The first Mexico-born female member of Congress is launching her comeback bid on Tuesday, setting her sights on a Democrat who Republicans view as one of the most vulnerable House incumbents of 2026.

‘Unfortunately, we don’t have that many voices in the Spanish-speaking community — in Telemundo, in television — talking to the Spanish-speaking community about the amazing work President Trump is doing, and his administration,’ former Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview prior to her announcement.

‘And that’s something that I feel I’m obligated to do, because there’s a lot of misinformation being spread from the left, and they’re trying to instill fear and hate in the Hispanic community.’

Flores served in Congress for roughly six months, from late June 2022 until early January 2023, having flipped Texas’ 34th Congressional District from blue to red after winning a special election to replace ex-Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., D-Texas.

She lost re-election to Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, twice, though their rematch saw Flores come within less than 3% of Gonzalez’s victory.

Flores’ 2026 bid is aimed at challenging a different Democrat, however. The former GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that she intends to run in Texas’ Laredo-anchored 28th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Cuellar is a moderate known to break from his own party on issues like border security, crime and abortion. 

He’s served in Congress since 2005, with victories spanning from a few thousand votes to margins as high as 30%.

Cuellar most recently won last November by less than 6% – or roughly 13,000 votes – amid a federal indictment accusing him of an array of corruption charges.

‘It’s not about what Mayra Flores wants. It’s what this country needs me to do. And this country needs me to run in Texas 28 and win this seat,’ Flores said. ‘This is a seat that can be flipped in 2026. Right now we need a much bigger majority. It makes it very difficult for President Trump to get anything across with such a small majority.’

Flores said she was deeply familiar with the district and has familial ties to it.

In addition to the seat being a viable opportunity for the GOP, she pointed to the criminal indictment as an argument for taking on Cuellar, and she noted he had been in office since she was a 1-year-old, having first served in the Texas State House in 1986.

‘At the end of the day, I don’t care what party he is, whether you’re a Republican or you’re a Democrat,’ Flores said. ‘Being a member, it’s … a position where you can help so many people, and you are able to represent an entire district. And yet he threw it all away. And no amount of money is worth you doing that to your country.’ 

Cuellar denied any wrongdoing on his or his wife’s part in a statement when the indictment was announced.

‘I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas,’ Cuellar said in May 2024.

‘Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm,’ he said. ‘The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people. Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington D.C. prosecutors to explain the facts, and they refused to discuss the case with us or to hear our side.’

Flores signaled she intended to focus heavily on the issues of agriculture and the economy when asked what she wanted to make another stint in Congress look like.

‘At the end of the day, you know, money’s important. Without money, you can’t have a shelter, you can’t have a car, you can’t provide for your children. So the economy is a top priority for me,’ Flores said. ‘And of course, agriculture is a passion of mine. I was a farmworker. My parents were migrant workers. We traveled a lot. I believe our farmworkers need to be prioritized.’

She compared her push on agriculture to the Republican stance on U.S. energy independence.

‘We talk about being independent, right, on oil and gas, which I agree, 100%. But we need to be food-independent as well,’ Flores said.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is working through a backlog of roughly 3,200 grant awards that did not have signed agreements to go with them, which Secretary Sean Duffy said was inherited from when former Secretary Pete Buttigieg oversaw the department.

‘Since coming into office, my team has discovered an unprecedented backlog of grants leftover from the previous administration,’ Duffy revealed a couple of weeks ago in a statement.

Most recently, one of these backlogged grants was the Washington Bridge in Rhode Island, which has been closed since 2023 on its westbound side until proper repairs are made, according to the Rhode Island state government.

‘This backlog, along with ridiculous DEI and Green New Deal requirements, prevented real infrastructure from being built and funded. Under the Trump Administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters,’ Duffy said. ‘As part of our work to deliver real results, we are pleased to announce $221 million in grants for Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — a critical link that carries thousands of vehicles a day.’

A DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital on background that the backlog totals $43 billion and that 1,000 grant winners were selected by the Biden administration after Trump won but before then-President Joe Biden left office, which made up for $9 billion of the total needing to be made official. 

