A Democratic state lawmaker said Thursday he is running for Pennsylvania auditor general in next year’s election, getting an early start on the campaign to lead the state’s fiscal watchdog agency.

Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia, in announcing his candidacy, promised to overhaul how the agency tracks state and local government spending.

‘I think that it is time that we have an underdog to be the watchdog for working Pennsylvanians,’ Kenyatta told reporters at a news conference outside the state Capitol.

The post is currently held by incumbent Republican Tim DeFoor, who has not publicly announced whether he will seek reelection to another four-year term.

The auditor general generally serves as the state’s fiscal watchdog, auditing how money is spent and getting a say in approving general obligation bond issues and tax-anticipation notes.

However, people serving in the office have been able to use it to advance public policy goals, and it often serves as a springboard to other offices.

On Wednesday, Kenyatta said he would reestablish school audits that DeFoor had discontinued and focus on issues related to working people, such as wage theft and union rights.

Kenyatta is the first to announce his candidacy for the office in 2024 and is already familiar to many Democrats.

Kenyatta, 32, came in third in the three-way Democratic primary for U.S. Senate last year, raising $2 million for the campaign before losing to then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

Kenyatta is serving his third term in the state House of Representatives and, in his relatively short time in office, has become one of the most visible speakers during House floor debates.

He is the grandson of the late civil rights activist Muhammad I. Kenyatta and became the first openly gay person of color to serve in the state House after he was first elected in 2018.

He campaigned across the country for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, before becoming one of 17 people to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

After losing the U.S. Senate primary, he hit the campaign trail to help his fellow Democrats around Pennsylvania in last year’s election, including Fetterman.

DeFoor, 61, was relatively unknown in state politics before he ran for auditor general in 2020, beating Democrat Nina Ahmad for the open seat.

DeFoor was previously the elected controller in Dauphin County, which includes Harrisburg, and touted his three decades of experience conducting governmental audits and fraud investigations for the state inspector general, the state attorney general and a hospital system.

Missouri voters could decide on whether to restore abortion rights in the state if constitutional amendments made public Thursday make it to the 2024 ballot.

The proposals would amend Missouri’s Constitution to protect abortion rights and pregnant women, as well as access to birth control.

Currently, most abortions are outlawed in the state. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for cases of rape or incest.

The Missouri proposals are backed by a new group called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which has hired at least one Missouri Democratic strategist. The group and its treasurer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature crafted a law, signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in 2019, to ban most abortions, in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The law took effect last year, following the court’s decision to end constitutional protections for abortion.

Several coalitions of lawmakers, including a top Republican donor, tried to put the law to a public vote in 2019. But Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, widely considered a top candidate for Missouri governor in 2024, initially rejected the petitions until a court forced him to approve them.

Advocates ultimately gave up on efforts to put the law to a public vote, accusing Ashcroft of dragging his feet in handling the proposals and leaving them with the impossible task of collecting the roughly 100,000 voter signatures needed in just two weeks.

Ashcroft also will play a role in the fate of Missouri’s pending constitutional amendments. His office is in charge of writing summaries of the proposals, which are used as voter guides.

Once Ashcroft and other elected officials finish the summary and a fiscal analysis, advocates can start collecting the voter signatures required to get the proposal on the ballot.

Abortion-rights supporters in Missouri are the latest to go directly to voters in hopes of restoring rights that were lost after Roe fell.

Kansas voters in August sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights by rejecting a ballot measure to add language to the Kansas Constitution stating that it does not grant the right to abortion.

Abortion-rights supporters won in the four states where access was on the ballot in November, as voters enshrined it into the state constitution in battleground Michigan as well as blue California and Vermont — and dealt a defeat to an anti-abortion measure in deep-red Kentucky.

Ohio advocates submitted ballot proposals in February to establish ‘a fundamental right to reproductive freedom’ with ‘reasonable limits.’

Missouri’s proposed constitutional amendments would allow the Republican-led Legislature and state agencies to put some restrictions on abortion.

But limits on abortion would only be allowed ‘if it is for the limited purpose and has the limited effect of improving or maintaining the health of a person seeking care, is consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that person’s autonomous decision-making,’ the amendment states.

Penalties for both patients seeking reproductive-related care and medical providers would be outlawed.

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers this year are focused on raising the bar to amend the state Constitution from a simple majority vote to at least 60%, which could make it harder to pass the abortion-rights proposals.

Republican lawmakers have been trying for years to crack down on initiative petitions, which have been used to enact policies that the Republican-led Legislature either avoided dealing with or opposed. For example, a 2020 citizen-led ballot initiative forced the state to expand Medicaid coverage, despite years of resistance from Republicans.

Other efforts by abortion-rights advocates to lift Missouri’s ban on the procedure include a lawsuit filed in January by religious leaders who support abortion rights. They argue that lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them. The lawsuit is pending.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Residents of the nation’s capital told Fox News their locally elected officials and community members should get to decide the city’s laws as the U.S. Senate prepared to block the district’s overhaul of its criminal code.

‘D.C., like any city, has some problems,’ Karen told Fox News. ‘But let us decide how best to solve the problems.’

