Democrats, already lagging behind Republicans in midterm campaign fundraising, relied heavily on a House Democratic-aligned dark-money group in an attempt to redraw Virginia’s congressional map in their favor, campaign finance records show.

Before voters cast their ballots in Virginia’s April redistricting referendum, the 10 wealthiest Republican-aligned political committees had close to twice as much cash on hand as their Democratic counterparts, according to Federal Election Commission records. 

Despite this, Democratic-aligned groups poured more than $64 million into their attempt to net four congressional seats by redrawing Virginia’s congressional map, a bet that ultimately failed to pay off after the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the redistricting process due to a procedural constitutional violation. 

«House Democratic candidates are pulling in massive fundraising hauls, outraising their GOP opponents last quarter, and the DCCC just had its best quarter of fundraising for the cycle,» Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

DARK MONEY FLOODS VIRGINIA AHEAD OF REDISTRICTING VOTE THAT COULD HAND DEMOCRATS HOUSE EDGE 

«While Republicans brag about their billionaire backers, Democrats are focused on building support amongst the people – and by every measure, we are poised to take back the majority and make Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker of the People’s House,» Shelton added.

Of the total Democratic spending on the Virginia redistricting election, roughly $40 million in contributions came from House Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliated with House Majority PAC, the super PAC backing House Democrats.

Some Democratic strategists have argued the political environment remains favorable, but party insiders have warned that the GOP’s cash advantage could blunt those gains.

«I don’t think it has broken through, the level of money that Donald Trump and Republicans are sitting on as it compares to Democrats,» Mike Smith, who leads House Majority Forward and the affiliated House Majority PAC, told NOTUS in April. «I don’t think there’s a comprehensive understanding of both the level of disparity and what that could mean in terms of us being able to win the House.»

Smith did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

At the end of March, the 10 biggest Republican political committees had nearly $1 billion in cash on hand, compared to the approximately $550 million held by their 10 richest Democratic counterparts, per FEC data. The wealthiest GOP committees included President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. and the Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Democrats, meanwhile, were led by the Soros family’s Democracy PACs and the Senate Majority PAC.

«So-called ‘Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries lit well north of $55 million on fire chasing illegal redistricting fantasies, only to fall flat on his face in spectacular fashion,» National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. «National Democrats are already drowning in a massive cash deficit against Republicans while the NRCC and our battle-tested candidates continue shattering fundraising records and building momentum for 2026.»

The «well north of $55 million» Marinella referred to included the $17 million House Majority PAC spent on the successful redistricting effort in California. 

Aside from the financial role the Democrat-aligned committee played in Virginia’s redistricting effort, the House minority leader was a leading surrogate for the campaign. He delivered speeches in favor of redistricting, characterizing the effort as a response to GOP map changes and raising the stakes by declaring Virginia the «crown jewel» of a national battle over congressional maps.

REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISING OUTPACES DEMOCRATS BY NEARLY DOUBLE, JUNE NUMBERS SHOW

George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, walks on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

«Jeffries is proving he’s no Nancy Pelosi, and Democrats are getting an expensive lesson in the difference between media hype and actual leadership,» Marinella continued. 

Pelosi was one of her party’s most prolific fundraisers, raising over $1 billion for the party between her appointment as House Minority Whip in 2002 and her resignation from Democratic leadership in 2022, according to CBS News. Sources have told the New York Post that Pelosi retains considerable influence over the operations of House Democrats, which has allegedly irritated Jeffries.

«Speaker Emerita Pelosi is exceptionally proud of Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his masterful strategy to fight fire with fire on the path to retaking the House in November,» a spokesman for the former speaker told Fox News Digital.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’, D-N.Y, office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

House Majority Forward has historically been one of the primary sources of funds for the House Majority PAC, a major Democratic committee affiliated with Democrat leaders, that itself is one of the top sources of cash for congressional Democrats, according to FEC filings. House Majority Forward and House Majority PAC are sister organizations.

«HMF’s support matched the $40 million Republicans invested in the recent redistricting election, and once again their pro-war, costs-raising, toxic agenda was soundly rejected by Virginians,» House Majority Forward communications director CJ Warnke told Fox News Digital. «No amount of GOP money will prevent Leader Hakeem Jeffries from becoming the next Speaker of the House.»