However, the department said that ‘nothing was done to actually get these grant agreements signed and sent to projects.’

The DOT further noted that they are ‘quickly reviewing’ the grants and looking at ‘executive grant agreements’ when it comes to major infrastructure projects like roads and bridges.

When it comes to the grant awards for roads and bridges, Duffy noted in an April 10 Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump that ‘most of them are good’ but said that while the Biden administration announced the grants, many of those agreements did not end up getting signed and dealt with.

Duffy also reiterated that the projects also had ‘green and social justice requirements.’

‘Take it out,’ Trump said.

‘We’re pulling all that out and putting the money toward the infrastructure and not the social movement from the last administration,’ the secretary responded.

‘Good steel, as opposed to green paper mache,’ the president quipped to laughs in the room.

The Trump administration has been adamant overall about scrutinizing federal funds that were doled out through grants, especially if they were believed to have ideological strings attached. Shortly after Duffy’s confirmation, he scrapped the DOT Equity Council and other ‘environmental justice’ related measures.

The DOT has also notably placed the California high-speed rail project under federal investigation for its funds, as the cost of the project continues to rise, as critics of the project say little results have emerged so far. 

As it aims to defend its razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is off to a fast fundraising start.

The NRCC, which is the House GOP’s campaign arm, announced on Tuesday that it ‘shattered records’ with a $21.5 million fundraising haul last month, which it says was the committee’s best month of an off-year and the best March in NRCC history.

Last month’s fundraising fueled an overall $36.7 million haul during the January-March first quarter of 2025. The NRCC showcased that its fundraising in the past three months was its strongest off-year first quarter, outpacing by nearly $11 million what it brought in during the same period in the 2024 election cycle.

The NRCC also highlighted that it had $23.9 million cash on hand heading into April and that it had paid down its debt to $4.5 million, which it said was ahead of its pace in the 2024 cycle.

‘The NRCC is on offense and fueled by unstoppable momentum and widespread support,’ NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella emphasized.

Marinella claimed that ‘while out of touch House Democrats are fighting amongst themselves, we’re charging toward 2026 with unmatched energy, ready to grow our House majority and continue delivering results for the American people.’

The NRCC’s first-quarter haul does not include the eye-popping $35.2 million it says it brought in at a fundraiser earlier this month in the nation’s capital that was headlined by President Donald Trump. Those funds will be included in the committee’s second quarter figures.

The rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had yet to announce its first quarter fundraising at the time this report was posted. The DCCC outraised the NRCC $11.1 million to $9.2 million in February fundraising.

Republicans currently control the House with a fragile 220-213 majority, with two blue-leaning vacant seats likely to be back in the hands of Democrats when special elections in those districts are held later this year.

Fundraising is a crucial component to the GOP’s game plan to keep control.

When asked what concerns him the most when it comes to defending the House majority, NRCC Chair Rep. Richard Hudson said in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month that ‘Democrats have a structural advantage when it comes to fundraising. They always seem to have just mountains of money. So I think the amount of money the Democrats raise is probably the only thing that really concerns me.’

‘We have to raise enough money to keep up with the Democrats and make sure that our candidates can get their message out,’ Hudson emphasized.

Hudson, a North Carolina Republican and 12-year veteran of the House, said that ‘the President understands that he’s got to keep the House majority in the midterm so that he has a four-year runway, instead of a two-year runway to get his agenda enacted.’

Pointing to the House Democratic leader, Hudson added, ‘Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would fight President Trump on every front, and it would be really difficult for him to achieve his agenda. President Trump understands it’s important to hold the House and he’s, he’s been extremely helpful to us and we appreciate it.’

The DCCC is taking aim at nearly three dozen Republican-held seats in the chamber as it aims to win back the majority. Earlier this month, the House Democrats’ campaign arm released its initial 2026 target list, which included 35 GOP-controlled seats, and launched an effort to fundraise for the party’s eventual nominees in each of the districts.

The DCCC emphasized that their moves signal that ‘Democrats are on offense and poised to win the majority in 2026.’

The first Mexico-born member of Congress is launching her comeback bid on Tuesday, setting her sights on a Democrat who Republicans view as one of the most vulnerable House incumbents of 2026.

‘Unfortunately, we don’t have that many voices in the Spanish-speaking community — in Telemundo, in television — talking to the Spanish-speaking community about the amazing work President Trump is doing, and his administration,’ former Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview prior to her announcement.

‘And that’s something that I feel I’m obligated to do, because there’s a lot of misinformation being spread from the left, and they’re trying to instill fear and hate in the Hispanic community.’

Flores served in Congress for roughly six months, from late June 2022 until early January 2023, having flipped Texas’ 34th Congressional District from blue to red after winning a special election to replace ex-Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., D-Texas.

She lost re-election to Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, twice, though their rematch saw Flores come within less than 3% of Gonzalez’s victory.

Flores’ 2026 bid is aimed at challenging a different Democrat, however. The former GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that she intends to run in Texas’ Loredo-anchored 28th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Cuellar is a moderate known to break from his own party on issues like border security, crime and abortion. 

He’s served in Congress since 2005, with victories spanning from a few thousand votes to margins as high as 30%.

Cuellar most recently won last November by less than 6% – or roughly 13,000 votes – amid a federal indictment accusing him of an array of corruption charges.

‘It’s not about what Mayra Flores wants. It’s what this country needs me to do. And this country needs me to run in Texas 28 and win this seat,’ Flores said. ‘This is a seat that can be flipped in 2026. Right now we need a much bigger majority. It makes it very difficult for President Trump to get anything across with such a small majority.’

Flores said she was deeply familiar with the district and has familial ties to it.

In addition to the seat being a viable opportunity for the GOP, she pointed to the criminal indictment as an argument for taking on Cuellar, and she noted he had been in office since she was a 1-year-old, having first served in the Texas State House in 1986.

‘At the end of the day, I don’t care what party he is, whether you’re a Republican or you’re a Democrat,’ Flores said. ‘Being a member, it’s … a position where you can help so many people, and you are able to represent an entire district. And yet he threw it all away. And no amount of money is worth you doing that to your country.’ 

Cuellar denied any wrongdoing on his or his wife’s part in a statement when the indictment was announced.

‘I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas,’ Cuellar said in May 2024.

‘Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm,’ he said. ‘The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people. Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington D.C. prosecutors to explain the facts, and they refused to discuss the case with us or to hear our side.’

Flores signaled she intended to focus heavily on the issues of agriculture and the economy when asked what she wanted to make another stint in Congress look like.

‘At the end of the day, you know, money’s important. Without money, you can’t have a shelter, you can’t have a car, you can’t provide for your children. So the economy is a top priority for me,’ Flores said. ‘And of course, agriculture is a passion of mine. I was a farmworker. My parents were migrant workers. We traveled a lot. I believe our farmworkers need to be prioritized.’

She compared her push on agriculture to the Republican stance on U.S. energy independence.

‘We talk about being independent, right, on oil and gas, which I agree, 100%. But we need to be food-independent as well,’ Flores said.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, tweeted on Monday night, ‘I miss you already, President T.’

While seated next to Bukele in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump spoke highly of the foreign leader, saying that Salvadorans ‘have one hell of a president.’

Bukele took note last week when Trump referred to him as ‘President B’ in a Truth Social post.

‘President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,’ Trump declared in that April 12 Truth Social post. ‘These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government. They will never threaten or menace our Citizens again!’

Bukele shared a screenshot of the post on X, drawing particular attention to Trump’s ‘President B’ nickname for him.

Trump noted on Monday that he would be interested in sending violent ‘homegrown criminals’ to El Salvador, if that could be done legally.

‘Honored to join @POTUS in welcoming my friend President @nayibbukele to the United States,’ U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Monday post on X. 

‘Since my visit to El Salvador, the United States has deported dangerous MS13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador’s prison. Because of this, our nation is safer and more secure. Our hemisphere is lucky to have two leaders who are totally aligned in their commitment to law and order,’ Rubio noted.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., blasted President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for undermining democracy, while comparing billionaire ‘oligarchs’ in both parties to ‘heroin addicts’ whose drug of choice is ‘greed,’ at a rally Monday night.

