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Key events
Although it’s still too soon to say which candidates will head to the runoff election in California’s governor’s race, Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra are giving optimistic addresses at their election night parties.
Thanking Donald Trump for his endorsement during a speech in Orange County, Hilton said his chances are “looking good” and added “We’ve got everything we need for this state to be amazing again.”
In an address to supporters Becerra shared his personal story as the child of immigrants and said he wants to lead a state that “regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.” Once an underdog in the race, Becerra is now polling among the leading three contenders for two spots in November’s general election.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November runoff; her opponent is TBD
LA mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November runoff in her bid for reelection.
Bass will likely run against either progressive city council member Nithya Raman or reality TV star Spencer Pratt.
My colleague Uwa Ede-Osifo has the full story:
California’s primary elections, including its fiercely fought gubernatorial contest, are at the mercy of a notoriously slow vote-counting system – meaning it could be days or even weeks before the outcomes of the tightest races become clear.
As my colleague Andrew Gumbel reports:
Voting experts expect the state’s 58 county elections offices to be deluged with last-minute absentee ballots, as they have been in the last few election cycles, and spend weeks undertaking a painstaking ballot-by-ballot verification process.
That presents a procedural problem whenever races are close, as they tend to be in the state’s most competitive congressional districts, and the whole country is left waiting – as it was in 2020, 2022 and 2024 – to find out which party controls the House of Representatives.
Congressman Ro Khanna has won his primary election in California by a wide margin.
In a social media post, Khanna said his nomination “showed that you can stand up to billionaires in the heart of Silicon Valley and prevail.”
Alongside Republican Tom Massie, Khanna led efforts to release the Epstein files this year and has backed efforts to introduce a wealth tax on billionaires.
At his election night party, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said “we’re going to wait until every ballot is counted.” Steyer is currently polling third in a tight race for California governor, trailing just behind Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra.
“California is the richest state in the richest country in the history of the world. It’s unacceptable that right now, so many Californians struggle to make ends meet,” Steyer said. “My vision for California is based on a simple idea: The wellbeing of the most vulnerable shouldn’t depend on corporations and billionaires choosing to do the right thing.”
Steyer’s campaign spent or booked more than $203m in ads, setting the record for both the costliest campaign this year and in California gubernatorial history.
Lahn to face Sand in Iowa governor's race
Zach Lahn has narrowly won the Republican nomination for governor, and will face off against Rob Sand in Iowa’s general election this November.
Five Republicans competed for the nomination to replace retiring Republican governor Kim Reynolds. A farmer and businessman, Lahn campaign on an “Iowa First” agenda. The Associated Press called the race with Lahn receiving 37.8% of the vote to his rival Randy Feenstra’s 37%. Feenstra had been endorsed by Donald Trump.
Democrats are hoping to pull off a “once-in-a-generation” breakthrough in the GOP-dominated state with Trump’s approval ratings deep underwater, gas prices high and historical political trends favoring the party out of power. Pro-hunting state auditor Rob Sand is the face of that effort, and the last Democrat holding statewide-elected office in Iowa.
Lauren Gambino
Anticipating a long night of vote-counting ahead, incumbent LA mayor Karen Bass addressed supporters at the Lion Hotel in Koreatown.
Bass, who faces serious challenges from Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt, said she will spend the next four years addressing homelessness and building more housing units.
She described LA as a rebounding city, and vowed to build on the progress made over the last three and a half years. Invoking the “dark day” a year ago when Donald Trump sent immigration troops into the city, Bass declared: “We are a city that is unified.”
The strength of her challengers would suggest voters in LA are not as unified around their choice for mayor as she would have hoped.
Greg Hull, the former mayor of Rio Rancho, has won the Republican nomination for New Mexico’s governor’s seat.
“This fall, we will face Deb Haaland in the general election and we’re going to win,” Hull said. “And I respect that she has served in various positions over her career, but New Mexico families are hurting, and the policies of the last eight years under one-party control of this state have failed.” New Mexico has long reported among the highest poverty rates in the nation.
Hull is likely to face a challenging race for governor in the solidly blue state, where no Republican has won statewide office in 10 years.
Dani Anguiano
Republican James Gallagher won the special election in California’s first congressional district to complete the term of the representative Doug LaMalfa, who died unexpectedly in January.
Gallagher had a significant lead over his two Democratic competitors in the deeply red region and will serve until the end of the year.
“This is for Doug,” Gallagher told a room full of supporters at an election night event in Chico.
It was the last race to be held under the current boundaries. California’s Proposition 50 redrew this district to give Democrats an advantage and made it a competitive for the first time in almost half a century.
Trump set off a wave of new mid-decade redistricting after urging Texas to adopt changes to favor Republicansduring the midterm elections.
Results indicated Gallagher, who was endorsed by Trump, won the special election decisively with 60% of votes and almost 70% of precincts reporting.
Gallagher was also on track to advance to the general election for a congressional term beginning in January. He’ll face a tough battle against Democrat Mike McGuire with the district having a solidly blue advantage.
“We’re gonna shock the world and win this district,” Gallagher said.
Wiener advances in race for Pelosi's House seat
Scott Wiener has advanced in his bid to fill the seat Nancy Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term. Wiener has secured more votes than Democratic rival Connie Chan, a San Francisco supervisor, who Pelosi had endorsed.
A Harvard Law School-educated attorney and prolific lawmaker in Sacramento, Wiener has long had his eye on Pelosi’s seat. In 2023, he formed an exploratory committee that has already raised $1m for a future congressional run, but had previously insisted that he would only do so if Pelosi decided to step down, my colleague Lauren Gambino reports.
