listen to Ari Fleischer,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, wrote Monday night on X as Democrats were pushing what Republicans described as a likely unsuccessful U.S. Supreme Court appeal for the Virginia high court ruling.

“For decades, Republicans lived with Supreme Court rulings they didn’t like. [With] Roe v. Wade, [they] didn’t say ‘we need to rig the Supreme Court.’ They worked within the system to change the way things worked.”

REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISING OUTPACES DEMOCRATS BY NEARLY DOUBLE, JUNE NUMBERS SHOW

Despite the recent gains in the courts on redistricting and criticism oscillating back to the left, the RNC has also faced criticism, particularly with regard to those upset that Democrats outspent Republicans by nearly a 3-to-1 margin on the ultimately doomed Virginia ballot measure.

RNC officials said they are unfazed by criticism, telling Fox News Digital the election integrity effort is akin to a football team’s offensive line — doing all the grunt work and none of the press.

Republicans have faced criticism for being judicious with what is estimated to be up to an $800 million war chest for the midterms, but RNC officials are signaling confidence in their approach.

“Just watch us” get results, the officials said.

REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM ON DEMOCRATS’ ‘POWER GRAB’ AS VIRGINIA VOTES ON REDISTRICTING SHAKE-UP

Defying history in helping Trump keep its congressional majority will “not be cheap” or easy, they admit. Just ask Democrats now upset in Virginia, they added.

RNC officials argued spending just a fraction and getting a narrow margin at the ballot box ultimately gave the “Virginia Supreme Court some cover” to rule the way it did.

WHERE TRUMP, GOP VS DEMOCRATS REDISTRICTING BATTLE HEADS NEXT IN WAKE OF KEY COURT RULINGS

The RNC said it led those legal challenges largely behind the scenes, with legal experts typically not seen on TV, which officials argue demonstrates how effective their quiet midterm legal ground game will be.

While there might be critics of how the RNC is spending on election integrity, the RNC officials stressed they stick to being quietly strategic and targeted in former Raiders head coach Al Davis’ “just win, baby” fashion.

The RNC’s initial field investment includes states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, with officials saying the operation will cover entire states rather than only targeted congressional districts as the party builds a long-term infrastructure aimed at both the midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

GOP STRATEGISTS CALLED TO DC AS TRUMP TEAM CONFRONTS RISING MIDTERM HEADWINDS

The RNC said the new state directors will serve as the election integrity program’s “eyes and ears” on the ground, overseeing poll worker and poll watcher recruitment, coordinating with attorneys and supporting Election Day operations in battleground states.

That is the mission the RNC has accepted from the president.

Midterm elections historically have lower participation rates than presidential election years, so having legal “eyes and ears on every vote cast and counted” through this election integrity unit will take up the bulk of the RNC spending up to “eight figures,” according to officials.

TRUMP ACCUSES SCHUMER OF TRYING TO ‘INTERFERE IN OUR ELECTIONS’ WITH LATEST STRATEGY

The move comes as Trump vowed Sunday to expand the GOP’s election integrity operation, writing on Truth Social that Republicans would again deploy an “Election Integrity Army” in 2026, but that it would be “much bigger and stronger.”

Trump also criticized a Democrat-led election integrity group involving former Attorney General Eric Holder and Elias, accusing Democrats of trying to “suppress Republican voters” and “interfere in our Elections.”

“The Democrats are totally unhinged, and we will not allow them to threaten the integrity of our Elections,” Trump wrote.

TRUMP’S CONVINCING 2024 VICTORY SETS HOUSE GOP UP FOR HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE IN 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

“During my Historic Election in 2024, when I won every single Swing State, and decisively won both the Electoral and Popular votes by wide margins, the Republicans had an Election Integrity Army in every single State to preserve the sanctity of each legal vote,” he wrote. “We will be doing the same again in 2026, but it will be much bigger and stronger. All Americans should have their voices be heard by casting a vote. Be assured this Election will be fair!”

SCOOP: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM LAUNCHES ‘MAGA MAJORITY’ PROGRAM TO BOOST TRUMP-ALIGNED CANDIDATES

Gruters said Sunday the RNC had deployed its first wave of field staff to 17 battleground states to turn out voters he says are needed to win the midterms.

“We’re building the ground game to win, protect our majorities in the House and Senate, and give President Trump a full four years,” Gruters wrote.

In a separate post, Gruters said the RNC is “aggressively fundraising and deploying staff to battleground states across the country to get out the vote and secure our elections,” adding the committee is being “disciplined and ruthless” to make its resources count and stop Democrats from retaking Congress in November.

