Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the statement in a letter to Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who recently asked Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to confirm they won’t send troops to the polls.

“The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” Caine said in the letter to Slotkin, which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press. “Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.”

Caine, who advises Hegseth and President Donald Trump on military matters, also wrote: “I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.”

U.S. & World

Trump Administration Aug 27

Judge again blocks Trump mail ballot executive order in ruling that's likely to be swiftly appealed

Voting Aug 24

Supreme Court sides with Trump on mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms

Trump Administration Aug 23

Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner meet in NYC to discuss how Democrats and Trump could cooperate

Anxiety among Democrats that the Trump administration could try to meddle in the midterm elections has grown, particularly after the president deployed federal agents in Democratic-led states over the objections of local leaders.

Slotkin told the AP earlier in August that Trump has been laying the groundwork to claim the elections were stolen. She noted that Trump contemplated using the military to seize voting machines after his loss in 2020 and has deployed the National Guard to cities against the wishes of Democratic leaders. He also deployed active duty Marines to Los Angeles during his immigration crackdown in 2025.

Federal law prohibits the deployment of armed federal forces to election locations unless “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” If any element of the military were to get involved, it would likely be the National Guard under state control.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles denied in a Vanity Fair interview last year that Trump would use the military to suppress voting in the midterms.

Sonja Thrasher, Slotkin’s press secretary, said Hegseth has not replied to the letter asking him to confirm troops won’t be deployed to the polls in November. Slotkin had asked for a response by last Thursday.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from the AP asking for the status of Hegseth’s response to Slotkin. The Pentagon previously said it would respond directly to the senator.

Slotkin asked Hegseth during an April congressional hearing if he would follow orders to seize ballots. Hegseth called the question a “gotcha hypothetical,” but said, “I’ve never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won’t.”

In 2020, Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to a similar letter from Slotkin, then a congresswoman.

“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley wrote. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military.”

The notice of appeal filed Friday comes after a federal judge in Boston handed down a new decision blocking implementation of an executive order from President Donald Trump for the next two weeks.

The Supreme Court previously allowed the plan to move ahead on procedural grounds, but hasn’t decided whether it’s legal. The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals will next consider the case, though it could soon be back before the nation’s highest court.

Under Trump’s executive order, the U.S. Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots from states that do not submit lists of eligible voters and follow a uniform envelope style. The White House calls the plan a set of “commonsense measures” aimed at protecting ballot security, and calls the order blocking it “unreasoned and unlawful.”

Celina Stewart, chief executive officer of the League of Women Voters, which sued to block Trump, said the plaintiffs are confident the law is on their side.

Trump Administration Aug 27

Judge again blocks Trump mail ballot executive order in ruling that's likely to be swiftly appealed

Voting Aug 24

Supreme Court sides with Trump on mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms

Elections Aug 11

Judge bars Trump administration from implementing order aiming to limit mail voting

“I’m hoping that federal judges continue to hold the line on their constitutional authority and duty,” Stewart said, adding, “The bottom line for voters is, right now, your right to vote has not changed.”

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani found that states don’t have the time or money to design and produce new ballots, update their systems and train officials to upload voter data to the Postal Service in the short time before the midterm elections.

The first mail ballots of the general election to determine control of Congress are scheduled to be sent out Sept. 4.

The Thursday ruling came after Democrats and voting rights groups filed a fresh round of lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. They note that the Constitution grants states and, in some cases, Congress the power to make election rules — not the president or Postal Service.

The whipsawing legal battle could have major ramifications for the midterms. Nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail and election officials contend there isn’t enough time to revise their systems to comply with the new Postal Service directives.

The president has long targeted mail voting, which he falsely blames for his 2020 election loss even though he himself uses it to cast his ballot. A report by the Brookings Institution published in 2025 found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

Trump’s executive order was challenged in court shortly after being issued in March. Talwani, nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, agreed to block it for the midterm elections. But the Supreme Court found earlier this week that she had acted too soon. The Post Office plan has since been finalized.

Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

With nearly all of the vote tallied, Graham was leading Norman roughly 52% to 48%.

At her election night party in Columbia, Graham paid tribute to her late brother and credited Trump for getting her across the finish line.

“I continue to miss Lindsey every day, and there is still a big hole in my heart. But I know he’s looking down right now, very proud of everyone in this room,” she told her supporters.

“Mr. president, Lindsey truly loved you and viewed you as one of his closest friends. I appreciate that bond and appreciate all that you’ve done for our country,” Graham continued. “Our victory would not have been possible without you, and we are truly grateful. South Carolina is truly Trump country.”

An hour north in Rock Hill, Norman said he had not prepared a concession speech and lamented Trump’s involvement, though he said he accepted the results and planned to call Graham.

“I really hate it for the state. I don’t hate it for me. … I hate it for the state. But the public of South Carolina made the decision,” Norman told his supporters. As for Trump’s involvement, Norman said, “He has that right. That’s his prerogative,” adding that “his policies are good.”

But Norman added, “I never understood why he got in this race. … But it is, it is what it is, and I’ll accept it.”

Trump had gone all in for Graham, who decided to run for a full six-year term after she was appointed to the seat by Gov. Henry McMaster. The president held an in-person rally for her Friday in Myrtle Beach and a tele-rally Monday evening, and his allied super PAC made a late $830,000 push to boost her.

During the Friday rally, Trump recounted how he asked her to run “because everyone loves her, everyone respects her.” He also said he’s supporting her to “honor Lindsey,” who had been one of his closest allies in Washington.

“She only knows how to put America first,” Trump told the crowd. “You vote for her, you’re going to be very proud of that vote.”

Graham, 62, will now face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in the November general election, and is the heavy favorite in the deep-red state where her brother served in the Senate and House for more than 30 years.

To beat Norman, who’s spent nearly a decade in Congress, Graham had to overcome GOP attacks of nepotism and inexperience. She had never held or run for elected office before, though she did lead a 130-person state agency that helped blind people. In the initial primary earlier this month, Graham finished first with 33% of the vote, short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.

And the final week of the truncated, two-week runoff campaign was dominated by Graham’s blunder at a debate with Norman where she replied that she was “not that informed on national security” when asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea were important national security priorities.

“National security is not my thing,” she said.

It was a particularly notable moment given that her senator brother had served more than three decades in the Air Force and was one of the leading voices on national security on Capitol Hill.

Darline Graham said that she would be more focused as a senator on domestic policy issues, such as affordability.

Elections Aug 18

Darline Graham says ‘national security is not my thing,' during South Carolina debate

Donald Trump Aug 22

Trump tries new midterm message to supporters: ‘Pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot'

“Her brother was very much about the world. … That’s good, that’s fine. But she’s more about affordability,” Trump said about the Graham siblings, who have both talked about their humble beginnings being raised in a single room next to their family’s bar and pool hall.

In the closing days of the campaign, she touted herself as someone who would continue her brother’s legacy and also be a reliable vote for Trump. In one ad, she noted she was the lead sponsor of a tough Russia sanctions bill that was renamed for her brother, and she highlighted her vote to confirm Todd Blanche, Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

Graham’s victory caps a tumultuous six-week stretch in South Carolina Republican politics. Fresh from a trip to Ukraine, Lindsey Graham died the night of July 11 from what doctors preliminarily said was a tear in the aorta due to the hardening of the arteries.

Three days later, Darline Graham was sworn in to serve out the rest of his term. Despite her appointment and Trump’s endorsement, the primary to replace her brother attracted a crowded field of candidates, including Norman, Rep. Russell Fry, former Gov. Mark Sanford and wealthy self-funding businessman Mark Lynch.

Norman first irritated Trump when he became the only House Republican to endorse former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary race.

Since then, he’s been a constant thorn in Trump’s side. Last year, Norman, a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, clashed with Trump and GOP leaders by initially opposing the president’s landmark tax-and-spending cuts package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” But he eventually voted yes after successfully negotiating to speed up work requirements for Medicaid recipients and the elimination of Biden-era wind and solar tax credits.

The runoff was a rare race that divided conservatives.

While Darline Graham had Trump, McMaster and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in her corner, Norman secured endorsements from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who now lives in the state; Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., his onetime rival for governor; former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who had run in the special Senate primary race; and former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who previously led the Heritage Foundation.

As expected, Norman performed well in the upstate areas in and around his congressional district. Graham, meanwhile, bested Norman in populous areas along the coast and around the capital city of Columbia.

Trump’s visit to South Carolina and Fry’s endorsement seem to have boosted her in Horry County, where the Myrtle Beach rally was held.

In the initial GOP primary two weeks ago, Fry won the county with nearly 14,000 votes. But in the Tuesday runoff, Graham crushed Norman there, winning more than 26,000 votes to his nearly 10,000.

Bridget Bowman, Ting Cui, Maggie McCabe and Daisy Conant contributed.

The decision leaves room for additional court challenges that could further slow Trump’s order, and other similar cases have already been filed. The U.S. Postal Service laid out how it would implement the order last week, but time is running short to impose major changes. North Carolina is sending out ballots Sept. 4 overseas and to military voters, and other states will quickly follow suit in just a few weeks.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority didn’t decide the legality of Trump’s order, instead ruling that states who sued did not have the legal right to challenge it.

While the emergency order is not final, it does have the potential to create chaos around voting across the country, with Trump often questioning the integrity of elections and the nation’s highest court again the possible arbiter of a political controversy.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell,” the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing that the rule “lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James foreshadowed more legal fights ahead, calling the decision a “painful setback” but vowing it would “not be the final word.”

The court’s order opens a path for the administration to begin action to restrict mail voting, but it also could lead to further litigation that could freeze the federal government again.

“This is just the first inning of a very fast nine-inning game,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame University.

Democrat-led states push back against Trump’s order

Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump, who has claimed that it breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and his own use of the voting method.

