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Carlos Giménez moves to boot Dem from Homeland Security Committee over loyalty remark

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Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez wants his Democratic colleague, U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, off the House Homeland Security Committee on, arguing her declaration of Guatemalan pride disqualifies her from the panel.

He just introduced legislation to remove her and called her remarks a betrayal of her oath of office.

Ramirez, who has since been beset by right-wing vitriol online over her statement, says her words were purposely misconstrued to attack her.

The comment in question came during an event in Mexico City this week. Ramirez said in Spanish, “Yo soy una Guatemalteca con much orgullo, primero que soy Americana.”

Her detractors, including Giménez, actor James Woods and conservative commentator Matt Walsh — the latter two of whom called for Ramirez’s deportation — claim that her comments translate into, “I am a Guatemalan with great pride, before being American.”

Some Spanish speakers have argued the exact translation is, in fact, “I am a Guatemalan with great pride, but first, I am an American.”

Giménez, the only Cuban-born member of Congress and Chair of the Homeland Security Committee’s Maritime and Transportation Securities Subcommittee, bashed Ramirez’s assertion as disloyal.

“When a Member of Congress openly declares allegiance to a foreign nation over the United States, it is not only unacceptable — it is disqualifying for service on a committee tasked with securing our homeland,” he said in a statement.

“Representative Ramirez’s conduct is unbecoming of any Member of Congress and must result in her immediate removal from the Committee on Homeland Security.”

Giménez’s resolution invokes Rule XXIII of House Rules, which requires members to “behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.” The measure argues Ramirez violated that rule by expressing loyalty to another country while holding a sensitive assignment on the Homeland Security Committee.

If passed, the resolution would formally remove Ramirez from the panel.

Ramirez attended the second annual Panamerican Congress in Mexico City early this week alongside fellow progressive “Squad” members U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who represent Minnesota and Michigan, respectively.

Ramirez’s remarks there swiftly drew criticism from conservatives, including Fox News contributors, Republican House members and right-leaning influencers on social media.

She defended her comments in a statement Monday, calling the uproar “a weak attempt to silence my dissent and invalidate my patriotic criticism of the nativist, white supremacist, authoritarians in government.”

“No one questions when my white colleagues identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry. … Only those who believe America should not include the children of immigrants or be diverse would attack me — and Americans like me — for honoring my roots,” she said.

“It is the definition of hypocrisy that members of Congress — who betray their oath each day they enable (President Donald) Trump — are attacking me for celebrating my Guatemalan-American roots.”

Giménez, who came to the U.S. as a child refugee from Cuba, rejected that framing.

“Everything I am, I owe to this exceptional country of limitless opportunities,” he said. “Only in America could a Cuban refugee become a firefighter, fire chief, city manager, county commissioner, county mayor, and yes, even a Member of Congress.”


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Paul Renner doubles down on Cory Mills critique, urges more Republicans to join him

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Mills was a day-one Byron Donalds backer in the gubernatorial race.

A former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor is leading the charge for Republicans as scandal swirls around a Congressman.

Saying the “evidence is mounting” against Rep. Cory MillsPaul Renner says other candidates for Governor should “stand up and be counted” and join him in the call for Mills to leave Congress.

Renner made the call earlier this week.

But on Friday, the Palm Coast Republican doubled down.

He spotlighted fresh reporting from Roger Sollenberger alleging that Mills’ company “appears to have illegally exported weapons while he serves in Congress, including to Ukraine,” that Mills failed to disclose conflicts of interest, “tried to fistfight other Republican members of Congress, and lied about his party stature to bully other GOP candidates out of primaries that an alleged romantic interest was running in,” and lied about his conversion to Islam.

The House Ethics Committee is already probing Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, over allegations of profiting from federal defense contracts while in Congress. More recently, the Committee expanded its work to review allegations that he assaulted one ex-girlfriend and threatened to share intimate photos of another.

Other candidates have been more reticent in addressing the issue, including Rep. Byron Donalds.

“When any other members have been involved and stuff like this, my advice is the same,” said Donalds, a Naples Republican. “They need to actually spend a lot more time in the district and take stock of what’s going on at home, and make that decision with their voters.”

