U.S. announces indictment of Cuba’s Raúl Castro; Trump nabs more primary election wins

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said today that if he were given the chance he would tell Trump about his hope to continue U.S. arms purchases, which he called essential for peace.

Lai is marking two years in office, the halfway point of his term, under growing pressure from China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province to be retaken by force if necessary. Trump’s recent narrative on Taiwan has raised concerns about the United States’ long-standing support for the island democracy.

Lai said that if he could talk to Trump, he would emphasize that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are crucial for global security, alleging China was the “destroyer” of the strait’s peace. “No country has the right to annex Taiwan,” Lai said he would tell Trump.

Trump said today that he would speak with Lai. “I speak to everybody ... We’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem,” he told reporters.

Any direct U.S.-Taiwan conversation would be likely to anger China.

Read the full story here.

A former federal prosecutor was indicted on charges she emailed herself confidential files from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents, the Justice Department said today.

Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, was charged with four counts related to stealing, concealing and altering government property and records, according to the nine-page indictment.

The Justice Department alleges that while she was a managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida last year, Lineberger received a copy of a confidential volume of Smith’s report. She altered file names of the volume, as well as other internal Justice Department materials, and sent them to her personal Hotmail and Gmail accounts, according to court documents.

Court documents allege that from September to December, Lineberger used file names including “chocolate cake recipe” and “bundt cake recipe” to avoid raising red flags about the downloaded files. The indictment does not say Lineberger shared the files with anyone.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., criticized the Trump administration's $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund this evening, arguing that it has "no accountability" while everyday Americans are struggling to pay their bills.

"People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the President and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability," Cassidy wrote on X.

"This is adding to our national debt. If there needs to be a settlement, the administration should bring it to Congress to decide," he continued, referring to the settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS that led the Justice Department to establish the fund.

Cassidy's post comes after Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., sent a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier today demanding more information about whom the fund will compensate and what its legal precedent is.

Cassidy, who has drawn criticism from Trump for past votes, lost his Republican primary Saturday.

Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., has been diagnosed with breast cancer, she revealed today.

Trump, 48, disclosed the diagnosis on Instagram.

“I want to share a personal health update. I’ve recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. While this isn’t news anyone expects, I’m working closely with my medical team on a treatment plan,” she wrote.

“I would like to thank my doctors for performing a procedure earlier this week on me,” she added.

Read the full story here.

Control of the House of Representatives could come down to four pivotal battleground races in Pennsylvania.

With an increasingly limited map of competitive seats, both Democrats and Republicans are emphasizing the importance of these campaigns, which are about to get floods of money and investment from both sides.

Read the full story here.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee urged the Justice Department today to reconsider its openness to providing money from the Trump administration’s new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to Jan. 6 rioters who attacked police defending the Capitol.

“The notion of the federal government doling out compensation to rioters who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and violently assaulted members of the United States Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department on January 6, 2021 is absurd and offensive,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter first shared with NBC News.

In congressional testimony yesterday, Blanche did not rule out the possibility that Jan. 6 defendants convicted of violent offenses against police during the attack on the Capitol could receive money from the fund.

In his letter, Durbin demanded transparency about who is eligible to receive money from the pool. He asked that the Justice Department hand over documents, communications and materials that detail the eligibility requirements for the fund by May 28, including the specific considerations made for people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., sent a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche today expressing concern over the Trump administration's $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

“A massive discretionary fund, with no oversight or approval from Congress, represents a dangerous backsliding in the transparency of our institutions and our commitment to the American taxpayer,” Fitzpatrick wrote. 

The fund was created as part of settlement with Trump and two of his sons to drop their legal claims against the IRS. Those who claim the government unfairly targeted them, including Jan. 6 defendants, could be eligible to collect.

The fund has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats, as well as some Republicans.

In his letter, Fitzpatrick requested answers to three questions by June 1, including whether “individuals convicted of federal crimes or associated with acts of violence” will be eligible to receive money from the fund. 

Democrats turned out in unusually high numbers for Georgia’s primaries yesterday, but that did not help the party flip two state Supreme Court elections that were happening alongside the party contests. A new analysis of vote data shows how Democrats’ partisan turnout advantage broke down in certain counties.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., called the Trump administration's new "anti-weaponization" fund "unethical" and slammed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"Let me tell you a little bit about why this nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund is completely unethical and totally ridiculous," Lieu said at a news conference, saying it came from a "fake settlement" with "fake negotiations."

"It’s like settling with yourself," he said.

