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DeSantis under pressure as Florida redraw could tip House balance in GOP map fight
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All eyes are on Florida next week, as it is likely the final battleground in the high-stakes fight between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats over congressional redistricting.
A special session of the Florida legislature, called earlier this year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to redraw the right-leaning state’s U.S. House districts, kicks off on Tuesday.
At stake is which party will control the House of Representatives during the final two years of Trump’s second term in the White House.
Republicans and Democrats over the past nine months have been redrawing the House district maps in states they control to gain partisan advantages heading into this year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its razor-thin congressional majority.
DESANTIS AND JEFFRIES TRADE SHOTS OVER FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
A person walks to vote in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Virginia. The referendum narrowly passed but still faces legal hurdles. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
Lawmakers in the GOP-dominated Florida legislature are meeting one week after voters in Virginia narrowly passed a referendum that, if it clears legal hurdles, will give the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature — rather than the current nonpartisan commission — temporary redistricting power through the 2030 election. It could result in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge.
The vote in Virginia put more pressure on DeSantis to deliver a new map in Florida that could create between three and five more right-leaning congressional districts.
«Florida has the right and the intention to do it. And my view is that they should,» House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday when asked if Florida’s maps should be redrawn in time for the midterms.
A Florida-based Republican in the governor’s wider political circle who asked for anonymity to speak more freely told Fox News Digital, «Gov. DeSantis is under tremendous pressure to deliver an answer to Virginia for Trump and Speaker Johnson.»
But that source added that despite pressure from the president’s political team, the map DeSantis may unveil on Monday on the eve of the special legislative session will likely aim for three rather than five additional right-leaning districts.
The road ahead for DeSantis is not easy: the governor already pushed through a new House map four years ago, which helped secure the GOP’s current 20-8 majority in Florida’s U.S. House delegation. Redrawing the map again just four years later is harder.
VIRGINIA VOTE GIVES DEMOCRATS MIDTERM MAP EDGE – SPARKS GOP BLAME GAME
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida speaks during a press conference in Miami, Fla., on April 10, 2025. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
There are also legal hurdles DeSantis faces: It is illegal under Florida’s constitution to redraw maps for partisan gain, known as gerrymandering. Democrats have vowed lawsuits against any new map that may come out of Tallahassee.
U.S. House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries last week took aim at what some are dubbing «dummymander,» a play on words for «gerrymander,» and argued that redrawing the maps in Florida — where the GOP suffered setbacks earlier this spring in special legislative elections — would harm Republican members of Congress.
«Our message to Florida Republicans is, ‘F around and find out,’» Jeffries told reporters as he referenced next week’s redistricting legislative session. Jeffries said the redistricting move would lead Democrats to increase their target list of vulnerable Florida House Republicans.
He warned DeSantis and Republicans that «the electoral tide is turning in Florida.»
DEMOCRATS NARROWLY WIN CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING SHOWDOWN IN VIRGINIA
Pushing back, DeSantis said, «Please. Be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida to campaign.»
«I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We will take you fishing,» the governor added.
DeSantis has argued that the last U.S. Census was full of flaws and claimed that it robbed Florida of an extra congressional seat. And the governor has also pointed to the major influx of new residents this decade who moved to Florida from other states in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
Not all Florida Republicans are on board with the effort, due to concerns it may backfire.
A Florida-based GOP strategist told Fox News Digital some Florida members of Congress «don’t want this.»
And pointing to the legislature, where there are some grumblings, the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak clearly, said «some don’t want to do it, but their hands will be forced.»
The Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee, home to the state legislature, is shown in this image. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service)
Florida has already moved the filing deadline for congressional candidates back from April to June, but for candidates already running for Congress, the late-in-the-game map redraw brings plenty of complications.
«Changing the map changes the race. Candidates have been interviewed for a job description that just got a requirement change,» veteran Florida-based GOP donor and bundler Dan Eberhart told Fox News Digital.
Eberhart noted that «these candidates are going to have to call an audible really soon – changing districts and probably new competitors.»
Florida may be the final battlefield in a political war that started a year ago.
Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, Trump last spring 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.
President Donald Trump, seen at an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 23, 2026, has urged GOP-controlled states to redraw their congressional district maps. (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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.
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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 is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.
The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)
Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push.
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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.
Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House. The showdown in the Indiana statehouse grabbed plenty of national attention.
ron desantis, democrats elections, mike johnson, florida, republicans elections, virginia, midterm elections
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UNRWA fires 70 Gaza staffers amid allegations of Hamas ties, says terminations not admission of guilt
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The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) fired 70 staff members working in Gaza after long-standing claims from Israeli authorities that the agency is a collaborator with the Hamas terrorist group.
«Today, the Commissioner-General ad interim of UNRWA, Christian Saunders, took the decision to terminate the employment of 70 UNRWA staff members in Gaza with immediate effect,» UNRWA wrote in a Friday statement.
UNRWA insisted its decision was not an admission of guilt, but one taken «to mitigate safety and security risks for the refugees the Agency serves under its mandate and for UNRWA personnel and premises.»
The agency claims it has «repeatedly asked the Israeli authorities to provide information and evidence to substantiate allegations against individual UNRWA staff members in Gaza but has received no response to date.»
ISRAEL SAYS UN MISLEADS WORLD AS GAZA AID STOLEN AND DIVERTED FROM CIVILIANS
A Palestinian boy walks near a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people that was hit in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City on July 5, 2025. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)
«The dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them,» the UNRWA statement read.
The firings follow a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) investigation that referred more than 100 UNRWA staff members for suspension or dismissal.
USAID’s investigation, the results of which the agency published June 5, assessed that a number of UNRWA’s employees were deeply enmeshed in Hamas’ civil society and military operations.
The investigation results included mention of «a deputy school principal serving as an al-Qassam deputy company commander in the Ain Gallout/5th infantry battalion, a deputy school principal serving as squad leader for the Khan Younis Brigade/2nd infantry battalion» and «a teacher with expertise as a sniper for Hamas.»
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, hand over Israeli hostages Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza, on Feb. 22, 2025, as part of the seventh exchange under the Jan. 19 ceasefire deal. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu)
The investigation also found numerous school teachers and principals it claimed to have participated directly in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
Israeli authorities have long charged UNRWA with being directly tied to Hamas.
«Since October 7, evidence of numerous incidents of Hamas exploiting UNRWA infrastructure and UNRWA employees being involved in terrorist activity has been exposed. Civilians in Gaza have even stated that UNRWA is Hamas,» the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wrote in a January web post.
Israeli soldiers stand inside an evacuated United Nations Relief and Works Agency compound in Gaza City during a media tour organized by the Israeli army on Feb. 8, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Additionally, the IDF claimed, citing intelligence findings, that «among the 12,521 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip, at least 1,462 (12%) are members of Hamas or other designated terrorist organizations.»
UNRWA SCHOOLS ‘HIJACKED BY HAMAS,’ WATCHDOG REPORT WARNS
Israel’s Foreign Ministry pushed back on UNRWA’s defense framing and claims that Israel had not supplied evidence of employee-Hamas collaboration.
«UNRWA’s statement on the termination of 70 employees, while blaming the victim, Israel, and without even mentioning the word ‘Hamas,’ is a cynical cover-up,» the ministry wrote in a statement shared on X.
UNRWA’s headquarters is shown in Gaza City, Gaza, on Feb. 21, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu)
«The responsibility to purge terrorism lies solely with the UN, yet Hamas membership remains simply acceptable within UNRWA’s ranks. By harboring terrorists and letting its facilities serve as Hamas headquarters, UNRWA has become an arm of Hamas,» the statement concluded.
UNRWA, for its part, denies being an active collaborator with Hamas, but insists working with the group is an operational necessity for distributing aid in Gaza.
«UNRWA, similar to other United Nations entities, does not have police or intelligence capacities and must rely on the cooperation and assistance of Member States, including the State of Israel as the Occupying Power, to protect its operations and neutrality amid high risks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,» the agency wrote in its Friday statement.
In April, UNRWA’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) announced the results of an investigation into 19 employees accused of participating in Oct. 7. UNRWA terminated 12 of the employees in January. Of the remaining seven cases, UNRWA had dismissed one, citing a lack of evidence. The remaining six cases were still under investigation as of April, according to the agency.
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President Donald Trump’s administration weighed levying terrorism-related sanctions against UNRWA in December.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also referred to UNRWA as «a subsidiary of Hamas.»