Trump’s executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and orders the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists. New requirements released Friday would forbid the Postal Service from sending mail ballots from any state that does not comply with Trump’s order.

A Postal Service spokesperson did not immediately respond messages seeking comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order. They argued that the Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections, and Trump’s changes could lead to chaos and partisan abuse.

“The consequences of allowing such transformative changes to take effect so close to this fall’s elections would be extreme,” attorneys for the states wrote. Dozens of state and local election officials weighed in, asking the justices to leave the order frozen while election preparations are already underway.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Monday the order was aimed at making it “harder for Americans to vote” in the pivotal elections for control of Congress, and vowed that Democrats would “fight every attempt to hijack mail-in voting and rig the rules before voters have their say this November.”

A judge in Massachusetts blocked the plan for the midterm elections in those states. An appeals court upheld her decision. She later granted a second order blocking it nationwide in a separate case, another remaining stumbling block for Trump administration.

The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural grounds in late July, arguing that the states sued too soon. They also pointed to another ruling out of Washington, where a judge allowed Trump’s order to proceed. An appeals court backed that decision, while still leaving room for future court action if the changes are implemented.

Donald Trump Aug 22

Trump tries new midterm message to supporters: ‘Pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot'

Supreme Court Aug 21

Supreme Court chief justice allows work on White House ballroom to continue for now

Federal attorneys argued that the Massachusetts order “blocks the government’s ability to finalize and implement the President’s proposed policies to promote election integrity for the upcoming federal elections in November.”

A dozen Republican-leaning states supported the federal government in their own appeal before the high court, saying states would have input on the final voter lists.

Trump fights mail-in voting despite its growing popularity

The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump-backed arguments on mail-in ballots, finding in a 5-4 decision that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day. That case was decided after full briefing and arguments, rather than on the court’s emergency docket.

Trump has blamed mail voting — without credible evidence — for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. He has promoted the proposed changes in his executive order as safeguards to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting.

He’s also repeatedly pressed for the passage of the legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote. Noncitizen voting has been shown to be rare, and is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.

Using mail ballots has become increasingly popular with voters of both parties, with about 30% of all ballots cast that way during the 2024 presidential election, according to federal data. The process also is secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found only about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who co-wrote a book debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies, said the high court created “pure chaos leading up to the midterm elections, waiting weeks after an administration filing, and just days before mail ballots go out, to completely rewrite the rules.”

Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas contributed to this story. Riccardi reported from Denver.

The president made his new pitch Friday night in South Carolina at a rally in support of Sen. Darline Graham, urging the crowd to back her in Tuesday’s Senate GOP runoff.

“The problem that we have is, they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot, but when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen, and other Republicans,” Trump said.

“So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important,” he said.

Trump suggested the MAGA faithful also take that approach in other elections as well, saying, “We have to get Darline and other people elected.”

The president drove home the point near the end of his remarks about an hour later by telling supporters to think of him when they vote.

“I am on the ballot. We’re all on the ballot. Our country’s on the ballot,” Trump said.

That message to supporters comes as six of Trump’s endorsed candidates failed to earn the Republican nomination in their respective primaries for House or governor this month. Before August, only three Trump-backed candidates lost their bids in those contests so far this year.

The president’s endorsement of Graham for a full six-year term did not secure her a majority of the vote in the initial primary, and some of Trump’s supporters at Friday’s rally told NBC News they still had reservations about her following a poor debate performance on Tuesday.

During his nearly 90 minutes onstage Friday, Trump made no mention of the other person who actually is on the ballot in Tuesday’s runoff: GOP Rep. Ralph Norman.

It was a mixed bag for incumbents in the state, where Republican-led redistricting efforts scrambled congressional maps. Voters in Alaska, Wyoming and California were also choosing their nominees, sometimes considering multiple people running with matching last names.

Tuesday’s contests will help shape the midterms this fall to determine control of Congress, where Republicans have a narrow edge.

Here are some takeaways from this round of primaries.

Another progressive beats a far better-funded establishment rival

Progressives notched a surprise victory as the battle between outsider and establishment candidates that has roiled the Democratic Party in states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan moved to more conservative territory.

In a major upset, progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon easily defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, a former National Security Council official who delivered searing testimony against Trump in his 2019 impeachment trial. Vindman had outraised Nixon by more than 16-to-1, with Nixon bringing in less than $1 million.

Now she will face Sen. Ashley Moody in a campaign to fill the last two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s former Senate term. Moody was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Rubio stepped down.

But in another matchup in South Florida, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz won the nomination for reelection in a new Republican-friendly district against union organizer and democratic socialist Oliver Larkin.

Donalds joins historic slate of Black candidates for governor

Donalds, a rising star in the Republican Party, won his party’s nomination to succeed the term-limited DeSantis, joining a historic slate of Black gubernatorial nominees across the country as he vies to become the first Black governor of the state.

They include Republicans Rep. John James in Michigan and Lisa Demuth, who defeated pillow-selling conspiracist Mike Lindell in Minnesota. On the Democratic side, David Crowley won a razor-thin primary against a democratic socialist in Wisconsin, joining Attorney General Aaron Ford in Nevada, State Rep. Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia.

Either Bottoms or Demuth could be the country’s first Black woman governor.

There is currently only one Black governor in the nation, Democrat Wes Moore of Maryland, who is seeking reelection in November.

Donalds will face David Jolly, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday night.

Wasserman Schultz wins diverse, redrawn Florida seat

A Republican-led redrawing scrambled Florida’s congressional map, creating some awkward matchups for Democrats.

But longtime U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz easily won the most contentious race, beating U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and three other Black candidates in a South Florida district that is a plurality-Black district. Cherfilus-McCormick had resigned earlier this year under a pending federal indictment and threat of House ethics sanctions, but wanted her seat back.

Wasserman Schultz, a former national party chair seeking a 12th term in Congress, was the only white candidate competing to represent an area of Broward County that has helped send Black Democrats to Congress since 1992.

Her decision to run had stirred deep animosity, including charges by one rival that “she stabbed us in the back.”

Trump pick loses in race featuring transplants and scandal-plagued candidates

While Trump-backed Donalds emerged victorious, the candidate Trump had endorsed to fill his seat — Catalina Lauf — lost to Jim Schwartzel, owner of conservative talk radio station 92.5 FOX News.

The race had featured a cast of characters akin to a reality show reunion, including several who had spent time in prison and a handful who had run in other states.

They included two former members of Congress mounting comeback bids after departing in scandal: Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s tenure was marred by repeat traffic stops, guns at airport checkpoints and a claim he had been invited to a Washington orgy. Former New York Rep. Chris Collins, who resigned before pleading guilty to insider trading charges, served prison time before he was pardoned by Trump.

Trump-endorsed Lauf had run twice for Congress in Illinois. She lost the 2020 primary to Jim Oberweis, a former state senator, who has also decamped to Florida and ran for the seat.

Another candidate, Ola Hawatmeh, previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New York, while Linda Sawyer once tried in Michigan.

Also in the race: John Strand, a former television actor, underwear model and romance novel cover model, who served prison time for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault of the U.S. Capitol.

Republicans lose an incumbent

While Democratic incumbents won their races, Republican Rep. Cory Mills lost his bid for a third term to Ryan Elijah, a former television reporter.

Mills faced a series of scandals, including allegations of domestic violence involving a former girlfriend, which he denies. He had also been abandoned by DeSantis and other state officials.

Trump initially backed Mills in February but did not include him in a list of endorsements on Monday.

Double-checking the name in Alaska

Will Alaska voters need to contend with two Dan Sullivans going forward? It’s too soon to tell.

The primary ballot for the state’s Senate race, which is expected to be one of the country’s most closely watched this fall, included both Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Trump ally seeking a third term, and another candidate also named Dan Sullivan.

Republicans had claimed the second Sullivan — who appeared on the ballot as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” — was a sham candidate running at the behest of Democrats to cause confusion. Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher, has denied the charge.

Under the state’s open primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot, and the four who receive the most votes move on to a ranked-vote general election. Sullivan, the incumbent senator, and former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who would become the first Alaska Native senator if she wins in November, swiftly advanced Tuesday, but it was too early to call the other two spots on the November ballot.

Another Trump pick for governor loses their race

While he had success with Donalds, another governor candidate endorsed by Trump lost her race, this time in Wyoming. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder was defeated by state Sen. Eric Barlow, a U.S. Marine veteran and livestock veterinarian who is also a former Wyoming House Speaker.

Trump’s picks for governor have occasionally struggled in primaries this year, including Lindell in Minnesota, Randy Feenstra in Iowa, Burt Jones in Georgia and Pamela Evette in South Carolina.

Trump had better luck in the Senate race in Wyoming, where his endorsed candidate, Rep. Harriet Hageman, easily captured the Republican nomination for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis.

Pro-Israel group spending in former Swalwell seat

In California’s Bay Area, voters are choosing a replacement for Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, whose resignation amid sexual assault allegations ended his run for governor.

California’s 14th District will remain under Democratic control as state Sen. Aisha Wahab and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board President Melissa Hernandez advanced from a special open primary.

However, the race was too early to call on Wednesday morning, and California is notorious for counting slowly.

The campaign reprised a theme that dominated other Democratic primaries this year: outside spending, particularly from pro-Israel lobbying groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC spent more than $2 million against Wahab and in support of Hernandez, and another group funded by the super PAC has spent nearly $2 million in support of Hernandez.

Pro-Israel group spending seemed to backfire in Michigan’s recent Democratic Senate primary, where Abdul El-Sayed emerged victorious despite tens of millions of dollars backing his opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens.

While Graham, a political newcomer, went on the attack against Norman, her thin résumé took center stage in the historic Newberry Opera House on several occasions throughout the debate, including when a question about Taiwan, the South China Sea and American security interests came up.

