Election highlights: Midterm matchups take shape in California, Iowa, New Jersey and 3 other states

Democrat Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors, has advanced to the general election for retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi's House seat, NBC News projects.

Chan joins state Sen. Scott Wiener in a Democrat-versus-Democrat contest to succeed Pelosi, the former speaker of the House.

The result means that progressive activist Saikat Chakrabarti, who once served as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, will not make the general election.

California’s crowded, protracted gubernatorial primary is going to take a little more time to settle.

The race remained too early to call Wednesday morning with 50% of the expected vote counted, according to NBC News’ Decision Desk. Three main candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican, and two Democrats, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire activist Tom Steyer — are competing for two spots in the general election, with the candidate in fourth place, Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, running well behind.

Hilton had 27% support in the all-party primary with about half of votes still left to count, while Becerra had 26% and Steyer had 20%. Bianco was the only other candidate in double digits, at 11%.

Read the full story here.

Lahn narrowly defeated Rep. Randy Feenstra in the GOP primary for governor and will face Democrat Rob Sand, the state auditor, in the fall.

Zach Lahn says ‘wealthy donors’ won't decide Iowa's future

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Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra looked back at his own “underdog story,” from his immigrant relatives to his bid for California governor, which took some time to catch fire, in a speech to supporters late on election night.

“Almost immediately, he’s counted out, an afterthought, overlooked by many, outspent by a ton, even called along the way to drop out and save us the trouble,” Becerra recounted. “Well, guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight. Like my parents, I never gave up.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass opened a sizable lead Tuesday night in her run for re-election, but not enough to win a majority, meaning she advanced to a runoff election in November, NBC News projects.

Bass will face either reality television star Spencer Pratt, who remains in second, or city councilmember Nithya Raman, who trails in third.

NBC News has not projected a result for second place.

I think Republicans in California have come to have nightmares about the mail-in vote, because so many Republican candidacies have sunk in the slow bleed of post-election night.

Those counts can last days or weeks as the incredibly blue vote-by-mail is tabulated in California.

So that's what's on my mind when I see the results coming out of California. You've seen Republicans have pretty good election nights in California, only to have terrible days and weeks afterward in the mail-in vote, so I think that's the question here.

Republican state Rep. James Gallagher, the former state Assembly minority leader, will join Congress as its newest member after he won California’s 1st District special election, NBC News projects.

Gallagher will fill the seat left vacant when Republican Doug LaMalfa died this year at age 65, after he secured a majority of votes cast in today’s special election, avoiding a runoff.

After he is sworn in, Gallagher will serve in Congress until the end of LaMalfa’s term this year, giving Republicans another vote to pad their slim majority. His election will give Republicans 218 votes in the House to Democrats’ 212, with four vacancies and an independent who caucuses with Republicans.

But he may not be in Congress for long, thanks to how California Democrats carved up the district as part of their redistricting push.

Read the full story here.

Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.

Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.

Trump did not issue an endorsement. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”

Read the full story here.

Yes, Trump endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra in the closing days of the Iowa Republican primary for governor, which Feenstra has conceded to Zach Lahn. But there was another last-minute endorsement that could have had an impact in the race.

Steve Deace, an influential conservative radio host in the state, had endorsed Adam Steen in the primary. But over the weekend, he urged his followers to vote for Lahn.

“If you want to stop Randy Feenstra from handing our state over to Rob Sand, then you need to vote for Zach Lahn on Tuesday,” Deace, referring to the Democratic candidate for governor, said in a video Lahn shared Saturday on X. “Zach is the only candidate with the momentum and the possibility of beating Randy Feenstra.”

With nearly half of the Los Angeles vote accounted for, Mayor Karen Bass is leading with 36.5% of the vote and Republican Spencer Pratt is behind her at 30.3%.

Republican Spencer Pratt; Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.  Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file

Pratt is now double digits ahead of Democrat Nithya Raman. He is significantly closer to Bass for first place than he is to Raman for third place. That's a significant development.

We are still waiting for the same-day vote, which typically leans toward Republicans. Right now Pratt is being pushed forward by early in-person votes.

If the same-day vote is another boost like that for Pratt, he would be breathing right down her neck and way ahead of Raman.

Rep. Randy Feenstra conceded to businessman Zach Lahn in Iowa’s Republican primary for governor tonight as party voters rejected Trump’s late endorsement.

NBC News has not projected a result in the primary. But Billy Fuerst, a spokesperson for Feenstra’s campaign, confirmed that he has conceded to Lahn.

Up to this point, no Trump-backed candidate for governor, the House or the Senate has lost a primary in the midterm elections.

With 98% of the expected vote counted, Lahn had 37.8% of the vote to 37% for Feenstra.

Read the full story here.

Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles, conceded in the California gubernatorial race tonight, saying it “didn’t turn out the way we hoped.”