WASHINGTON, D.C., RESIDENTS PROTEST AS CONGRESS STEPS IN TO OVERTURN DC LAW. WATCH: 

The city council had overrode the mayor’s veto of local legislation it passed that would have reduced penalties for certain crimes, like burglaries, robberies and carjackings. Washington residents rallied Wednesday to support statehood for the district ahead of the Senate vote, which ultimately passed 81-14 to block the city’s new criminal code. 

‘There’s crime here like there’s everywhere,’ Judith said. ‘The citizens of the district … collectively with our elected officials would keep the city safe.’

The nation’s capital, like many U.S. cities, has grappled with a crime surge in recent years. Homicides are up 32% year-to-date, and motor vehicle thefts have more than doubled, according to Metropolitan Police Department data. While overall crime decreased between 2021 and 2022, certain offenses remained high around the district. 

‘We know the solutions and we can implement them,’ Pranav said. ‘Our local officials in D.C. who we actually voted for have listened to that.’ 

Pranav, who supported the legislation, said locally elected officials spent years crafting the criminal code and escalated some gun-related charges. He added that harsher sentences doesn’t always deter crime. 

‘People who have been community leaders, community members have been talking about what keeps D.C. safe for decades,’ he said. ‘So we should be able to keep ourselves safe.’

Karen told Fox News that D.C. residents were ‘outraged’ at Congress for getting involved in the city’s home-rule. The district doesn’t have any representatives in either chamber that can vote.

Under the Constitution, Congress holds jurisdiction over the District of Columbia. But Congress hasn’t overruled a district law in decades. 

‘You got people from other states voting on what goes on in D.C. and they’re not from D.C.,’ a lifelong resident told Fox News. ‘They don’t know the fabric of D.C. and they’re making decisions that are going to affect D.C. residents.’

Additionally, Biden said he would not veto the measure if it reached his desk. Biden has supported D.C. statehood and generally objected to Congress overturning local laws but he tweeted that he couldn’t endorse parts of the crime bill. 

‘There are things that President Biden disagrees with in probably every single state,’ Pranav said. ‘But they get to govern themselves. They get to have their elected officials speak for them, and they get to make changes if they desire to.’

‘D.C. should be treated exactly the same,’ he told Fox News. ‘Supporting D.C. statehood means supporting the residents to govern how we see fit.’

To hear more from D.C. residents, click here. 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden on Thursday blasted ‘MAGA Republicans,’ asserting that they want to defund the police and the FBI, flipping the GOP’s continual claims that the Democrats were the anti-police party.

‘MAGA Republicans are calling for defunding the police department and defunding the FBI now,’ Biden said during an event at the Finishing Trades Institute in Philadelphia. ‘That’s a good one. I like that.’

Biden, who has previously said that he doesn’t want to strip police departments of funding, included in his budget proposal hiring 100,000 additional police on the streets, plus money for crime prevention strategies and community violence intervention.

‘My budget invests in public safety. It includes funding for more training, more support for law enforcement at a time they are expected to play many roles. We expect our cops to be social workers, psychologists, and mental health counselors.’ he shared. ‘You know, more cops are killed, responding to domestic violence calls, than anything else.’

During the summer of 2020, ‘defund the police’ became the battle cry among more progressive Democrats from coast to coast who demanded police reform following George Floyd’s death.

But in a twist, Democrats are attempting to turn the tables and accuse Republicans of being anti-police. 

Democrats’ accusations started after Republicans failed to back a Jan. 6 independent commission and opposed spending $1.9 billion to boost Capitol security and fund the police officers in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots.

Following the FBI’s unprecedented decision to execute a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, some in the Republican Party called to defund and destroy the federal agency. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was one of the first to share her disapproval of the search, writing on Twitter: ‘Defund the FBI.’

‘The FBI raid on Trump’s home tells us one thing. Failure is not an option,’ Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted. ‘We must destroy the FBI. We must save America.’

The president laid out his budget proposal on Thursday, unveiling a slew of tax hikes on corporations and high-income individuals. The proposals are unlikely to garner support in a deeply divided Congress, and face almost certain rejection from Republicans, who won control of the House last year.

In total, Biden’s budget proposals calls for more than $4.5 trillion in tax increases, including higher tax rates on corporations and high-income individuals, expanded Medicare taxes on top earners and higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign income.

Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former state Republican Party Chair Matt Borges were convicted Thursday in a $60 million bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.

A jury in Cincinnati found the two guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering. Each faces up to 20 years in prison.

The government’s prosecution team was able to show that ‘Householder sold the Statehouse’ and betrayed the people he was elected to serve, and that Borges was ‘a willing co-conspirator,’ U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth Parker said in a statement.

‘Through its verdict today, the jury reaffirmed that the illegal acts committed by both men will not be tolerated and that they should be held accountable,’ Parker said.

The man who brought the case, Parker’s predecessor David DeVillers, tweeted: ‘The line between influence peddling and bribery will now be drawn by the rule of law and not by politicians, lobbyists and corporations.’

‘We are incredibly disappointed in the verdict,’ Householder’s attorney Steven Bradley said in an email. ‘We will take some time to evaluate all of our legal options and will most certainly pursue an appeal. Our client is looking forward to going home to be with his wife and family during this very difficult time.’