He added: "This is completely unethical. The people drafting this document know it’s unethical. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will lose his law license after his term is over, because he’s engaging in flatly unethical behavior."

A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lieu's remarks.

Senate Republicans are looking to remove a $1 billion provision for the Secret Service that would go toward the White House ballroom project from their proposed ICE and Border Patrol spending bill, Sen. John Kennedy told NBC News this afternoon.

Kennedy, R-La., left a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans saying they plan to remove the ballroom funding after it became clear that the votes were not there to pass the bill with the provision included.

“We were told that, and again, I haven’t looked at the text, but we’re told that the ballroom money is out,” Kennedy told reporters. “My understanding is that the security money has come out, and my understanding is it’s because the votes aren’t there."

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has introduced legislation that would block Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund at the Justice Department.

The No Taxpayer-Funded Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2026 would ban federal funding to "to create or finance the slush fund established under Trump’s IRS settlement," according to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, of which Raskin is ranking member.

The measure would also impose "sweeping new restrictions to prevent taxpayer dollars from being steered to January 6 rioters, MAGA sycophants, senior government officials, and members of the President or Vice President’s family," the panel said.

Under the bill, the Treasury Department would be required to report all settlement payments above $100,000 to the Judiciary Committee and give notice about payments above $250,000.

Asked by reporters today about whether there will be an escalation in tensions with Cuba after Raúl Castro was indicted today, Trump said: "There won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be."

He added that Cuba "is falling apart. It's a mess, and they sort of lost control. They've really lost control of Cuba."

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., told NBC News he is working on a legislative plan to “stop” or “reverse” the Justice Department's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund.

“We gotta unpack exactly what it is, what the source of the funding, is in order to stop it and or reverse it,” said Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. “I don’t support it. ... You can’t do that.”

He also responded to Trump's criticizing him this morning for “voting against” his agenda. 

“I represent my district, so that’s how it works. Sometimes people are gonna be OK with that, sometimes not, but that’s not gonna change how we conduct ourselves,” Fitzpatrick said. “The people that sent us here are our bosses. We don’t report to any party or any person here in D.C. It’s a very simple concept.”

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., and ex-Navy SEAL Jared Hudson will advance to a runoff in Alabama's GOP primary for the Senate, NBC News projects.

Trump has endorsed Moore in the race to replace GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor.

The runoff is scheduled for June 16.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied voting-rights activists outside the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery on Saturday. So did Sens. Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker.

None of them represent Alabama.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lives in California, visited Montgomery recently, too, as part of a book tour swing that took her through Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and South Carolina. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has brushed up on domestic policy in Mississippi and South Carolina this year.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., warned that Trump’s efforts to undermine incumbent Republicans will make the governing process much more difficult in the Senate and that it is Trump’s agenda that will suffer.

Trump’s political advisers are giving him counsel aimed at taking advantage of his instincts from a pure profit motive, as opposed to promoting policies that would help his agenda and the long-term strength of the Republican Party, said Tillis, who is retiring from the Senate. 

“The president’s got too many yes men that couldn’t care less about the outcome of elections, just more positioning for how they go make money in the next wave,” he said. 

Tillis pointed to groups like Turning Point USA as examples of outside political organizations that are more worried about making money than achieving policy goals that would help Republicans win elections. When Turning Point endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn, Tillis said, he knew Trump’s endorsement was not far behind. 

“It’s a cash machine for a lot of these people," he said, adding: "They’re mercenaries. They don’t care about political outcomes. They care about deposits to their bank account.”

The Justice Department indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro today in connection with the 1996 shooting of two civilian planes that killed four Cuban Americans.

Castro, 94, who is the brother of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, is being charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, murder and destruction of aircraft, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, an independent who caucuses with Republicans, said today that he has "concerns" about the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that was announced this week as part of a settlement of the president's lawsuit against the IRS.

"It’s very strange, very unprecedented. It’s very concerning," Kiley said when questioned by reporters about the fund, adding that Congress should look at how the deal came about.

Asked if Jan. 6 rioters who've been pardoned by the president should be able to receive money from the fund, Kiley said, "I don’t know why anyone is receiving money from this fund."

"That's not the way we typically adjudicate claims, if anyone has claims, so — and certainly I would think that those wouldn't be people that would be at the top of the list, even if there were a basis for such a payout — so I'm still learning about it," said Kiley, a former Republican who is running for re-election. "I think that there does need to be congressional oversight into exactly how this came about and what exactly is going to be the criteria for any distributions," he said.