GOP OUTPERFORMED DEMS ON VOTER REGISTRATION IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES, NEW ANALYSIS REVEALS

The RNC kept its election integrity program intact after the 2024 election and is now expanding poll worker recruitment in 17 target states while also growing operations in non-target states. The committee said it is currently involved in more than 130 active election integrity cases across 30 states.

That included involvement in legal challenges related to the Virginia Supreme Court, which struck down a voter-approved redistricting measure that Republicans had criticized as a gerrymander, in a decision delivered Friday.

“Hey @JamesBlairUSA where are all the people attacking us for not spending enough in Virginia?” Trump’s 2024 campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita wrote Friday on X, directing his slam dunk on critics to the White House deputy chief of staff who is transitioning to leading the midterm operation.

“Oh yea …they are laughing at Dems for wasting $60 million #wannabees,” he wrote.

Republicans celebrated another high court ruling in their favor after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to revisit its congressional map just three years after the bench forced a race-conscious redraw.

After the court ruled Louisiana’s map improperly weighted racial factors, Alabama lawmakers moved quickly to advance a redistricting plan aimed at triggering a fresh legal review. That effort paid off late Monday when the Supreme Court overturned a 2023 order from “Allen v. Milligan” that created a second Black-population-conscious district, which flipped Democratic in 2024, and returned the case to a federal court in Birmingham.

“Our elections should be decided by Alabamians at the ballot box — not by judges in courtrooms. I appreciate SCOTUS taking action on this issue and look forward to Alabama electing its congressional representation using a map drawn by those closest to the people,” Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, told Fox News Digital.

Ledbetter called the ruling a “massive victory; not just for Alabama but for conservatives around the country.”

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

The new order sends the case to a federal court in Birmingham, where the bench now includes six Trump-appointed district judges and one Obama appointee, and gives Montgomery’s legislature leeway to use the GOP-drawn “Livingston Map” from 2023 that prompted the initial litigation.

Ledbetter said his goal was to pass the 2023 “Livingston Map,” named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, and give Gov. Kay Ivey the opportunity to approve it and force a broader constitutional test of race-based redistricting in light of the Supreme Court’s latest ruling in “Callais.”

Alabama currently has a 5-2 Republican majority in Congress, while prior to the Milligan case it long had a 6-1 map with a minority-favored district covering Birmingham and the state’s historic Black Belt.

Before the ruling, Friday’s legislative session devolved into chaos after Republicans approved sending the “Livingston” resolution to Ivey.

Lawmakers had to clear the House floor after raucous protests erupted inside, a Montgomery source recounted to Fox News Digital. One agitator was reportedly detained.

Later Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey announced special primary elections for several affected districts, mostly in the central and southern regions of the state.

“As I said at the close of our special session lat week, Alabama now stands to quickly act. I will continue to say Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best,” Ivey said in a statement.

Ivey’s move will provide for an August 11 primary in the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th districts.

The 1st district, represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, runs along the Florida border through the “Redneck Riviera” and Flora-Bama beach region and into Joe Scarborough’s hometown of Dothan in the Wiregrass region.

The 2nd district, created through the now-overturned Milligan ruling, runs from Mobile through Montgomery and is represented by Democrat Shomari Figures. The state’s other Democrat, Rep. Terri Sewell, is also affected, as her Birmingham-centric district is the 7th.

The other Republican affected is Rep. Gary Palmer, who represents Birmingham suburbs like Hoover and Leeds and areas approaching Wetumpka, outside Montgomery.

TENNESSEE PASSES NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP LIKELY TO FLIP FINAL DEM SEAT AS PROTESTS ERUPT INSIDE CAPITOL

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall — who filed the emergency requests to the Supreme Court that helped spur the quick action — quipped Monday that his “job… is done” to put Ledbetter and Senate President Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, in a position to draw a potentially 7-0 congressional map.

House Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, lambasted the legislature’s resolution by appearing to compare it to or at least invoking the 1965 beatings of Black demonstrators by state police in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights era.

“Less than a week ago, while tornado sirens blasted and flooding forced the Alabama legislative chambers to be evacuated, an unlawful and unconstitutional bill was rammed through by White legislators,” Friday’s court filing on Singleton’s behalf continued.

The court nonetheless sided with the legislative majority.

Marshall said later Monday that Alabama has had to redraw its decennial congressional maps based on race for a long time.

