Category: News

Virginia state senate candidate Tina Ramirez, a Republican, condemned a liberal journalist who called Child Protective Services on her over a tweet celebrating Columbus Day in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.

The online spat began when David Leavitt, a self-described “award-winning multimedia journalist” with bylines for CBS, AXS, Yahoo and Examiner took issue with Ramirez’s tweet for Columbus Day.

“I teach my daughter real American history. I refuse to join the radical left’s campaign to erase history,” Ramirez tweeted. Responding, Leavitt shot back, “Why are you celebrating torture, rape, murder, and enslavement?” He then encouraged his more than 300,000 followers, “Can someone please call child care services on Tina Ramirez who’s teaching her child to be a racist?”

“This so-called ‘journalist’ obviously doesn’t understand who he picked a fight with. I’m a mother, first and foremost, and my Mama Bear instincts kick in when it comes to defending my daughter and how she is raised,” Ramirez said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I also stand up to tyrants around the world in defense of human rights, liberties, and dignity as my day job. So, I won’t be bullied or silenced by some unhinged leftist trying to censor strong conservatives with the same tactics we see dictators use around the world.

“While he is busy wasting valuable life-saving resources (in this case Child Protective Services and the police in his Target incident), I’m going to continue standing for the values and freedoms that made this country great,” she added.

In the thread — which remains on Twitter at the time of this report — Leavitt said he personally called Child Protective Services himself, complaining of the high call volumes.

“The Virginia State hotline for child abuse has a 43+ minute hold and is experiencing ‘high call volumes’ with 14 callers ahead of me,” Leavitt wrote. “This is unacceptable. How many people try to report child abuse and hang up? How many children will continue to be abused?”

“Mighty bold and liberal of you to lecture a Hispanic mother with a black daughter on racism,” Ramirez responded to one of the tweets. But Leavitt didn’t let up, writing, “The lady who’s teaching her kids how to be racist thinks I’m “bold.” Does she know I’m [on] hold to report her to child and family services?”

In an appearance on Jesse Waters Primetime on Tuesday, Ramirez said she has spoken with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ Office and has been assured nothing will come of the false complaints made to Child Protective Services and that the Republican will defend “parents’ rights.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Leavitt for comment.

Hispanic Republican candidates fired back Tuesday after first lady Jill Biden said that the Hispanic community was “unique” as “breakfast tacos.” They also attacked her for speaking at a conference entitled “LatinX Incluxion.”

Biden made the remarks at the 2022 UnidosUS Annnual Conference while speaking about UnidosUS President Raul Yzaguirre’s work. Her press secretary issued an apology for the remark Tuesday.

“Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength,” the first lady said.

After a great deal of backlash, Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa, tweeted, “The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.”

“As a Hispanic woman who has a rich culture filled with ancestors who struggled against all manner of obstacles and poverty, it’s grossly offensive to compare my people to tacos,” Alexis Martinez Johnson, the GOP nominee for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

“Even by going to an event called ‘LatinX Incluxion’, they are erasing our culture, our heritage, and mi gente’s beautiful language,” Martinez Johnson added. “Joe Biden and the Democrats continue to show that they don’t care about minority communities, whether it’s saying ‘you ain’t black’ to African American Republicans or comparing Hispanic Americans unique history to a literal breakfast food. Shame on them.”

Jose Castillo, a Disney employee and candidate for Florida’s 9th Congressional District, compared Jill Biden to a Democratic former first lady.

“This is reminiscent of 2016 when Hillary Clinton was lambasted by Hispanics across the nation for her out-of-touch ‘abuela’ pandering,” he told Fox News Digital, referencing a Latina Clinton staffer’s viral 2016 blog post comparing the then-presidential candidate to “your abuela.”

“Now we’ve gone from ‘not my abuela’ to ‘not a taco,’” Castillo quipped. “It’s just astounding that Democrats think they can run on a radical woke agenda and disastrous economy that is hurting families, but then win our votes with breakfast tacos.”

He warned that Democrats’ “using words like ‘Latinx’ that no one I know use and reducing cultures to food stereotypes is not going to turn back the tide of Hispanic Americans moving away from failed Democrat policies.” Multiple Hispanic organizations have condemned the use of the term “Latinx” as a form of pandering to “rich white progressives.”