"It's a very unusual arrangement," he added.

During remarks to graduates of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Trump brought up the talks with Iran, saying the U.S. may have to strike the country "even harder" than it has if no agreement is struck to reach an end to the war.

"Everything's gone, their navy's gone, their air force is gone, just about everything," Trump said. "The only question is, do we go and finish it up, or are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens," he said.

He added, "We hit them very hard, but we may have to hit them even harder, but maybe not."

An offer Iran made this week repeat demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the area, among other things that Trump previously rejected, according to Reuters, prompting the president to consider further strikes.

The European Union is close to finalizing a U.S. trade deal after Trump threatened new tariffs over delays in its ratification, according to multiple lawmakers involved in the negotiations.

Trump had threatened much higher tariffs on cars and other E.U. goods if the deal reached last year is not implemented by July 4. E.U. lawmakers paused legislation required to ratify the deal on two occasions earlier this year: once after Trump threatened new tariffs on European allies who opposed his proposed acquisition of Greenland, and once after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down much of Trump’s global tariff regime.

After reaching a provisional agreement, the European Parliament as a whole and the E.U.’s 27 individual member states will now vote to formally approve the final text in a rush to beat the deadline. Lawmakers said the final text includes a number of safeguards, including a suspension mechanism, a quarterly report and a clear expiration date, should Trump try to withdraw or escalate tensions again.

The deal, which is highly controversial across Europe, also includes safeguards “if E.U. companies are harmed,” the chair of the parliament’s trade committee said.

After Trump dealt a major blow to his campaign by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for Senate yesterday, Sen. John Cornyn told reporters he thinks their race is a “toss-up,” and that Paxton would be a “drag on down ballot races" in November.

He also said that he thinks he still has a "very good chance" of winning the May 26 runoff.

“Only Texans get to vote, and we’ve had two days of early voting. This looks very encouraging, and I believe that we still have a very good chance of winning in the race,” he said.

Trump attacked Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough this morning after she rejected funding for Trump’s White House ballroom in the Senate Republican reconciliation bill.

The president falsely claimed in a lengthy Truth Social post that she was appointed by "Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an 'iron fist.'"

The parliamentarian is appointed by the Senate majority leader, not the president. Reid appointed MacDonough in 2012.

"Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced?" Trump wrote about MacDonough. "There are many fair people who would be qualified for that vital job. The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats. It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics. The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us." 

Trump told U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates to "never give up" as they prepared to embark on their next steps.

"No matter where you are in life or what situation you find yourself in, in seas or anywhere else that you may be, keep pushing forward, always push forward, never stop pushing forward," he said in his speech. "No matter how terrible the storm, no matter how difficult the mission, never surrender, keep going, keep fighting and make the adversary quit first."

He also instructed the graduates to "think big."

"It's much better thinking big," he said. "Small solutions yield small results, only big ideas will yield to tremendous change and greatness."

Trump arrives to deliver the commencement address today at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. Jessica Hill / AP Photo/Jessica Hill

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., promised today that Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who has been absent from Congress since early March, will be "fully transparent" about the medical issue that has kept him out of sight once he returns to Washington.

"We're expecting him back here soon," Johnson told reporters. "He's had a medical issue, and he's going to be fully transparent and disclose all that. I mean, that's what he told me, but I don't even know the details."

The speaker said, "I have to respect" Kean's wishes not to disclose the issue, adding, "It's a member's personal privacy on whatever matters they're dealing with."

Kean represents a battleground district in New Jersey, but Johnson dismissed concerns about a tough re-election fight, saying, "He's going to get re-elected, and we look forward to welcoming him back here very soon."

The Trump administration is defending what it calls its “anti-weaponization” fund, using $1.8 billion of taxpayer money to pay Trump allies who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the Biden administration, and is not ruling out compensating convicted Jan. 6 rioters. On Capitol Hill, Democrats grilled acting Attorney General and former Trump personal lawyer Todd Blanche. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for "Today."

Trump’s $1.8B ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ Draws Outrage

02:08

A coalition of groups and unions are backing state Rep. Kaela Berg in the contested Democratic primary for Minnesota's 2nd District with a $500,000 paid media campaign.

The groups include EMILY's List, Elect Democratic Women, the Association of Flight Attendants, Communications Workers of America, In Union USA and United Steelworkers.

In a statement, EMILY's List President Jessica Mackler said that Berg, "is exactly the type of voice we need more of in Congress.