“I’m just going to be honest here — I’m not on national security,” Graham said. “I’m not that informed on national security, but I do support the military.”

She followed her short answer by saying, “National security is not my thing.”

Lindsey Graham was known as a staunch foreign policy hawk during his Senate tenure, marked by his support for Ukraine and Israel and his aggressive push to increase pressure on Iran. Graham had long advocated for military strikes against Iran and spoke in favor of the Iran war after it began this year.

In a Fox News interview that aired July 20, Darline Graham — who never held office before she was appointed to the Senate last month, days after her brother died suddenly — emphasized that the main difference between her and her brother is that she would focus on issues that matter to “the average person,” not foreign policy.

Similarly, in response to questions about foreign policy topics brought up throughout the debate — including Iran, regulations on China and the growing tensions in the South China Sea — Graham fell back on President Donald Trump’s stance, saying her positions align with his. Trump has endorsed Graham for a full term.

“I fully trust President Trump when it comes to the war in Iran,” Graham said, adding: “Iran is the weakest they have been in 47 years. The one thing that concerns me is we cannot let them get a nuclear weapon. So I trust President Trump and everything he’s doing. I think he’s got this, and I trust him on it.”

At another point in the debate, Graham misstated the population of South Carolina when talking about the economic struggles of the state. She said there were “50 million people in South Carolina”; the state has roughly 5.6 million people.

Graham spent three decades in public service in the state, focused on workforce issues and helping the blind and broader disability community. She has never run for public office before now, and she was not active in state or local politics — despite her brother’s high-profile role in South Carolina.

Norman threaded his answers throughout the debate with the message that he is not the Republican establishment’s candidate and tried to paint Graham as exactly that.

“Washington is with her,” Norman said. “They’re not with me, nor do I want them. I’ve never been subservient to anything in Washington. Washington is broken.”

Congress Jul 13

South Carolina governor appoints Lindsey Graham's sister to finish his Senate term

Congress Jul 11

Sen. Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after ‘brief and sudden illness'

Graham quickly turned the attention back on Norman and his failed campaign for governor.

“I think you’re confused, because I don’t know if you want to be in South Carolina or Washington, because you said you wanted to go to Washington to clean up the swamp, then you wanted to come back to South Carolina to run for governor, now you want to go back to Washington again to clean up the swamp — so what is it you want to do?” she said.

Graham and Norman finished first and second in the special primary last week, triggering a runoff next week since no one got a majority of the vote. The Republican nominee will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the fall. Lindsey Graham had previously won the regularly scheduled primary for the seat.

Despite their back-and-forth attacks, the two came to agreement on several issues throughout the debate. Both said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the medical adviser to Trump during the Covid pandemic, should be in jail following his testimony before a Senate committee in Washington at which he invoked the Fifth Amendment.

“He ought to be in an orange jumpsuit,” Norman said.

Graham agreed with Norman, but she also attacked him for receiving $600,000 in Covid relief funds while simultaneously opposing extending benefits to laid-off workers.

“That’s a bit concerning for me,” she said.

On the topic of AI data center regulations, Graham said she would support their development, but she said putting guidelines from local communities in place would be a priority to her. Norman charged that Graham had previously supported data centers more unconditionally.

Graham replied, “Obviously, I just said I’m for data centers, but I also said that there needs to be community involvement, community guidelines, community guardrails — maybe you didn’t hear that part.”

Following a fiery debate, Norman said in his closing statement that the real opponent in American politics is democratic socialism. He said that if he is elected, he would “make sure that the Senate wakes up” and votes for Trump’s signature election legislation, which has stalled in the Senate because it does not have support to overcome a filibuster. He also called out Graham over another debate that was canceled but had been scheduled for a day later.

“I’d rather be out in South Carolina meeting the voters than here on this stage with you,” Graham said, “but the fact is, I’ve done more in 20 days than you have done in 20 years.”

Graham used her closing remarks to emphasize all that she has accomplished within her short tenure as a U.S. senator, including voting to pass a Russia sanctions bill, co-sponsoring conservative legislation and voting to confirm Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“So again, more in 20 days than you have done in literally 20 years,” she said.

In a race that showcased Democrats’ struggle between the ideological left and center, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s managed a razor-thin victory over his democratic socialist challenger. The democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin was so close that neither side could claim a decisive victory.

In other contests, experience was rewarded in two governors’ races and voters went for generational change in voting out a House incumbent.

For Republicans, a contest to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham pitted his sister, Darline Graham, against far more experienced candidates. But she also had the endorsement of President Donald Trump, and she secured a spot in a runoff election later this month.

Here are some takeaways from the night’s elections.

In Wisconsin, verdict anything but clear for Democrats’ direction

Crowley eked out a stunningly narrow, surprise win that did not become clear until the predawn hours of Wednesday, but that seemed to settle little in the party’s national battle between party establishment candidates and an insurgent, populist movement from the left.

Crowley’s win by less than a percentage point over state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, showed neither side of the party debate was winning the argument convincingly.

A week earlier, Michigan’s Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat came down to roughly 15,000 votes — a margin of a percentage point — as progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed edged four-term U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who had the support of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.

In both Midwestern battleground states, presidential elections have been decided by tiny margins in recent cycles, making midterm statewide elections proxies for the 2028 race for the White House.

Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 and its state legislature has long been in the hands of the GOP, but Democrats have been bullish about reversing that trend. The pressure will now be on Crowley to knit together the divergent wings of the party against Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.

Democrats in neighboring Minnesota weren’t as torn. They solidly supported progressive Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan over centrist Rep. Angie Craig. But there are obvious differences — Minnesota has been reliably Democratic for several elections, albeit by smaller margins. And Flanagan has already won statewide elections before.

Nonetheless, Republicans are hopeful the divisive, bitter primary gives their candidate, sportscaster Michele Tafoya, a chance in November.

Family name + Trump nod = runoff spot for Graham in South Carolina

Darline Graham advanced to a runoff Tuesday night in the primary for her brother’s seat. She was appointed to fill the remaining months of his current term after his death last month. While little was known about her, the family name and the goodwill toward her brother propelled her candidacy.

Trump then endorsed her in the GOP primary to occupy the seat for the next six years. He also praised her Tuesday night after returning to Washington. The role Trump chooses to play in the next two weeks could be decisive in a state where he is quite popular.

A who’s who of conservative South Carolina politicians also competed for the rare prize of a Senate seat, and Rep. Ralph Norman, a durable conservative who finished second, will face off against Graham in two weeks. Both candidates will need to consolidate votes from the other challengers to win.

Another veteran Democrat goes down in race over generational change

Connecticut Rep. John Larson became the latest Democratic stalwart to lose his primary. The 78-year-old, who served 14 terms in the House, was defeated by former Hartford mayor Luke Bronin.

Larson’s loss didn’t have the ideological overtones that have dominated some other Democratic House primaries, where younger, socialist candidates ousted veteran House members in Denver and New York City. But there was a definite generational cast, with his 47-year-old challenger arguing voters deserved a different choice in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.

Larson is the 10th member of the House to lose a primary this year, in a sign of bipartisan fury with each party’s veterans.

While that tally includes three Republicans, the rest are Democrats. After Joe Biden’s collapse during the 2024 presidential election — and the deaths of four Democratic House members over the past 18 months — it’s clear that Democratic voters are casting a very critical eye on elderly party members.

Minnesota Republicans reject MyPillow founder, a Trump favorite

Trump backed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell’s campaign for his party’s nomination for Minnesota governor. Lindell has been a prolific peddler of lies about American elections, including Trump’s own false claims that fraud cost him the presidency in 2020. Lindell has claimed that elections in the United States have been “rigged” for decades.

Democrats were eager to have Lindell at the top of the ticket, hoping he’d drag down the entire state GOP. Instead, Minnesota Republicans chose a more traditional nominee, House Speaker Lisa Demuth.

It’s yet another loss for Trump in Republican governors’ primaries, after his preferred candidates fell short in Georgia and Iowa. And it improves Republicans’ odds in Minnesota in what’s shaping up to be a difficult year for the party, especially after Trump’s immigration crackdown roiled the state’s biggest city in January.

Experience and resume still mattered in some races

While much of this year’s midterm campaign cycle has been animated by new candidates with provocative progressive messages and by the fact that being an incumbent seemed like a liability, Democratic voters in Connecticut and Minnesota gravitated toward the familiar in their respective choices for governor.

Connecticut’s two-term Gov. Ned Lamont defeated his progressive challenger in the state’s Democratic primary while Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who first won her seat 20 years ago, easily won her state’s nomination for governor of Minnesota.

Their victories ran counter to any trend toward younger, more progressive candidates who had scored surprising wins in several House primaries, and notably, in the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan last week. Lamont began his political rise as an insurgent challenger to incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman but is now considered establishment. Klobuchar has a reputation as a bipartisan consensus-builder.

Alabama holds second primary with newly redrawn districts

Alabama held special primaries in four congressional districts after redrawing lines in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s redistricting decision. Alabama Republicans reshaped the 2nd Congressional District to make it more likely to elect a Republican, and altered the lines of three others, including the 7th District.

Ammie Akin won the Republican race and will face Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell in the November general election for the 7th Congressional District seat.

Akin served as assistant superintendent in a public school system, was interim superintendent of a private Christian school and founded a nonprofit.

But Sewell still remains the favorite to win in November. A native of Selma, Sewell has served in Congress since 2011. She has sponsored legislation aimed at restoring and modernizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, Rhett Marques defeated five GOP rivals to secure the Republican nomination in the special congressional primary.

Marques, who was backed by President Donald Trump, previously served in city government and the Alabama Legislature. He will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in November.

Progressive outsider wins Democratic nomination for Vermont governor

Economist Amanda Janoo won Vermont’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.

