Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he’s "privileged to join my favorite hate group and extremist group today."

The multi-millionaire entrepreneur, best-selling author, conservative commentator, and culture wars champion headlined a Moms for Liberty town hall Thursday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

Ramaswamy’s appearance comes just two days after the conservative parental rights group was designed as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Moms for Liberty and 11 other groups on Tuesday were labeled by the SPLC as "anti-government extremist groups" in its annual 2022 Year In Hate and Extremism report. The report charged that Moms for Liberty can be "spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’"

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Moms for Liberty was founded two years ago, amid the coronavirus pandemic, as a "social-welfare" nonprofit group, which means it can engage in political and policy activity without disclosing its donors. The group says its mission is to protect parental rights in education, which they describe as "God-given and fundamental."

According to its website, the mission of the group is to "unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government." It has fought against mask mandates in schools and has targeted critical race theory.

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice told Fox News on Wednesday that the SPLC’s "extremist" label was "absolutely absurd."

"We are a group of moms and dads and grandparents and aunts and uncles, community members that are very concerned about the direction of the country," Justice told "Fox News Tonight."

She added that the group is "upsetting the balance of power in public education" and believes the SPLC is engaging in an "orchestrated attempt" to "stop our voices."

Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital ahead of his appearance alongside Justice at the New Hampshire town hall that he "was proud to be the first GOP presidential candidate to sign the Moms for Liberty pledge. I did it on the spot without apology at CPAC."

SPLC has long been recognized as one of the top research organizations tracking hate and extremism across the country. Its work over the years has targeted self-described militias, anti-immigrant groups and hate groups, and it has successfully sued such groups in court. 

But SPLC has also been criticized for designating as extremist groups some organizations that say they are just taking political positions. And SPLC has itself been sued for labeling groups and individuals as extremists. Many conservatives view the SPLC as a far-left organization.

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Ramaswamy, pointing to his book "Woke, Inc" made the New York Times best-selling list, touted that he "exposed the scam of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that actually takes millions in corporate contributions to then provide cover to those corporations in the kind of political discrimination that they’re engaged in today."

"I’ve exposed this for the last several years. Now it's landing on the doorstep of an organization that I’ve frankly proudly aligned myself with," Ramaswamy said. 

At the town hall, Ramaswamy to the audience that "we as the parents determine the education of our children. That’s a hard truth in America. We do not want the federal government involved in education at all."

And he detailed his vision for educational reform.

"First step shut down the Department of Education. Second step use that funding to close any underfunded gaps in school choice programs across the country," Ramaswamy said.

And Ramaswamy said third, he wants to mandate transparency for schools for on the receiving end of federal education funds.

If you’re going to teach it in the school, it’s got to be online," he said. And Ramaswamy pledged to take ai at public employee teachers unions.

He also would push for a revival of civic pride and civic education in the country, but not through federal mandates 

Ramaswamy believes his alignment with Moms for Liberty sets him apart in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race.

"I think I’m the only candidate who’s really touching these issues with a level of clarity that we’re going need in order to get the job done. It’s no accident, it’s no coincidence, that I’m there to talk to group after being the first candidate to sign their pledge," Ramaswamy said in his Fox News interview.

Moms for Liberty will hold a nation summit in Philadelphia at the end of this month, which will attract a handful of the GOP presidential contenders. Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Ramasamy are scheduled to address the gathering.

Fox News' Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday signed a pair of bills into law banning transgender health care for minors and restricting athletes’ participation in sports to teams that match their biological sex. 

In signing the bill, the Republican governor said Missouri was standing up "to the nonsense" and stands with women and girls who have "fought for an equal opportunity to succeed." 

Parson also said the bill was meant to "protect children from making life-altering decisions that they could come to regret in adulthood once they have physically and emotionally matured."

Starting Aug. 28, Missouri health care providers won't be able to prescribe sex change surgeries for teens and children. Most adults will still have access to transgender health care under the law, but it won’t be covered under Medicaid. 

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Major medical organizations have opposed the bans and supported medical care for youth when administered appropriately. Lawsuits have been filed in several states where bans have been enacted this year.

