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Former Special Forces soldier launches campaign in Virginia to flip swing House seat from Democrats

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Former Special Forces soldier launches campaign in Virginia to flip swing House seat from Democrats

EXCLUSIVE: A former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret and combat veteran announced Monday he was joining the race to try and flip what could be one of 2024’s most competitive congressional seats from the Democrats.

Republican Derrick Anderson, who served six tours of duty throughout the Middle East as part of the Global War on Terror, told Fox News Digital he could “no longer remain silent on the sidelines.” Anderson added he is running to bring leadership to Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which he argues is lacking under Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger.

“I have spent my life serving this country overseas, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Watching President Biden and Washington Democrats squander 22 years of sacrifices made by our service members and their families was the final straw for me,” Anderson said.

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“President Biden and career politicians are putting politics and their own gains in front of fighting for what’s best for the American people: safer streets, better paying jobs and cheaper goods, a secure border and an education system that teaches our children how to think, not what to think,” he said. 

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Anderson served in the Army from 2006 to 2014 before his first run for Congress in 2022. That year he narrowly lost the Republican primary to former congressional candidate Yesli Vega. Spanberger, a former CIA operative, went on to defeat Vega in the general election by just under 5%, securing her third term after she was first elected in the 2018 midterms.

According to Politico, Spanberger has said she will run for governor of Virginia in 2025 and will forego running for a fourth term in Congress next year.

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Former Army Green Beret Derrick Anderson is running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District as a Republican. (Derrick Anderson for Virginia)

Virginia’s 7th Congressional District has remained one of the Republican Party’s top targets to flip from the Democrats and is, once again, considered a potential swing district going into the 2024 elections. A potential absence of Spanberger on the ballot could make that more obtainable and Anderson feels he is the candidate who can finally move Republicans across the finish line.

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“Though I no longer wear a United States Army uniform, it does not mean I can no longer serve this nation. I pledge to be the representative the people of Virginia’s 7th District deserve and are owed,” he told Fox. “I will run a tireless, heartfelt and genuine campaign the people of the 7th district, the place that raised me, can be proud of.”

In the video Anderson released as part of his campaign launch, he touts his childhood mopping floors and washing dishes in his mother’s local Spotsylvania County restaurant before going on to Virginia Tech on an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship, where he became the first person in his family to graduate from college.

DEMOCRAT IN VA RACE SAYS ‘UNQUALIFIED’ WHITES HAVE HIGH-PAYING JOBS THAT BLACK PEOPLE NEED ‘A PHD’ TO GET

Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., has said she will not run for re-election in 2024 as she sets her sights on joining Virginia’s gubernatorial race. (Getty Images)

“I’m running for Congress to fight for you, and to serve the country I love once again,” he says, before listing the policies he would prioritize as the district’s representative.

Anderson is now one of five candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the district.

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Republicans currently hold a slim five-seat majority in the House of Representatives and are hoping to build on that next year, partly by capitalizing on the unpopularity of President Biden. The party gained control of the chamber following the 2022 midterm elections, but performed well below expectations.

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Judge orders deportation of 'migrant influencer' who bragged about handouts, encouraged squatting: report

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Judge orders deportation of 'migrant influencer' who bragged about handouts, encouraged squatting: report

The illegal migrant from Venezuela who went viral on social media for mocking America and encouraging squatting has been ordered to leave the U.S., according to an exclusive report by the New York Post.

Homeland Security sources told the Post that an Ohio-based judge ordered Leonel Moreno, 27, to be deported from the country on September 9.

Moreno was initially arrested in March for not showing up to required check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He had illegally crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 23, 2022.

Whether or not Moreno will actually be deported is up in the air, according to the Post. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s administration recently stopped accepting flights of migrants, complicating the deportation process.

VENEZUELAN ‘MIGRANT INFLUENCER’ WHO ENCOURAGED SQUATTING UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR GUN CHARGES: REPORT

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Leonel Moreno was reportedly ordered to be deported earlier in September. (@Leitooficial_26/Instagram / iStock)

Moreno became infamous earlier in 2024 because of his inflammatory TikTok videos. In one clip, he flaunted a stack of cash and bragged about not working. He also also made fun of migrants who work in landscaping, construction and cleaning.

“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno reportedly said in Spanish. “I came to the U.S. to mark my territory.”

Moreno also claimed that he made $1,000 a week on TikTok, in addition to his family being given $350 a week in government handouts. He also encouraged fellow migrants to squat in abandoned homes, according to TikTok screenshots.

ILLEGAL MIGRANT ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF RAPE AFTER BEING RELEASED BY MASSACHUSETTS COURT: ICE

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Split images of Moreno's TikTok

Leonel Moreno speaks to his followers in a combination of still images taken from video. (@Leitooficial_26/Instagram)

After his TikTok account – which amassed over half a million followers – was removed earlier this year, Moreno bragged about the amount of money he earned on Facebook and Instagram.