“We have fought for years against courts forcing Alabama to sort its citizens by race, and we were right to fight. On April 29, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Louisiana vs. Calais. The court confirmed what we have been arguing for years. States cannot be forced to gerrymander by race.”

“Let’s be clear about what happened here. Alabama originally drew its maps around geography and communities: the Gulf Coast, the Black Belt, the Wiregrass, and a federal court punished us for it. Today the Supreme Court vindicated the state’s long-held position.”

While the Livingston map preferred by some Republicans provides a likely 6-1 scenario for the GOP, Marshall signaled that Monday’s court decision may allow lawmakers to go farther.

REDISTRICTING BATTLES BREWING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PARTIES COMPETE FOR POWER AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS

“My job in this office was to put the legislature in the best possible legal position to draw a congressional map that favors Republicans 7 to 0. My office has never taken the charge of our state motto lightly,” he said of “Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere.”

That motto could become a clarion call for other states to try their own hand at eliminating racial factors from congressional cartography ahead of a heated national primary election.

“We dare to defend our rights,” Marshall said in translating the motto to English. “Stay tuned.”

President Donald Trump’s next pick to lead the nation’s central bank is one step closer to securing the job, despite early fears that his nomination was doomed. 

The Senate, in a test vote, confirmed Kevin Warsh to be on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, the main governing body of the central bank, and a post he previously served on nearly two decades ago. The institution dictates monetary policy for the nation and has been a thorn in Trump’s side throughout his second term. 

Tuesday’s successful test vote was the first step in Republicans’ quest to confirm Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. And it comes as current Chair Jerome Powell’s term at the helm comes to a close on May 15. 

SENATE WEIGHS NEW, PAINFUL LEVERAGE TACTIC AS FEARS OF ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GROW

The Senate is expected to wrap up confirmation of Warsh on Wednesday.

It’s a far quieter ending to a process that for months was marred by high-stakes drama, legal disputes and speculation about whether Trump’s handpicked successor to Powell could actually survive the process. 

That’s because until recently, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., vowed to block any replacement pick unless the Department of Justice dropped its criminal probe against Powell. 

FRAGILE RELATIONSHIP WITH HOUSE GOP HAS SENATE REPUBLICANS WARNING ‘SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE’

That probe, which ended late last month amid pressure from top Senate Republicans, was related to alleged mismanagement of renovation funds for updates of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and played out despite Powell’s anticipated exit this month.

Speculation swirled about whether the probe was launched as a retaliatory effort against Powell, who refused to adhere to Trump’s desires to sharply lower interest rates as the central bank navigates inflation and new economic pressures from the war in Iran. 

Though Powell’s time in the spotlight as chair of the Federal Reserve is soon coming to a close, he’s not going anywhere. He told reporters last month that when his term ended, he would stay on the Board of Governors. 

THE ONE LINE IN WARSH’S TESTIMONY SIGNALING A BREAK FROM THE FED’S STATUS QUO

“I plan to keep a low profile as a governor. There is only ever one chair of the Federal Reserve Board. When Kevin Warsh is confirmed and sworn in, he will be that chair,” Powell said.

Warsh’s vision of the Federal Reserve is one that would maintain the central bank’s independence while shifting away from delving into political and social issues.

“The Fed must stay in its lane,” Warsh said during his testimony before the Senate banking panel last month. “Fed independence is placed at greatest risk when it strays into fiscal and social policies where it has neither authority nor expertise.”

Warsh needed every Republican vote he could get, given that Democrats have heavily scrutinized his finances and lack of financial disclosures related to wife Jane Lauder’s colossal fortune, and view him as a “sock puppet” for Trump’s economic vision rather than a force that would push back if need be.

EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Republicans blasted national and state Democrats over their “insane” ideas on how to reverse the Supreme Court of Virginia’s 4-3 ruling against their redistricting gambit, targeting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other national Democrats’ latest intercession.

The New York Times reported Monday on a meeting between national and Virginia Democrats to discuss ways to revive their now-blocked 10-1 map, drawing sharp backlash.

“It is insane — is my first take on that, because I mean, it would be crazy to throw out judges for making the right decision,” said Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, D-Gate City.

“That would just be beyond the pale. I think a lot of Virginians would see through that. And it’s too late for them to do it as a matter of law,” he said, citing a May 12 pre-primary deadline.

JONATHAN TURLEY: ANGRY LEFT PLOTS TO PURGE VIRGINIA’S

The report claimed Jeffries, D-N.Y., was party to discussions that ranged from lowering the retirement age of state justices to ostensibly re-trying the case before a hand-picked court, as well as using the otherwise Republican-favorable ruling out of Tazewell County.