Rene Lopez, a Hispanic candidate in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that his personal history shines light on why Hispanics are abandoning the Democratic Party.

“With my extensive heritage history in Arizona, including family who live in border towns, and having co-found an organization that helps victims of sex trafficking, I have a firsthand perspective on the horrific ramifications the policies of Joe Biden and his administration have on Hispanic families and communities,” Lopez said. “Add to that the crippling burden placed on all of us by his failed economic policies, it is clear why so many Hispanics are moving to the Republican Party.”

“Jill Biden would do better to answer for these failures by her husband and her party than to appeal to us through offensive and tone-deaf comparisons such as this,” he added. “This is indicative of the current elitist leadership in DC and how it’s reduced our heritage and culture to a taco.”

Tina Ramirez, Virginia chair of the conservative women’s political action committee Maggie’s List and a candidate for state senate, also condemned the first lady’s remarks.

“Jill Biden’s use of a taco as a stand-in to describe Hispanics is completely absurd and really beyond the pale,” Ramirez told Fox News Digital. “This shows how clueless Democrats are when it comes to understanding what people across the country are dealing with right now as a result of their far left progressive policies.”

“At Maggie’s List, we’re seeing the results of this already: Mayra Flores winning her special election in a majority Hispanic District was a huge indicator of where we are headed. Here in Virginia, we just saw Yesli Vega win her Congressional primary,” Ramirez said. “Across the country, we are seeing people push back against the liberal elite and their constant condescension and failed policies.”

Republican candidates slammed the Minneapolis teachers union’s “excessive demands” as the teacher strike extended into its eleventh day on Tuesday.

Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) announced Sunday that it had “shared its last, best and final [Education Support Professional] ESP offer with union leaders that underscores the district’s commitment to honoring the contributions ESPs make to our schools and students.” The offer includes 15.6% salary increases for ESPs on average over two years and $3.5 million to cover increased work hours for ESPs. “MPS is reaching beyond its financial means on behalf of our ESPs and will need to make more than $10 million in reductions for the next school year as a result,” the district said.

Union officials rejected the offer Sunday night, demanding a minimum $35,000 annual salary for ESPs. Late Monday, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and ESPs posted photos of the strike, noting that it had entered its third week.

Jennifer Carnahan, widow to former Rep. Jim Hagedorn and former Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman, called on Minneapolis teachers to return to work in a statement exclusively provided to Fox News Digital.

“Every Minnesota child deserves a quality education,” Carnahan, a candidate for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, declared in the statement. “Unfortunately, children in Minneapolis are being denied an education due to a union’s excessive demands.”

“Minneapolis Public Schools have already offered more than they can afford, so it sadly appears no end is in sight,” the candidate added. “Financing these demands may very well result in resources being pulled from rural Minnesota. As a longtime advocate for southern Minnesota, as well as conservatives throughout the state, this union’s demands are not only appalling, but shortsighted and selfish.”

“Elected officials across the state must reject these demands,” Carnahan concluded. “We cannot afford to set a precedent in which taxpayers are extorted by unions.”

“Students being denied an education due to a labor dispute shows the fundamental flaws in denying students school choice,” Jerry Evans, a GOP candidate for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District who worked as a music educator for 20 years, told Fox News Digital. “No child should be denied an education, and every child should be allowed to choose from the full range of educational opportunities.”

“As multiple studies have shown, that healthy competition improves outcomes for all students, in both public, charter, and private schools,” Evans claimed.

Tina Ramirez, a former high school teacher and president of Hardwired Global, a human rights organization that crafts anti-radicalism curricula for educators in the Middle East and elsewhere, condemned the strike as “unfair to students.”

“As a teacher, I always understood that my job was about service and putting the education of my students first. All good teachers believe this,” Ramirez, who is running for Virginia state Senate in District 12, told Fox News Digital. “The unions were out of touch then and it’s only gotten worse as they’ve grown in power, and completely lost sight of the students.”

“This strike epitomizes how their political agenda has taken precedence over the education of our children,” she added. “It’s unfair to these students who’ve already been set back by the unnecessary shutdowns that the unions demanded during COVID to be deprived of the education they deserve because of a union power grab. It’s just wrong.”

While schools across the country have generally loosened restrictions as COVID-19 cases decreased, the union’s demands include COVID-19-related items, such as an “agreed-upon threshold of Covid [sic] cases for any learning transitions.”