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House Republicans are eyeing a prime pickup opportunity in Virginia, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., announced her retirement early on Monday.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is leaving the House to run for governor. 

“Nothing is going right for Democrats in Virginia’s Seventh District, but the NRCC is all hands on deck to flip this now-open seat and grow the House Republican majority,” the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, said minutes after Spanberger’s announcement. 

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“Spanberger joining the other swing-district Democrats racing for the exits makes House Democrats’ climb out of the minority that much steeper.”

Her 7th Congressional District encompasses part of Northern and Central Virginia. Democrats’ chances of holding onto it sunk in response to Spanberger — the nonpartisan Cook Political Report downgraded the district from a “Likely” Democrat hold to just “leaning” blue.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

Spanberger’s district would not be a far-fetched victory for the GOP. She won the seat from Republican incumbent Rep. David Brat in 2018 and only narrowly won re-election both in 2020 and 2022. She was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the last election cycle.

Republicans currently hold the House by a narrow four-seat majority.

Holding onto that edge will have to come with both flipping new swing districts like Spanberger’s and defending their own vulnerable members in places like New York. 

Cook Political Report projects 170 solidly Democratic seats compared to Republicans holding 190. The left is also projected to have 40 possible swing seats and 33 on the right.

“When we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians — lowering prescription drug prices, growing the middle class, lowering costs and easing inflation,” Spanberger said in her campaign debut video.

“No more using teachers and our kids as political pawns. It’s about focusing on recruiting and retaining teachers so all of our kids can succeed, and stopping extremists from shredding women’s reproductive rights.”

If she wins the Democratic primary, it will not be current GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin who Spanberger would be facing. Virginia’s constitution forbids governors from serving more than one consecutive term.

Maryanne Trump Barry, the older sister of former President Donald Trump, has died Monday at the age of 86, the New York City Police Department has confirmed to Fox News.

Barry was a former federal appellate judge who retired in April 2019, according to the New York Times.

In 2016, Trump called his sister a “highly respected judge” while noting they disagree on public policy issues.

Four years later, Trump dismissed secret audio recordings released of Barry saying he had “no principles” and was “cruel.”

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“Every day it’s something else, who cares?” Trump said in a statement at the time, according to the Washington Post.

The Post’s story about the recordings appeared one day after the White House hosted a private memorial service for Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother, who died Aug. 15, 2020, at age 71.

The recordings of Barry were made by Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, who published a scathing tell-all book on the president and their family.

“Donald is cruel,” Barry told her niece in the secretly recorded conversation in 2018.

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“All he wants to do is appeal to his base. He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this,” she allegedly said in the recording published by the Post, referring to the Trump administrations’s so-called zero-tolerance policy at the U.S.-Mexico border that led to children being separated from their parents amid immigration court hearings. The policy was later rescinded.

During her legal career, Barry worked as a federal prosecutor before being nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan to the Federal District Court in New Jersey in 1983, the New York Times reports.

In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the newspaper added.

Shortly after Trump was sworn in as president in 2017, Barry then told that court she would stop hearing cases, according to the New York Times.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The attorneys general of more than two dozen states are urging new House Speaker Mike Johnson to prioritize legislation that would open the door to state officials acting as federal immigration officers – as one way to tackle the ongoing migrant crisis.

“We, Attorneys General for 26 States, write to congratulate you on being elected Speaker of the House and to urge you to use your new position to prioritize enactment of the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act of 2023, H.R. 1337, or similar legislation giving States more authority to combat illegal immigration,” the letter, led by Florida AG Ashley Moody, says.

H.R. 1337 was introduced last year in the House by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla. It says that if a state AG finds that the head of the Department of Homeland Security is “not adequately fulfilling his non-discretionary duties” in enforcing U.S. immigration law – particularly on the arrest, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants – state officials may request in writing that DHS do so.

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The secretary can then either follow the request or authorize state officials to act as immigration officers on behalf of the federal government in apprehending, arresting and deporting illegal immigrants. If the secretary does not comply within 30 days, the attorney general can file a civil action in a U.S. district court to enforce those requirements.

However, state officials say it has yet to receive a hearing in the House, and are hoping that may change under a new speaker. The letter notes record numbers of migrant encounters — including terror watchlist encounters — by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the southern border in FY 23.