The response came less than a year after Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, spoke at the launch of Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.

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Staff writer Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.



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Eileen Higgins brings out starpower as special election campaign nears close

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Prominent Democrats will be on hand at a number of stops.

Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins is enlisting more big names as support at early vote stops ahead of Tuesday’s special election for Mayor, including a Senate candidate, a former Senate candidate, and a current candidate for Governor.

During her canvass kickoff at 10 a.m at Elizabeth Virrick Park, Higgins will appear with U.S. Senate Candidate Hector Mujica.

Early vote stops follow, with Higgins solo at the 11 a.m. show-up at Miami City Hall and the 11:30 at the Shenandoah Library.

From there, big names from Orlando will be with the candidate.

Orange County Mayor and candidate for Florida Governor Jerry Demings and former Congresswoman Val Demings will appear with Higgins at the Liberty Square Family & Friends Picnic (2 p.m.), Charles Hadley Park (3 p.m.), and the Carrie P. Meek Senior and Cultural Center (3:30 p.m.)

Higgins, who served on the County Commission from 2018 to 2025, is competing in a runoff for the city’s mayoralty against former City Manager Emilio González. The pair topped 11 other candidates in Miami’s Nov. 4 General Election, with Higgins, a Democrat, taking 36% of the vote and González, a Republican, capturing 19.5%.

To win outright, a candidate had to receive more than half the vote. Miami’s elections are technically nonpartisan, though party politics frequently still play into races.



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Hope Florida fallout drives another Rick Scott rebuke of Ron DeSantis

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The cold war between Florida’s Governor and his predecessor is nearly seven years old and tensions show no signs of thawing.

On Friday, Sen. Rick Scott weighed in on Florida Politics’ reporting on the Agency for Health Care Administration’s apparent repayment of $10 million of Medicaid money from a settlement last year, which allegedly had been diverted to the Hope Florida Foundation, summarily filtered through non-profits through political committees, and spent on political purposes.

“I appreciate the efforts by the Florida legislature to hold Hope Florida accountable. Millions in tax dollars for poor kids have no business funding political ads. If any money was misspent, then it should be paid back by the entities responsible, not the taxpayers,” Scott posted to X.

While AHCA Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus says that is an “incorrect” interpretation, she did not respond to a follow-up question asking for further detail this week.

The $10 million under scrutiny was part of a $67 million settlement from state Medicaid contractor Centene, which DeSantis said was “a cherry on top” in the settlement, arguing it wasn’t truly from Medicaid money.

But in terms of the Scott-DeSantis contretemps, it’s the latest example of tensions that seemed to start even before DeSantis was sworn in when Scott left the inauguration of his successor, and which continue in the race to succeed DeSantis, with Scott enthusiastic about current front runner Byron Donalds.

Earlier this year, Scott criticized DeSantis’ call to repeal so-called vaccine mandates for school kids, saying parents could already opt out according to state law.

While running for re-election to the Senate in 2024, Scott critiqued the Heartbeat Protection Act, a law signed by DeSantis that banned abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy with some exceptions, saying the 15 week ban was “where the state’s at.”

In 2023 after Scott endorsed Donald Trump for President while DeSantis was still a candidate, DeSantis said it was an attempt to “short circuit” the voters.

That same year amid DeSantis’ conflict over parental rights legislation with The Walt Disney Co.Scott said it was important for Governors to “work with” major companies in their states.

The critiques went both ways.

When running for office, DeSantis distanced himself from Scott amid controversy about the Senator’s blind trust for his assets as Governor.

“I basically made decisions to serve in uniform, as a prosecutor, and in Congress to my financial detriment,” DeSantis said in October 2018. “I’m not entering (office) with a big trust fund or anything like that, so I’m not going to be entering office with those issues.”

In 2020, when the state’s creaky unemployment website couldn’t handle the surge of applicants for reemployment assistance as the pandemic shut down businesses, DeSantis likened it to a “jalopy in the Daytona 500” and Scott urged him to “quit blaming others” for the website his administration inherited.

The chill between the former and current Governors didn’t abate in time for 2022’s hurricane season, when Scott said DeSantis didn’t talk to him after the fearsome Hurricane Ian ravaged the state.



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