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, center, addresses reporters while flanked by Democrats. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

LEFT-WING BILLIONAIRES BANKROLL DEM SUPER PAC PLOTTING TO WIN BACK WORKING-CLASS VOTERS: ‘THIS IS A PRIORITY’

House Majority Forward is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that is not required to publicly disclose its donors. Its contributions allow money from undisclosed donors to move into the political process through publicly reported donations to House Majority PAC.

While Republicans are financially dominant across major committees, Democrats have built considerable leads at the campaign level in some key congressional races. 

Democratic candidates have raised more than their GOP opponents in closely watched Senate races in Georgia, Alaska, Ohio, Michigan and Maine, according to campaign finance data analyzed by NPR. Thirteen Republicans running in hotly contested House races have been out raised by Democratic challengers, compared to just four Democrats defending competitive seats who were out raised, Roll Call reported.

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Republican members of Congress in toss-up seats, however, raised more on average than Democrats defending similarly competitive seats during the first three months of 2026, according to campaign finance records. 

«Republicans are being rewarded with endless big, dark, special interest money from the billionaires they gave a tax break after cutting trillions from Americans’ health care in their Big, Ugly Bill,» the Pelosi spokesman continued. «Democrats may not have unlimited resources from billionaires, but we will have enough grassroots support to organize and win a resounding victory to elect Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House.»

Senators will now go without pay during future government shutdowns, but for many, they don’t need the paycheck. 

The Senate unanimously agreed to forgo their paychecks during future shutdowns, with the money being withheld until a deal is struck to reopen the government. But much of the upper chamber is populated with lawmakers who are already wealthy before their time in office. 

«There are some members who are very independently wealthy that their congressional paycheck is a rounding error to their investments,» Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. «Fine, I’m not pejorative of that at all. But we need to actually end government shutdowns.» 

SENATORS AGREE TO GO WITHOUT PAY DURING SHUTDOWNS AFTER HISTORIC CLOSURES LEFT WORKERS UNPAID

In the last year, Congress has been unable to keep the government open twice. The first time for 43 days, and the most recent for 76 days.

Republicans worry that before the midterm elections, and before the rule change becomes official, that Senate Democrats may again try to shutter the government to gain a political edge. They hope that the rule change, pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is at least enough to convince some lawmakers not to do it. 

However, nearly three-quarters of the Senate are millionaires, according to an analysis of financial disclosure data reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported by NOTUS, meaning the fear of missing a paycheck may not be enough to quell the desire to score political points. 

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

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed the resolution to dock senators’ pay. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

«It certainly doesn’t stop future shutdowns,» Lankford said. «It just says, ‘Hey, people are not being paid, we’re not being paid either.’»

Others were more optimistic that by installing the new guardrails on themselves, it could open the door to future legislation that may take shutdowns off the table entirely — like Lankford’s bill that would automatically extend government funding on a temporary, two-week basis if lawmakers miss the mark. 

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who is one of the wealthier members of the Senate, believed that the success of Kennedy’s resolution could open the valve to his legislation that would dock members’ pay during shutdowns. 

«It’s about brick by brick, rebuilding confidence in the institution,» Moreno told Fox News Digital.

GOP CAN’T AGREE ON KEY PART OF TRUMP’S HOUSING AFFORDABILITY PUSH AS INFIGHTING CONTINUES

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., speaks to reporters as he arrives for a vote at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 23, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images)

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., another of the Senate’s wealthiest members, contended that lawmakers shouldn’t hold federal workers «hostage based on what we’re doing.» 

Over the past several months, hundreds of thousands of federal employees went without pay. And in the case of workers under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they went without paychecks twice. 

«Hopefully it’ll get people to focus on getting [appropriations] done, because, you know, we don’t have a process to get this stuff done,» Scott told Fox News Digital. 

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Meanwhile, Kennedy, who successfully pushed Senate Republican leadership to put the bill on the floor, viewed its success as progress.

But it’s not as far as he wanted to go. 

«Look, if I were king for a day, I would pass a bill that doesn’t suspend member pay, it forfeits member pay during a shutdown,» Kennedy told Fox News Digital. «And I will also include in the bill a prohibition against members leaving Washington while we’re in a shutdown. But I don’t have the votes to do that. So I’m doing as much as I can.»