“California is at an inflection point, and our representatives and my Party need to start taking these challenges seriously so that we can once again make California the envy of the nation and the globe,” Villaraigosa wrote in a statement.

Villaraigosa didn't concede to any specific candidate. He was one of eight candidates in the crowded primary field. NBC News characterizes the race as too early to call.

A loss for Randy Feenstra in the Iowa GOP primary for governor would be a blow for Trump, who has picked numerous winners in Republican primaries this year.

None of the Trump-backed candidates for governor, the Senate or the House have lost their primaries so far, according to an NBC News analysis of primary results and Trump endorsements. Three Trump-backed candidates in statewide races in Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana are competing in primary runoffs later this month.

Many of Trump's preferred candidates are incumbent Republicans who have not faced GOP primaries. But his endorsement helped oust several sitting Republicans in primaries in May.

Just a reminder that the vast majority of votes in California are cast by mail, and this vote has been coming in well before Election Day.

What that allows counties to do is take vast piles of ballots and begin to process them, get them ready and report them out. The votes that arrived before Election Day can be reported out in one big batch. So everything you're going to be seeing initially from these counties is going to be that, and the next phase is going to layer in on top.

We expect the vote that was cast in person in most of these big counties to be reported within the first hour to 90 minutes. Some folks went in person today and did it. Some folks did it early in California, so that gets reported next, and generally, what that will do in the first 90 minutes or so is get us close to about two-thirds of the vote statewide having been counted.

The question at that point will be whether there is enough clarity to know the top two candidates moving on to a general election.

Randy Feenstra is Trump-endorsed and backed by the Republican Governors Association, making him the Republican establishment candidate, with all the backing.

Feenstra has also never really run a competitive race before now. And the one organization that didn’t endorse him is MAHA PAC, which backed Republican Zach Lahn. So this is a Trump vs. MAHA Republican primary in a pivotal state — and right now, MAHA’s up. (NBC News characterizes the race as too close to call.)

Businessman Zach Lahn is raiding votes from Rep. Randy Feenstra's 4th Congressional District as he tries to pull off an upset over Trump's pick for the Iowa Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Lahn appeared to benefit from an endorsement of his own — that of former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

Feenstra defeated King in a bitter 2020 House primary.

With votes still pouring in tonight, Lahn led Feenstra in 11 of the counties King won in 2020, according to an NBC News analysis.

With nearly 90% of precincts reporting, the race was neck and neck — Lahn led by 0.7 percentage points.

Polls closed in California at 11 p.m. ET.

A voter receives an "I Voted" sticker from an election worker at a polling location in City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday. David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Californians cast ballots in key races in which the two candidates who earn the most votes — regardless of what party they are from — move on to the general election in November.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer has given his California gubernatorial campaign more than $215 million, according to state campaign finance reports, allowing it to spend more than $204 million on ads.

To put that in perspective, that accounts for about two-thirds of all ad spending in the race, according to AdImpact. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the other leading Democrat in the race, spent $11 million on ads.

Combined with the more than $300 million Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, spent on his 2020 presidential run, according to federal campaign finance reports, he is up to more than half a billion dollars in personal spending on his political bids.

Steyer did not win a delegate during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination six years ago. It remains to be seen whether he will finish in the top two of California's all-party primary tonight and advance to the general election.

Here in San Francisco, you’re not going to see as many people inside polling locations voting, because California is a big mail-by-vote state. But what we have seen is a line outside official ballot drop boxes.

Even now, with 20 minutes to go before polls close, you’re seeing several people drop off ballots. One reason is that people have been holding on to their ballots, even though they received them a month ago, because of the shake-up in the governor’s race after former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out over sexual assault and misconduct allegations. (Swalwell denies those allegations.)

The shake-up made many people question whom they are going to vote for. I spoke today with one woman who said she didn’t really see a viable candidate, so she waited until today to see whether there would be any other shake-ups.

Progressive activist Saikat Chakrabarti's campaign hit the pavement hard today in the San Francisco-based district where he hopes to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker.

More than 500 volunteers were knocking on doors, sometimes at a rate of 5,000 per hour, starting at 6 a.m., according to the campaign.

Chakrabarti, a longtime Pelosi critic, is one of three major Democratic candidates vying to replace her, along with state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Connie Chan.

Wiener has led in polling in a contest in a first-round contest in which the top two finishers advance to the general election.

Pelosi issued a late but enthusiastic endorsement to Chan and told NBC News in a recent interview that she wants to see more women in the House.

Chakrabarti, who was a top campaign adviser for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's shocking upset of then-Rep. Joe Crowley in a 2018 New York primary, is counting on his ability to out-mobilize his rivals and pull off another surprise.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate and reality TV star Spencer Pratt is an unconventional candidate who has run an unconventional campaign. So of course, he is having an unconventional watch party.