The Tazewell decision — from Judge Jack Hurley — initially invalidated the redistricting referendum, but SCOVA allowed the vote to proceed. The Times reported Democrats are considering using Hurley’s reasoning to instead invalidate the 2020 referendum that created the independent redistricting commission they tried to circumvent with their April vote.

“That just shows you how power-hungry Hakeem Jeffries and his Democrats are up there, and I’m glad the Supreme Court followed the rule of law, and it was a good day for Virginia,” Kilgore said.

Democrats disagreed, with Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, announcing an emergency application for relief was made to the Supreme Court of the United States by late Monday.

Surovell said in a statement that the response was brought by himself, House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, and Senate PresidentPresident Pro Tem L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

VIRGINIA GOP, DEMS BATTLE IT OUT OVER REDISTRICTING BEFORE STATE SUPREME COURT

Critics pointed out the haste with which the case was filed, evinced by several visible typos on the first page.

The case was filed with SCOTUS, but the page itself indicated in its second reference that it was filed to the “Supreme Court of Virginia.”

Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, the original plaintiff, was labeled as a “Sentator” — leading to potato memes from critics on X, while a Virginia political commentary account renamed itself “Virgnia Sentator” over that and a second misspelling in Scott’s title.

In a Thursday statement following the original ruling, Scott said he “respect[ed]” it and said the close vote showed Virginians wanted to “fight back” against President Donald Trump — and that Virginia Democrats will “keep fighting for a democracy where voters — not politicians — have the final say.”

Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., whose Shenandoah Valley district was primed to be chopped in three, agreed with Kilgore in a statement saying Jeffries and national Democrats are “furious” at SCOVA for “up[holding] the rule of law.”

Cline urged Virginians to get involved politically, warning of what he called an “illegal” Democratic push to reshape the maps.

VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN SAYS SPANBERGER WANTS TO ‘TURN US INTO NEW ENGLAND’

Kilgore dismissed the idea of using the Tazewell ruling to dismantle the redistricting commission as “grasping at straws,” noting the panel has already drawn state-legislative districts without challenge.

Amid the current battle, neighboring West Virginia lawmakers launched a bid to allow some of Virginia’s more conservative, rural communities to secede from the Old Dominion, as the Mountaineer State itself did on June 20, 1863.

Kilgore’s delegate district comprised a large swath of the mountainous country featured in maps put out by proponents in Charleston.

“I think that’s a little bit premature,” Kilgore responded. “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of Virginia and I’m going to stay right here and take Virginia back.”

“We can take Virginia back, as you saw the close vote in the yes-no. That’s where Virginians are. We’re a close state. We’re a purple state.”

Kilgore said he expects Virginia voters to “swing back hard” toward Republicans in response to the hijinks playing out so far this year – which could create a purple-state pendulum just in time for Trump’s own effort to hold the House of Representatives in November.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries for comment.

After a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice appeared to indicate that he had ditched the Democratic Party, declaring in a statement that he is “no longer registered within any political party,” U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., noted that he understood the man’s decision.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, who ran as a Democrat when he was elected in 2015, indicated that the Democratic Party has an issue with antisemitism.

“From 1998 to 2001, years that preceded my judicial career, I served as Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. In the quarter century that has passed since then, the Democratic Party has changed. Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled. Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party,” he asserted in part of his statement, which Fox News Digital obtained.

DEMOCRATS KEEP PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT CONTROL AFTER 3 JUSTICES WIN RETENTION RACES

“I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party,” Wecht declared in the statement. “It is my hope that Pennsylvanians, and Americans, of all viewpoints and backgrounds will oppose and resist the scourge of Jew-hatred before it undermines what our ancestors have built here.”

The justice, who began serving on the state’s high court in 2016, was retained in a 2025 election.

FETTERMAN SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE BECOME ‘ANTI-MEN,’ WARNS OF YOUNG MALE VOTER EXODUS

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party for comment.

“I know David and his legendary father, Cyril. As I’ve affirmed, I’m not changing my party — but I fully understand David’s personal choice,” Fetterman wrote in a post on X.

FETTERMAN RIPS DEMS FOR HATING ANYTHING TRUMP DOES, SAYS PARTY CAN’T RESIST WORST IMPULSES

“The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem,” he added.

As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to advance policies targeting wealthy executives, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is reminding billionaires that everything is bigger in Texas – including economic opportunity.