“Yes, they closed my TikTok account, but I keep earning on Facebook and on Instagram,” the migrant reportedly said in Spanish. “I won’t earn the same, but I am going to get my TikTok account back. I am going to keep earning money.”

Moreno speaking to camera

Venezuelan TikToker Leonel Moreno urged illegal immigrants to take over abandoned homes and invoke squatters’ rights. (TikTok/Screenshot/Leonel Moreno)

Fox News Digital reached out to ICE for additional information.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

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Video: Video Shows Arrest of Suspect in Trump Assassination Attempt

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Video: Video Shows Arrest of Suspect in Trump Assassination Attempt

new video loaded: Video Shows Arrest of Suspect in Trump Assassination Attempt

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Video Shows Arrest of Suspect in Trump Assassination Attempt

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage of the arrest of Ryan Wesley Routh, the man suspected of trying to kill the former president at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“Driver, take two steps to your right. Take two steps to your right.” “Come back.” “Driver — walk straight back. Keep walking.”

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Michigan Republicans continue to spar with Dems over deal with Chinese EV company in key House race

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Michigan Republicans continue to spar with Dems over deal with Chinese EV company in key House race

The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is generating national attention as Republicans attempt to tie their Democratic opponent to a controversial deal with a Chinese Communist Party-backed company.

Michigan Republicans are calling on former Democratic State Sen. Curtis Hertel, who is currently running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, to break his silence on a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he signed in order to obtain details on controversial plans to use taxpayer funds to help build an electric vehicle battery plant in west Michigan owned by a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The plant, which was announced by Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October 2022, was set to get millions in incentives as part of a deal with Michigan lawmakers and Green Charter Township, with promises of bringing over 2,000 jobs to the area.

But the project quickly drew the ire of local voters, in large part due to the company behind the plant, Gotion Inc., being a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, which has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 

CCP-BACKED TECH COMPANIES ARE POISED TO CASH IN ON BIDEN’S CLIMATE BILL, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS WARN

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Two former Michigan state Senators: Republican Tom Barrett, left, and Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr., right, are running to represent Michigans 7th Congressional District. (AP Photo/File)

Last fall, local voters ousted five of the seven township board members over their support of the project, while the other two members resigned.

That controversy has now bled over into the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the few true toss-up House races in the state, thanks to Hertel being one of several lawmakers from both parties to sign the NDA with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that allowed them to learn about and negotiate details on the proposed plans for the plant.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is vacating her seat in Michigan’s 7th District to pursue a run for U.S. Senate, recently spoke out against the Gotion deal, further intensifying calls on Hertel to do the same.

“To me, until there’s a national security vetting, I don’t love the idea of moving forward on any project or any sale of farmland” to a Chinese entity, Slotkin told reporters at a campaign event earlier this month. “I believe that we need to not just think about economic [aspects], but also about the national security implications of Chinese-affiliated companies.”

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Michigan congresswoman Elissa Slotkin

Rep. Elissa Slotkin. (Getty Images)

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“Hertel must answer whether or not he agrees with his comrade pal Elissa Slotkin, and if he regrets signing the NDA to sell out Michigan taxpayers to the CCP,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella.

The controversy over the plant has also garnered attention in the presidential race, with former President Donald Trump saying on Truth social last month that he is “100% OPPOSED” to the plant, adding that Gotion “would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”

Meanwhile, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, highlighted the controversy during a campaign stop in Michigan last week.

“I think the most important thing is we have to stop paying Chinese manufacturers to manufacture, whether it’s here or overseas,” Vance told reporters in Michigan after his speech. “We want to build an American manufacturing industry and an American middle class. If we want to pursue these policies, let’s do them for Americans and American businesses.”

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JD Vance closeup photo at podium

Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) speaks at NMC-Wollard Inc. / Wollard International on August 07, 2024 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

But questions over Hertel’s involvement in the project continue to be the focus of Michigan Republicans, most notably after it was reported last year that Hertel was on of several Democratic lawmakers in the state to receive funds from a Political Action Committee (PAC) linked to the law office of Warner Norcross + Judd, a firm acting as a foreign agent to represent Gotion.

According to a Fox News report last September, the firm’s PAC donated $2,400 to the state campaign for Hertel, who represented Michigan’s 23rd State Senate district from 2015 until January.

One lawmaker who did not sign an NDA related to the project is former Republican State Sen. Tom Barrett, Hertel’s opponent in the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Barrett has also seized on the controversy, arguing Hertel owes people an explanation for his involvement with the project.

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“Curtis Hertel, a 22-year career politician, owes the people of Mid-Michigan an explanation as to why he signed a secret NDA to give $175 million of their tax dollars to a CCP-backed company,” Barrett told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he took money from foreign agents on behalf of Gotion should disqualify him from Congress.”

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, Hertel campaign communications director Sam Kwait-Spitzer dismissed the claims by Republicans as a “false attack.”

“Curtis signed no NDA with Gotion, and Tom Barrett is trying to cover for his own record of voting against 5,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs here in Mid-Michigan and trying to cede the future of the auto industry to China,” he said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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