WASHINGTON — In the wake of a turbulent primary election, President Trump has stepped back from Rep. Cory Mills following Mills’ defeat to former journalist Ryan Elijah.

Despite previously endorsing Mills, a Republican from Florida, in February, Trump maintained his support even as various allegations surfaced against Mills, including domestic violence, claims of stolen valor, and financial impropriety. However, in a recent post on Truth Social, Trump remarked, “I advised Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a personal friend, to withdraw from the race. He believed he could secure a victory despite it all, and who could blame him for trying?”

Trump went on to express enthusiasm for the new candidate, stating, “We now have a fantastic contender in Ryan Elijah, an individual who embodies everything MAGA represents and is universally respected. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

There was no immediate response from Mills, as his spokesperson did not address requests for comment.

Elijah, in speaking to The Post, reflected on his victory by emphasizing the vocal support he received. “For us, it felt like a people’s victory, thanks to every supporter backing us. It was immensely gratifying,” he shared, adding that Trump had personally sent him a congratulatory text message.

“I talked to a lot of voters who just felt that they were not being represented,” added the former Fox Orlando host. “They wanted another choice given the run of ethics violations we’ve seen on both sides in Congress.

“And I think the message that was sent last night is that the American people are tired of it.”

Mills was one of three Trump-endorsed candidates to lose their primaries Tuesday, along with Catalina Lauf in Florida’s 19th Congressional District and Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Megan Degenfelder.

Despite those setbacks, the president still boasts a 96% success rate, with 313 of his 330 picks winning their primary elections so far this year, according to Ballotpedia.

Elijah was backed by Mills’ House GOP colleagues Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos, while popular outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis made clear last week that “I have not endorsed Cory Mills and I do not support Cory Mills.”

“It was imperative for us to keep the majority, as we have to win every seat possible, and it was very clear to me earlier this year that Cory Mills would not win a general election given his challenges,” said Haridopolos, who personally recruit Elijah to run after Mills refused to resign.

“I think the best way to reform Congress is by selecting better members,” he added. “Our job in Congress is to represent our community, and if you get sidetracked with personal issues, it’s hard to do the job.”

Mills, an Army veteran, has denied any wrongdoing.

In February 2025, the DC Metropolitan Police Department investigated accusations that he had assaulted a female Republican activist at his penthouse. Mills stressed that she later retracted aspects of her complaint.

Mills was not charged in that incident, but the ethics committee noted in May that “a decision not to bring charges is not a finding of innocence or ‘no wrongdoing.’”

The woman, Sarah Raviani, allowed cops to listen to a recorded phone call in which Mills “instruct[ed] her to lie about the origin of her bruises,” according to a copy of the police report reviewed by NBC News, and the congressman “admitted [to officers] that the situation escalated from verbal to physical.”

The ethics committee is also investigating a court injunction issued in October 2025 restricting Mills’ social media usage and contact pertaining to a woman — likely his ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Langston.

Langston, who was crowned Miss United States in 2024, has claimed Mills tried to blackmail her with revenge porn.

The beauty queen, who was in a relationship with Mills until February 2025, accused him of harassment via text, including one May 15, 2025, message in which he told her, “Strap up cowboy” — which she interpreted as a warning that he would release videos of the two “engaging in sexual acts,” according to a report to the Columbia (Fla.) County Sheriff’s Office on July 14, 2025.

Amidst growing concerns over AI data centers in Ohio, the Democratic strategy is clear and targeted: hold Republicans accountable.

Axios was the first to report on a National Republican Senatorial Committee memo, which raises alarms that increasing public dissatisfaction with large data centers could jeopardize Senator Jon Husted’s chances for reelection.

The stakes could not be higher. The Ohio Senate face-off between incumbent Husted and former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown stands as one of the nation’s most pivotal battles, potentially influencing the Senate’s balance of power.

A recent Fox poll underscores the race’s dynamics, with Brown holding steady at an eight-point advantage over Husted at 53% to 45%, a gap untouched since June.

With Republicans clinging to a slim Senate majority, contests like this one in Ohio are critical in the broader fight for Senate control.

The memo describes data centers as a growing political liability and warns that a Husted defeat could send a message to politicians and the technology industry nationwide.

‘If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one,’ the memo says. ‘This has become a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle.’

Husted’s Democratic challenger, former Senator Sherrod Brown, has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign, allegedly spending millions of dollars on advertising portraying Husted as ‘the face of data centers in Ohio.’

There’s a reason Brown has been able to attach Husted so closely to the industry.

 As Ohio’s lieutenant governor, Husted was a prominent public champion of the state’s effort to attract technology companies.  Ohio has more than 200 data centers, making it the fifth-highest state in the country for the number of data centers.