Abbott is pitching his state as a refuge from liberal measures Republicans attribute to driving businesses out of the Empire State.

For New York, the stakes are high: even a modest outflow of firms and top earners could dent tax revenues and reshape the city’s role as a global financial hub. For Texas, the influx could mean more jobs, investment and economic clout.

Against that backdrop, Abbott’s office is making an aggressive case for relocation.

“Governor Abbott is proud to welcome businesses and job creators from across the country to Texas, where we have no state income tax, reasonable regulations, and a pro-growth environment that encourages free enterprise to flourish,” the governor’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News Digital.

TAX FIGHT PUTS CALIFORNIA ON COLLISION COURSE AS BILLIONAIRES LEAVE FOR RED STATES

Mahaleris gave insight into Abbott’s business philosophy, saying that “punitive policies that target successful job-creating entrepreneurs only accelerate the trend of companies choosing Texas.”

Abbott has made attracting out-of-state businesses a cornerstone of his economic strategy, a push that has paid off as Texas continues to draw firms and executives to relocate from higher-tax states. Just last week, Dell Technologies announced a unanimous decision by its board to change the company’s legal home from blue enclave Delaware to the Lone Star State.

Abbott celebrated the decision in an X post, saying, “Welcome home, @Dell” and “This is what happens when job creators and innovators are welcomed, not punished.”

The governor noted that “more businesses are sure to follow.”

That kind of growth matters politically. It signals rising living standards, a stronger tax base and greater leverage to fund infrastructure, education and other priorities without raising taxes.

And the results are reflected in the data.

Texas’ economic output per person jumped more than 10% from 2021 to 2024, according to federal data. Meanwhile, liberal states like California saw far smaller gains over the same period.

Abbott is leaning into that growth as he works to lure firms and capital away from states like New York.

FROM FREE BUSES TO CITY-OWNED GROCERY STORES, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S KEY ECONOMIC PROMISES

Concerns of a mass exodus from left-leaning cities and states have been thrust into the spotlight by a high-profile clash between Mamdani and billionaire Ken Griffin, who leads Citadel, one of the world’s most powerful hedge funds.

The dispute was sparked by a viral April 15 video where Mamdani promoted higher taxes on non-primary residences worth more than $5 million in New York City. He specifically singled out Griffin’s record-setting $238 million Manhattan penthouse and filmed outside the 24,000-square-foot Central Park South property.

Mamdani pointed to the unit as an example of the luxury second homes that would face additional annual fees under his proposal.

Griffin later blasted the video as “creepy and weird,” saying at the Milken Institute Global Conference on May 6 that he watched it multiple times. He also said Citadel is reassessing its planned $6 billion Manhattan office tower, while continuing to expand in the red state of Florida, which he called “unquestionably” the right choice.

Mamdani has backed a slate of progressive proposals, including higher taxes on high-value properties, expanded tenant protections and measures aimed at curbing wealth inequality in the city.

CHICAGO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KEN GRIFFIN TURNS ON A CITY, NOW MAMDANI MAY FIND OUT

The clash is familiar ground for Griffin, who has long warned that policies targeting the ultra-wealthy and rising crime can drive business out of major cities. Those concerns prompted him to move Citadel’s global headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, highlighting how quickly jobs, investment and influence can follow.

For Chicago, Griffin’s move resulted in the steady erosion of one of its most prominent corporate anchors — shrinking office space, relocating employees and the departure of a billionaire who once poured hundreds of millions into the city’s institutions and politics. It also meant fewer high-paying finance jobs downtown and the disappearance of a major civic and cultural benefactor.

A similar dynamic could play out in New York City, home to nearly 9 million and the world’s financial capital, where the loss of firms and top earners could cost jobs, drain tax revenue and shake the economy.

In the nation’s largest city and a global financial center, the outcome of Mamdani’s proposals could shape not only the future of New York‘s housing market, but also broader debates over regulation, taxation and urban policy.

EXCLUSIVE: As the liberal activist organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) faces federal fraud charges, an education watchdog warns that the group continues to integrate its “far-left content and materials” into classrooms as early as kindergarten in more than 40 states across the U.S.

Nicole Neily, president of Defending Education, which was once labeled an “extremist” group by SPLC, told Fox News Digital that “unbeknownst to parents, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been poisoning pupils’ minds around the country for years with its toxic curriculum.”

