June 3, 2026

The AP has published Tuesday Election Results here. Click on the state names at the top to read each state's results.

Top California Races. Jill Cowan & Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: “Voters in the nation’s second-largest city appeared likely to elevate the Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt into a runoff with Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, after a bombastic primary campaign in which he tapped into simmering anger over her handling of homelessness and last year’s devastating Palisades fire.

“In the governor’s race, a Trump-endorsed Republican held a narrow lead in early votes over two Democrats, though that anticipated 'red mirage' is likely to shift significantly as mail-in votes expected to tilt heavily Democratic are counted over days, if not weeks. Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, held a slim margin over the former Biden administration official Xavier Becerra, who would be the state’s first Latino governor since 1875. But it was far too early to draw conclusions about who will advance to the general election in November. Billionaire Tom Steyer, also a Democrat, was in third.”

Iowa Senate Race. Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: “Josh Turek, a Paralympic gold medalist and state legislator, won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Iowa on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, defeating a progressive rival to capture the nomination in a contest that tested the party’s anti-establishment fervor. Mr. Turek beat Zach Wahls, another state legislator, who rose to national attention in 2011 with a three-minute speech he made as a teenager at the Iowa Capitol defending his lesbian parents. Running as a self-described 'prairie populist,' Mr. Turek, 47, cast himself as a 'battle-tested' candidate who could win the support of independents and Republicans in a state ... [Donald] Trump won three times.” The NBC News story is here. ~~~

The New York Times liveblogged elections results: 

Iowa Gubernatorial Race. Reid Epstein: “Republican voters in Iowa dealt a shock defeat to ... [Donald] Trump on Tuesday, narrowly rejecting his chosen candidate for governor in favor of another conservative contender who ran as a political outsider. The primary loss for Representative Randy Feenstra, whom the president endorsed on Friday afternoon, came at a time of mixed signals of Mr. Trump’s power over the Republican Party. He has won a series of dominant primary victories over Republican opponents.... Mr. Feenstra was toppled on Tuesday by Zach Lahn, a conservative political operative and farmer who ran an insurgent campaign.... The result sets up a general election that Democrats believe is their best chance to flip a governorship. The Democrat in the race is Rob Sand, the state auditor, who is mounting a well-funded campaign to succeed Gov. Kim Reynolds, who did not seek re-election.” Politico has a stand-alone story here.

New Jersey House Race. “Dr. Adam Hamawy, who was endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, won a crowded Democratic primary for a deep-blue House district in central New Jersey. A retired Army surgeon, Dr. Hamawy is best known for helping to save the life of Tammy Duckworth, now a senator from Illinois. He is running to succeed Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, who did not seek re-election.”

New Mexico Gubernatorial Race. “Deb Haaland, who served as interior secretary during the Biden administration, won an easy victory in the Democratic primary for governor of New Mexico without an endorsement from the former president.” NBC News has a stand-alone story here.

New Jersey Senate Race. Daniel Han of Politico: “Justin Murphy, a former Senate candidate with no money in his campaign account, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, making him the party’s choice in a longshot race against the popular incumbent, Democrat Cory Booker.... New Jersey hasn’t elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972, and with New Jersey’s blue tilt, that trend isn’t expected to end anytime soon. And he has no money to spend against Booker’s juggernaut campaign.”

New Jersey House Race. Kyle Stewart of NBC News: “Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot and healthcare executive, has won the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, NBC News projects, setting up a general election campaign against Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. Bennett defeated physician Tina Shah, former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth and business owner Brian Varela for the Democratic nomination. Now, she will take on Kean in a district that ... Donald Trump carried by just 1 percentage point in 2024, making it one of the most tightly divided districts in the country.... Kean has not voted in the Capitol or been seen in public since March 5 because of what his office describes as a 'personal medical issue.'”