Pratt is having his private watch party at the restaurant Don Antonio’s in Los Angeles. Fans of the reality TV show “The Hills,” in which Pratt starred, have told me this is a staple of the show. It’s a place he was known to love; apparently, it’s where he had his first date with his wife, Heidi Montag.

The outside spending group VoteVets may have been a difference maker in Iowa’s Democratic Senate primary.

The progressive veterans advocacy organization got behind Josh Turek because of his backstory — he was born with spina bifida attributed to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange while he was serving in Vietnam — and spent $10 million on advertising, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.

VoteVotes cheered Turek on his victory tonight and signaled more to come.

“Josh knows firsthand what it means to fight through adversity. That’s a quality veterans know well — and we are proud to stand behind him,” Paul Eaton, a senior adviser to the group, said in an emailed statement tonight. “If elected, he will fight for working families, veterans, and military family members like his own. With our country at war and prices soaring, our nation needs Josh in the Senate more than ever. We’re ready to continue to fight.”

Joe Mitchell wins the Republican primary for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, NBC News projects.

See the latest results here.

Former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, who earned Trump’s endorsement, wins the Republican Senate primary in Montana, NBC News projects.

Alme heads to the general election after Sen. Steve Daines withdrew his candidacy for re-election just minutes before the state's filing period closed in March. Trump said he endorsed Alme "based on Steve’s strongest recommendation.”

Trump won in Montana by 20 percentage points in 2024, but the state has had some competitive Senate races in recent years. In 2024, GOP Sen. Tim Sheehy beat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester by just 7 points.

See the latest results here.

The results in Iowa’s Democratic primary are a big win for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

There were Democrats who were very nervous that the insurgent candidate, Zach Wahls, would break through and win this race. Wahls was backed by members of the party’s progressive wing, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

But not only did Wahls fall short; Turek won by a pretty convincing margin, showing there’s at least some level of trust among Democratic-leaning voters in the party’s establishment right now.

It’s also a good sign for Schumer, whose future faces some real questions right now, on another level. If he’s able to pull off a miracle and win back the Senate majority, it could mean his leadership might be OK.

The early results we’re getting, not just in Iowa but also in New Jersey, are a good sign for the establishment wing of the Democratic Party going into the fall.

Josh Turek wins Democratic primary for Iowa Senate seat

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The ballots are set in two Republican-held battleground House races in Iowa, part of a slate of primaries today shaping the battle for control of Congress in the fall.

As far as the primaries were concerned, there wasn’t much suspense in the two districts expected to be most competitive in the fall.

Democratic former state Rep. Christina Bohannan will face off against GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for the third consecutive election in the southeastern part of the state, NBC News projects, following up on a 2024 election decided by just a few hundred votes. Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott and GOP Rep. Zach Nunn were both unopposed in their primaries ahead of a major clash for the 3rd District, anchored in Des Moines.

A third Iowa House race could be competitive this fall: the 2nd District left open by Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson’s bid for the Senate. There, former state Rep. Joe Mitchell, who is backed by Trump, is the top Republican, while the Democratic nominee will be state Rep. Lindsay James.

Read the full story here.

Voters in California are turning out today for a number of key primary races, including contests for governor and mayor of Los Angeles.

With Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom term-limited, the crowded race to succeed him has largely narrowed to a three-way contest among a pair of Democrats — former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire activist Tom Steyer — and Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton, who is endorsed by Trump.

The two candidates who get the most votes will advance to the general election in November.

The polls have closed in Montana at 10 p.m. ET.

Voters participated in the primary elections for an open Senate seat and a House seat in the 1st Congressional District. Neither incumbent is seeking re-election.

If Rep. Randy Feenstra loses the Iowa GOP governor’s primary, critics are sure to question to his decision to skip debates and candidate forums.

He told local media he wanted to take his message directly to Iowa voters.

With 30% of the statewide vote in, Feenstra trailed businessman Zach Lahn by about half a percentage point.

Zach Wahls repeatedly tied Josh Turek to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in Iowa’s Democratic Senate primary.

Minutes after Turek’s victory was called tonight, Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann picked up Wahls’ baton.

“You all know exactly who Josh Turek is going to get his orders from,” Kaufmann told the crowd at the watch party for Rep. Ashley Hinson, the newly minted GOP Senate nominee. “It’s going to be Chuck Schumer. It’s going to be the left. It’s going to be California. It’s going to New York. ... All you need to know is where he’s getting his marching orders tonight. I will guarantee you, Chuck Schumer was probably the first call that he took.”

Trump's pick for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Iowa, Rep. Randy Feenstra, fell slightly behind in early returns after most of Polk County — the state's most populous — came in.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) speaking to guests during a campaign event near Sioux Rapids, Iowa on Saturday. Scott Olson / Getty Images

Feenstra, who represents the western 4th Congressional District, was counting on running up the score in rural counties to come back.

With about 18% percent of the vote counted, businessman Zach Lahn led Feenstra 37% to 32.5%. Former state government official Adam Steen had 20.2%, with two more candidates splitting the remainder.

