Connect with us

Southeast

Governor says Trump could become the first GOP presidential candidate to win his state in 20 years

Published

on

Governor says Trump could become the first GOP presidential candidate to win his state in 20 years

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Having trouble? Click here.

It’s been two decades since a Republican carried Virginia in the race for the White House. 

You have to go back to then-President George W. Bush, who won the Commonwealth in his 2004 re-election victory.

Advertisement

Democrats have carried the state in four straight presidential elections, including President Biden’s 10-point victory over Donald Trump four years ago as he won the White House.

But GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin thinks the former president has a very good shot of ending the Republican losing streak in Virginia as Trump faces off this autumn with Biden in a 2024 election rematch.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS DRILL INTO BIDEN OVER HIGH ENERGY PRICES

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, speaking at the podium, is joined by, from left, Govs. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Doug Burgum of North Dakota at a news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, on Monday.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“Let’s just begin by remembering where we were in 2020 when Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points, and the fact that we’re having this discussion is a huge turn of events,” Youngkin said earlier this week in a Fox News Digital interview in New Orleans, as he attended a Republican Governors Association (RGA) conference.

Advertisement

Youngkin emphasized that “we’re here in June and there’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but Virginia looks like it’s in play and that’s pretty exciting.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION

The governor was interviewed a couple of days ahead of the release of a Fox News poll that indicated Biden and Trump are deadlocked in Virginia. 

The survey, conducted June 1-4, shows the Democratic president and his Republican predecessor in the White House each with 48% support in a head-to-head match.

In a multi-candidate race, Biden stands at 42% and Trump at 41%, with Democrat-turned-independent Robert K. Kennedy at 9% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West each at 2%.

Advertisement

Yougkin captured the governor’s office in 2021 as the GOP also won the races for lieutenant governor and attorney general in the party’s first statewide victories in a dozen years. They also flipped the state House, and the victories in a state that had trended blue over the previous decade energized Republicans nationwide.

But last November, Democrats won back the majority in the state House and defended their control of the state Senate in a setback for Youngkin, who led the Republican charge on the campaign trail even though his name wasn’t on the ballot.

Looking ahead to this autumn’s elections, Youngkin noted that he’s “fully endorsed” Trump and said “we’re going to enthusiastically campaign in order to win this thing.”

There was plenty of speculation last year that Youngkin would potentially launch a White House run of his own, but the governor has kept his focus squarely on his home state.

Advertisement

TRUMP LANDS ENDORSEMENT OF TOP TECH INVESTOR WHO HOSTED $12 MILLION FUNDRAISER

Asked about the possibility of a 2028 White House run, Youngkin pivoted and said his priority is “to be the best governor I possibly can in the Commonwealth and I gotta tell you, I love this job. We have made huge progress, and I’ve got almost another two years to continue to do for Virginia what Virginians hired me to do.”

Listing some of his accomplishments during his tenure so far as governor, Youngkin touted that “commonsense conservative policies work.”

Political pundits also view Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia as another potential contender for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination.

When asked about his next political chapter, Kemp told Fox News Digital “I am focused on winning in 2024. Then we’ll worry about anything else.”

Advertisement

Kemp, a popular conservative governor, earned Trump’s ire starting in late 2020, after he certified Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in the presidential election following multiple recounts of the vote. 

Trump, who had unsuccessfully urged the governor and other top Republican officials in the state to overturn the results, returned to Georgia twice to campaign against Kemp as the governor ran for re-election in 2022. But in that year’s GOP gubernatorial primary, the governor squashed former Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump had backed in hopes of ousting Kemp.

Asked if he’ll be involved with helping Trump try to win back Georgia in the presidential election, Kemp said, “I’m involved right now. We have a lot on the ballot in Georgia… We’ve got to hold our majorities and we’ve got to hold Georgia, just like we did in 2022. That’s what I’m working on right now, helping to make sure we have a ground game to do that. And making sure that we keep Georgia red.”

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX NEWS APP

Kemp was interviewed in the wake of Trump’s convictions on all 34 felony counts in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

Advertisement

Kemp wouldn’t say if Trump’s guilty verdicts will make the governor’s job harder in the autumn.