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Trump Doesn't Know What He's Doing. Michael Crowley of the New York Times: “For years, the U.S. government has conducted war games dealing with potential conflicts with Iran, including ones at the Pentagon attended by dozens of military officials and policymakers. Over and over, participants say, they concluded that Iran would respond to a major American attack by closing the strait of Hormuz.... In mid-February, shortly before ... [Donald] Trump launched the war on Iran, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ... publicized [drills designed to practice controlling the strait].... Mr. Trump has been aware of that risk since at least his first term as president.... A look back at the run-up to the war makes clear that Mr. Trump both underestimated Iran’s ability to shut down the strait and overestimated America’s ability to reopen it if necessary.”

Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said on Tuesday he was withdrawing a proposal to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people claiming to be victims of unfair prosecution, amid a revolt among Republicans who saw it as an ethical and political disaster. 'We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,' Mr. Blanche told members of a House Appropriations subcommittee. He repeated himself to make clear that he meant the fund proposal would be permanently withdrawn. His statement could break an impasse with Senate Republicans, who had demanded the fund be scrapped as a precondition for passing a major immigration enforcement bill. Opponents had described the proposal as a slush fund for allies of ... [Donald] Trump. But Mr. Blanche said he would leave in place an order he signed last month that would, in effect, block the I.R.S. from investigating Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses for existing tax violations.

“Outraged Democrats accused Mr. Blanche, the president’s former defense lawyer, of cutting a sweetheart deal that would let the president and his family avoid a potential $100 million penalty.... Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut..., accused Mr. Blanche of prioritizing the president’s financial interests over the public good. 'You do not belong in this job,' she added.” MB: Once again, NYT reporters understate the case. For one thing, Blanche's word is useless: it isn't binding, he and Trump can put a slush fund back in place at any time. Second, Blanche's immunity deal would not only save Trump & Co. tens of millions of dollars in back taxes and penalties; it also holds Trump, et al., harmless from other fraudulent and criminal acts they may have committed. Forevah. Politico's story is here. The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~Andrew Duehren & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “The Justice Department is standing by an extraordinary measure giving ... [Donald] Trump, his family and his businesses potentially lucrative protection from I.R.S. investigations, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said on Tuesday.... These protections could be immensely valuable to Mr. Trump and his family, who have faced repeated audits from the Internal Revenue Service. Just one investigation by the I.R.S. stemmed in part from how Mr. Trump claimed losses on his Chicago tower could have cost him more than $100 million, The New York Times has reported. The Trump Organization had recently entered settlement talks with the I.R.S. to try to resolve the audit.... Tax lawyers and former I.R.S. officials have said that the protection for Mr. Trump was unprecedented in its scope and form, particularly since it extends to 'affiliates' of the Trumps.”

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday named Bill Pulte, who has pressed for investigations into the president’s foes, to serve as the acting director of national intelligence, giving him oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies. He will replace Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month that she was stepping down to care for her husband, who has cancer. Mr. Pulte, who leads the federal housing finance agency, has no known background in intelligence, defense or national security, but he has been among the most aggressive advocates for prosecuting Democrats and others perceived by Mr. Trump as having crossed him. The director of national intelligence is a cabinet post that oversees 18 intelligence agencies and supervises the production of the President’s Daily Brief, the compendium of intelligence analysis viewed by senior policymakers....

“Democrats immediately denounced [the appointment], saying that Mr. Pulte did not have the national security experience the law creating the office required. Multiple senior Republicans also voiced doubts. We don’t need a weaponized D.N.I.,' Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, told reporters. 'We need professionals there.'... Mr. Trump ... nam[ed] Mr. Pulte to the national intelligence post on an acting basis. Mr. Pulte will continue to run the housing agency while taking on the new position.... The Federal Vacancies Reform Act generally limits acting officials to a base line of 210 days.” Some of this reporting was linked yesterday in a NYT liveblog.