Lahn's strongest performance so far is in Polk, where he leads Feenstra 39.1% to 29.6% with 95% of the vote in.

If no candidate wins at least 35%, the race will be decided by delegates at a state party convention this month.

Adam Hamawy, a surgeon who has worked in war zones, wins the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., credits Hamawy with saving her life in Iraq, and he was later stranded in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas. He has the backing of not just Duckworth, but also a slew of prominent progressive lawmakers and groups.

It's a big win for the progressive wing of the party in an open seat being vacated by Bonnie Watson Coleman's retirement. American Priorities, a group formed to counter AIPAC's spending in Democratic primaries, has spent heavily in support of Hamawy in a race in which Israel policy has loomed large.

See the latest results here.

State Rep. Josh Turek, a moderate, wins the Democratic Senate primary in Iowa, NBC News projects.

Turek, a two-time Paralympian gold medalist, was elected to the state House in 2022 and has touted his ability to win in Republican-leaning areas of Iowa.

Democrats are looking to win over new seats in Iowa as part of their path to win a Senate majority, despite the fact that Republicans have typically found more success in Iowa's statewide races.

See the latest results here.

Ashley Hinson, the three-term congresswoman and former local TV news anchor, wins the Republican Senate primary in Iowa, NBC News projects.

Hinson defeated former state Sen. Jim Carlin, who was vastly outraised and outspent.

Hinson is seeking to replace Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who announced in August that she would not seek re-election.

Trump offered Hinson his endorsement just a few days after she launched her campaign.

See the latest results here.

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland wins the Democratic primary for New Mexico governor, NBC News projects.

Haaland served one term in the House before becoming interior secretary in the Biden administration.

Haaland, who would be the first female Native American governor if she is elected in November, has worked to highlight her heritage throughout her campaign.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is term-limited and cannot run for a third term this fall.

See the latest results here.

Incumbent Mike Rounds wins the Republican Senate primary in South Dakota, NBC News projects.

Rounds, whom Trump endorsed, is running for a third term. He defeated Navy veteran Justin McNeal, whose fundraising lagged Rounds' war chest.

In the fall, Rounds will face Democrat Julian Beaudoin — the only Democrat running in today's primary — and independent candidate Brian Bengs, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Rounds won re-election by more than 30 percentage points in 2020.

See the latest results here.

In Montana, voters are casting ballots to select the Democratic and Republican nominees for the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Steve Daines.

Daines made a last-minute decision to retire and endorsed former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme as his successor. Trump has also endorsed Alme.

There are five candidates in the Democrat primary. Two of them — former state Rep. Reilly Neil and Air Force vet Alani Bankhead — have been the subjects of ad blitzes in the closing weeks.

Independent Seth Bodnar has led the field in fundraising. Bodnar, a former Green Beret, told The New York Times that he wouldn’t caucus with either party if he is elected.

Incumbent Ben Ray Luján wins the Democratic Senate primary in New Mexico, NBC News projects.

No candidates filed to run for the Senate seat in the GOP primary, opening up an uncompetitive pathway for Lujan to win his second term.

The state Republican Party is supporting businessman Larry Marker, a write-in candidate, who will be on the ballot in November if he manages to earn at least 2,531 votes today.

See the latest results here.

Los Angeles County officials said that, though vote-counting will take place tonight, 400,000 ballots dropped in today will not be counted this evening.

“We will continue to process and count ballots until all of the ballots that were cast today at the vote centers are included in the, in the vote totals. So yes, that will go into the late hours of tonight and probably even the early hours of tomorrow morning,” Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said.

Election officials in California say results may be delayed as vote count will continue overnight

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Officials also discussed election safety tonight, telling reporters that ballots will be moved by helicopter and patrol cars. Los Angeles County First District Supervisor Hilda Solis praised the voter turnout in today’s election and predicted that there could still be a “surge” of voters in line well after 8 p.m. local time.

Polls have closed in New Mexico at 9 p.m. ET.

The state is holding Democratic and Republican primaries for the Senate, the House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Polls have closed in South Dakota at 9 p.m. ET.

Voters cast ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries for the Senate, governor and the House.

Polls have closed in Iowa at 9 p.m. ET.

The state is choosing Democratic and Republican nominees for the Senate, governor, secretary of state, attorney general and all its House seats.

Rebecca Bennett wins the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot and healthcare executive, will take on GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in November. Kean, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary, has been absent from Congress the past three months and has not been seen in public because of what his office has called a “personal medical issue.”

Trump won the district by 1 percentage point in 2024, setting Bennett and Kean up for a race in one the country’s most closely divided districts.

See the latest results here.