“We’ll let voters decide that. To me, at the end of the day, this is about the people, it’s not about me. It’s not about some DA in New York City that I think was being political,” he said.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is another Republican who’s far from a Trump ally.

Sununu is a longtime vocal GOP critic of the former president who was a top supporter and surrogate of Trump’s last challenger in the presidential primaries — former ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

After Haley dropped out of the race in March, Sununu reiterated that he would vote for the GOP standard-bearer. And Sununu said he will still vote for Trump even after the former president’s conviction.

Advertisement

Asked if he would join Trump on the campaign trail in swing-state New Hampshire, the governor said, “I’m going to campaign with the candidates that need the help. Trump is Trump. People are going to make their minds up about President Trump whether individuals are on the campaign trail with him or not. I’m really about making sure we win that Statehouse. We have more than 201 Republicans in the House of Representatives. More than 14 senators, a strong executive council and most importantly winning that Corner Office.”

Sununu, who joined Youngkin and Kemp and a handful of other governors at a news conference during the RGA gathering, emphasized that “the presidential race is going to take care of itself. We’re going to focus on the state house races where the effort needs to be.”

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

Read the full article from Here

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Southeast

Florida teens in custody after 14-year-old girl found shot to death, burnt: sheriff

Published

on

Florida teens in custody after 14-year-old girl found shot to death, burnt: sheriff

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Two teen boys in Florida are accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl and setting her on fire along a wooded walking trail last week in what authorities are calling a “horrific” killing.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters Thursday that the body has been identified as Danika Troy. He said Danika’s mother reported her as a runaway on Monday.

“Unbeknownst to the mother, Danika was murdered the previous night,” Johnson said.

A passerby discovered Danika’s body along a wooded area off Kimberly Road in Pace, a town about 16 miles northeast of Pensacola, and called 911, Johnson said.

Advertisement

MIGRANT TEENAGERS CHARGED IN FATAL STABBING OF HOMELESS MAN IN CHICAGO

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters that the suspects were supposedly friends with the victim from school. He said investigators were still working to determine a motive. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)

Investigators quickly identified the suspects as 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and took them into custody.

“This is where it gets really horrific,” Johnson said.

Kimahri Blevins, 14, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)

Advertisement

Williams allegedly stole his mother’s handgun and shot Danika.

“It’s bad enough you kill a 14-year-old. You’re 14. You’re 16,” Johnson said. “Shoot her multiple times, and then they set her on fire.”

Gabriel Williams, 16, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)

Johnson said investigators are still working to determine a motive.

“They have been interviewed, but the motive that they’re giving doesn’t fit the forensics or any facts of the case, so we don’t have a legit motive,” he told reporters.

Advertisement

TEEN ARRESTED FOR MURDER IN SHOOTING OF 11-YEAR-OLD BOY IN NEW YORK: ‘AN UNIMAGINABLE TRAGEDY’

Blevins and Williams supposedly knew the victim from school, according to Johnson. He believed the two teens have had previous “run-ins” with law enforcement, though he could not immediately say if they had earlier arrests.

Blevins and Williams are being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice on premeditated first-degree murder charges. 

“You don’t want to go out and see a burnt child with bullet holes,” Johnson said. “That’s not something you sign up for.”

Johnson said no parents have been charged at this time, though investigators are “looking into it.”

Advertisement

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The sheriff’s office is working with the State Attorney to charge both teens as adults.

“If you do an adult crime, you gotta do adult time,” Johnson said.

Read the full article from Here

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Southeast

Florida college student who allegedly shipped 1,500 rounds of ammo to dorm had AR-15 under bed

Published

on

Florida college student who allegedly shipped 1,500 rounds of ammo to dorm had AR-15 under bed

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A Florida college student who allegedly ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition to his dorm room also had a semi-automatic rifle under his bed, according to authorities.

Constantine Demetriades, a 21-year-old senior at Rollins College, was arrested by Winter Park police on Wednesday and charged with possession of a weapon on school property after the ammunition order was reported to police by the school’s assistant campus safety director, according to an arrest affidavit, WKMG reported.

