Top JD Vance political advisors to steer Ramaswamy run for Ohio governor
Vice President JD Vance’s political team, including two top advisors, is joining Vivek Ramaswamy’s soon-to-be announced 2026 Ohio gubernatorial run, a source with knowledge confirmed to Fox News. The news follows conversations between Ramaswamy and Vance, who until he stepped down earlier this month to assume the vice presidency was a senator from Ohio, added the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely. Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, for weeks has been putting the pieces together to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. “Expect Vivek to announce his candidacy in mid-February,” the source told Fox News. RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL Ramaswamy was among the contenders who challenged President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out of the race and becoming a top Trump ally and surrogate. The two Vance advisors are Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance’s 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn, after Trump named the first-term senator as his running mate. MUSK AND RAMASWAMY IGNITE MAGA WAR OVER SKILLED WORKER IMIMGRATION The Ohio-based Chabria, a veteran in Buckeye State politics, is expected to serve as the Ramaswamy campaign’s general consultant. Surabian, who is also a top advisor to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son and a top figure in the MAGA movement, will steer an outside political group allied with Ramaswamy. Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, according to the source, as is Arthur Schwartz, another close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr. Vance, who has known Ramaswamy since they both studied at Yale Law School, has put his imprint on Ohio politics since winning his 2022 Senate election in the one-time key battleground state that has shifted to the right over the past decade. Vance endorsed now-Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of his 2024 GOP Senate primary victory, and key members of Vance’s political team steered Moreno’s campaign. “It should not come as a surprise that JD’s top operatives are working with Vivek, given that JD and Vivek have had a longtime friendship,” a source in Vance’s political orbit told Fox News. A longtime Ohio-based Republican operative, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said Vance is “sending a message” with this move. He added that the advisors joining the Ramaswamy effort are “an all-star caliber campaign team.” CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON VIVEK RAMASWAMY Also part of that team, according to the source, are three veterans from Ramaswamy’s White House campaign – Ben Yoho, Mike Biundo and Chris Grant. Ramaswamy, who’s now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise as he went from a long shot to a contender for the Republican nomination. He campaigned on what he called an “America First 2.0” agenda and was one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the “most successful president in our century.” Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid a year ago after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a top surrogate on the campaign trail. Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE. But last Monday, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy’s exit appears to clear the way for Musk, Trump’s top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight. “It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote. DeWine announced a week and a half ago that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by Vance until he stepped down ahead of the Trump/Vance inauguration. Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate. DeWine’s decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy’s move toward launching a run for governor. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a major Trump ally in the Senate, on Monday endorsed Ramswamy’s all-but-certain gubernatorial bid. “I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Vivek G. Ramaswamy, and he is totally focused on trying to save our country,” Scott said in a social media post. “Ohioans want a shakeup in Columbus just as much as in Washington, and Vivek Ramaswamy is the bold leader to bring that change,” attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke, who was in the running to be named to Vance’s Senate seat that ultimately went to Husted, shaking up the gubernatorial race, told Fox News Digital. “Already gaining strong favor among Ohio conservatives, his high name ID and unwavering energy make him a formidable force for Governor. Much like President Trump, Vivek will bring a commitment to job creation, efficiency, and bold leadership. A businessman at heart, he knows how to drive economic growth, while as a father, he prioritizes merit over mediocrity for the future of Ohio’s children. With a powerful team led by seasoned strategists Vivek has the winning combination of grassroots support and strong fundraising to make Ohio economically vibrant and secure for all us.” The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced late last week his candidacy for
Abbott sends state troops to U.S.-Mexico border to work with Border Patrol
The 400 members of a special tactical unit left bases in Houston and Fort Worth on Monday morning, according to the governor’s office.