The first-time political candidate will go on to face Republican Gov. Phil Scott in November.

Janoo, 38, has spent her career working with the United Nations and international development organizations. She billed herself as the more progressive candidate while running against Aly Richards in the primary. Richards was also a first-time candidate.

Scott, who has served five terms and is one term away from becoming the state’s longest-serving governor, ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Vermont is one of two states, along with neighboring New Hampshire, that hold a gubernatorial election every two years.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani had already halted the order Trump signed in March, his second one attempting to set national election rules. On June 25, she sided with Democratic state attorneys general in granting summary judgment, preventing the core parts of Trump’s order from taking effect.

Tuesday’s ruling creates another legal hurdle for the Trump administration to overcome should it get the initial injunction lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent Defendants from changing election rules on the eve of the election,” she wrote.

The Trump administration in late July requested that the Supreme Court halt lower court decisions that have blocked the sweeping changes in nearly half the country.

In the latest lawsuit, Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, sided with the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups.

Her ruling granting a preliminary injunction barred the Postal Service from taking any steps to implement the order for this year’s midterm elections. She said the administration has so far declined to defend the constitutionality of the executive order.

“The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections,” she wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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“This ruling is a victory for voters and for the Constitution,” Marcia Johnson of the League of Women Voters said in a statement. “Neither the president nor the U.S. Postal Service has the authority to rewrite election rules.”

Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in Boston, that the Republican president’s order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. The League of Women Voters also argued that Trump lacked the authority to issue his order and the U.S. Postal Service and other defendants lack the authority to carry it out.

Trump’s Republican administration, in its motions to dismiss the lawsuits, argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their claims. They also argued that the motions are premature and that plaintiffs lack the legal basis to bring their claim based on the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

Stephen Pezzi, a lawyer for the Trump administration, said the harms the plaintiffs referenced were subjective, because much can change with the voting list before it is made final. He also said no one would be prosecuted for violating the order.

Trump’s executive order, the second one aimed at elections during his second term, comes as he continues to suggest that there is widespread voting by noncitizens. Along with his executive orders, Trump is pushing legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress to create a proof-of-citizenship mandate. The SAVE America Act has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.

States already have detailed processes aimed at keeping their voter rolls accurate, and voting by noncitizens has been shown to be rare. It also is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.

Trump issued the order in March after a bill he supported to overhaul voting stalled in Congress. The order would have had the federal government create a list of eligible voters and then directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to those on the list. Election officials argued that it was ripe for abuse and could cause chaos, and the postal union has objected to the idea of mail carriers policing ballots.

The Postal Service had published a proposed rule required by Trump’s executive order in the Federal Register, but it was put on hold by Talwani’s first ruling.

In a separate lawsuit filed against the executive order, a federal judge in Washington in May agreed with the Trump administration that it was too early to block the order because it had yet to be implemented. That lawsuit was brought by Democratic and civil rights groups. In July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the May ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols that said an injunction against the order was premature.

Other rulings have gone against the Trump administration’s first executive order on elections, signed just months after he took office in his second term. That order would have required people to show documents proving their citizenship when registering to vote, among other changes.

Since his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has groundlessly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud and has launched a federal investigation into that year’s vote, even though repeated audits and investigations, including ones run by Republicans, found it was free of widespread fraud. Trump also has said he wants to “take over” election administration in Democratic areas.

Riccardi reported from Denver.

El-Sayed overcame a nearly $65 million onslaught of outside money and an establishment that had rallied around Stevens. Popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Stevens late last month — a move seen as a last-ditch effort to stop a rising El-Sayed.

El-Sayed, a former public health official, goes on to face former Rep. Mike Rogers, who claimed the Republican nomination without opposition Tuesday. Their race in November is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country, and it could determine which party controls the Senate.

Whoever wins will succeed Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat who decided against seeking a third term and endorsed Stevens in the primary.

Republicans have 53 seats in the chamber, and Democrats are going after some red states to flip the four seats they’d need to swing the majority. But Democrats also have to defend seats in several battleground states, including Georgia and Michigan.

President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement of Rogers helped clear the GOP primary for him, won Michigan in 2016 and 2024 and lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

Rogers and national Republicans had signaled that they consider El-Sayed an easier opponent than Stevens. The National Republican Senatorial Committee went so far as to produce a digital ad emphasizing El-Sayed’s progressive credentials and endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — a move many viewed as an effort to boost him into the general election.

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Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., barnstormed the state for El-Sayed, whose push for “Medicare for All,” condemnation of money in politics and criticism of Stevens for supporting aid to Israel were central to his campaign. The primary was seen as a test of whether an insurgent populist movement that had scored victories in primaries in blue states like New York and Colorado could take root in a purple battleground in the industrial Midwest.

Like other Democrats who have run to push the party to the left in recent years, El-Sayed accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. That’s a particularly relevant position in Michigan, with its large Muslim and Arab American populations.

El-Sayed also frequently blasted Stevens over the money she accepted from corporate PACs and the TV air cover she received from big-spending allies, including more than $30 million from a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel group known as AIPAC.

While many of the group’s ads made a positive case for Stevens, some of the messaging attacked El-Sayed. Overall, Stevens and her allies spent nearly nine times as much on advertising as El-Sayed and his allied groups did, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.

“If you need a $60 million crutch, you probably can’t be elected on your own terms,” El-Sayed said at a debate last week in Detroit.

Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, aligned herself closely with the Democratic establishment, including not only Whitmer and Peters in Michigan, but also Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. And while El-Sayed marshaled support from national figures on the left like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, he also scored an endorsement from the United Auto Workers, a major presence in the state given its car-making pedigree.

The closing month of the primary grew increasingly hostile, especially after a third Democrat, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, dropped out last month. McMorrow had tried to cut a path between Stevens and El-Sayed, running as a compromise candidate who could appeal both to moderates and the progressive left.

But the flood of TV ads in Stevens’ behalf and the energy around El-Sayed’s Sanders-backed campaign left little room for McMorrow, and the differences between the two remaining Democrats became even more pronounced once their mutual rival exited.

Stevens often accused El-Sayed of focusing too much on national politics and not enough on Michigan. The July 24 endorsement from Whitmer, who beat El-Sayed in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, helped underline Stevens’ argument. So did a recent call El-Sayed held with donors.

On the call, audio of which leaked to NBC News and others, El-Sayed said a victory for him in Michigan could reverberate into 2028 and encourage primary challengers against the likes of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has fallen out of favor with the left. He characterized such a move as putting “an ogre on a pike” — rhetoric that some Democrats believed was targeted at Stevens, though El-Sayed had described Fetterman as an “ogre” in the past.

Stevens, who spent the closing days of the race simultaneously shrugging off and leaning into social media snark about her Upper Midwest accent and appearance, used the episode to reinforce her message.

“These folks are making fun of the way I sound,” Stevens said at last week’s debate. “But yet, I sound like the people who need help, who are talking to me about what they need.”

El-Sayed rarely deviated from his core message.

“This is about whether or not you deserve a politics of the people, by the people and for the people,” he said at the debate, “or of the corporations, by the billionaires and for the special interests.”

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s primetime speech from the White House earlier this month in which he made sweeping claims of voter fraud, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote to officials in Nevada, Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey, saying he believed the four states had more than 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls combined. During a news conference the day after Trump’s speech, Mullin threatened officials with potential prison time if they do not “secure their elections.”

Ahead of Mullin’s requested two-week deadline for response, officials in California, Nevada and Pennsylvania sent back letters questioning where DHS got its data. All three states have declined to share private state voter roll data that includes personal identifying information like Social Security numbers.

“The American public deserves transparency in how their private information is being used at the federal level,” Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said in an interview Thursday. “I don’t believe the federal government is being honest with the American people.”

“They’re gathering private information about citizens, but they’re not explaining how they’re doing it, and it may not be accurate. And to classify somebody as not able to exercise their constitutional fundamental rights is a real harm,” Aguilar added.

In separate letters to Mullin dated Wednesday, Aguilar and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, questioned how the federal government arrived at its conclusions without the unredacted voter rolls that the Justice Department has sued each state to obtain.

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“How did your department match social security numbers to Nevada registrants and what data sources did you use if not the voter information provided by” the secretary of state, Aguilar wrote in his letter.

“As you know, past analyses of voter lists have relied on faulty methodologies that can lead to inaccurate results and false claims about the citizenship status of eligible voters,” Schmidt wrote. “Please provide a document explaining your methodology, which identifies the data sources you relied on.”

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new responses from state officials.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, asked Mullin in a July 23 letter to share the information of anyone who gave the federal government private voter data, as it is a crime under state law.

“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official. Indeed, state law prohibits sharing voters’ sensitive information, including social security numbers, with any person, including the federal government,” Weber wrote.

Weber asked for details on the federal government’s analysis, including data sources and whether artificial intelligence was used.

Noncitizen voting is illegal and rare. Sometimes, noncitizens do end up on states’ voter rolls, but, historically, few have attempted to cast a ballot.

Days after Trump’s speech, Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, the fourth state singled out by the Trump administration, announced that officials had uncovered a Motor Vehicle Commission error that led to around 6,600 self-identified noncitizens being registered to vote and that roughly 400 cast ballots between 2023 and 2024. The number of noncitizens that New Jersey found on its voter rolls fell short of the 35,000 that DHS claimed.

The Trump administration later asked New Jersey to hand over details on the registrants, but Sherrill said in a letter that the state would not share that information with the federal government.

“DOJ will get this information through all legal means!” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon responded in a post on X on Tuesday.

Sherrill’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move, set to be recommended by the rules committee Friday and presented to the full Democratic National Committee at its summer meeting next month, settles a months-long battle between a handful of states.