Defending Education published a new exposé detailing how an SPLC education program called “Learning for Justice” (formerly “Teaching Tolerance”) has been integrated into K-12 lesson plans and materials in 169 school districts in 42 states, plus Washington, D.C. According to the watchdog, the program reinforces “far-left cultural and political ideologies,” including “anti-racism, Black Lives Matter, gender ideology and queer theory, white privilege, white supremacy, whiteness, and transgenderism.”

Neily said that due to SPLC’s integration in schools, “issues such as queer theory, white privilege, and anti-racism have supplanted traditional coursework in history, social studies, and other core classes,” which she said is “teaching children to view themselves and others through the lens of identity politics, and that America is forever stained by its original sin.”

CRITICS SAY K-12 ETHNIC STUDIES PUSH TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT CISHETERONORMATIVITY, BLACK PANTHER PARTY

According to Neily, the materials “intentionally sow division and mistrust between students at a formative stage of their development,” adding that “it is deeply disappointing that administrators and educators believe this is an appropriate use of finite classroom time and resources.”

The SPLC did not respond to requests for comment on Defending Education’s report.

The report reveals that SPLC’s website and documents can be found on school district webpages, in teacher professional development and trainings, classroom lessons, district-wide curricula, Social Emotional Learning, social justice standards, and district antiracism and equity policies and resources.

SPLC’s Learning for Justice program, which the report says is focused on “education for liberation,” encourages the implementation of a set of anchor standards and “age-appropriate learning outcomes” divided into the domains of identity, diversity, justice and action.

Under the action category, students are encouraged to commit to join with “diverse people to plan and carry out collective action against exclusion, prejudice and discrimination” and to be “thoughtful and creative in our actions in order to achieve our goals.”

Defending Education said the New York State Education Department added “equity revisions” to its NY Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks that aligned the benchmarks with SPLC’s social justice standards.

The report also notes that the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian lists Learning for Justice as a recommended resource in certain lesson materials. It further points to guidance and curriculum resources from the California Department of Education and Illinois State Board of Education, as well as Chicago Public Schools, that include or reference the standards.

CHICAGO SCHOOLS BLASTED BY PARENTS’ RIGHTS WATCHDOG OVER ‘APPALLING’ LGBT AGENDA REVEALED IN UNEARTHED DOCS

According to the report, Learning for Justice materials are also incorporated into curriculum and lesson plans for younger students in several districts. The report cites examples, including Cambridge Public Schools in Massachusetts, integrating the Social Justice Standards into junior kindergarten through fifth-grade physical education, and Yonkers Public Schools in New York, using the standards in pre-kindergarten project-based learning units. It also points to Princeton Public Schools in New Jersey updating its early childhood curriculum using the framework.

Rhyen Staley, director of research at Defending Education, posited that the “amount of influence the SPLC’s programming and content has had on district policies, learning standards, curriculums, and lessons is a real concern for families who value a bias-free learning environment.”

“No organization that labels concerned parents as ‘extremists’ and members of ‘hate groups’ should have its biased content used in K-12 schools,” said Staley, adding that “district leaders should end the use of this organization’s materials and ideas.”

SPLC, an Alabama-based organization that describes itself as a “beacon of hope” for “fighting White supremacy,” was indicted late last month on federal fraud charges from a years-long alleged covert paid informant program that Justice Department officials said allocated millions of dollars in donations to a network of informants affiliated with or closely tied to White supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.

The 11-count indictment accuses the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealed money laundering. According to the Justice Department, the SPLC sent some $3 million to its paid informants between 2014 and 2023, including people affiliated with the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America and the Aryan Nations-linked Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, among others.

NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS

SPLC has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, with a spokesperson defending its work monitoring White supremacist groups and other violent extremist organizations — including via the paid informant program — telling Fox News Digital that their use has “saved lives.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the New York State Education Department, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, California Department of Education, Illinois State Board of Education, Chicago Public Schools, Cambridge Public Schools, Yonkers Public Schools and Princeton Public Schools for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Preston Mizell contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump says he’ll be “watching closely” as lawmakers in the Republican-dominated South Carolina legislature on Tuesday begin redrawing their state’s congressional district map to erase the only Democrat-dominated U.S. House seat.

At the same time, Republican officials in solidly red Alabama are moving forward with a redrawn congressional map that would likely eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held U.S. House seats in time for this autumn’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its razor-thin congressional majority.

This week’s moves in Alabama and South Carolina, along with similar efforts in Louisiana and Tennessee, come two weeks after a ruling by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to slash a key Voting Rights Act protection.