After the purchase was flagged, the assistant safety director searched Demetriades’ dorm and allegedly discovered an unloaded AR-15 under his bed inside an unsecured black carrying case with one loaded magazine and five empty magazines, as well as a tactical vest, knives, a black security vest and ear protection.

FLORIDA OFFICER SHOT IN FACE DURING SERVICE CALL TIED TO MENTAL HEALTH DISPUTE; SUSPECT KILLED

Advertisement

Constantine Demetriades, 21, was charged with possession of a weapon on school property. (Winter Park Police Department)

Demetriades, who said he likes to shoot as a hobby, told police he had the rifle on school property because he had recently returned from a Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey, where he said the guns were purchased and registered legally, according to the affidavit.

He said he did not have ill intentions and that he usually stores the firearm at a friend’s home off school property, the affidavit stated. He also said he only brought the gun to campus on one other occasion.

Constantine Demetriades said he did not have ill intentions. (Getty Images)

While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. Demetriades allegedly said he is aware that weapons are not allowed on campus and that his New Jersey concealed carry permit does not apply in Florida.

Advertisement

The college said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that he is banned from campus until the situation is resolved, adding that an internal investigation has been opened.

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED IN WEALTHY BEACH TOWN OVER ALLEGED TIKTOK SCHOOL-SHOOTING THREAT

While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. (Getty Images)

“On Wednesday, the College received a report indicating a violation of our weapons policy,” Rollins College said in a statement. “After receiving this information, we immediately initiated an investigation.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

“We quickly identified and contacted the student, who cooperated fully with College officials and local law enforcement as we investigated the matter further,” the statement continued. “The student was arrested and is not permitted to be on campus while the College proceeds with the student conduct process.”

The school said Demetriades was additionally charged with a violation of the college’s weapons policy, and will go through the on-campus conduct process.

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading

Southeast

Marjorie Taylor Greene spars with ’60 Minutes’ host over ‘accusatory’ questions

Published

on

Marjorie Taylor Greene spars with ’60 Minutes’ host over ‘accusatory’ questions

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., briefly sparred with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl over what she claimed was “accusatory” behavior from the journalist.

Greene gave her first sit-down interview with Stahl since announcing her resignation from Congress last month. During the segment, Stahl and Greene spoke about the Georgia lawmaker’s apology for taking part in “toxic politics.”

“I would like to say humbly, I‘m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics,” Greene told CNN in November. “It’s very bad for our country, and it’s been something I’ve thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, is that we, I’m only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and I am committed, and I’ve been working on this a lot lately to put down the knives in politics.”

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE TO APPEAR ON ’60 MINUTES’ AHEAD OF EXIT FROM CONGRESS

Advertisement

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., gave her first sit-down interview with “60 Minutes” since announcing her resignation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“But you contributed to that,” Stahl asked Greene Sunday. “You. You, you were out there pounding, insulting people.”

Greene pushed back, claiming that Stahl had contributed to toxic politics herself.

“You’re accusatory, just like you did just then,” Greene said.

“I know you’re accusing me, but I’m smiling,” Stahl responded.

Advertisement

“You’re accusing me,” Greene said. “But we don’t have to accuse one another.”

The two continued to go back and forth, with Greene repeatedly insisting that Stahl should also acknowledge her own contribution to toxic politics.

“I don’t insult people,” Stahl said.

TRUMP SAYS HE’D ‘LOVE TO SEE’ GREENE RETURN TO POLITICS DESPITE RECENT ATTACKS

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., previously apologized for her role in “toxic” politics. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Advertisement

“You just, you do in the way you question,” Greene said. “And you are, you’re accusing me right now.”

Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment. 

Greene previously sat down with Stahl in April 2023, when the two had a fiery exchange over the congresswoman’s claim that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles.”

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS SHE HOPES TO ‘MAKE UP’ WITH TRUMP AMID ONGOING FEUD

“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” Stahl exclaimed.

Advertisement

“Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene said.

“Wow,” Stahl reacted.

“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl had a tense exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., over her claim that Democrats were the “party of pedophiles” during an April 2023 interview. (Screenshots/CBS News)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Greene shocked the political landscape last month when she revealed she would leave Congress Jan. 5. Many believe her abrupt exit was the result of her soured relationship with President Donald Trump.

Advertisement

Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending