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Top GOP group drops big money into Virginia showdown after Dem AG nominee’s violent texts go viral

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Top GOP group drops big money into Virginia showdown after Dem AG nominee’s violent texts go viral

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The Republican Governors Association is dishing out an additional $1.5 million to boost Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee facing off against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in November’s ballot box gubernatorial showdown.

The new funding from the RGA, the top group that supports Republicans in races for governor, comes after explosive revelations in Virginia’s attorney general race that the GOP is aiming to leverage up and down the ballot.

Democratic Party attorney general nominee Jay Jones has acknowledged and apologized for texts he sent in 2022, where he compared then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert to mass murderers Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, adding that if he was given two bullets, he would use both against the GOP lawmaker to shoot him in the head.

Jones has been in crisis mode since the texts were first reported last Friday by the National Review, and a chorus of calls from Republicans urges Jones to drop out of the race.

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DEMOCRATIC VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE CANCELS EVENTS AMID CONTROVERSY

Winsome Earle-Sears, Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia,  during a campaign event at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department in Vienna, Virginia, US, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Earle-Sears, who trails Spanberger in all the latest public opinion polls in the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, is hammering her Democratic rival for not calling on Jones to drop out of the race. 

The Earle-Sears campaign launched a new ad, which was first reported on Tuesday by Fox News Digital, that aims to link Spanberger to Jones and calls on voters to “reject the insanity” and “vote Republican.”

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“It’s clearer now than ever that this race isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s common sense versus violence,” said Peyton Vogel, a spokesperson for Earle-Sears campaign, in a statement to Fox News. “The RGA understands what’s at stake here in Virginia, and their support will help us stand strong against Abigail Spanberger’s ticket of rage.”

The boost in funding by the RGA, first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News Digital, now matches the roughly $5 million investment by the rival Democratic Governors Association (DGA) to Spanberger. But the RGA’s infusion of cash is still far short of the nearly $11 million the group spent four years ago to help elect Youngkin.

Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Democratic Party nominee for Governor, addresses the crowd during an event in support of her run for office at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center in Richmond, Virginia, on April 8, 2025. (Max Posner/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Earle-Sears and Spanberger face off in a debate on Thursday evening, and it’s expected the controversy over Jones’ three-year-old texts will be discussed.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states to hold gubernatorial showdowns in the year after a presidential election and the contests traditionally grab outsized attention and are viewed as political barometers ahead of the following year’s midterm elections.

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DGA Communications Director Sam Newton, asked for a comment, argued that “Winsome Sears is running a disastrous campaign.”

Newton went on to say that “Instead of desperate spin to try to bail out a losing campaign, the RGA should ask Donald Trump a simple question: why does he still refuse to endorse or campaign with Sears?”

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Jones, who has apologized for the texts, has not held a campaign event since Friday evening.

Most Virginia Democrats, including the Commonwealth’s two U.S. senators, have condemned Jones’ comments, but have stopped short of urging him to drop out of the race.

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Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia’s attorney general in 2025, has been heavily criticized over a series of past text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers.  (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a DGA vice chair who takes over as chair next year, told Fox News Digital that the text was “absolutely inappropriate.

“I condemn political violence in all forms and the type of language that would discuss or promote political violence,” the governor emphasized in an interview in New Hampshire.

But asked about GOP calls for Jones to end his campaign, Beshear said, “I don’t know enough about that situation.”

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Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed reporting.

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Florida boater accused of killing teen in crash avoids jail time with plea deal

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Florida boater accused of killing teen in crash avoids jail time with plea deal

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A man who failed to stop his boat after fatally striking a 15-year-old high school student and ballerina in 2024 has pleaded guilty in the deadly boating incident.

The man’s attorneys had previously noted that he did not realize he had hit someone with his vessel, according to WTVJ.

Ella Adler, the granddaughter of then-U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Michael Adler, had been wakeboarding and had fallen into the water, according to the Key Biscayne Independent, which noted that boater Carlos Guillermo “Bill” Alonso fatally hit her in his 42-foot-Boston Whaler.

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Ella Adler, 15, was killed in a hit-and-run boating accident in May 2024.  (Courtesy of the Adler Family )

A statement provided to Fox News Digital by Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, described the incident as a “tragic accident.”

“Our hearts go out to the Adler family. This was a tragic accident, and, of course, Bill never intended to hurt anyone that day. Bill’s decision to plead guilty was driven by his hope that doing so would cause less pain to Ella’s family and help shine a light on the Ella Riley Adler Foundation,” the statement noted.

Alonso pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor careless boating, according to The Miami Herald.

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Carlos Guillermo Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, helps him out of a car in 2024. (WSVN)

The teen killed in the boating incident had performed in “The Nutcracker” over 100 times with the Miami City Ballet, the Key Biscayne Independent noted.

“Ella was extraordinary. She radiated joy, kindness and creativity in every room she entered. She was a devoted daughter, a beloved sister and a fierce and loyal friend,” Adler’s father, Matthew, said in a statement read in court, according to the outlet. 

“Her life was filled with love, laughter, dance and meaning. Ella didn’t just live. She danced through life.”

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Carlos Guillermo Alonso exits a vehicle with his attorney. (WSVN)

The outlet reported that Alonso was sentenced to 12 months of probation as part of a plea agreement and that he is able to have his probation terminated after six months. Provided he fulfills the court’s conditions, he will be able to petition the court for his guilty pleas to be vacated, the outlet reported.

Edmund Richard Hartley, the captain of the vessel that had been towing Adler, has also been charged, but he has pleaded not guilty, according to The Miami Herald.

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Trump seeks more than $6M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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Trump seeks more than M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him. 

The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November. 

Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office. 

“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.

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FANI WILLIS PERMANENTLY REMOVED FROM PROSECUTING TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE AFTER LOSING APPEAL

President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.” 

Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers. 

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.

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GEORGIA CALLS SPECIAL ELECTION IN MARCH TO FILL MTG VACANCY

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)

Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press. 

Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid. 

“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.

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Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.

The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”

Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.

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FLASHBACK: STACEY ABRAMS MULLS THIRD STRAIGHT RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR

Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.

Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.

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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.

Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent. 

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.

And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.

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Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES WALZ TO ABANDON GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION BID

Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)

In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.

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The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.

Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.

“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”

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