The bills have infuriated trans rights proponents. Shira Berkowitz, of Missouri’s LGBTQ+ advocacy group PROMO, alleged that the governor had shown "just how little Missouri’s state government values LGBTQ+ lives and, in particular transgender and gender-expansive youth." 

Missouri House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade accused the governor of persecuting "innocent families who are just trying to live their lives in peace." 

The ACLU of Missouri said the bills will be "devastating for trans people of all ages" and vowed to "explore all options to fight these bans and to expand the rights of trans Missourians."

Missouri's bans come amid a national push by conservatives to put restrictions on transgender and nonbinary people, which alongside abortion has become a major theme of state legislative sessions this year.

At least 20 states, including Missouri, have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. 

Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence went after former President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign launch Wednesday, marking his strongest criticisms of his former boss to date.

Pence accused Trump of turning his back on the Constitution and conservative values and policy, as he formally declared his candidacy in Ankeny, Iowa — the state that leads off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

"I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be President of the United States and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the constitution should never be President of the United States again," Pence said of his former two-time running mate. Trump had urged Pence to reject the 2020 presidential election results as he presided over the certification of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pence charged that "when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 he promised to govern as a conservative. And together we did just that. Today he makes no such promise."

Pence joins a growing field of Republican White House contenders that’s currently dominated by Trump. And he's making history. Since the late Vice President John Nance Garner unsuccessfully challenged then-President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 election, no a candidate has campaigned for president against a former running mate.

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"As your vice president, I was proud to stand by President Donald Trump every single day when we made America great," Pence said to a crowd of friends, supporters, and Iowa voters interested to hear what he had to say, who were gathered at Des Moines Area Community College.

Pointing to his rivals for the nomination, Pence said "while some in this contest have already taken to criticizing the record of the Trump-Pence administration, let me be clear, I am incredibly proud of our record and everything we accomplished for the American people.

But the former vice president, who contrasts himself with the controversial former president in terms of tone and tenor, said that "elections are about the future. Different times call for different leaders."

Pence enters the 2024 race polling the mid-single digits, far behind Trump and also significantly trailing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who trails Trump by double-digits but is firmly in second place, ahead of the former vice president and the rest of the field of actual and likely candidates.

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"I’m very confident that we’ll have the support to be able to carry our message, tell our story, which is not just my years as vice president but also years as governor of a conservative state leading a conservative agenda, record employment, as also being a conservative leader in the Congress of the United States, fighting against the big spenders in my own party," Pence emphasized in a Fox News interview this past weekend.

Neither Trump nor his campaign - by the time this story was published on Wednesday - had commented on Pence's entry into the 2024 field.

Pence pledged that "we’ll have the resources to tell our story and my hope is, should we enter the race, that by the time people are making decision, we won’t just be well known, we’ll be known well. They’ll know who the Pences are. They’ll know what our values are, our sense of calling, and I’m confident we can do that."

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, was Indiana governor when Trump named him his running mate in 2016. For four years, Pence served as the loyal vice president to Trump.

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However, everything changed on Jan. 6, 2021, as right-wing extremists — including some chanting "hang Mike Pence" — stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory that was overseen by Pence.

In the more than two years since the end of the Trump administration, the former president and vice president have drifted farther apart. Pence has rebuked his former boss, calling him out by name while discussing Trump's claim that Pence could have overturned the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Pence has described the deadly attack on the Capitol as "tragic" and that "it dishonored the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country." He has emphasized that he did "the right thing" and performed his "duty under the Constitution." He has also noted a number of times that he and Trump may never "see eye to eye on that day."

Hardcore Trump loyalists will likely never forgive Pence, whom they view as a traitor for refusing to reject the 2020 election results.

In his most detailed comments about January 6, Pence said in his address on Wednesday that "given my support for our record, it might be fair to ask why I am challenging my former running mate for the Republican nomination for president," Pence said.

"It begins with a promise I made to the American people and to almighty god… and ends with a two different visions for the future of our party and the country," he said.

"The former president continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump was wrong then and he is wrong now. I will always believe, by Gods grace, I did my duty on that day, I kept my oath, to ensure the peaceful transfer of power under the constitution and the laws of this country."

And he emphasized that the American people deserve to know on that fateful day, "President Trump also demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will," he said to applause from the audience.