In 2019, he appeared at the groundbreaking of Google’s $600 million data center in New Albany and touted the project as evidence that Columbus could become the ‘tech hub of the Midwest.’

The Google project received a 15-year state sales-tax exemption estimated at $43.5 million, plus a local property-tax abatement. 

Husted defended the incentives, arguing the economic benefits outweighed the tax breaks and that additional taxes could have driven Google elsewhere.

That history has given Brown an opening.

Brown now argues Ohio’s political establishment handed large technology companies generous incentives while ordinary Ohioans are asked to foot the bill for the industry’s enormous electricity demand. In one recent campaign video, he said major corporations are ‘gobbling up energy to feed their data centers’ while Ohio families face higher electricity costs. 

He has also attacked the state’s data-center tax breaks as too generous for too few jobs — and made Husted the central character in that argument.

 But Brown himself once celebrated data-center development.

In 2015, while serving in the Senate, Brown praised construction of a third data center in central Ohio, calling the Amazon project ‘great news for New Albany and central Ohio’ and saying the expansion showed the region was a place where businesses wanted to invest and families wanted to live.

Nearly a decade later, he is campaigning against the uncontrolled expansion of the same industry. The Daily Mail reached out to Brown’s campaign regarding his 2015 comments.

Husted is no longer defending data-center expansion either. He has increasingly focused on making the companies building the facilities, rather than ordinary ratepayers, bear the cost of the electricity and infrastructure they require. 

In July, he introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act, designed to ensure large electricity users pay for the additional generation, transmission and grid infrastructure needed to serve them.

‘Data centers are, and should remain, a local decision,’ Husted’s campaign says, adding that communities should decide whether projects suit their residents. The campaign points to tax revenue, property-tax relief and construction and skilled-trades jobs.

Husted spokesperson Amy Natoce accused Brown of suddenly embracing the issue in an election year after three decades in Congress to address it.

The fight comes as Ohio has become one of the country’s major data-center hubs. Google says it has invested more than $20 billion in the state since breaking ground in New Albany in 2019. Meta, Vantage and QTS have followed, while Nvidia and OpenAI have announced major projects.

But the scale of that growth is now creating a political problem. Ohio’s data-center tax exemption became a major controversy after the state reported its cost reached nearly $1.6 billion in 2025 — far above earlier projections — fueling questions about whether the benefits justify the incentives.

The issue is spreading rapidly across the country, and Ohio’s neighbor could lead by example. 

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order imposing new guardrails on data-center development. 

It requires developers seeking certain state permitting advantages to meet standards on energy costs, environmental impacts, water use and transparency, and to win local approval before receiving state approval. 

Data centers were also removed from Pennsylvania’s fast-track permitting program.

The order stops short of an outright ban, but the local-approval requirement could effectively prevent some projects from moving forward.

For years, states competed to attract the enormous investments tied to AI and cloud computing. Now they are competing over something else: how much of the industry’s cost their residents should bear.

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Illinois Tollway board convened on Wednesday morning and gave unanimous approval to a significant toll increase plan.

The directors endorsed a comprehensive 15-year initiative, valued at $26 billion, aimed at overhauling and enhancing the tollway infrastructure.

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For drivers, this could mean higher expenses. The proposal would increase car tolls by 45 cents starting in 2027, while commercial tolls are projected to rise by 30 percent.

This initiative represents the largest toll increase ever for the state.

In the lead-up to the decision, tollway officials organized a series of public meetings, which have elicited various responses from stakeholders.

People who support the proposal said the investment could improve safety, create jobs, and help upgrade roads across the state.

The tollway’s “Driving Connections” plan, calls for $26.5 billion in investment over 15 years.

Tolls will increase starting January 1, with additional increases built in every two years.

Under the proposal, the average passenger toll will go up from an average of 7 cents per-mile, to 11 cents per-mile.

The Illinois Tollway points out the rate is less than the national average of 16 cents per-mile.

While it will be more expensive for daily commuters and travelers, the impact to the trucking industry is significantly more costly

Several people have spoken in support of the toll hike Wednesday morning, saying they regularly rely on the tollway system and improved road conditions will be impactful.

“As our communities continue to grow, families like mine can reach home safely and efficiently. Without investment, roads will age,” Emily Crain, who lives in Berwyn, said.

“When that system works well, it expands people’s choices. They can choose where they want to live, where they want to work and where they want to do business that gives people the options without transportation limiting factor,” Laura Newman, a representative of the Batavia mayor’s office, said.

The last time the agency approved raising tolls was back in 2011, a controversial action then that nearly doubled costs for drivers.