Southeast
Trump-backed Donalds vows to maintain DeSantis ‘trajectory,’ take Florida to ‘whole new level’
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MAGA champion Rep. Bryon Donalds, a top ally of President Donald Trump in the House, is on a roll as he runs to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis as Florida’s next governor.
With over ten months to go until next year’s election, the three-term Republican representative from a red-leaning district in southwest Florida is sitting on a massive fundraising war chest and is far ahead of his GOP primary rivals in the latest public opinion polling.
But Donalds takes “nothing for granted.”
“I’ve been all over the state, crisscrossing and nonstop. We have a very strong campaign. The people of Florida have been very receptive to my message and the ideas we’re bringing to this campaign,” Donalds highlighted in an interview last week with Fox News Digital at his congressional office in the nation’s capital.
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Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida is interviewed by Fox News Digital ahead of his 2026 campaign kickoff for governor, in Bonita Springs, Florida on March 28, 2025 (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )
Donalds was endorsed by Trump in February, before he even formally launched his campaign for governor.
While giving Donalds a big boost, the president’s backing hasn’t prevented other Republicans from entering the GOP primary race.
Former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner launched his bid in September, and late last month investor James Fishback, who had generated some buzz in MAGA world earlier this year before clashing with top Trump advisers, also jumped into the race.
And Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a former Green Beret and army veteran, has been mulling a run.
But Donalds remains the overwhelming frontrunner.
“People want to run. They want to run. That’s fine, but we’re focused on our race, and that’s contacting voters. I’ve been in 41 counties doing political events. I’ve been in 50 counties, when you consider fundraising and political events,” Donalds highlighted.
Donalds said he is “very honored to have President Trump’s endorsement. Now I have to go county by county, city by city to get the endorsement and the support from the people of our state.”
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, seen speaking on Feb. 5, 2025, in Miami, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2026. (AP/Rebecca Blackwell)
DeSantis remains mum on the race to succeed him, not backing Donalds or any of the other contenders, which earlier this year also for a time included his wife, first lady Casey DeSantis.
Donalds was once a close ally of the governor, but their relationship soured when Donalds endorsed Trump for president over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race.
“It’s been better,” Donalds said when asked by Fox News Digital about his relationship with the governor. “But at the end of the day, it’s about the trajectory of our state. Would love to earn Gov. DeSantis support in this campaign, but at the end of the day, we are going to take all of the hard work that he’s done for our state, and it’s been tremendous, we’re going to take that work and we’re going to build upon it, and that’s what matters.”
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Democrats are likely to have a competitive primary between Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and former Rep. David Jolly, a Republican-turned-Democrat. But in battleground-turned-red-state Florida, most of the attention is focused on the Republicans.
Dan Eberhart, a Florida-based oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor who’s raised big bucks for Trump and DeSantis this decade and who is also in Donalds’ political orbit, told Fox News Digital, “Donald’s MAGA credentials and fundraising prowess put him in the driver’s seat” in the GOP primary.
Eberhart noted “Donalds having a primary will make him a better general election candidate,” and emphasized that the congressman “is doing all of the right things to win both the primary and the general election.”
Rep. Byron Donalds shakes hands with then-former President Donald Trump during the Moms for Liberty national summit, on June 30, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Trump and Republicans spotlighted rising prices as they swept to major victories in 2024, retaking the White House and Senate and holding their majority in the House.
But with inflation remaining persistent, Democrats have been laser focused this year on the issue of affordability, which fueled their decisive victories in last month’s 2025 elections and their overperformances this year in a slew of special elections.
And those contests saw a drop-off in turnout by MAGA voters, with Trump not on the ballot.
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“Are the Democrats motivated? Fine,” Donalds said when asked about the Democrats’ energy. “We are going to make sure that we get Republican voters out to the polls, because at the end of the day, the people of Florida love the trajectory set by Governor DeSantis. We’re going to maintain that trajectory, and we’re going to build it and take Florida to a whole new level.”
And pointing specifically to affordability, Donalds predicted, “over the next year, you’re going to see a lot of these economic changes, decisions made by the President of the United States, have real impacts in the lives of the American people. Positive impacts.”
But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) argued, “Whether in DC or Tallahassee, Byron Donalds has spent his political career helping to make Florida the least affordable state in the country.”
“From supporting cost-raising tariffs to voting to spike the cost of everything from health care to housing, Byron Donalds is one of the architects of the affordability crisis devastating Florida families,” DGA spokesperson Kevin Donohoe charged in a statement to Fox News Digital.
And pointing to this month’s Miami mayoral election, where the Democrats won for the first time in a quarter-century, Donohoe said “the Miami mayoral race showed that Florida voters are looking for change — but Byron Donalds would just offer more of the same.”
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Asked about the results in Miami, Donalds said, “I do acknowledge what happened in the city of Miami, but that’s not going to happen in the state of Florida.”
“Florida is going to continue to be a red state, because the people of Florida know what conservative policies are they want that to continue. It’s been the best state going in the entire country, and we’re not going to stop here,” he added.
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Southeast
Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges
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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)
Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day.
He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later.
Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing.
A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding.
In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported.
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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia. (Fairfax County Police Department)
Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”
“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said.
“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”
Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia. (Provided)
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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person.
“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states.
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Southeast
Dem governor under fire after illegal alien allegedly stabs woman to death at bus stop: ‘Heinous’
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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is calling on Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ensure local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials by handing over an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly killed a woman earlier this week at a Virginia bus stop.
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, arrested an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone earlier this week on charges of second-degree murder after he allegedly fatally stabbed a woman, Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found dead at a local bus stop with several wounds to the upper body.
The alleged suspect, Abdul Jalloh, 32, also has a criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and pick-pocketing.
The request from the Trump administration comes after the newly elected Democratic governor of Virginia signed an executive order to end cooperation between federal immigration officials and state and local law enforcement, a move several Democratic Party governors have taken recently amid President Donald Trump’s move to increase deportation operations around the country.
The DHS request asking Virginia officials to cooperate with ICE also comes after an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered someone just days after being released from jail for a separate crime in December.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger (Department of Homeland Security/Getty Images)
“We are calling on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.
“This illegal alien’s murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people.”
Spanberger’s representatives did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012, according to DHS, and immigration officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2020, whereupon he was granted a final order of removal by a judge who said he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone.
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Protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face off with Minneapolis police officers in Minneapolis Jan. 24, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
DHS indicated that ICE cooperation to ensure Jalloh’s deportation is evident after a case Fox News covered in December when a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly killed a man just a day after Fairfax County jail officials let him go.
The immigrant from El Salvador had been in custody on charges of malicious wounding and brandishing a gun, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano, dropped the charges.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office to inquire about why the man had not been handed over to ICE.
The sheriff’s office said, “ICE was aware of Morales-Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody.
Marvin Morales-Ortez, who is living in the country illegally, was released from Fairfax County custody and then allegedly committed a murder the next day. (Fairfax County Police Department/Getty Images)
“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC,” the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital at the time. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC.”
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The same sheriff’s office did not get back to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry for this story on DHS urging officials to cooperate with federal officials.
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Southeast
Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work
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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said.
Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital.
During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said.
Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said. (Getty Images )
“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”
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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)
Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said.
His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education.
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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer.
Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE.
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