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Trump-backed map victory in Missouri could trigger redistricting battles in these states
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It’s mission accomplished for Republicans in a second state they control in the high-stakes political battle over congressional redistricting, pitting President Donald Trump and the GOP against the Democrats.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe last weekend signed into law a new congressional map that is likely to hand Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of next year’s midterms elections.
Missouri, a one-time swing state that has dramatically shifted to the right over the past decade and a half, is the latest battleground in the congressional redistricting showdown after the passage of new maps in GOP-dominated Texas and a redistricting push by Democrats in heavily blue California.
With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year’s midterms to win back the House majority, each seat could be critical.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR SIGNS INTO LAW TRUMP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAP
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri, applauds while delivering the State of the State address Jan. 28, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (Jeff Roberson, File/AP Photo)
«I was proud to officially sign the Missouri First Map into law today ahead of the 2026 midterm election,» Kehoe said in a statement. «We believe this map best represents Missourians, and I appreciate the support and efforts of state legislators, our congressional delegation, and President Trump in getting this map to my desk.»
Trump, in a social media statement following passage in the GOP-dominated state legislature last month, called the new map «FANTASTIC» and said it «will help send an additional MAGA Republican to Congress in the 2026 Midterm Elections.»
Republicans currently control six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.
Democrats are vowing to fight the new maps with legal challenges and other opponents are gathering petition signatures to force a statewide referendum on the redistricting law.
ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP
Kehoe announced Missouri’s special legislative session to pass the new map as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of current Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, seen being interviewed by Fox News Digital, recently signed into law a bill that redraws the Lone Star State’s congressional districts. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )
The moves in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.
Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting.
California state lawmakers approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.
The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP)
With the new maps in Texas and Missouri signed into law, and voters in California weighing in at the ballot box this fall, here’s a look at which states could be next in the redistricting battle.
Ohio
State lawmakers in the Buckeye State missed a deadline this past Tuesday to approve a new, bipartisan map. They’re under a court order to come up with a new map because the one used the past two election cycles didn’t receive enough bipartisan support.
Since the GOP-controlled state legislature failed to come up with a new map, the task now falls to Ohio’s Republican-dominated redistricting commission, which has until the end of the month to get the job done.
Ohio was once a top battleground state, but Republicans have dominated statewide contests over the past decade.
Republicans currently hold ten of the state’s 15 U.S. House seats.
Ohio, due to the mandated court order for a new map, was originally the only state expected to undergo congressional redistricting this year before Trump and his political team urged other Republican-controlled states to alter their maps.
Indiana
Lawmakers in the Hoosier State, another one-time battleground where Republicans are now firmly in the majority, could meet in a special legislative session later this year to push through redistricting.
Vice President JD Vance paid a visit to the Indiana Statehouse in early August to huddle with Republican leaders about redistricting. And a couple of weeks later a group of Indiana GOP lawmakers traveled to the nation’s capital to meet with Vance and other Trump White House leaders.
Republican Gov. Mike Braun, in recent interviews, said he wanted state lawmakers to take the lead on redistricting.
«I want it to be where it wasn’t forced upon our legislature, have our leaders talk to their own caucus members,» the governor told WOWO radio.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as leaves the White House in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)
Florida
Once the biggest battleground prize in presidential elections, Florida is now firmly red.
And Republican leaders are mulling a new map, with GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis this summer calling mid-decade redistricting «appropriate.»
A select panel in the Republican-dominated state legislature could meet next month to start discussion on congressional redistricting.
Maryland
Democrats in heavily blue Maryland are weighing a redistricting push.
A bill that would allow Maryland to undergo mid-decade redistricting if another state first passed new maps was introduced this summer by Democrats.
Democrats currently hold seven of the state’s 8 U.S. House seats.
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Other states considering altering their maps are Democrat-dominated Illinois and red states Kansas and Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Democrats could pick up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
congress,house of representatives politics,midterm elections,donald trump,greg abbott,gavin newsom,democratic party,republicans elections
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2025, el año en que Bolivia tuvo una fuerte crisis económica y rompió la hegemonía de la izquierda tras 20 años del MAS
Bolivia vivió un 2025 marcado por una crisis económica iniciada años atrás, pero que terminó de agudizarse por la persistente falta de dólares y combustibles que dispararon la inflación, y que, además, fue determinante para el viraje político hacia el centro tras casi dos décadas de la izquierda en el poder.
La falta de divisas registrada desde 2023 ya se sentía en las restricciones a las transacciones bancarias en esa moneda y su encarecimiento en el mercado paralelo, donde el dólar este año llegó a costar 20 bolivianos frente a una cotización oficial de 6,96, fija desde 2011.
Las consecuencias se hicieron aún más evidentes en la elevada inflación, que entre enero y noviembre llegó a 19,69%, y en el desabastecimiento de combustibles que se volvió crónico, un problema que el Gobierno de Luis Arce (2020-2025) atribuyó a la falta de dólares por el “bloqueo” del anterior Legislativo a los créditos externos.
A esto se sumó el declive del sector de hidrocarburos, que hasta hace unos años fue el sustento de la economía boliviana, pero cuyas exportaciones entre enero y octubre alcanzaron los 945,4 millones de dólares, un 34% menos que en el mismo periodo de 2024.
Otros indicadores fueron el déficit comercial de 521 millones de dólares registrado entre enero y octubre y unas reservas internacionales de 3.277 millones de dólares hasta el 2 de diciembre, de los que apenas 75 millones son divisas y la mayoría es oro.
El Gobierno de Arce entregó el poder el pasado 8 de noviembre asegurando que dejaba una “economía estable”, ante lo cual las nuevas autoridades advirtieron que recibieron un país “devastado” y con un “mar de deudas” y de “corrupción” por los que responsabilizó al Ejecutivo saliente y a la Administración de Evo Morales (2006-2019).