The attorney representing Borges, 50, did not immediately respond to messages left by The Associated Press on Thursday. The verdict comes two-and-a-half years after Borges, Householder and three others were arrested.

Prosecutors alleged that Householder, 63, orchestrated a scheme secretly funded by FirstEnergy Corp. to secure his power in the Legislature, elect his allies — and then to pass and defend legislation that delivered a $1 billion nuclear power plant bailout to the Akron-based electric utility. They alleged that Borges, then a lobbyist, sought to bribe Tyler Fehrman, an operative, for inside information on the referendum to overturn the bailout law.

‘Justice,’ Fehrman, tweeted after the verdicts came down.

In a phone interview, Fehrman said that the outcome proved the risk he took wearing a wire for the FBI as part of the government’s investigation was worth it.

‘For them to come back and find both of them guilty, and after not too long, is just such a relief,’ he said. ‘It is a good day for Ohioans. This stuff just can’t continue to happen.’

Householder had been one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians — an historically twice-elected speaker before his indictment. After his arrest, the Republican-controlled House ousted him from his leadership post, but he refused to resign for months on grounds he was innocent until proven guilty. In a bipartisan vote, representatives ultimately ousted him from the chamber, the first such expulsion in Ohio in 150 years.

In a move that may have been pivotal in the trial’s outcome, Householder took the stand in his own defense. Appearing confident and relaxed, he spent a day contradicting FBI testimony, defending his support for the bailout bill — known as House Bill 6 — and denying that he attended swanky Washington dinners where prosecutors alleged he and FirstEnergy executives hatched the scheme in 2017. But prosecutors eviscerated his claims on cross-examination the next day.

Rachael Belz, CEO of the government watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, said she hopes that the trial and guilty verdicts turn the tide in Ohio politics.

‘We don’t believe that utilities funneling millions of dollars through shell corporations to drive state policy is how our state government should work, nor do Ohio voters,’ she said in a statement. Belz held the decision up as evidence that Ohioans expect and deserve better.

‘After so many years of utility-controlled energy policy that favored fossil fuels, Ohio must now move toward equitable, forward-looking solutions that will protect our air and water, the health of Ohioans, and provide clean energy jobs to keep Ohio competitive in the 21st-century economy,’ Belz said.

Borges did not testify at trial but has insisted that he’s innocent. His attorneys argued that he was entirely uninvolved with the pay-to-play scheme, while Householder’s team portrayed his actions as nothing more than hardball politics.

‘The bottom line is that Larry Householder was engaged in political activity, not criminal activity,’ his attorney Steven Bradley told jurors during closing statements. He said the government’s investigation was flimsy and full of holes, calling it ‘a nothing burger.’

But over the previous six weeks, jurors had been presented with firsthand accounts of the alleged scheme, as well as reams of financial documents, emails, texts and wire-tap audio.

The prosecution called two of the people arrested — Juan Cespedes and Jeff Longstreth — to testify about political contributions that they said are not ordinary, but bribes intended to secure passage of the bailout legislation.

Householder’s attorneys pushed back on arguments about their recollections, as well as their motivations. Both have pleaded guilty and are cooperating in hopes of a deal with the government.

Jurors also heard taped phone calls in which Householder and another co-defendant, the late Statehouse superlobbyist Neil Clark, plotted a nasty attack ad — and, in expletive-laced fashion, contemplated revenge against lawmakers who had crossed Householder.

Clark, who died by suicide in March 2021, was also heard describing to undercover FBI agents posing as developers how he was directing cash through Generation Now, a dark money group that has also pleaded guilty, to keep it secret.

Householder testified that he never retaliated against those who voted counter to his wishes or who donated to his rivals. He told jurors that the set-up advanced his interests, which were the same as Ohio’s interests, because they involved good policy.

Under a deal to avoid prosecution, FirstEnergy admitted using a network of dark money groups to fund the bribery scheme and even bribing the state’s top utility regulator, Sam Randazzo.

Randazzo resigned as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio after an FBI search of his home, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. The government has asked the PUCO to delay its own internal investigation into FirstEnergy while their probe continues.

The South Carolina House on Thursday approved a $1.3 billion package to help attract a new electric vehicle plant backed by the Volkswagen Group to a site near Columbia.

The plan would borrow nothing, instead paying the entire amount through surpluses the state has managed to save over the past few years as the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t hurt the amount of tax revenue South Carolina collects as much as feared.

Scout Motors Inc. and South Carolina officials announced plans Monday to start building new Scout vehicles, powered this time by electricity, for the first time since 1980. They hope to hire 4,000 workers for its $2 billion plant.

They are reviving the name and style of the original Scout SUVs made by International Harvester in the 1970s and 1980s.

After one more routine vote, the proposal will go to the Senate. Members approved the package on a 96-12 vote Thursday.

The state’s $1.3 billion will build a new exchange on Interstate 77 and a railroad bridge over the highway for the plant.

The state is giving Scout a $200 million loan to stabilize the soil at the site and a $400 million grant for the company to use how it wishes during construction.