Pence went on to criticize Trump over his stance on the war in Ukraine, entitlements, and abortion.

"After leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn. The sanctity of life has been our party’s calling for half a century – long before Donald Trump was ever a part of it. Now he treats it as an inconvenience, even blames our election losses in 2022 on overturning Roe v. Wade," Pence charged.

Taking aim repeatedly at the current president, Pence argued that "this country’s in a lot of trouble. Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad... in many ways our country has grown barely recognizable in just a few short years. There are crises everywhere."

He said "the first step to turning the country around is ending this disastrous presidency, so here in Iowa we must resolve that Joe Biden will never be re-elected as President of the United States."

But Pence pivoted to put the focus back on Trump.

"I know we can beat Joe Biden, but we must resist the politics of personality and silent song of populism unmoored from conservative principles. And we must stand firm on a traditional Republican agenda of a strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, and traditional values that have led us to victory in the past and will lead us to victory again."

Pence's message resonated with many in the crowd.

"I love the integrity of that man. I think he’s honest. I love that God is part of his life. I love that" Darcy from Ames, Iowa told Fox News. "He’s definitely one that I’m really considering."

Erin Leonard, an undecided voter from Windsor Heights, Iowa, said "I’ve been a huge Mike Pence fan forever. I think he’s a good, honest, man."

Leonard said she wants "to know what sets him apart. What makes him the best choice for us, especially here in Iowa."

Matt Haynie, an Army veteran from Boone County, Iowa who also hasn't made up his mind on whom to support in Iowa's presidential caucuses, told Fox News Pence "is a man of integrity, at least that’s what he says. I think he lives it. I hope. I just want to hear what he has to say."

"As a veteran it’s kind of hard to vote for someone who doesn’t have a backbone," he added.

Pence campaigns in Iowa on Thursday before heading Friday to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and second overal contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

Michigan lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue for damages as the state again looks to overhaul laws following multiple sexual abuse scandals.

The legislation, which appeared before a committee Tuesday afternoon, would expand the civil statute of limitations for sex abuse victims from age 28 to 52. If enacted, victims would also have a two-year window to sue retroactively, regardless of the time limit.

The new measures would allow victims of the late Dr. Robert Anderson at the University of Michigan and others additional time to bring lawsuits that have previously been barred by the statute of limitations. Government entities could not use the immunity defense if they knew or should have known of an accused’s prior sexual misconduct and failed to intervene.

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In 2018, Michigan increased the statute of limitations to 28 years old following the conviction of Larry Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of female athletes under the guise of medical treatment, including at Michigan State University.

Advocates say the time limit still denies delayed justice for many victims who often keep trauma to themselves, citing research that shows many victims don't come forward until their 50s. Vermont, Maine and Maryland have removed the statute of limitations for child sex crime lawsuits.

Much of the reform began after reports across the U.S. of abuse dating back decades by Roman Catholic clergy. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel opened an investigation into sexual abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church in 2019, which has resulted in eight criminal convictions to date.

Greg D’Alessandro and Brian Hurtekant spoke publicly for the first time Monday with The Associated Press about abuse they had suffered decades before at the hands of Catholic priests. Both men have been unable to bring civil lawsuits because of Michigan's statute of limitations.

D’Alessandro, who is now 45 years old, has accused two priests of sexually abusing him between the age of 9 and 13 while he was a student in metro Detroit. D’Alessandro said he had repressed memories of the abuse for years and only recently, through hours of therapy, began to understand what happened to him as a child.

"If it’s not the worst thing that one human being can do to another, especially a child in the name of God, then I don't know what is," D’Alessandro said in a phone interview.

Both priests, Lawrence Ventline and Timothy Szott, have been identified by the Archdiocese of Detroit as having been credibly accused. Szott, who was sentenced to 18 months probation after pleading no contest to possession of child pornography in 2003, is now deceased.

Ventline's educationally limited counselor’s license was revoked by a state board in 2019. But Nessel said at the time that "the statute of limitations bars us from prosecuting Mr. Ventline for any crimes we believe he may have committed."

The Associated Press was unable to reach Ventline for comment about the allegations.

Hurtekant, who is now 56, said his abuse began at the age of 13 following the death of his brother. The priest, James Martin Novak, had overseen his brother’s funeral and acted as his therapist as he processed the grief. The sexual abuse began in the sixth grade and continued until the ninth grade, Hurtekant said.