New Mexico is holding a primary election for governor to succeed Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has been seen as the front-runner in the Democratic primary, which also includes Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, the father of Chicago Cubs star third baseman Alex Bregman.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary will be heavily favored to win in November. No Republicans hold statewide office in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, the race in the 2nd Congressional District is considered a battleground. Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez is running for re-election in a district Trump won by less than 2 percentage points in 2024. A former police officer endorsed by Trump, Greg Cunningham, is expected to be the GOP nominee after the other Republican on the ballot, Jose Orozco, dropped out and endorsed him.

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden is facing off against three Republican primary challengers as he runs for his first full term.

Rhoden, who'd been lieutenant governor, ascended to the top job when former Gov. Kristi Noem resigned to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Rhoden is trying to fend off Rep. Dusty Johnson, chairman of the Republican Main Street Caucus, state House Speaker Jon Hansen and businessman Toby Doeden.

If no candidate gets at least 35% of the vote, there will be a runoff July 28.

Trump hasn't weighed in with an endorsement.

Iowa is holding a key primary today in the race for governor. Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand is running unopposed, while Rep. Randy Feenstra is considered the front-runner for the GOP ticket.

Trump endorsed Feenstra last week, while Zach Lahn has been pouring his own money into the race. A group aligned with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, MAHA Action, has backed Lahn in the GOP race. The other GOP candidates include former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former state Administrative Services Director Adam Steen.

Democrats also hope Iowa could be their path to retake control of the Senate. Republicans are largely supporting Rep. Ashley Hinson in that primary, though former state Sen. Jim Carlin is on the ballot.

The Democratic race for the Senate today includes progressive state Sen. Zach Wahls, who first won public attention with a viral 2011 speech on the state House floor defending his lesbian mothers' right to marry. He faces moderate state Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian who has twice won gold in wheelchair basketball. He has touted his ability to win in GOP-leaning areas.

Polls closed in New Jersey at 8 p.m. ET.

Voters cast their ballots in the state's Democratic and Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate and in the primaries for the House races in all of the state's 12 congressional districts.

Jill Biden in an interview with Craig Melvin on "TODAY" on Monday.  TODAY

Joe Biden’s advisers spent years delivering the message that the aging president was still sharp and fit for duty and explaining away visible signs that he had grown disturbingly frail. But a new book by former first lady Jill Biden suggests that these reassuring portraits of an octogenarian president with enviable stamina were a bit embellished.

Continue reading — subscribe.

New Jersey's primary in the 7th Congressional District could be critical in determining the balance of power in the House next year.

A polling place for the New Jersey primary election in Oaklyn, N.J., on Tuesday. Matt Rourke / AP

The district, which The Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up, is represented by Republican Tom Kean, who hasn't been seen publicly for months. He last voted on Capitol Hill in early March.

Kean is running unopposed in the GOP primary, while four Democratic contenders have raised more than a million dollars. Healthcare executive and former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, the top fundraiser, faces Dr. Tina Shah, a former adviser to the U.S. surgeon general; businessman Brian Varela; and Michael Roth, a former top aide at the Small Business Administration.

In the 9th Congressional District, which Trump won by 1 percentage point in 2024, Republicans hope to defeat Democratic Rep. Nellie Pou. The GOP candidates include Tiffany Burress, an attorney married to longtime NFL player Plaxico Burress, and Clifton City Council member Rosie Pino.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker is running for a third term but has no primary opponents.

Six states are holding their primary elections today, with the first polls closing in New Jersey at 8 p.m. ET.

Here are when all of the polls close in each state:

• New Jersey: 8 p.m. ET
• Iowa: 9 p.m. ET
• New Mexico: 9 p.m. ET
• South Dakota: 9 p.m. ET
• Montana: 10 p.m. ET
• California: 11 p.m. ET

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., deleted a homophobic statement he posted on his official congressional X account today after he faced bipartisan backlash.

The deleted post from Ogles, which NBC News took a screen shot of, said: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.”

Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and LGBTQ+ rights, began yesterday.

Ogles addressed the matter in a post hours later, saying: "Earlier today while working on the farm, my phone began going crazy because of a post made by a member of my comms team. The post was stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus. The employee has been reprimanded."

Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, one of Ogles' Republican colleagues, called the post “idiotic.”

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J. indicated in a statement today that he'll be back at the Capitol "within a matter of weeks" after having been absent for the past three months.

Kean, who last cast a vote in early March, suggested in the statement posted to his campaign’s X account that he will soon "transition from virtual work to in person work." Upon returning, he said, he'll be “completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition."

Kean and his congressional office have offered no details regarding his whereabouts. He acknowledged today “the need for transparency on this matter.”

Trump last night reiterated his endorsement of Kean, who is running uncontested in today's GOP primary.

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s re-election campaign is accusing one of his opponents in Alaska and Democrats in Washington of recruiting a candidate with the same first and last name: Dan Sullivan.

“Mary Peltola and D.C. Democrats know they can’t win this race on the issues, so they’ve resorted to dirty, dishonest tactics — recruiting a sham candidate with the sole purpose of deceiving voters and manipulating Alaska’s election system,” Nate Adams, the senator’s campaign spokesman, said in a statement today.