DAs may try to charge Jan. 6 participants granted clemency by Trump with new crimes on state, local levels
The ordeal may not be over for some of the more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants granted clemency by President Donald Trump, as certain prosecutors are currently investigating whether some of the individuals — particularly those alleged to have committed violent crimes — could be charged at the state or local level. That loophole was floated by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who told CNN that his office was looking into the possibility of bringing state election- or conspiracy-related charges against some of the Pennsylvania residents who were pardoned or saw their prison sentences commuted during the first week of the Trump presidency. Krasner’s office could theoretically take action against the more than 100 Pennsylvania residents who received full pardons or sentence commutations, including a Philadelphia-based Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy and another Pittsburgh-area man sentenced to 14 years in prison for indiscriminately spraying pepper spray at police officers, throwing a folding chair at officers and wielding a large wooden “tire thumper,” according to the Justice Department. Krasner declined to detail further how, or if, his office will move on the state charges, and his office did not respond to several requests for comment from Fox News Digital. However, Krasner maintained that in his view, “there is a path” for charging Jan. 6 individuals — and not just those living in the Keystone State. AN ‘ILLEGAL LOTTERY’: PHILADELPHIA DA SUES TO STOP MUSK’S $1 MILLION VOTER GIVEAWAYS Trump’s decision to sign a sweeping act of clemency freed more than 1,500 individuals that were charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol breach. More than 100 police officers were injured, according to officials, and the incident ultimately sparked the largest FBI investigation in the bureau’s history. “In many cases, it will be possible to go after people who have been federally pardoned,” Krasner told CNN Thursday. “The focus for most state prosecutors should be what occurred within their jurisdiction,” he said. “Texting, phone calls, emails, reservations for transportation or hotels. Conspiratorial activity could give rise to a local charge — meaning a state charge — of criminal conspiracy.” ‘BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL’: US JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS TRUMP’S BAN ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP Legal hurdles, “double jeopardy” concerns Still, that is not to say that the strategy is without significant hurdles. Former prosecutors told Fox News Digital that those looking to bring state charges against Jan. 6 rioters will almost certainly find themselves mired in a complex legal minefield. The difficulty of securing state convictions has nothing to do with the seriousness of the crimes committed by the Jan. 6 rioters — which range from charges of seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding to assault and assault against police officers — but rather, jurisdictional issues and wide double jeopardy protections. Here, the facts are especially complex, since both Washington, D.C., and U.S. Capitol grounds fall under federal court jurisdiction, former U.S. prosecutor Andrew McCarthy explained in a Thursday message to Fox News Digital. This means any conspiracy to commit a crime would inherently be at the federal level — a complex catch-22 that would be difficult for state prosecutors to isolate in court. WORLD LEADERS REACT AS TRUMP RE-ENTERS THE WHITE HOUSE State prosecutors also have a very narrow scope in trying to prove new criminal action. That is because they must do so while respecting the broad double jeopardy protections included in the U.S. Constitution, which prevent individuals from being tried for the same case twice. It also is taken to mean that they cannot be tried twice for the same conduct. In fact, for state prosecutors to bring charges against an individual, they must prove successive actions are focused on remedying a “very different kind of harm or evil” than the federal charges, and it is unclear whether states will be able to meet that burden of proof. McCarthy and other lawyers pointed to the 2019 decision by a New York judge who cited the double jeopardy clause as the rationale for tossing a 16-count indictment state prosecutors brought against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, ruling that the conduct was not sufficiently different. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE REVEALS BIG TECH ‘VERY MUCH ON NOTICE’ AFTER CEO’S INAUGURAL DONATIONS It is unclear how, or if, any charges brought by state prosecutors could satisfy the test of proving a “very different kind of harm or evil” — but Krasner, a self-proclaimed Democrat who has spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor, said he believes so. He is not the only one sharing that sentiment. One partner at the Democrat-aligned Elias Law Group told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement Friday that it is their belief that “any individuals who committed crimes that day should be held accountable.” “If any of the rioters may have violated state laws, it is up to state and local law enforcement officials to review the facts and bring charges as appropriate,” the attorney said. “The rule of law must be upheld, regardless of President Trump’s political incentives.” TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW Meanwhile, Republicans were forced to toe a delicate line in the aftermath of Trump’s pardons — facing tough questions as to what the clemency orders meant for a party that has long been seen as one that “backs the blue” and supports police officer protections. Vice President JD Vance used an interview on CBS News on Sunday to accuse former Attorney General Merrick Garland of applying “double standards in how sentences were applied to the J6 protesters, versus other groups,” in an attempt to soften his earlier remarks. Vance, a former U.S. senator, previously told Fox News that Jan. 6 participants who committed violence “obviously” should not be pardoned. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday “the president has made his decision.” “I don’t second-guess those,” Johnson said. Others were more direct in their criticism. Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
Trump’s crackdown on trans troops: New order nixes preferred pronouns and restricts facility use
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order restricting transgender troops from serving in the military on Monday. The new order requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they “prioritize readiness and lethality” and take action to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within DOD, per a White House document reviewed by Fox News Digital. The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary of Defense to implement such policies. It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order the White House argues “allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.” The order builds on another directive Trump issued last week that revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female. There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing gender-affirming care (surgical and nonsurgical care) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to Congressional Research Service. The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and Hegseth to weed out any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices across the military. And GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system. WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY A day-one order banning DEI policies across the federal government has already sidelined 395 bureaucrats, Fox News Digital reported. An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for “transgender services” following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments. Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion. The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.