 “Had Congress acted sooner, the U.S. might not be setting yet another record for CBP encounters at the border. We will never know, but if we take action now to give states the authority to do the job [President] Biden and [DHS Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas refuse to do, we could prevent another record next year.”

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“It is surprising to us that H.R. 1337 and other similar proposed laws have received so little attention, and we hope that under your leadership that will change,” they say, requesting a hearing “on an expedited basis.”

The state officials also cite the increased amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border, including a 110lb seizure in Rio Grande Valley in September, as well as the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel as a sign of a possible terror threat at the U.S. border.

The AGs note a number of court cases they have launched against the administration but say that “the judicial system alone is not a sufficient battlefield to quickly and adequately address” the crisis.

In a separate statement, Moody noted her lawsuit to stop the mass release of migrants without court dates into the interior, while also re-expressing her concerns about the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. and the potential threat posed by terrorists.

“Congress must pass the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act and allow states to do the job Biden refuses to do – as the terror threat continues to grow – secure the border and protect Americans,” she said.

House Republicans, meanwhile, have passed sweeping legislation to increase border security and limit asylum and parole releases into the interior, but it has yet to be considered by the Senate. Senate Republicans last week introduced their own border proposals as part of discussions surrounding the White House’s supplemental budget request — but they were quickly rejected by Senate Democrats.

The White House is requesting from Congress $14 billion for its ongoing border operations, including money for migrant services and housing, anti-fentanyl technology and more border agents.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was blasted this week after its administrators acknowledged the university stopped short of expelling anti-Israel student protesters because of “visa issues.”

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement Nov. 9 that the school would merely suspend students who participated in the disruptive protest from non-academic campus activities to avoid “collateral consequences for the students, such as visa issues.” One day earlier, the Coalition Against Apartheid, a pro-Palestinian student group, conducted a large protest that Kornbluth confirmed defied MIT policies governing student actions.

“In late morning, the face-to-face confrontation between the protesters and counterprotesters intensified,” Kornbluth said. “We had serious concerns that it could lead to violence. To prevent further escalation and protect the physical safety of everyone present – including both student protesters and passers-by in our busiest lobby — the administration felt it was essential to take action.”

“The students will remain enrolled at MIT and will be able to attend academic classes and labs,” she continued, noting some of the protesters’ “visa issues.” “We will refer this interim action to the Ad Hoc Complaint Response Team, which includes the chair of the Committee on Discipline, for final adjudication.”

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MIT was quickly criticized for the decision because, prior to the disruptive protest, the school threatened to expel any students who acted in violation of its guidance and policies regarding such actions. Kornbluth’s statement, they argued, appeared to contradict that previous promise.

“So MIT was going to suspend these students for clearly and deliberately violating the rules after repeated warnings, but decided not to because it could lead to their visas being revoked,” A.G. Hamilton, a conservative comentator and author, wrote on X. “It seems that’s something the students should have considered beforehand…”

“‘Visa issues’ are not only a reason to suspend these pro-Hamas foreigners from school, but also to deport them immediately,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., added in a post of his own.

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Israel War Room, a group that tracks attacks against Jewish people, posted a video Sunday which appeared to show anti-Israel protesters boasting that they successfully got the university to “back down” from its prior threats. The group said in the post: “Who is in charge, MIT?”

“MIT didn’t want to punish antisemitic foreign students harassing American Jews on campus because suspension would lead to deportation under the student visa rules,” conservative lawyer Marina Medvin said on X. “So MIT chose to help the antisemites instead of punishing them. Morality run amok.” 

“MIT is one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. These days, foreigners make up about 30% of the MIT student body,” she continued. “Jewish students, on the other hand, make up about 6% of the MIT student body — a campus minority.”

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Additionally, Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist who founded two left-wing groups, the New Democrat Network and the New Policy Institute, also criticized MIT administrators.

“This is not an easy time for University leaders but holy cow how is that okay?”

Meanwhile, Pro-Israel student group MIT Israel Alliance and its supporters have blasted school staff in recent weeks for having “no clear response” to the Coalition Against Apartheid’s alleged repeated harassment of Jewish students and staff members.

In a statement, the pro-Jewish group said, “With each passing day, MIT admin’s silence makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe at MIT.”

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MIT staff separately told Fox News Digital that the administration has “received additional complaints about conduct by individual protesters and counterprotesters, and will be following up on those promptly.”

MIT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fox News Digital reporter Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.