The end result elevates South Carolina over rivals like Nevada and New Hampshire, which will still be allowed to hold early nominating contests, and likely pushes Iowa out of the early-voting window altogether. DNC members also granted Michigan the ability to hold an early contest, and they could add two more states before the day is done.

The race to kick off the Democrats’ presidential nominating contest was hard-fought and drawn-out, with states first pitching DNC rules committee members during a January meeting in Puerto Rico and continuing to press hard in the months since.

The struggle between Nevada and South Carolina turned tense in recent weeks, particularly among some who framed the debate as one between two key pieces of the Democratic Party’s base. Latino voters make up a large portion of the Nevada electorate, and Black voters are the foundation of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate.

Key Democrats from both states leaned heavily on DNC members and sought to sway broader public opinion in the party.

“When South Carolina goes first… the Deep South goes first, Black voters go first,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said this week during an interview with Roland Martin. “Black voters are the backbone of this party, and so we should continue to elevate Black voters’ role in the process, not push it further back.”

Nevada put on the hard sell too, with a host of lawmakers, Latino groups, and influential labor leaders mounting an aggressive lobbying effort. They highlighted the importance of winning over voters in a critical battleground state, as Democrats look to rebound from the 2024 election, when President Donald Trump won Nevada.

“Democrats keep losing working-class voters because we keep skipping the states where they actually live. To win Nevada, you have to earn Latino voters, Black voters, AANHPI voters, AND white working-class voters — all at once,” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee for governor, wrote on the social media platform X this week.

The decision marks the latest step in a significant reshuffling of past competitive Democratic presidential contests, with Iowa and New Hampshire long holding the first two contests.

But a botched 2020 Iowa caucus — in which a series of technological failures delayed the results — and a movement among some Democrats to elevate more racially diverse states prompted change in 2024.

Then-President Joe Biden pushed the DNC to reshuffle the primary calendar for his re-election year, moving South Carolina to the front of the line four years after it provided the key result for his 2020 primary campaign. The DNC also gave Georgia and Michigan the right to hold their contests during the pivotal early window. Michigan followed through, while Republican lawmakers in Georgia declined to bless the plan.

New Hampshire sought to disregard the DNC and hold its Democratic primary in January, with the party initially punishing the state but ultimately relenting, as it regularly has whenever states flout its calendar.

On top of changes to the 2028 calendar, the DNC is expected to adopt stronger punishments for states that choose to flout the party’s approved calendar.

Those new punishments would include stripping these states of all delegates, fining the state party $270,000, banning candidates from official party debates if they campaign in unsanctioned contests — and making it harder for the party to backtrack on or wipe out these penalties later.

Winning the national party’s blessing to hold a nominating contest ahead of Super Tuesday is a big prize for state Democratic Party organizations, given how these early contests have helped to shape the path of modern presidential nominations.

Biden’s 2020 campaign may not have ever taken off if not for a big win in South Carolina, where he leaned on his strong relationships with Black voters for a commanding victory after sputtering in Iowa and New Hampshire. Four years prior, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ strong showings in those first two contests sent a powerful signal to a Democratic establishment that had hoped former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would cruise to the nomination.

While a dozen states made the pitch to DNC rules committee members over the last few months, some always faced significant practical concerns. States like North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia pitched themselves for early contests, but Democrats would have needed Republican support in the state legislatures to change primary dates.

Meanwhile, Republicans are not expected to make substantial changes to their calendar ahead of an open 2028 presidential contest of their own.

Democrats were locked in a close primary contest for a battleground U.S. House district, with emergency physician Amish Shah leading party-backed Marlene Galán-Woods for the chance to take on Jay Feely, the former Arizona Cardinals kicker who won the Republican nomination with Trump’s endorsement.

A Shah victory would be another defeat for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has occasionally struggled this year as voters seek out antiestablishment candidates. The race was too early to call early Wednesday morning.

Biggs overwhelmingly defeated fellow U.S. Rep. David Schweikert in the primary and will face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in what could be one of the closest governor races in November.

By choosing Biggs, who supported Trump’s failed attempt to block certification of his 2020 election loss, Republican voters risk nominating another conservative warrior who excites the party base but fails to win a general election by turning off independents. Although the party once dominated Arizona, Democrats now hold both U.S. Senate seats and the top three state offices.

Biggs faced travel problems leaving a Republican Governors Association meeting in Colorado, according to senior adviser Drew Sexton, and didn’t reach his victory party in Scottsdale until more than three hours after he won the race. By the time he took the stage, the crowd of hundreds had dwindled to dozens and he spoke to a mostly empty room.

“Let’s make this the year that we turn Arizona red again,” Biggs said.

Schweikert argued during the campaign that Biggs would continue a decade of Republican backsliding. However, he struggled to raise money and did not even return to Arizona for Election Day, remaining in Washington as the House passed a government funding bill.

Biggs rejected Schweikert’s claim that he’ll be another Republican judged by voters to be too extreme.

“I am a conservative — and a principled conservative — but I work with people that don’t necessarily agree with me on every issue,” Biggs told a reporter after his victory speech.

Biggs, who had Trump’s endorsement and support from the grassroots organization Turning Point Action, said he can unite Republicans going into the general election.

“Everyone I have talked to is really conservative around here,” said Ray Roberts, a 33-year-old Republican who works as a processing engineer and knocked on doors for Biggs. “We all have mostly conservative values. I think Arizona is a red state. I think Andy will be the winner in November.”

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State Rep. Alexander Kolodin won the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, defeating Gina Swoboda, the former Arizona Republican Party chair. Kolodin, a lawyer, was sanctioned by the state bar over his involvement with two 2020 election cases that courts found baseless, including one alleging the vote was marred by fraud and demanding Biden’s victory in the state be overturned.

State Senate President Warren Petersen won the Republican nomination for attorney general and will face Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes, who won four years ago by just 280 votes out of more than 2.5 million.

Biggs and Schweikert responded differently to Trump’s GOP takeover

Biggs built a national profile as chair of the House Freedom Caucus from 2019 to 2022 and as a staunch defender of Trump. He assisted the president’s attempt to block the certification of his loss in the 2020 election, voting against accepting Electoral College votes from Arizona and other battleground states after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

He has always represented safe Republican seats and is a veteran of factional brawls within his party. Before going to Congress, he nearly lost his post as state Senate president during a confrontation with then-Gov. Jan Brewer, also a Republican, over her push to expand Medicaid.

“I want the border secured. I want the police and more money spent in the right places like education,” said Kate Rouleau, a 67-year-old Republican who voted for Biggs because he “has the same quality as President Trump.”

Democrats focused their attacks on Biggs, whom they plan to portray as an extremist focused on helping Trump and not Arizonans.

In a statement Tuesday night, Hobbs said that “the more Arizonans learn about Biggs, the more they’ll realize he’s one big problem they can’t afford.”

The race is likely to be another close contest four years after Hobbs narrowly beat Republican firebrand Kari Lake by less than 1 percentage point. Republicans have since expanded their advantage in the state, growing GOP registration by 6% while Democratic registration fell by 4%.

Repeating her victory will require Hobbs to again win a majority of independents and some disaffected Republicans. For his part, Biggs has attacked her as a weak leader who presided over rising costs.

“We can’t let the state go to somebody who’s actually recklessly incompetent, and that is our current governor,” he said.

Primaries set the field for a top House battleground

Both parties had hotly contested primaries to replace Schweikert in the highly competitive 1st Congressional District, which both parties are targeting in the fight to control the House.

Feely won the Republican primary over Joseph Chaplik, a former state legislator popular with many grassroots activists, and businessperson John Trobough. Feely had Trump’s endorsement but has been dogged by criticism for living outside the district.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee threw its support behind Galán-Woods, a controversial decision to get involved in a contested primary that rankled some party activists. Her late husband, Grant Woods, was the Republican attorney general in the 1990s and later became a vocal Trump critic.

Galán-Woods’ chief opponent, Shah, is a former state legislator who was the nominee in 2024 but lost narrowly to Schweikert.

“We have a long tradition in Arizona of being independent-minded and working for the benefit of people,” Shah said at his election night party in Phoenix. “I wasn’t exactly my party’s pick. And I was willing to stand up to that establishment. And that’s what the voters of this district want.”

If Shah’s lead holds, he would be the third Democrat to beat a DCCC-backed rival this year following Randy Villegas in California and Matt Dunlap in Maine. Unlike the candidates in those races, Shah and Galán-Woods are largely aligned ideologically.

Linda Bandler, a 65-year-old independent who volunteered on the Galán-Woods campaign, said the party will be in good shape regardless of who wins the primary.

“There still is some sanity,” said Bandler, who like Galán-Woods is a former Republican. “I do think that the Democrats will take over the House and the Senate.”

DCCC support generally brings an influx of money and staffing, both from the party itself and from the donors and interest groups that take its cues. But this election season, substantial parts of the Democratic base are rejecting candidates that party bosses see as their best shot at winning in Congress.

“The Democratic Party needs to grow up and wake up,” said Maria Liong, a 24-year-old medical student who volunteered for Shah’s campaign. “They need to realize that they want candidates who listen to their people.”

Republicans hold a voter registration advantage in the affluent district, which includes northeast Phoenix, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley.

But it started to trend toward the center after Trump’s 2016 victory. Redistricting accelerated the trend, fueling Democratic hopes that the seat could be flipped.

In Tucson, retired Marine drill instructor JoAnna Mendoza ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination to challenge second-term Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who also had no primary opponent. The seat is perennially competitive in general elections and is a top pickup target for Democrats in November.

Meanwhile, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb won the Republican primary for the conservative district that Biggs is vacating. The race turned salacious as Lamb, who was endorsed by Trump, came under scrutiny for alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power.

The county attorney cleared him of criminal wrongdoing, and Trump reiterated his endorsement this month. Lamb dismissed the allegations as “slander and lies.”