Peltola, who served in the House from 2023 to 2025, is the leading Democrat in the race as Sullivan seeks a third term in the Senate.

“This blatant attempt to confuse and disenfranchise Alaskans undermines confidence in our elections, and if allowed to stand, will deny voters the honest choice they deserve,” Adams added.

Read the full story here.

The Justice Department is not proceeding with the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, Blanche said at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

“We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said, vowing that would remain true even after a federal court order pausing the fund expires.

Acting AG Blanche says DOJ is not moving forward with 'anti-weaponization' fund

02:55

“The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund,” Blanche said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters today that he expected Blanche to say the fund was off the table, clearing the path for the budget reconciliation process to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection. That could begin as soon as tomorrow.

Dr. Mehmet Oz said he thinks Trump likes the validation he gets from medical checkups, offering an explanation for why he phas had three physical exams in 13 months.

Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said at a White House briefing today that the results of Trump’s recent routine physical were “spectacular.”

Trump’s visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center a week ago was his third in-person medical checkup since he returned to office in 2025.

Dr. Oz says Trump goes for frequent checkups because he 'likes the results'

00:30

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he met with Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in Washington.

“I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins, take back the Senate,” said Schumer, D-N.Y., who previously endorsed Platner. This week, the Platner campaign has been grappling with the fallout from reports that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with women other than his wife.

Pressed several times about whether revelations about Platner's personal life are compromising Democrats’ chances to defeat Collins, Schumer repeated the line: “We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will start testifying around 4 p.m. ET before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. 

This is an annual oversight hearing about the Justice Department, but Blanche is expected to face questions about other issues, including the Justice Department's "anti-weaponization" fund.

The Justice Department announced yesterday that it would comply with a recent court ruling temporarily blocking the $1.8 billion fund, which faced backlash from both parties.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass briefly took questions at a phone banking event in Boyle Heights.

She told NBC News she is staying focused and “not going to get distracted by a TV reality show villain," a reference to her mayoral opponent Spencer Pratt.

Trump said he would attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in July after the spring event was abruptly cut short when a gunman ran through a security checkpoint.

“I was asked to be there, and speak, by Weijia Jiang, President of The White House Correspondents’ Association, and have accepted,” Trump said in his Truth Social announcement. “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out.”

The rescheduled dinner will take place July 24, Jiang said. Trump said in his Truth Social post that it will be at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington.

Read the full story here.

New Mexico lawmakers said yesterday they are demanding documents from an array of government and private institutions as the first major step in their effort to tell the full story of what Jeffrey Epstein did in the state — and whether any other people should be prosecuted for crimes there.

A committee known as the New Mexico Truth Commission expects to send subpoenas this week to 14 targets. They include federal agencies that investigated Epstein in the past — the Justice Department and the FBI — and state and local law enforcement agencies that looked into Epstein. Demands are also expected to go to Epstein’s former banks — Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase — and the Santa Fe Institute, a nonprofit scientific research institution he supported.

Read the full story here.

Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan is the latest performer to officially drop out of Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair event this month.

Morvan told CNN last night that he decided to pull out because the event has become a "circus."

The high number of cancellations led Trump to declare over the weekend that he would hold a rally at the fair. “We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” Trump said Saturday afternoon on Truth Social.

Morvan told CNN, "I was told by my team, who was told by another team, there’s nothing, there’s no political entanglement, there’s no political alignment, it’s just a free show for the people, so it was a way to say, 'Hey, I’m still here.'"

Throughout the week, however, "it turned into a circus," he said. "I’m not into politics. I don’t have anything to do with circus."

At today's White House briefing, a reporter pointed Oz to a statute that requires nominees for director of national intelligence to "have extensive national security expertise."

"What extensive national security expertise does he have?" the reporter asked, referring to Pulte, who is top housing official.

"Ma'am, you are asking me a question that's not to my lane," Oz said. "I'm so focused on making sure Americans are healthy that I have not been looking at what other agencies" are doing.

Mehmet Oz speaks at news briefing at the White House today.  Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images

Earlier, a reporter asked Oz to respond to criticism of Pulte, some of it from Republicans.

"I think Bill is a great guy. I know him socially. I've not worked with him in his current job, and, but I do trust the president's judgment," he said. "He is a very sharp and quick study of people, their emotional abilities and their ability to persevere in the face of hardship, so I have confidence in his decision."

Senators from both parties expressed concerns about Pulte’s readiness to be the acting national intelligence director, pointing to his lack of experience in national security.

“I see no, no evidence of any qualifications for that job,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. 

“He doesn’t seem very qualified,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told NBC News. 

“I don’t know of any national security experience that he has,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. “So I’ll be looking at that first and foremost.”

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is holding today's White House press briefing.