Este año también estuvo marcado por la ruptura del Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), por la pelea entre Arce y Morales por el control del partido que gobernó Bolivia durante casi 20 años y la candidatura para las elecciones generales.
La popularidad de Arce cayó por la crisis de la que el entonces gobernante responsabilizó a Morales, quien intentó forzar su candidatura pese a una disposición constitucional que se lo impide porque ya gobernó el país en tres ocasiones.
Inicialmente, Arce iba a buscar la reelección, pero declinó su candidatura en mayo con un llamado a la unidad de la izquierda, lo que no ocurrió porque, al no poder postular, Morales impulsó el voto nulo y su “heredero” político, Andrónico Rodríguez, participó por su cuenta en las elecciones.
El candidato del MAS fue el ex ministro de Gobierno Eduardo del Castillo, que apenas logró el porcentaje necesario para conservar la sigla.
Hace tres semanas, Arce fue encarcelado preventivamente por cinco meses, investigado por supuesta corrupción en su etapa de ministro en el Gobierno de Morales.
La sorpresa de los comicios generales del 17 de agosto fue el centrista Rodrigo Paz Pereira, quien lideró la primera vuelta y luego venció al ex presidente conservador Jorge Tuto Quiroga (2002-2002) en la inédita segunda vuelta del 19 de octubre, pese a que las encuestas preelectorales lo situaban inicialmente con escaso apoyo.
El político, de 58 años, fue investido presidente ante los mandatarios de Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay y Uruguay y una importante delegación de EEUU, país al que el nuevo Gobierno boliviano se acercó después del alejamiento que hubo durante las administraciones del MAS.
Además, Paz restableció las relaciones con Israel, rotas por Arce por el conflicto en Gaza, y se distanció de aliados del MAS, como Cuba, Nicaragua y Venezuela.
La primera medida fuerte del nuevo gobernante fue el reciente decreto que retiró la subvención a los combustibles que rigió por más de dos décadas y que, según las autoridades, ya era insostenible, una medida resistida por la Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) que fue aliada política del MAS.
Paz tiene una relación tensa con el vicepresidente Edmand Lara desde el triunfo en la segunda vuelta, pues el ex policía considera que lo marginaron del Gobierno, al que critica constantemente y acusa sin pruebas de supuesta corrupción, al punto de declararse en “oposición constructiva”.
(EFE)
Domestic,Politics,South America / Central America,Government / Politics
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Comer, House Oversight demand answers in Minnesota fraud hearing, call on Walz to testify
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Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are escalating their investigation into Minnesota’s sweeping fraud schemes, setting a hearing next week and demanding answers from Gov. Tim Walz’s administration over what they say were glaring failures of oversight.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced lawmakers would hold a hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 7, evaluating the fraud scandal, its scale and whether the state’s leadership could have done something to prevent exploitation from happening in the first place.
«Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight of this heist and enact stronger safeguards to prevent fraud in taxpayer-funded programs, as well as strong sanctions to hold offenders accountable,» Comer said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
MINNESOTA’S NEW MEDICAID FRAUD PREVENTION FIX WON’T MAKE ‘ANY DIFFERENCE,’ FORMER FBI AGENT SAYS
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, pictured alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, right. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images; Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While the committee will also hear testimony from lawmakers in Minnesota, Republican lawmakers believe it is the Walz administration that holds the answers on how the problem got so large.
«Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs. American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money,» Comer said.
The Committee will hear from Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick — all Republican members of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
It’s unclear if Walz or Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will accept the invitation.
SHIRLEY ASSOCIATE IN VIRAL VIDEO SAYS HE FILED CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST WALZ OVER DAYCARE FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 22, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The hearing is a part of the committee’s own investigation into the Minnesota fraud, a separate effort from ongoing FBI probes.
The Oversight Committee’s announcement comes as new revelations about fraud in Minnesota reveal that the state could have lost as much as $9 billion through abuse of its government assistance programs.
In recent months, investigators have unearthed sweeping fraud schemes masquerading as daycare centers, medical providers, food assistance programs and more. By fabricating services or inflating the number of people they claimed to serve, the schemes allegedly siphoned billions in government funds.
«In addition to conducting transcribed interviews with Minnesota state officials, the House Oversight Committee will hold hearings on fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs to expose failures, identify solutions, and deliver accountability,» Comer said.
Given their size and frequency, lawmakers have raised questions about how a state’s lack of awareness of its own programs could have been so easily abused.
Comer believes the lawmakers who have agreed to testify before the committee will provide insight into the visibility of the fraud rings and whether Walz was made aware of their scale ahead of shocking reporting that made Minnesota’s shortcomings a matter of national attention.
MINNESOTA FRAUD COMMITTEE CHAIR CLAIMS WALZ ‘TURNED A BLIND EYE’ TO FRAUD WARNINGS FOR YEARS
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Friday that former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would face contempt of Congress charges if they fail to cooperate with the panel’s Epstein probe. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«Next week, we will hear from Minnesota state lawmakers who sounded the alarm on this fraud — and whose warnings were ignored by the Walz administration. This misconduct cannot be swept aside, and Congress will not stop until taxpayers get the answers and accountability they deserve,» Comer said.
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The Walz office did not respond to Fox Digital’s request for comment on whether he would attend next week’s hearing.
congress,politics,minnesota fraud exposed
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Año Nuevo 2026: un minuto de silencio por la masacre en Sídney pone el cierre a un 2025 marcado por el regreso de Trump y la guerra
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Celebraciones de año nuevo en el festival de Hogmanay, en Escocia. Foto: Reuters archivo
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