Although no winners have been named in California’s gubernatorial primary, some candidates have begun issuing statements acknowledging they won’t be moving on to the state’s general election.
Speaking to supporters shortly after polls closed, San Jose mayor Matt Mahan acknowledged he will not be moving forward in the race. “I want to congratulate my fellow candidates on a hard-fought campaign. While this campaign for governor ends tonight, our mission has only begun,” he said.
“Tonight didn’t turn out the way we hoped, and I offer my congratulations to the winners and offer my best wishes for the road ahead,” former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement.
Uwa Ede-Osifo
Hours before California polls closed, voters in downtown Los Angeles trickled into a line around the corner of the historic Biltmore tower, a building whose lobby had been converted into a primary polling place.
Tyrone Brown, a Chicago native who has lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, waited in the line to cast a ballot for gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra and incumbent mayor Karen Bass.
“No mayor’s job is easy,” Brown, 33, said of Bass’ tenure, referencing in particular the recent presence of federal immigration agents in the city. He regards her as more qualified for the job than her challenger, council member Nithya Raman. “I think she deserves another term.”
Suzette Shaw, a 62-year-old Skid Row resident, has not been “happy” with the Democrats at the state and local level. She backed Bass’ first term, but has since been disillusioned with public safety issues in her neighborhood.
“We have drug dealers on every block and every corner, primarily here in downtown, especially where I live. I take great issue with that,” she said.
At the same time, Shaw does not want to see Republicans come into power in either the mayoral or governor’s race. “I am still undecided,” she said, nearby the entrance of the polling site.
A few blocks away from the tower, sexual health educator Michael Castro, 29, who bore a “I vote” sticker tacked to his shirt, and community health worker Dante Rodriguez, 32, expressed disapproval with Bass’ handling of the wildfire response and track record on homelessness. They voted instead for Raman.
The gubernatorial contest was a harder choice because of the crowded contest, said Rodriguez. “We went with – what was his name?” Rodriguez said, recalling billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. He has no love for billionaires, but resonated with Steyer’s messaging about the environment.
“I wish it was like New York where it’s ranked voting because then I think we can have more progressive candidates get in,” he added of the state’s top two primary.
Robert Garcia has won the Democratic nomination for California’s 42nd congressional district.
An incumbent two-term Democratic LGBTQ+ congressman, immigrant and Donald Trump critic, Garcia is representing new communities thanks to a successful redistricting effort that redrew California’s voting maps to favor Democrats. If re-elected in November, Garica would now represent the conservative California community of Huntington Beach, known for banning the Pride flag from city property and fighting the state over pandemic and housing policy.
My colleague Dani Anguiano reports:
Results are beginning to pour in from California:
Mark DeSaulnier has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s 10th congressional district
Kevin Mullin has won the party’s nomination in the 15th district.
John Garamendi is the Democratic nominee in the 8th district.
Judy Chu is the party’s nominee in the 28th district.
And Derek Tran has won the Democratic nomination in the 45th district.
As results roll in from primaries across the country, here are some images of the scene at election night parties and events from the newswires:
Lauren Gambino
Jasmeet Bains, a California state assemblywoman running in a competitive primary for the chance to face Republican Representative David Valadao in November, announced on Tuesday that she would cancel her election night event after a man took people hostage at a bank in Bakersfield.
According to local police, a man had barricaded himself inside a Chase bank in the southern California city of Bakersfield with “several community members”.
“Out of an abundance of caution, and to avoid creating a large gathering of people in close proximity to this incident, we will no longer hold an in-person Election Night event in downtown,” Bains said in a statement, issued shortly before polls closed across the state.
She encouraged residents to “avoid downtown Bakersfield at this time”.
“My thoughts are with all of the families impacted by this concerning situation,” she said.
The Democratic Governors Association has congratulated Deb Haaland on winning her race for the Democratic nomination to become New Mexico’s next governor, saying her life story is “one of resilience”.
“She knows the pain New Mexicans are feeling right now, which is why she will never stop fighting to bring down costs and create jobs, strengthen schools, expand affordable health care, and create safer communities,” said association chair and Kentucky governor Andy Beshear.
Haaland celebrated her victory Tuesday evening in Albuquerque’s Old Town, where singers from Laguna Pueblo congratulated her and attendants joined in a Tiwa language prayer and traditional hoop dancing.
Polls close in California
Polls have closed in California, where voters are casting ballots on who should lead the nation’s most populous state (and the world’s fourth largest economy). The race for Los Angeles mayor is also on the ballot, along with a series of high-stakes US House contests in the state’s newly redrawn congressional districts – which are set to play an outsized and potentially decisive role in the battle for power in Washington in November’s midterm elections.
Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in this year’s midterm elections, the US supreme court ruled in a 6-3 decision today.
My colleague Sam Levine has the full story:
The court’s emergency ruling is the most consequential decision it had issued since its landmark ruling in late April that struck down a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act. In that case, Louisiana v Callais, the court’s majority made it nearly impossible to win Voting Rights Act claims, saying that plaintiffs had to prove intentional discrimination. But on 26 May, a three-judge panel said the map Alabama wants to use for this year’s midterm was enacted with discriminatory intent.
But in an unsigned opinion on Tuesday, the court’s conservative justices said the panel had failed to properly reconsider the case in light of the Callais decision and other recent cases weakening the Voting Rights Act.