Berg, who also works as a flight attendant, faces several primary opponents, including state Sen. Matt Klein and and former state Sen. Matt Little, in the race to replace Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., who is running for Senate.

The groups' decision to spend money on advertising for Berg comes after the 2nd District's convention of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsed Little earlier this month.

Following that endorsement, Berg reiterated her commitment to staying in the race through the August 11 Democratic primary, saying in a statement, "The future of our district should be decided by all voters, not behind closed doors by party elites.”

The Senate Budget Committee voted along party lines this morning to send a bill that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of Trump’s term to the chamber floor.

The move sets up the bill for consideration by the full Senate. Once senators vote to proceed to the measure, they will will start up to 20 hours of debate divided between the two parties.

Following the conclusion of debate, the chamber would move to unlimited amendments, known as a vote-a-rama, and then final passage.

The bill would go to the House next, which would need to pass it before it’s sent to Trump for his signature.

Two officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot filed a lawsuit today seeking to block what they called a “billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups” that commit violence in Trump’s name.

The suit calls the fund illegal and says that the settlement on which it is premised “is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law.”

Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges filed the suit, which says the so-called anti-weaponization fund would “directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters who threatened Plaintiffs’ lives that day, and continue to do so.”

Brendan Ballou, a former Jan. 6 prosecutor who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the officers, sent this statement to NBC News: “The Anti-Weaponization Fund is stunningly, blindingly, illegal. If allowed to continue, it will fund insurrectionists, militias, and paramilitaries that are loyal to the President but unaccountable to the rule of law. To protect their safety and our democracy, our clients are suing to stop that from happening.”

Read the full story here.

The Justice Department is expected to announce criminal charges against former Cuban president, Raúl Castro, based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down two planes, killing four Cuban Americans. Castro was the defense minister at the time, making him the nation’s highest authority after his brother Fidel.

DOJ Set to Announce Criminal Charges Against Raúl Castro

00:32

Trump is set to deliver a commencement address to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy today in Connecticut.

His speech is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET at the school, in Groton, according to the White House.

The president spoke at the commencements at the University of Alabama and West Point last year and he delivered addresses at some of the other service academies, including the Coast Guard's, during his first term.

Trump arrives at the Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremony today. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Trump was asked by a reporter this morning if he sees himself in Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, a fellow former reality TV star.

"I'd like to see him do well. He’s a character. I don’t know. I don’t know him. I assume he probably supports me. Does he support me? ... Yeah, I heard he does. I heard he’s a big MAGA person," Trump said about Pratt, who's running as a Republican.

Pratt, best known for his role on "The Hills," announced his mayoral bid in January, a year after his home burned down in one of the most destructive wildfires on record in California.

The state's primary election is on June 2.

A group of Cuban-American House members spoke to reporters ahead of an expected indictment of former Cuban president Raúl Castro regarding two civilian planes downed by Cuba in 1996, killing four people.

Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla., asserted that the U.S. had "looked the other way" for decades, calling it "unacceptable" and "unforgivable."

"Today there’s a big announcement taking place in Miami," he said, adding, "We expect that the day of justice is finally arriving."

Top House Democrats are condemning a Texas Democratic candidate days after she took to social media to say she’d turn an immigration detention center into a “prison for American Zionists” if she won. 

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who heads the House Democrats’ campaign arm, lambasted Maureen Galindo as her past comments gained steam on social media. 

Read the full story here.

Barney Frank, the quick-witted Massachusetts congressman and liberal lion who helped overhaul Wall Street regulations after the 2008 financial crisis and made history as one of the first openly gay members of Congress, died Wednesday, his sister confirmed to NBC Boston.

He was 86. He had entered hospice care at his home in Maine in April 2026.

“He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister,” Frank’s sister Doris Breay told NBC Boston.

Read the full story here.

Two Georgia Supreme Court justices won re-election on Tuesday, NBC News projects, fending off Democratic-backed challengers in the battleground state. 

Incumbent Justices Charles Bethel and Sarah Warren, who were both appointed to the state’s top court by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, defeated attorney Miracle Rankin and former state Sen. Jen Jordan, respectively. Justice Ben Land, who was appointed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp last year, ran unopposed as he sought a six-year term on the bench. 

While elections for the technically nonpartisan court are typically quiet — a sitting justice has not lost re-election in more than a century, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — this year’s races attracted involvement from major players in both parties and millions of dollars in advertising. 

Read the full story here.

State Sen. Christine Drazan has won the Republican nomination for Oregon governor, NBC News projects, setting up a rematch this fall against Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek. 