Fox News Digital contacted UNRWA and a spokesperson for the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations but did not immediately receive a response.
united nations, counter terrorism, israel, hamas, refugees
INTERNACIONAL
Ucrania inició la mayor transformación de su ejército desde el comienzo de la invasión rusa
Ucrania está poniendo en marcha la mayor transformación de su ejército desde el inicio de la invasión a gran escala por parte de Rusia, con planes para aumentar considerablemente los salarios, introducir contratos de servicio militar de duración determinada y cubrir hasta el 50% de los puestos de infantería y asalto con extranjeros.
Las medidas, anunciadas por el presidente ucraniano, Volodimir Zelensky, tienen como objetivo convertir los salarios de la infantería en “los más altos del mundo”.
El salario medio de la infantería en primera línea aumentará hasta unos 7.000 dólares al mes (6.000 euros), con un máximo de hasta 10.000 dólares (8.640 euros), en comparación con los actuales 2.500 a 3.000 dólares (2.160 a 2.600 euros) para quienes ocupan puestos de vanguardia.
El aumento está pensado para hacer mucho más atractivos a los reclutas los puestos de mayor riesgo.
Los incentivos económicos son sólo una parte de un paquete más amplio elaborado por Mijailo Fedorov, el antiguo jefe del Ministerio de Transformación Digital de Ucrania que fue nombrado ministro de Defensa hace cinco meses.
“Obligar a Rusia a la paz” no sólo es una cuestión de armas y tecnología, afirmó Fedorov al anunciar las primeras medidas, que fueron aprobadas por el Consejo de Ministros el viernes.
“Se necesita un nuevo sistema de servicio militar, basado en el respeto a la persona, la justicia y unas normas claras”, subrayó, y señaló que se espera que las medidas consoliden la tendencia favorable para Ucrania en el campo de batalla.
En concreto, la reforma responde a una demanda de hace tiempo de los soldados y sus familias en favor de una mayor previsibilidad con la introducción de contratos de duración determinada que garantizan un descanso tras su finalización, en sustitución del actual servicio de facto indefinido.
Los contratos tendrán una duración de entre 6 y 24 meses, mientras que el periodo de exención del servicio militar será de a partir de 6 meses y dependerá de la duración y los riesgos del servicio.
Los soldados con más antigüedad podrán empezar a “abandonar gradualmente” las filas a finales de año, mientras que otros tendrán descansos significativamente más largos entre contratos.
Fedorov también anunció la puesta en marcha de un sistema digitalizado de control de misiones para garantizar una distribución justa de las tareas y una mayor transparencia en la remuneración.
Tras más de cuatro años de intensos combates y movilización a gran escala, Ucrania tiene previsto cubrir entre el 30% y el 50% de sus necesidades de tropas de infantería y asalto mediante el reclutamiento internacional, afirmó Fedorov.
Miles de combatientes extranjeros ya prestan servicio en el ejército ucraniano, con los contingentes más numerosos procedentes de Colombia y otros países latinoamericanos. Hasta ahora, el reclutamiento ha sido gestionado en gran medida por unidades individuales.
“Hay ciertas unidades en las que entre el 60% y el 80% del personal son voluntarios extranjeros. Su contribución es difícil de sobrestimar”, declaró a EFE Dmitro “Domovik”, comandante de una compañía de drones del 413.º Regimiento “Raid”.
La reforma creará nuevos mecanismos para ampliar la participación extranjera. “He dado instrucciones para que se abran significativamente más oportunidades a los voluntarios extranjeros que deseen alistarse en el Ejército ucraniano”, declaró Zelensky.
El presidente ucraniano aseguró que el país cuenta con los fondos necesarios para llevar a cabo la reforma, aunque no dio más detalles.
La reforma se considera esencial para la capacidad de Ucrania de mantener su defensa a largo plazo. Aunque sus elementos principales se vienen anticipando desde hace un tiempo, su implementación exitosa será clave para superar el escepticismo entre los soldados que llevan luchando desde los primeros días de la guerra.
El fuerte aumento salarial para la infantería también podría generar descontento entre los soldados en la retaguardia, cuyos salarios crecerán de forma más modesta, advirtió en sus redes sociales Yarina Chornoguz, voluntaria que se alistó en el ejército ya en 2020.