The comments came during a ‘Fight The Oligarchy’ rally in Idaho, which included an address by progressive ‘Squad’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Both politicians took most of their time speaking on stage to blast Trump and Musk repeatedly by name, and blamed them for destroying democracy in an effort to provide benefits for their billionaire friends. 

‘I used to talk about oligarchy. And people say, What is he talking about? Everybody knows what I’m talking about tonight. When Trump got inaugurated, sitting right behind them were the three wealthiest people in this country: Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg,’ Sanders told a raucous crowd in Nampa, Idaho Monday night.

‘Well, these guys, these oligarchs, have a major, major addiction problem. And you know what it is? It is greed,’ Sanders added during his Monday address. ‘They’re like heroin addicts. They can’t control themselves. They need more and more, and they do not care who they step over in order to get another billion dollars. So we are going to take care of their addiction problems.’

Sanders noted that billionaire ‘oligarchs’ can come from both political parties – Republicans and Democrats – but the night’s sentiment was directed towards those billionaires in Trump world. 

‘Understand that all of this right now is what it feels like to be governed by billionaires. This is what oligarchy feels like,’ AOC told rally goers. ‘This concentration of power, greed and corruption is oligarchy. It’s oligarchy in America, and we must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now.’

Both Sanders and AOC referenced the president’s inauguration as a key example of the ‘oligarchy,’ pointing to Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk being in attendance and sitting very close to the president. Sanders also noted the ’13 other billionaires who Trump had nominated’ to be in his cabinet, who were also in attendance that day.

Sanders and AOC also took their moment on stage Monday night to call for action. 

‘It will never be just institutions and politicians and officials alone that uphold our democracy. It will always be the people, the masses, who refuse to comply with authoritarian regimes, who are the last and strongest defense of our country and our freedoms. It is you. It is you Idaho,’ AOC told the crowd. 

‘We are here today because we choose democracy, we choose freedom, we choose justice. And that means we must choose to out-organize the oligarchy. We must do away with the power of big money.’

A man charged with making threats to murder President Donald Trump was also found to have threatened Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a source with knowledge of the matter told Fox News Digital.

Mace’s office was informed by U.S. Capitol Police that Shawn Monper of Butler, Pennsylvania, made threats against her on social media in January, the source said.

The man allegedly wrote of Mace on YouTube, ‘If I ever see her unprotected in public I would live to be the one to put a bullet in her skull. What a disgusting peice [sic] of trash.’

Mace appears to be the only member of Congress targeted by the suspect for now, the source told Fox News Digital.

It’s not immediately clear why Mace, an outspoken Trump ally, was threatened.

But it comes amid concerns about escalating threats against elected officials on both sides of the aisle.

Trump, who was subject to two failed assassination attempts during the 2024 election, was targeted by Monper in a series of threats on YouTube, according to a release by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The FBI ‘received an emergency disclosure regarding threats posted to YouTube by user ‘Mr Satan” between Jan. 15 and April 5, according to the release.

Monper also got a firearms permit ‘shortly following’ Trump’s inauguration, and posted in Februrary under the aforementioned username, ‘I have bought several guns and been stocking up on ammo since Trump got in office,’ the DOJ said.

Posts in March showed Monper threatening a mass shooting.

Further posts uncovered by federal authorities show him targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and Elon Musk, the release showed.

The U.S. Secret Service was alerted to the suspect’s threats against Mace as well, the source told Fox News Digital.

U.S. Capitol Police said it would not comment on potential investigations when reached for confirmation.

Mace’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., said she regrets hiding her face during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week. 

Whitmer poked fun at the now-viral moment by once again holding folders up in front of her face when asked about her trip to Washington, D.C., during an event at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday. 

‘… I don’t want my picture taken, that’s all it was. I kind of wished I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face, but whatever. You know I was there … I just wrote a book about learning to laugh at yourself, so I’m pretty good at it. We all have our moments,’ Whitmer said. 

Whitmer was criticized for shielding her face as the photo became a meme on social media. Alex Meyer, deputy assistant to the president and White House director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs who was standing to Whitmer’s left in the photo, joked that it’s his new profile photo. 