Hegseth arrives for 1st day at Pentagon stressing Defense’s mission to protect ‘sovereign territory of the US’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrived for his first day at the Pentagon on Monday with a message regarding the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) mission. Greeted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and a gaggle of reporters, Hegseth said it was “an honor to serve on behalf of the president and serve on behalf of the country,” adding, “The warfighters are ready to go.” Hegseth quickly turned to the border crisis, acknowledging how President Donald Trump was “hitting the ground running” with executive orders declaring an emergency at the southern border and designating cartels foreign terrorist organizations. Hegseth said the DOD “snapped to” last week in sending more troops to aid in erecting barriers along the southern border, as well as to “ensure mass deportations,” adding: “That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do.” “He’s made it very clear. There is an emergency at the border,” Hegseth said. “The protection of the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department.” DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ Last week, the Defense Department announced 1,500 active-duty service members and “additional air and intelligence assets” were being sent to the southern border “to augment troops already conducting enforcement operations in that region.” When asked if more troops would be deployed to the border now that he is taking the helm, Hegseth said, “Whatever is needed at the border will be provided. Whether that is through state active duty, Title 32 or Title 10, because we are reorienting.” “This is a shift. This is not the way things have been done in the past,” Hegseth said. “The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States at the southern border to include reservists, National Guard and active duty with compliance with the Constitution, the laws of our land, and the directives of the commander in chief.” Hegseth, a combat veteran who deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he anticipated more executive orders from the White House later Monday. Those would include orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion inside the Pentagon, reinstate troops who were “pushed out” over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and to implement the construction of an “Iron Dome for America,” Hegseth told reporters, vowing to comply with Trump’s directives “rapidly and quickly.” “Every moment I am here I am thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers,” Hegseth said. “Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting.” TRUMP TO REINSTATE SERVICE MEMBERS DISCHARGED FOR NOT GETTING COVID-19 VACCINE “We hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that,” Hegseth, who most recently was a Fox News host before Trump nominated him to lead the Defense Department, continued. “The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed in this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse. We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary for those who want to test us and try us.” When asked about a wristband he was wearing, Hegseth said he wore it every day to remember Jorge Oliveira, a soldier he served with in Guantánamo Bay when he was a platoon leader. Oliveira was later killed in Afghanistan while Hegseth was there in a separate unit. “It’s these guys that we do this for. Those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Hegseth said. The secretary was also asked about assistance for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. Last week, Trump issued an executive order pausing all U.S. foreign development aid for 90 days pending an assessment into whether the funds align with his administration’s foreign policy. Reuters reported that flights for approximately 40,000 Afghans who were approved for special visas following former President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal have been suspended as a result. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We are going to make sure there is accountability for what happened in Afghanistan, and we stand by our allies,” Hegseth said.
Saif Ali Khan stabbing case: Woman, linked to prime accused, arrested in West Bengal
Investigation revealed that the SIM used by the Bangladeshi national, who was arrested earlier in Mumbai for the attack, was registered in the name of the woman
Delhi: Four-storey building collapses in Burari, rescue operations underway
The incident occurred around 6:56 pm, prompting an immediate response from emergency services.