___

Associated Press writer Josh Kelety contributed.

The deadline for action is more than two months away, but House GOP leaders are not leaving to chance another possible shutdown souring the mood of voters shortly before they go to the polls. House Speaker Mike Johnson dared Democrats to vote against the bill, and if they did, “then they alone are going to own the chaos that ensues if the government shuts down after September 30.”

The House passed the measure by a mostly party-line vote of 220-205.

It’s highly unusual for Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill months before the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers normally act just days or even hours before the deadline. But once lawmakers leave town this week, the House is scheduled to be in session for only 16 more days before the funding deadline.

GOP leadership is laying the groundwork to spend most of that time on another priority: a long-shot, party-line bill that spends $95 billion to boost defense, aid farmers and get portions of President Donald Trump’s elections overhaul bill passed into law.

“I think it’s kind of smart to go ahead and take the potential chaos of a shutdown off the table because the amount of damage that does to the American citizens,” said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. He said he believed a shutdown “probably works to the advantage of Democrats politically,” and he blamed the press for such a scenario.

Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the stopgap measure, which would generally fund agencies at current spending levels.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the legislation was dropped on Democrats on Friday without any bipartisan negotiations. She said that, among other priorities, Democrats would have pushed for provisions to reverse a proposed federal rule that could allow agency heads to block or terminate grants they claim don’t match the president’s priorities.

She said that instead of a bipartisan agreement, “we are scrambling to jam through a one-sided stopgap measure two days before everyone leaves for the August recess.”

Republicans said work on the dozen annual spending bills would continue in the months ahead, but that funding the government through Dec. 4 could help lawmakers avoid a repeat of the past year when the country experienced the longest federal shutdown in history followed by the longest partial shutdown in history.

“We’ve seen that happen twice in this Congress already,” said Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “I’m not willing to risk a third time if we can avoid that.”

Some of the more conservative Republican lawmakers were fine with the bill to extend funding to Dec. 4, known as a continuing resolution.

In this environment, that’s “the best way to spend the least amount of money,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo. “You keep spending levels static for at least a period of time.”

It’s unclear if the Senate will go along with the bill. Spending bills require support from 60 senators to advance to a final vote, so some Democrats would need to support it. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins was working with Democrats on the committee to “find a path forward.”

The panel that sets the party’s voting order could make that determination as early as Friday when it meets in Washington, two people with knowledge of the party’s process but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee has been holding monthly meetings as it considers the order in which states will vote during the 2028 primaries. The panel has heard presentations from a dozen states hoping to kick off the party’s primaries and caucuses, including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

The calendar isn’t considered set until it’s approved by the full DNC, which is scheduled to meet in August. The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democrats upended their process for setting their calendar after Iowa’s 2020 Democratic caucus debacle, which led to days of uncertainty over who had won. The party since then has favored more diverse states.

For the 2024 cycle, President Joe Biden led a DNC effort to have South Carolina — which for years has held the party’s first Southern contest — go first overall in the party’s primaries. He cited the state’s more racially diverse population compared to the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are overwhelmingly white.

Four years earlier, Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone congressional Democrat and for a time the top Black Democratic lawmaker on Capitol Hill, helped Biden revive his flagging primary campaign and win a resounding victory in the state. He then went on to secure the party’s presidential nomination.

South Carolina’s Democratic leaders have pushed for the state to lead off again, lobbying for support and getting buy-in from Democratic Party chairs in five Southern states. In May, they pressed for South Carolina to reprise its role as the party’s first-in-the-nation contest holder, arguing that the state best represents the initial playing field for presidential candidates to build the coalitions needed to win.

A quarter of the state’s population is Black and about 9% is Hispanic, according to the Census Bureau.

___

Cappelletti reported from Washington. Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren’t conducted at the federal level. America votes in more than 10,000 different election jurisdictions, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments.

That structure makes the nation’s elections extraordinarily complicated — and also safe from widespread fraud. And when misconduct does happen — rarely — security protocols frequently catch it.

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Decentralized elections date back to the nation’s founding

America’s highly decentralized system of voting exists because the nation’s Founding Fathers gave authority over elections to the states, rather than the federal government. While Congress has the power to regulate elections — and has used that authority to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act — the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the “times, places and manner” for elections.

There also is no national election agency that administers the presidential contest, something that’s different from many other countries. And when it comes to doing the day-to-day work of running an election, the responsibility falls to officials at the local level — usually a clerk or election supervisor — with help from staff and volunteers.

While differences in election laws can get confusing, election security experts say this structure is a strength. That’s because to pull off stealing a presidential election — as Trump falsely claims was done to him in 2020 — it would require large numbers of election workers in the most competitive counties across the country who are willing to risk prosecution, prison time and fines while working with officials from both parties willing to look the other way. And everyone somehow would have to keep quiet — a highly unlikely scenario.

There are also shared practices and security measures in place across the country that together work to ensure that only eligible voters can cast a ballot and only one ballot is counted for each.

Voter fraud can happen, but it’s rare and there are safeguards to catch it

Most Americans by now have probably heard stories about someone casting multiple ballots, or voting in the name of dead relatives, or stealing mail ballots from mailboxes.

When these incidents happen, they are often caught and prosecuted.

Voting more than once, tampering with ballots, lying about your residence to vote somewhere else or casting someone else’s ballot are crimes that can be punished with hefty fines and prison time. Non-U.S. citizens who break election laws can be deported.

For anyone still motivated to cheat, election systems in the United States are designed with multiple layers of protection and transparency intended to stand in the way.

For example, for in-person voting, most states either require or request voters provide some sort of identification at the polls. Others require voters to verify who they are in another way, such as stating their name and address, signing a poll book or signing an affidavit.

For absentee voting, all states require a voter’s signature, and many states have further precautions, such as having bipartisan teams compare the signature with other signatures on file, requiring the signature to be notarized or requiring a witness to sign.

That means even if a ballot is erroneously sent to someone’s past address and the current resident mails it in, there are checks to alert election workers to the foul play.

AP review found there was too little voter fraud to tip the 2020 election

Trump has spent six years insisting he won the 2020 election, a campaign he lost to former President Joe Biden.

An Associated Press review in 2021 dug into every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states that Trump disputed. It found fewer than 475 cases — a number that would have made no difference in that race.

Allegations from Trump of massive voting fraud have been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department. In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr, a Trump appointee, told the AP that no proof of widespread voter fraud had been uncovered. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” he said at the time.

The Republican president has been guarded about what he plans to say in the 9 p.m. Thursday speech, scheduled as he confronts a collapsing deal to end the war with Iran. He also faces numerous domestic issues, including recent deadly shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Asked for a preview of the speech on Tuesday, Trump offered scant details but said he has “really big news.”

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country,” Trump said in the Oval Office. He refused to go further, saying he wanted to “save it” for the moment, though he also hinted he would be talking about a hodgepodge of issues.

“We’ll be discussing other things, too,” Trump said, without elaborating. “It’s going to be a very big announcement.”

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Trump has used the power of the primetime presidential address — typically reserved for milestones — to deliver politically charged speeches before, including one in December when he sought to blame the challenging economic climate on Democrats. But Thursday’s address seems poised to go even further, using the moment to amplify election lies before an audience of millions in an effort to boost Republican prospects before midterms that threaten to hobble Trump for the remainder of his term.

On Monday, when asked about the speech, Trump repeated baseless claims of voter fraud in the Los Angeles primary race for mayor. During the interview with conservative outlet Newsmax, Trump said Republican Spencer Pratt lost his primary bid because of fraud, citing in part California’s slow vote count.

Federal prosecutors said they were opening fraud investigations in the state last month after Trump drew attention to the claim.

The president’s preoccupation with voting fraud and election security dates back at least to 2016, when he refused to say whether he would accept defeat to Democrat Hillary Clinton. After he won, he convened a voting integrity commission to support his claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the popular vote, though the commission disbanded without uncovering any such evidence.

Four years later, after he lost the 2020 election to Biden, Trump again claimed cheating and zeroed in on the Democrat’s narrow win in Georgia. Trump called the state’s secretary of state and pressured him to “find 11,780 votes,” just enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. He, along with than a dozen allies, was indicted in the state though the charges were later dropped.

Repeated audits and reviews — many run by Republicans, including Trump’s own then-attorney general — have found no significant fraud occurred in 2020.

Before winning in 2024, Trump was again laying the groundwork to claim cheating if he lost. After returning to office, he stocked his administration with officials who back his false claims of 2020 election fraud.

Trump made voting regulation central in this term

Frequently declaring that he won the White House “three times,” Trump has made voting regulation a core issue during his second term, demanding legislation that would require voter ID and sharply limit mail-in voting. Facing midterm races that will decide control of Capitol Hill, Trump has stirred new claims to cast doubt on election results that could challenge his power in Washington.

Earlier this year, FBI agents raided elections offices in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing materials from the 2020 election. Tulsi Gabbard, then Trump’s director of national intelligence, traveled to Atlanta to oversee the execution of the search warrant.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, campaigning in Georgia for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and governor’s candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, smiled Tuesday when asked about Trump potentially rehashing the 2020 election in his national address.

He called it a strategy “for losers.”

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“I think people are exhausted by having conversations about elections that happened six years ago, that we have the answer to,” Moore said. “He continues to bring this up because he cannot get out of his mind that he actually could have lost.”

Beyond Georgia, Trump has widely taken aim at states that allow voters to submit ballots by mail. Trump said he called a U.S. attorney in California and demanded scrutiny of the governor’s primary last month as votes were being counted.

Last week, Trump ousted the remaining members of the federal Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan panel that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form.

Though the move likely won’t have major effects on the November midterms, it’s the latest instance of the Republican president trying to exert White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted, and it’s the first test of his newly expanded presidential power after the Supreme Court ruled recently that the president can fire members of independent agency boards without cause.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so,” said a White House statement to AP.