The Michigan governor’s trip to Washington last week brought her 2028 presidential ambitions into the national conversation as she struck a diplomatic tone with Trump. She carefully criticized Trump’s tariffs while saying she understood the ‘motivation behind the tariffs’ and even agreeing with Trump that we ‘need to make more stuff in America.’

Whitmer’s viral Oval Office moment marked her second meeting with Trump in less than a month. As Trump signed executive orders and answered questions from the press, he said Whitmer had ‘done an excellent job’ as governor and called her a ‘very good person,’ a break from his typical lines of attack on her character. 

‘One of her opponents will dig that clip up and put it in a television ad,’ Brad Bannon, a Democrat strategist and the president of Bannon Communications Research, told Fox News Digital. 

Bannon warned that Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, getting too close to Trump could jeopardize her status as a ‘first-tier presidential candidate’ alongside fellow governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gavin Newsom of California. 

As Trump signed executive orders calling for the investigation of two first-term administration aides who were critical of his actions, Whitmer’s office said she was brought into the room ‘without any notice’ and that her appearance was ‘not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made.’

But Trump called the issues ‘bipartisan’ and jokingly added, ‘We’ll all stand there together and cut a ribbon. OK, Gretchen?’

Whitmer’s diplomatic moves last week seemed to put her out of step with her party as Democrat governors, many rumored to harbor 2028 presidential ambitions, spoke out against Trump’s tariffs as governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Newsom worked independently with trade partners to try to soften the damage to their state economies. 

‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,’ Whitmer said after her speech in Washington last week, seeming to explain her diplomatic tone. 

Whitmer’s office explained that she was meeting with Trump to discuss recovery aid for the northern Michigan ice storm, investing in Michigan’s defense assets and building the American economy for everyday Michiganders.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

Taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries remain a vulnerable issue for the Democratic Party that most voters oppose, according to a recent survey by the American Principles Project (APP) targeting likely midterm voters.

‘We wanted to help educate Americans, but mostly legislators, about where Americans or how Americans feel about funding for gender identity programs, specifically in healthcare services, especially in light of Congress deliberating on spending and doing the reconciliation bills and all of that,’ Terry Schilling, APP executive director, told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘We want to make sure that they knew just how unpopular these programs are to fund by tax dollars.’

The survey, conducted in early April with 1,500 respondents, found that 43% of people who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the last election are against using taxpayer money to fund gender transition procedures, including surgeries and hormone treatments. 

‘That was a little bit higher than we typically see for Democrat voters,’ Schilling said. APP is a socially conservative nonprofit advocacy group.

During the last few months of President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, his administration released high-budget ads targeting transgender women in women’s sports that may have helped move the needle with swing voters, with one ad famously proclaiming ‘Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.’

The ad focused on Harris’ track record of ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California.

The survey found that nearly 66% of Americans don’t think the federal government should be funding gender transition procedures, including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries. The survey did not differentiate between minors and adults.

‘The higher ups, like the elected officials in the Democratic Party, are going the other way, and it’s not going to work out well for them,’ Schilling said. ‘Democrats are in a really tough spot. They have to choose between 20 to 30% of the base, which supports paying for gender transitions and surgeries with tax dollars, or the swing voters, which swing voters do not want at all.’

In 2021, former President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to expand anti-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity, including in healthcare. He also reinterpreted Title IX to ensure those same protections applied within educational settings.

The administration supported state-level initiatives, such as Colorado’s inclusion of transgender treatments in its essential health benefits, under the Affordable Care Act.

‘I think that the more Donald Trump’s been talking about it and bringing attention to it, the more people are going to the Republican side on the issue,’ Schilling said.

Another question of the survey asked respondents, ‘If the November 2026 general election for U.S. Congress was held today, and you knew that the Democratic candidate supports allowing federal tax dollars to pay for gender transition procedures, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries, would you vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress?’

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they would vote for the Republican candidate, while 39% said they would back the Democrat.

Trump has clamped down on ‘radical gender ideology’ since taking office, cutting all federal funding for gender transition surgeries for minors and through public healthcare. He has also banned biological males from competing in women’s sports and mandated that transgender individuals serve according to their biological sex in the military.