And they’re giving Trump and the GOP a major boost in their ongoing political fight with Democrats to redraw congressional district maps ahead of the midterms. At stake in this nationwide redistricting showdown is which party will control the House during the final two years of Trump’s second term in the White House.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

In South Carolina, the state Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to agree with the state House to take up rare but not unheard of mid-decade redistricting. State lawmakers would also need to push back South Carolina’s U.S. House primaries from early next month to August. Early voting in the state’s primary is scheduled to kick off in two weeks.

South Carolina Republicans are likely to advance a new map that could put longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat in the state’s seven-person House delegation, out of a job.

Clyburn this past week remained optimistic he can still win re-election.

“I don’t know why people think I could not get re-elected if they redistrict South Carolina,” Clyburn said in a CNN interview. “I have a district that’s about 45 percent African-American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”

Trump, in a social media post Monday night, urged “South Carolina Republicans: BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS.”

“Move the U.S. House Primaries to August, leave the rest on the same schedule. Everything will be fine. GET IT DONE!” he added.

Trump’s message comes a week after five Indiana Republican state senators who in December helped sink congressional redistricting in the solidly red Midwestern state were ousted by Trump-backed challengers in GOP primaries.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE AS THESE STATES HOLD PRIMARIES TODAY

It’s back to the future in Alabama, after the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ideological ruling, cleared the way for the state to put in place a map Republicans drew up in 2023 that had been blocked by lower courts. The map would eliminate one of the state’s two blue-leaning congressional seats.

The Supreme Court’s decision two weeks ago reshaped the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act by ruling that race should not dictate the redrawing of legislative district maps. And the opinion specifically ruled that Louisiana’s congressional district map was unconstitutional.

Last week, the Supreme Court said that its decision declaring Louisiana’s map unconstitutional should go into effect immediately, breaking with its usual procedure of waiting roughly a month before its opinions become official.

That cleared the way for the GOP-controlled state legislature to begin the process of reshaping the map, and hearings got underway on Friday.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a top Trump ally, took swift action in the immediate aftermath of the high court’s ruling, when he delayed the May 16 U.S. House primary elections in Louisiana.

Louisiana Republicans are aiming to erase one or both of the two Black-majority House seats, which are represented by Democrats.

TENN GOV LEE CALLS SPECIAL SESSION TO REDRAW HOUSE MAP IN GOP’S FAVOR 9-0

Republicans in Tennessee moved even faster.

The GOP-dominated Tennessee legislature on Thursday quickly adopted a new map that would eliminate the only Democrat-controlled congressional district in the state, and would likely give Republicans control of all nine districts.

GOP Gov. Bill Lee quickly signed the new maps into law.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents the majority Black district that’s being carved up, vowed legal action.

“Trump knows he HAS TO rig the game to keep his majority in November. And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful,” Cohen wrote on social media. “Next stop is the courts.”

Trump praised Tennessee Republicans in his social media post and urged GOP lawmakers in South Carolina to act “just like the Republicans of the Great State of Tennessee were last week.”

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a bill by the GOP-dominated state legislature that overhauls the red-leaning state’s congressional districts, adding four more right-leaning seats by eliminating districts currently controlled by Democrats.

Republicans currently control Florida’s U.S. House delegation by a 20-8 margin.

Democrats are fighting back.

On Monday, Democrats filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt a Virginia state Supreme Court ruling invalidating a ballot measure that would have given their party an additional four left-leaning U.S. House seats.

Last week’s ruling in Virginia means the map used in the 2024 elections will stay in place for the 2026 ballot box showdowns. Democrats currently control the state’s U.S. House delegation by a 6-5 margin. The now overturned map could have resulted in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in the blue-leaning but competitive state.

How we got here

The battle over the maps ignited last spring when Trump, aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, first floated the idea of rare, but not unheard of, mid-decade congressional redistricting.

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s fragile House majority to keep control of the chamber in the midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map.

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country. Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

California voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily sidetracked the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That led to five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

But the fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.

Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, drew new maps as part of the president’s push.

But in blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year rejected a congressional district map drawn by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the midterms.

And as mentioned, Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House.

Newly declassified footage released by the Pentagon is fueling Americans’ belief that alien life exists, with attendees at an AI event telling Fox News Digital the videos add weight to long-held suspicions.

The release, part of President Donald Trump’s push to increase transparency around Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), includes never-before-seen clips and documents that have intensified public interest in such objects and renewed scrutiny over how much the government has kept hidden.

“I think the transparency is great — that we’re finally hearing information that they, obviously, have known for a while,” one respondent said.