     ~~~ Paul Krugman: "Donald Trump will never admit that his gratuitous Iran war has been a total disaster. But the debacle has clearly broken him. So we are now saddled with a president who has given up governing, but will maintain his grip on power wherever he can. And his power will be exclusively focused on rage and revenge.... Pointing out that [Bill] Pulte is unqualified for his new job doesn’t convey the extent to which Trump is trolling America with this new appointment. For Pulte isn’t merely unqualified for a sensitive national security position. He’s unqualified, intellectually and morally, for any government position. All he has are the qualifications that matter to Trump: he is a shameless lackey and willing hitman for Trump’s vendettas." Even Pulte's own family firm has kicked him out.... [Trump] wants to punish everyone he imagines has wronged him but has lost all interest in making the government work, even for nefarious purposes. So he don’t need no intelligence, just someone who will indulge his rage. And that will be Pulte’s job."~~~

     ~~~ Hayes Brown of MS NOW: "... Pulte’s appointment makes slightly more sense when you consider his place in Trump’s orbit. The 38-year-old heir to his family’s massive home construction company shares the president’s love of social media bullying, golf and abusing power for personal gain. In currying Trump’s favor, he’s become the boy who cried 'fraud,' using his limited portfolio to find leverage against the president’s enemies. With the broader remit his new perch provides, Pulte could do much more harm that he already has, opening the door to threats both foreign and domestic.... Over the past year, Pulte has referred at least four members of Trump’s enemies list — New York Attorney General Letitia James, then-Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — to the Justice Department for investigation for alleged mortgage fraud. In all but one of the cases he has passed on to prosecutors, no charges have come about — a testament to the flimsiness of the evidence Pulte provided in his." The law, BTW, requires the DNI to have "extensive national security experience." Pulte has none.

Being Trump Means Never Having to Obey the Law. Nate Jones of the New York Times: “The newly operational Trump Presidential Library, the entity responsible for preserving records from the White House, says that it cannot find a single Twitter direct message sent by a president who tweeted more than 25,000 times during his first administration. This no-records response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Washington Post comes as the Trump administration argues it does not need to follow the Presidential Records Act, a law designed to ensure the public has access to records of the president after he leaves office.... If Trump did send DMs [-- direct messages --] and did not preserve them, he may have violated the Presidential Records Act as it has been understood for decades. The act requires departing presidents to turn over all records 'which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President' to the National Archives. This includes direct messages sent via any type of software or application.”

Trumpism Means Never Having to Tell the Truth. Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “Nearly one month before America’s 250th birthday, its federal government and first capital city fought over the basics of the nation’s origin story in front of a three-judge appeals court panel in Philadelphia on Tuesday. At issue was the Trump administration’s power to alter a memorial to enslaved people who lived at George Washington’s residence in the city in the 18th century. The National Park Service removed placards and video displays commemorating the history of slavery on the site in January in response to a sweeping executive order from ... [Donald] Trump that claimed to be rolling back a 'distorted narrative' of America, one intended to foster 'a sense of national shame.' The city of Philadelphia sued over the changes, and a judge ordered that the site be restored. The Trump administration then appealed. At Tuesday’s hearing, a Justice Department attorney said the Trump administration had the power to make the changes and to potentially further alter the site by removing the names of nine enslaved people that are carved into a stone monument. Such changes were 'curatorial' in nature, said the attorney, Gregory in den Berken, and the federal government, not the city, has the right to curate the site since Philadelphia turned the property over to the federal government under the terms of a 2006 agreement.” ~~~

~~~ Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: “Historians, political leaders and others worry that America’s 250th birthday, which might have been an opportunity to pull a divided country together, is becoming so much about Trump that it will instead be just one more polarizing event on the national landscape.... The most visible elements of the national celebration are taking shape not in classrooms, fairgrounds or parade routes, but in a slate of events driven by the White House and centered on Trump. Through a presidential task force he created by executive order, naming himself as chairman, he has advanced initiatives that aim to define how the milestone is seen and experienced.”

Pro-Trump Terrorist to Take on Top-Secret Pentagon Counterterrorism Role. Tara Copp & Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “A convicted Jan. 6 rioter who later said that he regretted his participation in the U.S. Capitol attack has been hired by the Trump administration to work inside a Pentagon office that manages highly classified military operations, according to four people.... The appointment of Elias Irizarry, who was 19 at the time of the riot in 2021, to a post in the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office has raised alarm internally among staff who question how anyone convicted in the assault on American democracy could be trusted for such a sensitive role in the U.S. government.... Irizarry is assigned to the office’s irregular warfare and counterterrorism section, the people ... said. The team comprises about 40 people, and its portfolio includes operations such as embassy security, personnel recovery and hostage rescue. Two people characterized the work as among the most delicate that the Pentagon performs. All positions, they said, require a top-secret security clearance.” Update: the link has been changed to a gift link.

Stephanie Nolen & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated on Tuesday that the United States may resume its funding of a global vaccines alliance that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled the United States out of last year, an unusual public rebuke of Mr. Kennedy’s involvement in matters of global health. Testifying on Capitol Hill, Mr. Rubio told senators that ... [Donald] Trump had asked the State Department to allow Mr. Kennedy to “play a leading role” in the decision on whether to fund Gavi, an organization that provides immunizations for low-income nations and maintains the global Ebola vaccine stockpile. But Mr. Rubio suggested in pointed testimony that he was reclaiming control of the U.S. relationship with Gavi, which has historically been managed by the State Department. The State Department is 'going to re-engage on the issue of Gavi,' Mr. Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In Trumplandia, violating the law is not the exclusive prerogative of the President*: ~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: “Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin repeatedly refused Tuesday to commit to following court orders from judges who rule that the Department of Homeland Security is acting illegally. In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since confirmation as secretary two months ago, the former Oklahoma Republican senator told lawmakers that DHS 'will never break the Constitution, and we’re not going to break the law.' But Mullin also would not vow to abide by rulings from judges. 'If we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that, Mullin said. 'But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.' Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the panel that funds DHS, noted that even Republican-appointed judges have said the department has violated almost 100 court orders this year.” ~~~

~~~ Here's One Reason Markwayne Has Decided He's Above the Law. Kyle Cheney of Politico (May 13): “Ten thousand losses. That’s the Trump administration’s track record in court as federal judges grapple with the way ICE agents have swept through major U.S. cities and detained thousands of people in support of ... Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda. More than 10,000 times, judges have said those detentions, typically carried out with no opportunity for detainees to plead their case, were illegal. That’s roughly 90 percent of all cases — a staggering rejection of a core piece of Trump’s immigration agenda. Trump’s unprecedented detention policy, which is almost certainly headed to the Supreme Court, infuriated lower courts in ways no other modern issue has. It ruptured the relationship between the Justice Department and the judiciary; pitted the administration against itself; and upended innumerable lives — not just of the people swept up by immigration agents, but of their spouses and children, many of whom are U.S. citizens.” Via Heather Cox Richardson. 

Marie: The New York Times article linked below does not fully capture what this Supreme Court just did. I'll see if I can find a story that does. The bottom line is that the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an Alabama map the Supreme Court itself had previously ruled was unconstitutionally racist is the map that now should prevail. The "justices" are endorsing racism. Not "figuratively"; not "effectively"; not "seemingly." They are flat-out endorsing and approving a map designed to prevent Black voters from choosing their own representation. ~~~

~~~ Ku Klux Kourt Rules That Racism Is Mighty Fine. Abbie VanSickle & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday night cleared the way for Alabama to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district, a win for Republicans as they fight to hold onto their slim majority in the House. The ruling served as the first major test since the justices in April raised the bar to bring legal challenges under the landmark Voting Rights Act. The decision was unsigned, but the court’s three liberal justices joined in dissent. The ruling’s practical effect is that Alabama can swap out its current congressional district map, which has two majority-Black districts, for a map that has only one — giving the Republicans a crucial advantage in flipping the seat back into conservative hands. But with the order, the court also sent a message for how it will view discrimination claims going forward.

“The justices struck down a unanimous ruling by a panel of three federal judges that had found that the map with only one majority-Black district discriminated against Black voters by diluting the power of their votes. The lower court had concluded that there was evidence the map had been drawn intentionally to discriminate, but the justices rejected that finding, writing that the lower court’s analysis had 'departed' from the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act decision.” Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog: "In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court is allowing Alabama to change its congressional district lines at the last minute to impose a map that the Legislature had passed and that a three-judge federal court found intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The three liberal Justices dissented, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor that is unassailably right. The majority’s opinion accompanying the ruling is astounding, and in fact is potentially just as significant as Callais despite its brevity and tentative nature given that it is a shadow docket ruling. The way it is written makes me have no doubt it was drafted by Justice Alito, who has concocted an elaborate edifice across numerous cases to make it virtually impossible for minority voters to elect representatives of their choice....