El salario base para la mayoría de los puestos de retaguardia aumentará de un equivalente de unos 400 a 600 euros al mes.
Los cambios, que se espera que entren en vigor este mes, no pondrán fin a la movilización obligatoria, que está previsto que continúe mientras duren las hostilidades activas.
La reforma de los centros de reclutamiento -que han sido objeto de críticas por su gestión de la movilización y conflictos con la población civil- será la siguiente fase, señaló el viernes la primera ministra Yulia Sviridenko.
Military Conflicts
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Donors from outside of Texas accounted for roughly 50% of the funds Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico received during the final stretch of the first quarter of 2026, compared to his Republican opponent, who received just about 25% of his cash from out of state.
Of the $8.5 million Talarico raised between February 12 and March 31, a period where he saw a significant uptick in donations owing to his growing national profile, approximately $4 million came from states other than Texas, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital. The Republican nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, meanwhile, raised $640,000 out of the roughly $850,000 he brought in during that period from within Texas.
The fundraising disparity underscores the nationalization of Texas’ Senate race, with Talarico drawing major financial support from Democratic donors and executives far beyond the state he seeks to represent, even as he campaigns on Texas roots and opposition to outside special interests. The haul gives Democrats a cash advantage in what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Senate races this cycle, while giving Republicans an opening to cast Talarico’s campaign as powered by coastal liberal donors rather than Texas voters.
Donors from New York and California, for instance, showered Talarico with more than $1.3 million in the final six weeks of quarter one, according to Federal Election Commission records.
VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR’S ‘GRASSROOTS’ CAMPAIGN POWERED BY OUT-OF-STATE CASH, MOSTLY BY COASTAL ELITES
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico urged voters to reduce meat consumption in a 2022 clip that went viral on Tuesday. (Mark Felix/Getty Images)
Talarico has made an effort to highlight his ties to Texas during his Senate campaign, touting the fact that his family has lived in the state for eight generations and criticizing the influence of out-of-state interests on Texans.
«I’ve led the fight against the billionaire mega-donors that have rigged the system against working Texas families,» Talarico’s campaign website reads. «Now, as those same billionaire mega-donors take over the federal government, we need more fighters in Washington who will take power back for working people.»
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico addresses supporters at a rally in Houston. (F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
ACTBLUE SUES TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON, ALLEGING POLITICAL RETALIATION OVER DEMOCRATS’ FUNDRAISING
«James is proud to be the only candidate in this race not taking a dime of corporate PAC money, shattering grassroots fundraising records with donations from 246 Texas counties and the help of over 540,000 small dollar contributors — unlike John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, who have raked in millions of dollars from special interests and enriched their billionaire donors while working Texans struggle,» campaign spokesman JT Ennis told Fox News Digital when asked about out-of-state donations.
«Our campaign is bringing Democrats, Republicans and Independents together to fix this broken, corrupt political system and bring down costs for families across our state.»
Talarico accepted donations from out-of-state executives at Google, Warner Brothers, Apple, Meta, Victoria’s Secret, and other major companies between February 12 and March 31, per FEC records. The Democratic Senate hopeful has also accepted donations from lobbyists representing major corporations such as Google, AirBnB, Boeing, Novo Nordisk, Comcast, CVS and JP Morgan.
While Talarico has attracted considerable support from outside of Texas, his fundraising operation within the state has also eclipsed that of Paxton, who raised less than one-fifth as much from Texans as his Democratic opponent. Paxton, however, fought a brutal primary against Sen. John Cornyn, splitting the GOP donor base.
JAMES TALARICO ADMITS PAST COMMENTS ‘MISSED THE MARK’ WHEN CONFRONTED ON CLAIMS LIKE GOD IS ‘NON-BINARY’
James Talarico speaks during a primary event in Texas. (PJason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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Beyond his campaign committee, Talarico has also benefited from Lone Star Rising PAC, a super PAC spending millions to help him win. In contrast to his campaign rhetoric, much of the cash behind the super PAC boosting Talarico’s campaign came from wealthy out-of-state donors.
Just 12% of the millions of dollars in donations collected by Lone Star Rising PAC, which the Washington Free Beacon reports is run by Talarico’s longtime friend, came from entities within Texas, according to campaign finance records.
texas, republicans elections, lobbying, fund raising, democrats senate
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