Drazan emerged from a 14-candidate GOP primary field to advance to the general election. While she will be the underdog in the traditionally blue state, Drazan lost to Kotek by less than four points in 2022. 

Still, Oregon voters have not elected a Republican as governor since 1982. And Kamala Harris carried the state in the 2024 presidential election by 14 points. 

Read the full story here.

Conservative Georgia Supreme Court Justice Sarah Warren won re-election yesterday, NBC News projects, fending off a Democratic-backed challenger in the battleground state. 

Warren, who was appointed to Georgia’s top court by GOP Gov. Nathan Deal, defeated former state Sen. Jen Jordan to win another six year-term. Another Republican-appointed justice, Charles Bethel, was locked in a tight race with attorney Miracle Rankin.

Justice Ben Land, who was appointed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp last year, ran unopposed for re-election. 

Read the full story here.

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson will advance to a June runoff in the state’s Republican primary for governor, NBC News projects.

The head-to-head contest will pit two candidates against each other who have aggressively vied for the support of Trump’s base in Georgia. Jones has Trump’s official endorsement, but Jackson, a billionaire health care executive who shook up the race with his unexpected entrance earlier this year, has painted himself in the mold of the president. 

Read the full story here.

Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie has won the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, NBC News projects — the first contested result in key Pennsylvania races that could decide control of the House. 

Much of the attention in yesterday's primaries across six states have been focused on immediate intra-party squabbles, like Trump’s successful effort to unseat Republican rival Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and whether progressive or establishment Democrats end the night with the upper hand in safe Democratic seats. 

But the results of four Democratic congressional primaries in battleground Pennsylvania will loom large in November, when Democrats need to net three seats in order to take back control of the House.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Andy Barr, riding an endorsement from Trump, has won the Republican primary in the race for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky, NBC News projects.

Barr, a seven-term congressman, prevailed over former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and other, lesser-known GOP candidates.

He will be a heavy general election favorite against the Democratic nominee in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since it awarded Wendell Ford a fourth and final term in 1992.

Read the full story here.

Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein has won the Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District over Rep. Thomas Massie, NBC News projects, notching another win for President Donald Trump in his push to eliminate political rivals and roadblocks within his own party. 

Gallrein beat Massie in the most explosive fight of Trump’s political pressure campaign that wended its way from Indiana and Louisiana to the Bluegrass State this month, all featuring primary challengers endorsed by the president. Gallrein was aided by an extraordinary advertising blitz fueled largely by pro-Trump and pro-Israel groups. 

First elected to the House in 2012, Massie had become an everpresent thorn in Trump’s side. Trump traveled to the district in March to throw his political weight behind Gallrein while slamming Massie as a “disaster.”

Read the full story here.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity will face off this fall in a ticket-topping race for governor in the nation’s largest swing state. 

The matchup being set is no surprise, as both cleared the fields in their primary contests. But the general election is notable — and the impact could reverberate beyond Pennsylvania in future elections. 

Shapiro, a Democrat who enjoys high approval ratings in the battleground state, enters the contest as a heavy favorite looking to cement his reputation as Pennsylvania’s dominant political figure. 

But those dynamics could shift in the months leading up to the November election, and Garrity and Republicans are eager to stop Shapiro — or at least dent his reputation — before he tries to go national.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville won the Republican primary for governor of Alabama yesterday, NBC News projects, making him the clear favorite to win the general election this fall in the ruby-red state. 

The winner this fall will replace outgoing Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who is term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. 

Read the full story here.

Rep. Barry Moore advanced yesterday to a Republican Senate primary runoff in Alabama, as two rivals battle for the second spot in the race, NBC News projects. 

Boosted by Trump, Moore leads a crowded primary field, but he will not hit the majority mark needed to win the nomination outright. Meanwhile, state Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson are in the running for a spot alongside Moore in a head-to-head June 16 runoff. 

The winner of the runoff will be heavily favored in the general election in Alabama. The Republicans are running to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a first-term Republican who is leaving the Senate to run for governor.

Read the full story here.

President Donald Trump flexed the strength of his party-transforming political movement again yesterday, continuing the successful process of eliminating political enemies within the GOP this month. 

At the same time, the president’s low approval ratings and the war with Iran have raised red flags in key Republican primaries among base voters who supported the president’s “America First” agenda that included the idea of a focus on domestic issues. 

Those red flags may persist with independent voters and base turnout alike when the general election gets underway in a few months.

Read the full story here.