Trump officials give ICE goal on number of arrests per day: report
President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase the number of arrests per day from a few hundred to between at least 1,200 to 1,500 people, according to a new report on Monday. Citing four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity about a purported internal call with ICE officials on Saturday, The Washington Post first reported about the new objective, categorizing the 1,200 to 1,500 daily targets as “quotas.” During the call, each ICE field office was told to aim for 75 arrests per day and that management would be held responsible if the quotas were not reached, they said. The Post also reported that current and former ICE officials said that they are concerned that the quotas make it more likely that agents will “engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly told the Post via an email that, “your story is false,” but did not elaborate. When asked about the report, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified, telling Fox News Digital, “Goals is the correct phrasing.” ICE ARRESTS NEARLY 1,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS DURING SIXTH DAY OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION “The bottom line is DHS enforcement, whether they be at the border or the interior, needs to keep and get criminal aliens out of the country,” the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital also reached out to Leavitt and ICE regarding the report. Later in its report, the Washington Post cited another unnamed ICE official who reportedly said that the agency already has a long list of criminal suspects, so agents could continue to target public safety and national security threats to reach the quotas. Last week, acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinded a directive that had prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and doctor’s offices. Huffman said the reversal ensured criminals, including murderers and rapists, cannot use those areas to hide. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, further defended the decision on Sunday, explaining that many MS-13 gang members are often around age 14 and ICE agents are well-trained and should have the discretion to weed out public safety and national security threats. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Homan said the number of immigration-related arrests would “steadily increase” as he continues Trump’s mass deportation plan. “The aperture right now is constrained to public safety threats, national security threats as a smaller population,” Homan said. “We’re going to do the same priority base as President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.” In sanctuary cities, Homan said, ICE is locked out of jails. That means instead of being able to safely apprehend targets already in custody before they are released back onto the streets, ICE agents must conduct enforcement operations in the community, increasing the risk of collateral arrests of illegal immigrants not charged with violent offenses but who law enforcement find associating with criminal illegal immigrants and take into custody as well. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Sweeps don’t occur anywhere,” Homan told Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, inside the ICE Command Center in Chicago on Sunday night. The border czar and television doctor teamed up to showcase on McGraw’s streaming service, Meritt TV, how ICE operations are targeting violent offenders. Another video shared Sunday night showed Dr. Phil questioning an illegal immigrant, a convicted sex offender from Thailand who federal agents took into custody in Chicago. For the past decade, ICE has had a staffing level of about 5,500 officers nationwide dedicated to immigration enforcement, according to the Post. Trump has directed Homeland Security Investigations, the DHS agency focused on counterterrorism, drug smuggling, human trafficking cases and child exploitation, to also assist with immigration enforcement operations. Last week, Huffman also issued a directive giving Department of Justice law enforcement officials in the U.S. Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Federal Bureau of Prisons authority to investigate and apprehend illegal immigrants. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Thanks to the last Administration’s open border policies, we’ve seen violent criminals and gang members terrorize American communities,” Huffman said in a statement. “Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations. For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem.”