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The president removed the four-seat commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. The panel’s Republican member, Christy McCormick resigned. Former Republican commissioner Donald Palmer already had left his post voluntarily earlier this year. The changes were first reported by VoteBeat, a news outlet that covers elections and voting across the U.S.

Trump has repeatedly tried to reshape voting regulations, even though the U.S. Constitution grants control of elections to the states and not the president. Citing that separation of powers, courts have blocked most of Trump’s two executive orders that sought to reshape voting. Trump has also launched an investigation of his 2020 loss, which he continues to falsely insist was due to fraud, and this week his administration threatened states if they did not try to purge what federal officials believe are noncitizens from their voter rolls.

Still, Trump has largely been powerless to change election processes through executive fiat and David Becker, a former Department of Justice attorney who runs the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said his purge of the EAC wouldn’t alter that.

“This doesn’t really change anything about how our elections will be run, and how states are successfully ensuring secure, convenient, safe elections,” Becker wrote on the social media site BlueSky Friday morning.

Critics accuse Trump of damaging voters’ trust

On Capitol Hill, the leading Democrats with election oversight responsibility said Trump, rather than bolstering U.S. election integrity, is further politicizing the voting process.

“President Trump is trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York. “Purging commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further gutting support for our state and local elections officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”

Padilla is the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Morelle is ranking member of the House Administration Committee.

The lawmakers noted that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority enabled Trump’s move with its decision to “upend decades of executive power to appease the President.”

Staff at the Election Assistance Commission did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the agency’s operations moving forward.

While the White House statement did not offer a specific reason for Trump’s action, the commission has previously declined to change the national voter registration form to require documentation of an applicant’s U.S. citizenship, as Trump’s urged in a sweeping March 2025 executive order on U.S. elections. Though the form itself does not require citizenship documents, voter registration materials from the agency do state clearly that it already is illegal to falsely claim U.S. citizenship to vote.

A federal judge blocked the order, ruling it exceeded the president’s authority since the U.S. Constitution grants authority over elections management and oversight to Congress and the states. The administration has indicated it will appeal.

Trump hasn’t said whether he’ll pick new members

It was not clear whether Trump planned to nominate new members immediately or leave the positions vacant — a move that, months ahead of midterm elections, could prevent the agency from distributing new grants to state or local elections offices and perhaps complicate its role in overseeing testing and certification of voting systems around the country.

“The Administration from the start has been working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse, and investing in a strong infrastructure to sustain that mission especially in the midterm elections,” the White House said.

Congress created the commission as part of the Help America Vote Act, a bipartisan law signed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002. The act requires the commission to include two Democrats and two Republicans, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Hicks and McCormick were appointed by President Barack Obama. Trump appointed Hovland during his first presidency.

According to VoteBeat, Hicks and Hovland were notified of their removal by an email signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, the deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.

More court fights are always possible

Hicks and Hovland could challenge their dismissals, but that ultimately could require the Supreme Court to revisit two decisions it just issued on the president’s power over independent agencies.

The court ruled 6-3 last month in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter that Trump had wide executive authority to fire political appointees of independent executive agencies. Trump had fired Slaughter without cause despite a provision of federal law that required a reason and a nearly century-old Supreme Court precedent insulating independent agency heads from presidential whims.

The court’s six conservatives said that the previous restrictions on presidential prerogatives violated the Constitution’s separation of powers. The logic extends to other agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where Trump also has fired board members.

In the separate case of Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook, whom Trump had tried to fire, a 5-4 majority deviated from the Slaughter decision and ruled that the president could not fire central bank governors without cause. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the court’s three liberals in the Cook case. They justified their exception to their Slaughter reasoning by citing the central bank’s unique structure as congressionally chartered but independent, quasi-private institution whose “appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design” and its role in setting monetary policy that shapes the U.S. and world economy.

Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

The letters, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the department’s Civil Rights Division, give states five days to explain how they will comply with federal voter eligibility laws and how they will maintain “clean voter lists.”

“The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare, but Donald Trump and his administration have falsely portrayed it as a widespread issue.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are among those who said they received the letters from the Justice Department.

The letters say state election officers “could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting” noncitizen voting. They further specify that any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on a statewide voting registration list or who facilitates noncitizens’ receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.

“An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation” of federal law, the letters said.

Henderson wrote on social media that the threats constitute “truly bizarre behavior.”

“Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote. “I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”

The letters are the latest move in the Justice Department’s campaign to assert more federal control over state elections.

While some states have complied with the administration’s demands that they hand over voter roll data, the Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have dismissed the Justice Department’s efforts to seize voter rolls.

A memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press calls for the FBI to “surge” 260 investigative analysts and staff operations specialists to the effort, which it described as a “priority investigation.”

It said each of them is to conduct a check of an estimated 708 records by July 17. While the memo does not describe the investigation, people familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal decision-making confirmed the request was to help with the Georgia 2020 election investigation.

FBI agents in January seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county, which is heavily Democratic and includes most of the city of Atlanta. A Fulton County spokesperson declined to comment citing a pending investigation. The contents of the memo were first reported by MS NOW.

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President Donald Trump and his allies have made false claims that widespread election fraud cost him the 2020 election. Georgia’s votes in the 2020 presidential race were counted three times, including once by hand, and each count affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s win.

The Justice Department has previously said it is investigating “irregularities that occurred during the 2020 presidential election in the County.”

The motion, introduced by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, was going to ask LA voters whether they want the city to explore the option of permitting noncitizens to vote in local elections, including mayoral and city council races.

But the council voted unanimously to send the motion back to the Ad Hoc Committee on Charter Reform after two councilmembers expressed concerns of voter privacy and potential future repercussions as seen in the city of San Francisco, which now allows noncitizen parents and caregivers to vote in school board elections only.

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Reading from a San Francisco sample ballot, Councilmember John Lee noted that noncitizen voters in San Francisco are warned “any information (voters) provide to the Department of Elections, including (their) name and address, may be obtained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE.”

“It is not fear-mongering to raise these concerns,” Lee said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “They are real issues that must be addressed before Los Angeles asks voters to approve a similar system.”

Lee, who added the proposal was never discussed with the Charter Reform Committee, also pointed out San Francisco warns noncitizen voters that if they apply for naturalization in the future, they will be asked whether they have ever voted in local elections. They are also urged to consult with an immigration attorney, according to the message that Lee read from the sample ballot.

Councilmember Traci Park also said the motion did not receive “any real review or scrutiny.”

“If this passed, how are we going to protect people from the feds using it to target them?” Park said. “We don’t know, and we don’t have any control over what could happen.”

Park suggested the motion should clearly define the eligibility requirements for noncitizen voting as well as “the phrase legal resident,” adding San Francisco decided to allow noncitizen voting after years of public debate and review.

“Let’s send this back where it belongs, and let’s have that thoughtful and careful discussion and consideration,” Park recommended. “Let’s take the time that we need to hear from the public, get the legal advice, and put in the time warranted for something of this magnitude.”

The motion’s author, Councilmember Soto-Martinez, agreed that there are “a lot of things that need to be worked out” but said warnings by Park and Lee are fear-mongering.

“To cite the website from San Francisco to say as a reason why we shouldn’t do something, I am personally insulted by it,” Soto-Martinez said. “‘I’m not moved by the fear mongering, because when I spoke to the immigrants rights groups, they said, ‘We want to do this.'”

The councilmember for City District 13 , which includes Echo Park Silver Lake, Echo Park and Westlake District, admitted he did not consult with Black constituents on the proposal.

Council members Bob Blumenfield, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Heather Hutt, Lee, Tim McOsker, Adrin Nazarian, Park and Monica Rodriguez voted to send the matter to committee for further study.

It was not immediately clear when the city council committee will begin discussing the proposal.

The goal now is to continue with discussion to possibly placing the issue before voters in 2028.

The 5-4 ruling on an issue that has been a persistent target of President Trump rejected an attack on laws in more than half the states that allow mail-in ballots that arrive Election Day and still be counted, as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. At stake were election rules for the upcoming mid-term contests in California and about two dozen other states that offer more forgiving voting deadlines.

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California law allows ballots to be received within seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on time.

“Today’s decision affirms what Los Angeles County voters deserve: the assurance that a ballot cast by election day will be counted if received within the legal timeframe established in state law,” Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a statement. “The decision supports California voters’ preference for voting options that increase access and participation. Our office will continue to provide voter education, multilingual outreach, and leverage available resources to ensure voting access for our 5.8 million registered voters heading into November and in every election that follows. We remain firmly committed to transparency, accuracy, and compliance with all applicable election laws.”

In a statewide election, between 700,000 and 1 million vote-by-mail ballots are returned on or around Election Day in Los Angeles County, according to the county elections office. There are more than 5.8 million registered voters in Los Angeles County, the largest voting jurisdiction in the country.

The ruling requires no changes to state election laws. In California, all of the state’s 23 million registered voters are sent vote-by-mail ballots ahead of elections, a practice that began during the Covid-19 pandemic to expand voting options.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber called the court’s ruling a win for voters, the rule of law and democracy.

“By rejecting efforts to shorten the vote-by-mail return window, the court protected an important safeguard that helps ensure service members, overseas voters, Californians with disabilities, and rural communities are not silenced by mail delays beyond their control,” Weber said in a statement. “This ruling makes one thing clear: our elections belong to the people, not to partisan agendas. As secretary of state, I will keep working to ensure every eligible Californian has the opportunity to be heard, because our democracy is strongest when every voice and vote count.”

Trump called the court’s decision a “tremendous loss” for voter rights, and again called on Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would ban most mail-in voting except for specific circumstances, while requiring all voters to produce a photo ID and proof of citizenship to cast a ballot. Save America Act legislation would, among other things, limit who is able to receive a mail ballot and impose a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for registering to vote.