Another told Fox News Digital: “I think if the government has any information about extraterrestrials and they have been holding it as a secret — I guess it’s about time they released it for the public to know about.”

UFO HEARING: EX-PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS GOVERNMENT ‘CABAL’ IS HIDING ‘THE FACT THAT WE ARE NOT ALONE’

The comments underscore a continued public interest in extraterrestrial life, UAPs and the newly revealed footage of such objects.

“I know there’s life on other planets,” one respondent said. “We just don’t disclose it.”

As part of Trump’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), the administration on Friday released a trove of files and videos related to UAP sightings.

UFO EXPERT SAYS TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION COULD EXPOSE POSSIBLE ‘COVER-UP’ SPANNING DECADES

The clips depict various objects moving unnaturally in the air or through water and were taken from countries across the globe, including Iran, Iraq, Syria and Greece.

The documents reporting UFO and UAP sightings comes in compliance with a directive from Trump on increasing government transparency on reported sightings, all of which remain unsolved.

Tens of millions of documents are being combed through and will be released on a rolling basis.

UFO TRACKER MAPS EERIE CLUSTERS OF UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS LURKING BENEATH US SHORELINES: ‘WE’RE BEING LIED TO’

“While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,” the White House said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Asked whether they thought the transparency would serve public interests, most respondents said they did.

“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. And I hope that the world doesn’t go bonkers. And that’s why I think the information has to be slowly released for people because not everybody’s ready for it,” another commentator said.

UFO INVESTIGATOR WARNS TRUMP DISCLOSURE COULD HAND SENSITIVE MILITARY SECRETS TO CHINA, RUSSIA

At least one AI conference attendee said they were skeptical of the release, arguing it could cause panic.

“Horrible idea. We are pack thinkers, and once one of the pack goes, ‘oh, they’re coming to get us,’ we break out into a frenzy,” they said.

Still others believe that the weight of the topic merits as much transparency as possible.

“I think they ought to be absolutely transparent. We need to know what they have found, because I do not believe that we are the only ones in the universe,” another person said.

Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon contributed to this report.

The Senate will soon decide whether lawmakers should be paid during another government shutdown as the specter of more closures looms large. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up a vote on a measure that would prevent senators from being paid during a government shutdown, a political option of last resort that has now become commonplace in the midst of President Donald Trump’s second term. 

The resolution from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is straightforward: if there is another shutdown, he and his colleagues won’t get paid. It’s one of several resolutions and bills tossed around by lawmakers to find a way to stop shutdowns, or at least find a leverage point against them. 

KENNEDY PUSHES PLAN TO HALT CONGRESS PAY DURING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Thune quietly set up the resolution for a vote when the Senate returned on Monday as lawmakers gear up to fund immigration operations for the next three and a half years — a route they’re having to take as a result of the most recent shutdown.

When asked how he felt about his measure getting a shot, Kennedy said he pushed Thune to do it. 

“He did it, and I think he’s a fine American,” Kennedy said. 

Shutdowns have become a common tool over the last year and a half that Democrats have turned to as a negotiating counterpoint. In Trump’s second term alone, Congress has been on the precipice of a closure four times.

REPUBLICANS EYE ENDING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS FOREVER OVER FEARS DEMS WILL DO IT AGAIN

And those shutdown run-ins have yielded the longest full shutdown in history, and the longest partial closure ever. 

That reality, where Democrats are using a shutdown like a political cudgel in a way lawmakers have never seen, has some Republicans worried that they’ll do it again before the midterm elections in November. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats of being “legislative terrorists” who view political opportunity in forcing another closure.

DEMS’ DHS SHUTDOWN THREAT WOULD HIT FEMA, TSA WHILE IMMIGRATION FUNDING REMAINS INTACT

It could be over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) again, Schmitt said, or something else entirely. 

“It’ll be something else, and then we’ll just shut the whole thing down, and we should not, you know, let them do that,” Schmitt said. “So I think we ought to have some plans in place to account for that, to make it painful for them if they want to do that, because the American people suffer on it.”

Kennedy isn’t the only lawmaker trying to take the option off the table. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has been pushing his Shutdown Fairness Act, which would require that working federal workers are paid during a shutdown.

And Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., has his own legislation, the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, which would automatically fund the government for two-week stretches until Congress landed on a compromise funding deal.

“We need to pass it so we never have a moment like this again,” Lankford told Fox News Digital. “We will have disagreements. It’s America, but we should not have federal workers, programs that stop because we’re having a disagreement. Let’s have the fight. But let’s keep going.”