Trump open to considering re-entry into World Health Organization: ‘They’d have to clean it up’
President Donald Trump said he was open to potentially rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), just days after he signed a Day One executive order that withdrew the U.S. from the international group. During a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, the president told those in attendance that it was unfair a country like China, with a population much greater than the U.S., was only paying a fraction of what the U.S. was paying annually to the WHO. “We paid $500 million a year and China paid $39 million a year despite a much larger population. Think of that. China’s paying $39 million to have 1.4 billion people, we pay $500 million we have – no one knows what the hell we have, does anyone know? We have so many people pouring in we have no idea,” Trump told rally goers on Saturday. COVID LAB ORIGIN IS BECOMING ‘INCRESINGLY CLEAR,’ FORMER WHO ADVISER SAYS “They offered me at $39 million, they said ‘We’ll let you back in for $39 million,’ they’re going to reduce it from [$500 million] to [$39 million], and I turned them down, because it became so popular I didn’t know if it would be well received even at [$39 million], but maybe we would consider doing it again, I don’t know, they have to clean it up a bit.” An analysis of national contributions to the WHO from NPR found that the U.S. pays for roughly 10% of the WHO’s budget, while China pays about 3%. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO in an executive order issued hours after he was sworn into office last week. The president cited reasons such as WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms,” and “unfairly onerous payments” forced on the U.S. During Trump’s first term, in July 2020, he took steps to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO but his successor, former President Joe Biden, eventually reinstated the nation’s participation in the global health initiative. The president’s complaints about the U.S. paying too much to the WHO mirror his complaints about U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Trump said he was asking all NATO nations to contribute 5% of their gross domestic products to NATO defense spending. NATO set a threshold of 2% that countries must pay in 2014, but, according to Trump, “most nations didn’t pay” until he began pushing for other countries to contribute more. Still, according to NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte, countries like Spain, Italy and Canada have yet to even meet that 2% contribution. Following Trump’s demands that NATO members spend 5% of their gross domestic product, he questioned whether the U.S. should be spending anything on NATO at all, telling reporters from the Oval Office that the U.S. was protecting NATO members, but those same members are “not protecting us.” “I’m not sure we should be spending anything, but we should certainly be helping them,” Trump said from the Oval Office. The White House declined to comment for purposes of this story.
‘Back to our roots’: Female GOP lawmakers work to win back feminism from the left
EXCLUSIVE: Female Republicans in Congress are fighting to change the decadeslong narrative that paints Democrats as the party of women, hoping it transcends to significant gains in future elections. “We’ve got to get back to our roots of being the party of women,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. “I don’t know why we ever allowed the Democrats to hijack the narrative and claim to be the party of women. That’s bull.” Other GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital about this story noted that cost of living, a cornerstone issue for Republicans in the last election, was as much a women’s issue as anyone else’s. Republicans have also passed several bills since winning that election that have put women at the focus of conservative policy changes on transgender youth and border security. ‘A BIG RELIEF’: NC RESIDENTS DESCRIBE MEETING WITH TRUMP AFTER FEELING ‘IGNORED’ POST-HURRICANE “You should not let the Democrat Party tell you they’re the party of women if they can’t even define what a woman is. So we are going to continue to be strong advocates for young women and girls, whether that’s in professional spaces, in bathrooms or in sports,” said Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, referencing a recently passed bill keeping biological male student athletes out of girls’ sports teams and locker rooms. Hinson said she is “a working mom fighting for other working moms.” “Women are oftentimes the most important decision makers in a household, for example. So, when I’m thinking about economic indicators, how are we going to get more women in the workforce? How can we empower more women and families? How can we support more women in sports?” Hinson posed. Historically, Malliotakis pointed out, it was Republicans who led passage of the 19th Amendment that secured women the right to vote. She also pointed out that it was under President Donald Trump that a museum dedicated to women’s history was authorized. TRUMP WARNS FEMA FACES RECKONING AFTER BIDEN ADMIN: ‘NOT DONE THEIR JOB’ “President Trump authorized in 2020 the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum. And Joe Biden did nothing with it for four years,” Malliotakis said. ” “I’ve been pushing a land transfer for the Smithsonian women’s museum to be built, and I think it makes total sense that we would be the party that would do this, considering our history.” As a voting bloc, women have favored Democrats and the left in recent history. Democrats have also blamed Republicans for the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a move that did appear to translate to electoral success in the 2022 midterms. Progressives were also historically the biggest supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment, legislation that was pushed primarily during the second-wave feminist movement. However, Republican women like Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are now arguing that bills like hers, which would deport illegal immigrants who commit sex crimes against women and other Americans, are what it takes to protect women. “MAGA is the new feminist,” Mace wrote on X this month. Additionally, Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., one of the few Republican women in the 119th Congress’ freshmen class, pointed out that her own story was a testament to GOP meritocracy. “I was the largest vote-getter in my whole state out of anybody, as a woman, as the first congresswoman in our state. So I think more than anything else, people want folks who are primed for the job, who are competent and ready,” Fedorchak said. “The cost of everything, making ends meet, helping women manage their multiple roles, getting government out of their lives, helping reinforce the role of parents…these are things that are women’s issues.”