Several administration officials have taken turns holding press briefings while press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave. So far, briefings have been held by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner has been rescheduled to July 24, Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents Association, announced today.

The decision comes after the original dinner in April was disrupted by a shooting outside the ballroom by a gunman who was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at the event.

"We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for," Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, wrote in a note about the dinner.

Jiang added, "Rescheduling was not automatic. It was a choice that the WHCA board made after thoughtful consideration and input from our members."

Trump had urged for another dinner to occur after the shooting in April.

"In the weeks since the last dinner, we have raised funds to ensure WHCA members who purchased tickets will not have to pay if they attend the second event, which will be a more intimate gathering," she wrote.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing featuring testimony from Rubio has ended. The secretary of state answered lawmakers' questions for about two and a half hours.

Rubio said during the hearing that he believes Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is still alive.

"I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level, although all of his communications have been in writing and through intermediaries," Rubio said, noting that Khamenei has not been seen publicly since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader after he was killed in joint U.S. and Israeli strikes in late February.

U.S. officials have said Mojtaba Khamenei was injured in the strikes.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked Rubio whether the U.S. is willing to lift sanctions or release frozen money to Iran as part of efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"Any sanctions relief is condition-based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program," Rubio said.

"If they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief associated with their commitment and compliance," he said, referring to Iran's past efforts to enrich uranium.

When Murphy asked whether the U.S. would agree to lift sanctions or unfreeze money in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said, "No, that's not been discussed. That's not been offered."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticized the administration for the repeated strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters. The military and administration have said that the boats were trafficking drugs, but they have not provided evidence to support their claims.

Kaine said that classified briefings made him aware of the targeting criteria used to decide to strike boats, adding that "evidence of narcotics on the boat" is not part of that criteria.

Kaine asked Rubio for an explanation.

The secretary of state said that he could not talk about the specifics of targeting criteria. "But I can tell you the one thing that is obvious is that the targeting criteria is not single source. In essence, there are multiple checks," he said.

Rubio also noted that some potential strike targets have been abandoned when they did not meet strike criteria.

Later, Paul also criticized the boat strikes.

Rubio told Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., that the State Department would re-engage with Gavi, a Geneva-based vaccine alliance that supports fighting diseases including Ebola.

Shaheen claimed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was "sitting on" funds that could have gone to Gavi to support developing a vaccine for the strain of Ebola spreading in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

Rubio said Trump had asked the State Department to allow Kennedy "to play a leading role on the Gavi decision because of his strongly held views with regards to vaccine safety," adding that the State Department would re-engage with the vaccine alliance.

"The State Department a few weeks ago made the decision that we were going to re-engage on this issue of Gavi, respecting what HHS' views on it are as well, and we want to take their input, but we’d like to get this issue resolved in an outcome that’s acceptable both to Congress and also to our goals on global health," he said.

Shaheen responded that she "couldn't agree more."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said during the hearing on the State Department's budget request that the war with Iran and the Trump administration's decision to blockade ships going to and from that country's ports have "now held the entire world economy and the U.S. economy hostage to the ability to negotiate an agreement with Iran."

Murphy asked Rubio for more information about how to get the strait open.

"If Iran wants to be able to move its oil again through the strait, they will have to reopen the straits," Rubio answered. "If they refuse to do so, then we have other options available to us, but we would prefer to negotiate the opening of this, which means about the negotiations."

Later, Rubio said that the reopening is a "predicate to anything else happening."

Murphy also asked Rubio about what Iran has to agree to with its nuclear program.

"In addition to the straits, that's the predicate that opens the door to phase two," Rubio said. "What phase two is, they have to commit to very specific negotiations on highly enriched — the disposition of the highly enriched uranium that still is buried deep in a mountain somewhere. They have to agree on negotiating severe and long-term limitations and/or cancellation of enrichment activity in their country."

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight committee, sent a letter to Chairman James Comer today demanding that he bring in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for transcribed interviews about the department's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Garcia had said he would make this request after the committee’s interview with former AG Pam Bondi last week.

“During her transcribed interview, former Attorney General Pam Bondi made one thing clear: we need to talk to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel," Garcia wrote. "These agency leaders were directly involved in the cover up of the Epstein files and botched roll-out of the documents, which re-victimized survivors and made a mockery of our Justice Department. Oversight Democrats are demanding answers straight from the source."

The DOJ and Comer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump urged Californians to cast ballots in the state's primary for governor today for Steve Hilton, whom the president formally endorsed in April.

"CALIFORNIA: Vote today for Steve Hilton for Governor. He will work with me and the Federal Government, the money will flow because I have confidence in him (but not any of the others!), and we will MAKE CALIFORNIA GREAT AGAIN. Steve Hilton will NEVER let you down. VOTE NOW!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump has previously threatened to cut off federal funding to California over sanctuary cities policies.

Hilton, who was an aide to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the two major Republican candidates for governor.