"As Justice Sotomayor shows, the Supreme Court erred in so many ways. It did not review the district court’s factual findings for clear error. It did not recognize that the lower court applied the presumption of good faith but had ample evidence that Alabama acted in bad faith by flouting the ruling of the district court in the hopes (fulfilled here) that the Supreme Court would see things differently. It allows changes at the last minute after Alabama had represented to the Court earlier in the litigation that it would need months to make the kinds of changes that election administrators will have to make in days."

A Trump Pardon Is a License to Keep on Criming. David Yaffe-Bellany & Sharon LaFranier of the New York Times: “Federal authorities are investigating whether former Representative George Santos engaged in insider trading by betting on a prediction market about whether he would show up at ... [Donald] Trump’s State of the Union address in late February. Just before the speech, Mr. Santos announced on social media that he planned to attend. Whether he would be there or not was a hot topic among online bettors on the prediction market Kalshi, who were wagering on the guest list. 'I’m gonna be in the gallery,' Mr. Santos teased in a video on X. But Mr. Santos missed the speech, and around the time of the event, Kalshi detected that Mr. Santos had bet against his own attendance, according to a person familiar.... The company referred the matter to the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a financial regulator that oversees prediction markets, the person said.” NPR's story is here.

Trumpolini Gets the Network He Wants. Punk Fires Pelley. Benjamin Mullin & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, jettisoning one of the network’s best-known journalists in a clash over the future of '60 Minutes,' the country’s top-rated news program. Mr. Pelley, 68, a '60 Minutes' correspondent and a former anchor of 'CBS Evening News,' ... accused the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of 'murdering “60 Minutes,”' citing the ouster last week of the program’s leadership team and two on-air correspondents.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has reproduced new "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton's remarkably whiney-baby letter firing Pelley. He is taking away Pelley's livelihood, but never mind Pelley. The letter is all about Belton: about how qualified he is to run "60 Minutes," about how Pelley hurt Belton's feelings. Boo-fucking-hoo. I assume this letter represents the quality of this little prick's work. In other words, not ready for prime Times, much less the nation's top-rated news show. Update: Here's Bilton's letter to Pelley via Yahoo! Entertainment News.

Is There a Keyboardist in the House? Claire Moses of the New York Times: “After a musician fell ill during a live performance of the score from 'La La Land,' the composer Justin Hurwitz asked for a sight reader. A 21-year-old student -- Sterling Nasa -- stepped up [at the urging of his friend.]... The performance included a solo on the keyboard during the song 'Start a Fire,' which is sung and performed by John Legend in the film. Mr. Nasa improvised and received loud cheers from the audience.”

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Maine Senate Race. Has Baggage, Will Travel. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Graham Platner, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine who is facing new scrutiny of his past behavior, came to Washington on Tuesday and drew a nervous and somewhat standoffish reception from the Senate Democrats he hoped to join. Mr. Platner, an oyster farmer who is running against Senator Susan Collins, a five-term Republican, invited the entire Senate Democratic caucus for an afternoon meeting, but only about half a dozen senators were seen entering the building for the meeting. Earlier, Mr. Platner had a 30-minute, one-on-one session with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, according to two people.... Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Mr. Schumer dodged repeated questions about Mr. Platner after reports last weekend that the candidate had sent sexual messages to women outside his marriage. The revelations stoked worries among some Democrats that Mr. Platner, who has already survived several controversies, has more political baggage that has yet to emerge.”