Donald Trump afirmó que Estados Unidos y Nigeria mataron a Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, considerado el segundo al mando del grupo Estado Islámico (ISIS, por sus siglas en inglés) en una operación conjunta.

“Abu Bilal al Minuki, segundo al mando del EI en todo el mundo, pensó que podía esconderse en África, pero no sabía que teníamos fuentes que nos mantenían informados de lo que estaba haciendo”, afirmó Trump en un posteo en su red Truth Social.

El mandatario agregó que “el terrorista más activo del mundo” fue eliminado bajo sus órdenes en “una misión meticulosamente planificada y muy compleja” de las “valientes fuerzas estadounidenses y las Fuerzas Armadas de Nigeria”.

El anuncio llegó poco después de la visita de Trump a China, donde se reunió con Xi Jinping en medio de la tensión global por la disputa entre Washington y Beijín, el conflicto con Irán y la inestabilidad en Medio Oriente.

Quién era Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, el jefe de ISIS en África

Nacido en Borno, Nigeria, en 1982, al-Mainuki asumió el liderazgo de la facción de ISIS en África Occidental tras la muerte de Mamman Nur en 2018, según el Counter Extremism Project (CEP), un grupo que monitorea a las principales organizaciones insurgentes del mundo.

El CEP detalló que Al-Minuki tenía su base de operaciones en la zona del Sahel y que combatió en Libia cuando la milicia radical estaba activa en ese país hace más de una década.

Para Estados Unidos, era una figura clave en la organización y las finanzas de ISIS, y se sospechaba que planeaba ataques contra intereses estadounidenses.

“Con su eliminación, las capacidades operativas del EI en todo el mundo quedan considerablemente disminuidas”, aseguró Trump. El presidente nigeriano Bola Tinubu y su ejército confirmaron el sábado la información.

“Nuestras fuerzas armadas nigerianas, determinadas y en estrecha colaboración con las fuerzas armadas de Estados Unidos, llevaron a cabo una audaz operación conjunta que asestó un duro golpe a las filas del Estado Islámico”, declaró Tinubu en un comunicado.

El ejército nigeriano describió a Abu Bilal al Minuki como un “alto cargo del Estado Islámico y uno de los terroristas más activos del mundo”.

El impacto de la operación y la reacción de la Casa Blanca

La cuenta oficial de la Casa Blanca en X también replicó el mensaje de Trump, quien celebró: “Ya no aterrorizará al pueblo africano ni ayudará a planificar operaciones contra estadounidenses. Con su eliminación, la operación global del ISIS se ve considerablemente debilitada. Gracias al Gobierno de Nigeria por su colaboración en esta operación. ¡Dios bendiga a América!”.

En diciembre pasado, Trump ya había ordenado un ataque letal contra terroristas del Estado Islámico en Nigeria, a quienes acusó de “perseguir a los cristianos en el país”.

Estados Unidos refuerza su alianza contra el terrorismo

Con esta acción, Trump buscó reafirmar la postura de Estados Unidos en la lucha contra el terrorismo, no solo en Medio Oriente sino también en África.

En esa línea, Thomas DiNanno, subsecretario de Estado para Seguridad Internacional y Control de Armamento, visitó la Argentina el mes pasado y destacó el “compromiso común de ambos gobiernos” en la lucha contra el terrorismo.

“Felicitamos al presidente Milei por tomar una postura firme en relación al terrorismo”, sostuvo DiNanno ante medios argentinos.

Leé también: Israel y Líbano extendieron por 45 días el alto al fuego mientras continúan los ataques en la frontera

El funcionario, que responde al secretario de Estado Marco Rubio, remarcó que la situación más crítica de insurrección de estos grupos se vive en Irán, actualmente en una frágil tregua tras semanas de guerra con Estados Unidos e Israel.

DiNanno prometió “asistencia”, “recursos” y “capacitación” desde el FBI y la DEA para fortalecer el trabajo conjunto con la Argentina.

Además, subrayó que los programas de contraterrorismo y lucha contra el narcotráfico cuentan con fondos “muy importantes” para desmantelar crímenes transnacionales, parte de los cuales serán destinados al país.