They face off against seven prominent Democratic candidates in today's "jungle" primary in California, including former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire activist Tom Steyer. The two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election in November.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appeared surprised at Pulte's appointment and said that he could face a "lengthy road ahead" if Trump were to nominate him to the position permanently.

Asked if he had concerns that Pulte would weaponize his new position, Thune said, "Well, we don't need a weaponized DNI. We need professionals there."

He added that "I've just heard about" the appointment, and am "trying to get more information about the current state of their thinking about that position."

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Mark Schiefelbein / AP file

"If he's somebody that wants that position permanently, he's got, as you all know, a lengthy road ahead of him," Thune said. Trump named Pulte as acting intelligence director, which doesn't require Senate confirmation. If Trump were to nominate him to serve in the position permanently, Pulte would need to be confirmed.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., used her opening remarks to criticize the Trump administration's response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

She pointed to the administration's budget asking for a reduction in funds for the State Department, including by "eliminating funding to the World Health Organization" and "eliminating all disease-specific funds in the middle of an Ebola crisis that’s affecting Americans."

"Yet no one from your department can explain to us why this is a good idea," she said.

Hundreds of people are suspected to have died from Ebola in Congo and Uganda.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to tell lawmakers this morning that the U.S. government is "not a charity" and will not "play social worker," according to his opening statement obtained by NBC News.

Rubio will testify this morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Trump administration's budget request for the State Department.

"The U.S. government is not a charity. We are not here to play social worker. We are here to win — to win for our country, for our people, and for our interests. That is what the State Department exists to do. That principle has guided every decision we have made since January 2025," he plans to tell the panel.

Former first lady Jill Biden described in an interview on MS NOW's "Morning Joe" how she learned that Trump won the 2024 election.

"When I got up the next morning after election night, and I went in, I was feeding Willow, and my phone rang," she said. "'Did you see the news?' And I'm like, 'What news?'"

"And they said, you know, 'Kamala lost,'" she said. "I ran into the bedroom, and I woke up Joe, and I said, 'Joe, why didn't you wake me up?' I mean, I was shocked. I think a lot of Americans were shocked."

The former first lady has been participating in a series of media interviews to promote her new memoir, "View from the East Wing." She has revealed that she thought her husband might have been suffering a stroke during his poor presidential debate performance against Trump, which ultimately led to him dropping out of the race.

"It scared me to death," she told CBS News' "Sunday Morning" when describing her reaction to his debate performance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is defending Senate candidate Graham Platner following news reports that the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine exchanged sexually explicit texts with women at the beginning of his marriage.

Sanders, who has endorsed Platner in his bid to unseat GOP Sen. Susan Collins, said that working families face bigger issues than Platner’s marriage.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Graham Platner stand together at an event at the University of Maine on May 24. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Read the full story here.

Trump last night endorsed Rep. Tom Kean, the New Jersey Republican who’s been absent from Congress for three months.

“GET OUT AND VOTE FOR TOM — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social about Kean, adding that the congressman is "working tirelessly."

Kean's mysterious absence from Congress has sparked questions from his colleagues in Washington and his constituents in New Jersey regarding his whereabouts. His office has said that he is experiencing a “personal medical issue” without offering more information, insisting he will recover fully and return to work “soon.”

Kean, who's running unopposed in the GOP primary, hasn’t been seen publicly in his district, in Washington or on video since he last voted March 5. But a campaign account under his name reposted Trump’s endorsement last night, writing, “Thank you for your support, President Trump! Primary Election Day is tomorrow — get out and vote!”

Trump first endorsed Kean, 57, for re-election in May 2025. Kean was first elected in 2022 to his seat in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, which is expected to be one of the most competitive House races in the country this fall.

The Trump administration signaled yesterday it is backing off from creating a $1.8 billion fund announced by the Justice Department that could send money to allies of Trump deemed to be “victims of lawfare and weaponization.”

It comes after a fierce and rare backlash from Senate Republicans, who threatened to team up with Democrats to block the fund. About half the Republican conference appeared ready to vote with Democrats to restrict or kill it, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week.

Read the full story here.

The Israeli military launched deadly new strikes in Lebanon today after reporting attacks from Hezbollah overnight, despite Trump saying both sides had agreed to de-escalate after Iran threatened to pull out of peace talks.

Trump said yesterday night that he had spoken with both sides and that they agreed “all shooting will stop” after Tehran signaled that Israel’s intensifying military operations in Lebanon could derail efforts to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Talks with Tehran were ongoing, the president said.

Smoke rises today from an Israeli airstrike that hit Qlaileh village, as seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon. Mohammed Zaatari / AP

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The fight to shape the future of the Democratic Party is playing out in a slew of key primaries today, as races in six states set the matchups in crucial November battlegrounds and settle personal and ideological battles across the country. 

Voters will head to the polls in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, with the biggest contest of the night being California’s race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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