In 2019, the St. Therese Church in Lansing published a list of 17 priests, including Novak, who had been credibly accused of abusing minors. There were 73 allegations against the priests. Novak could not be reached for comment by the AP.

"We were children that were raised in sexual abuse," Hurtekant said. "We deserve our day in court and for justice to be served."

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The House committee did not vote on the package Tuesday after several Democratic lawmakers expressed a desire to amend the legislation to completely eliminate the civil statute of limitations. Jamie White, an attorney representing Hurtekant and D’Alessandro, said they hope to continuing working with lawmakers to make the change.

The package would also create a "Survivors Bill of Rights," that would, among other things, require that survivors are informed of their right to access advocates, attorneys, counselors and other supports as they navigate through the reporting process.

This will be the third time the legislation is introduced in the Michigan Legislature but the first since Democrats took full control of the Legislature and governor's office this year.

Pushback has previously come from universities, schools, municipalities, businesses and the Catholic Church over the financial implications of facing an unknown number of lawsuits for old allegations.

In a statement provided to the AP, the Michigan Catholic Conference, the church's voice in the state for public policy, said it opposed the legislation, explaining it "would unjustly require public and private entities to defend claims from many decades past."

Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is considering whether to join the 2024 Republican governor’s race, nearly three years after his reelection bid was derailed by allegations that he drunkenly groped four women during a party.

Hill built a following among social conservatives during his time in office and his entry into the governor’s race could further complicate what already is shaping up to be an expensive fight for the Republican nomination. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden are already vying to replace Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who can’t seek reelection because of term limits.

Hill expects to make a decision in the coming weeks as he and his wife "are carefully praying for guidance," he said in a statement provided to The Associated Press by his political advising firm.

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"At a time when Hoosiers are hungry for fresh leadership, it is crucial that we distinguish between those who genuinely represent conservative values and those who simply say they do," Hill said. "Our state deserves a proven conservative who has the guts to challenge the Indianapolis status quo and the grit to stand up against the Washington, D.C., crowd."

Hill, 62, won election as state attorney general in 2016 after 14 years as the prosecutor in northern Indiana’s Elkhart County. Hill had been seen as a rising African American star among Republicans and built himself up as an anti-abortion and tough-on-crime crusader, making appearances on Fox News to discuss topics such as San Francisco’s troubles with homelessness.

Hill faced calls for his resignation from Holcomb and many other state Republican leaders after allegations became public that he groped the women during a 2018 party at an Indianapolis bar. He denied wrongdoing but the state Supreme Court ordered a 30-day suspension of his law license after finding "by clear and convincing evidence that (Hill) committed the criminal act of battery" against three female legislative staffers and a state lawmaker during the party.

The allegations were a key campaign issue when he narrowly lost the 2020 Republican attorney general nomination for his reelection to Todd Rokita, who took office in January 2021.

Hill failed in another attempted political comeback last year when he lost a vote among Republican precinct committee members to replace U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski on the election ballot following her death in a highway crash. Business executive Rudy Yakym won the GOP nomination and election for northern Indiana’s 2nd District seat.

Even though Hill finished a distant second, the caucus vote showed that Hill still had a base of supporters and could further split conservative voters in a competitive race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said Steve Shine, who’s been the Republican chairman in Allen County, which includes the state's second-largest city, Fort Wayne, for more than 30 years.

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"Add that to what he has had to go through, because if it was so damning, he wouldn’t have been in second place. He would have been at the end of the pack rather than at the top of it," said Shine, who hasn’t endorsed any candidate.

Hill, however, would be entering the race far behind in campaign fundraising.

Braun, Crouch and Doden all started this year with campaign bank accounts approaching or exceeding $3 million and have raised at least hundreds of thousands more since then. Hill’s state campaign reported ending 2022 with about $20,000.

Whoever captures the Republican nomination will be looking to extend the party’s dominance in the state, which includes winning five straight governor elections since 2004. Former state schools Superintendent Jennifer McCormick, who won election as a Republican in 2016 alongside Hill and Holcomb but later broke with the Statehouse GOP, is the only declared candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.