“If we want fair and secure elections, Election Day should mean exactly what it says, which is why this decision makes it even more imperative that Congress pass the SAVE America Act,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the court’s majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices. Justice Barrett wrote that federal laws “leave open” votes must be received.

Congress could change the law, she said.

“If varied deadlines for ballot receipt similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives,” Barrett wrote.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent for four justices.

“Not only is today’s decision inconsistent with statutory text, legal context, historical practice, and precedent; it also threatens to produce lamentable consequences,” Alito wrote. “The majority’s holding spawns a slurry of troubling election-law questions and risks further undermining Americans’ confidence in election integrity.”

The court heard arguments in March in a case from Mississippi pitting the state against Trump’s Republican administration and the Republican and Libertarian parties. At issue was whether federal law sets a single Election Day that requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials.

The federal appeals court in New Orleans struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day.

The outcome is a “sigh of relief” for a lot of election administrators, said Stephen Richer, a Republican and the former top election administrator in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

A ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee “would have created a whole host of administrative challenges for the affected states,” said Richer, who is now a legal fellow at the Cato Institute.

RNC officials did not immediately respond Monday to email and telephone requests for comment.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also hailed the decision.

“California, like many states, utilizes vote-by-mail to increase participation in our democracy and today’s ruling helps ensure mail-in-ballots get counted and people’s voices are heard through the democratic process,” Newsom said. “Despite ongoing attacks from the Trump Administration, we will continue our work throughout the Golden State to ensure every eligible Californian participates — because democracy is strongest when we all take part.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

The decision, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is a defeat for President Donald Trump who has repeatedly claimed mail-in voting encourages fraud, an assertion not backed up by evidence. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. also joined the court’s three liberals in the ruling.

The question before the court was whether Mississippi was acting legally when it permitted ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrived within five business days of the election.

“The federal election-day statutes do not preempt Mississippi’s law because the defining element of an ‘election’ has always been the electorate’s choice of candidate,” the decision said.

A voter’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received, it said.

Thirteen other states have grace periods for ballots cast by mail. Another 15 have longer deadlines for military and overseas voters.

Last year, Trump signed an executive order that would require votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day, but it has been blocked by court challenges.

Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart noted during arguments before the Supreme Court in March that the Trump administration had failed to produce a single case of fraud due to mail ballots that arrived after Election Day.

Among the state with deadlines after Election Day are California, Texas, New York and Illinois. Rural areas of Alaska also allow post-Election Day ballots.

The Associated Press reported that four states dominated by Republican lawmakers, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio and Utah, dropped their grace periods last year. That’s according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and Voting Rights Lab.

During arguments, some of the conservative justices seemed skeptical of late-arriving mail ballots. Justice Samuel Alito for example asked about the appearance of fraud if ballots that arrived after Election Day flipped an election.

The liberal justices on the other hand indicated they would uphold the state laws and noted that federal law allows states to set their own regulations governing elections. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the states and Congress should decide the issue, not the courts. 

Federal law sets Election Day as “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.”

Mississippi passed its election law during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was challenged by the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party and others.

An appellate court, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, struck down Mississippi’s grace period. Judge Andrew Oldham wrote that the state law allowing the late-arriving ballots to be counted violated federal law.

The three judges who decided Mississippi’s law was unconstitutional were all appointed by Trump during his first term.

Trump had issued the executive order in March to require voters to show proof of citizenship at polling stations before casting their ballots. The presidential directive also sought to stop states from counting ballots if they do not arrive by Election Day.

The Trump administration initially threatened states, saying it would withhold certain federal funding for noncompliant states.

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A few days after the executive order was issued, Bonta and 19 attorneys generals filed the suit, arguing that the president and the federal Election Assistant Commission do not have the authority to force states to comply with the election directives.

After a federal judge rejected the Trump’s administration’s effort to get the lawsuit thrown out, the legal proceedings continued with both sides arguing their cases before the “major victory,” according to the California attorney general.

“We sued President Trump over his attempt to unilaterally impose voting restrictions across the country — and we won,” Bonta said in a statement after the ruling was issued Wednesday.

“Today, a federal district court ruled that every provision we challenged in the Executive Order is unlawful and reaffirmed that the power to regulate elections is reserved to the States and Congress,” the attorney general added. “While we are proud of this result, we are clear-eyed that President Trump’s attacks on voting rights and our elections show no signs of slowing down. So let me be clear: we will keep fighting back every step of the way.” 

There are local initiatives that still seek to overhaul the voter ID requirement and ballot counting process in California. Among them is the California Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, which qualified for the November ballot in California, aiming to require voters to present a government-issued ID for in-person voting or registration.

The state is also awaiting a court’s decision on another voting-related presidential executive order: the president has also released a directive to create federal requirements on who would be eligible to vote in federal elections and to restrict mail voting.

California and 23 other states also sued the Trump administration, similarly arguing that running elections is a state’s responsibility, not a president’s. The court has yet to rule on the case.

The mayor said it was a question of electing “better Democrats” who would “put working people back at the heart of politics.” The approach consternated some in Democratic leadership, but the outcome showcased Mamdani’s rising influence.

Elsewhere Tuesday, two opposing factions of the artificial intelligence industry spent millions on a House race that became a proxy fight over tech regulation.

And President Donald Trump, after two of his chosen candidates for governor lost Republican primaries this month, ensured it wouldn’t happen again. The president endorsed both candidates in a South Carolina runoff — and one of his endorsed candidates inevitably won.

Mamdani successfully flexes his political power in House races

When Mamdani took the stage in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, the crowd chanted “DSA,” the initials for the Democratic Socialists of America.

It was just the latest sign of an ascendant political movement, and two of the candidates successfully backed by Mamdani are democratic socialists.

In the primary for retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat, state Assembly Member Claire Valdez beat out Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Valdez was endorsed by Mamdani, and Reynoso was endorsed by Velázquez.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat lost his bid for reelection to Darializa Avila Chevalier, another Mamdani-backed democratic socialist. Avila Chevalier hasn’t held public office before and once helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.

A third candidate backed by Mamdani, former city comptroller Brad Lander, defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman by running to his political left. The race partly revolved around the war in Gaza, with Lander assailing Goldman for not being critical enough of Israel.

All three victors are expected to win their blue districts, which would also place three Mamdani allies in Congress come January.

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Lasher won Manhattan House primary where AI regulation was debated

One crowded Democratic primary in Manhattan had become a proxy battle between two powerful camps in the artificial intelligence industry because of one candidate: New York Assemblyman Alex Bores.

Bores, a former Palantir employee, had cited ethical concerns in leaving the company and pushed one of the more sweeping state-level AI regulation bills in the country. He pointed to that legislation, which faced some industry pushback, as a framework for how he’d approach regulation in Congress.

His entry in the race for retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler’s seat prompted a political group financed by investors in OpenAI to spend more than $7 million in ads attacking Bores — only for an opposing group connected to Anthropic to ride to his aid with more than $10 million.

Bores fell short in the primary, which was won by Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a longtime government hand backed by Democratic leaders. Lasher had criticized Bores by suggesting he would be beholden to the big tech faction who supported him.

“I have some news for the two big AI companies who’ve taken such an unusual interest in who won this congressional seat,” he said Tuesday night. “I won’t be taking my cues from either of you when it comes to protecting our kids, our jobs, our environment.”

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, and former Republican lawyer George Conway rounded out the field.

Trump successfully hedges in South Carolina after endorsement record gets shakier

The president is proud of his ability to pick winners in Republican primaries, but he stumbled in governor’s races earlier this month. First U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra lost to businessman Zach Lahn in Iowa, then Lt. Gov. Burt Jones fell short to billionaire Rick Jackson in Georgia.

So Trump took steps to ensure a victory for his endorsement in South Carolina on Tuesday. After initially endorsing Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette shortly before the primary, he decided to also support state Attorney General Alan Wilson in the runoff.

“I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!” he wrote in a social media post Friday. “It’s a Wealth of Riches – With either one you can’t go wrong.”

It appeared to be a prescient decision, and Wilson swiftly came out on top in the runoff.

“I was honored to receive his endorsement,” Wilson told his supporters of Trump in accepting victory Tuesday. “I think he saw the fight in our campaign, the energy in our campaign. And think he likes a fighter and I think that’s won him over. I want to thank you, Mr. President.”

In the end, Trump’s endorsement was another winner on the night.

“Alan Wilson wins!” he posted on social media. “Endorsed by President Trump!”

Former U.S. representative beats more progressive competitors in Utah’s new Democratic battleground

It’s unusual for Utah‘s Democratic primaries to draw much attention, but that’s because the party hasn’t had much of a shot in the staunchly red state. That is until redistricting last year created a lone Democratic island in the Salt Lake City area.

The new district had a dark enough hue of blue that primary candidates jostled for who was furthest left, a contest that former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams — who won Tuesday — worked to adapt to.

When McAdams last ran in 2018, ousting a Republican, he described himself as pro-life and fashioned himself as a moderate. Now, in the new left-leaning district, he pledged to support abortion rights and said he’s only “moderate in tone.”

The more progressive candidates who challenged him included state Sen. Nate Blouin, who has said the electorate had grown accustomed to Democrats who will “play nice” with Republicans and who won support from Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Maryland Republicans sought an heir to Hogan

Republican Larry Hogan reigned as Maryland governor for eight years, standing on a more moderate conservative platform to keep his perch in the left-leaning, East Coast state.

At Hogan’s departure, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore took over in 2023, and he won his party’s primary Tuesday in his bid for reelection to a second term. Moore is widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.

Republicans voted for Dan Cox, who leaned furthest to the right out of the nine candidates and had a photo of himself with Trump on his law practice’s website. On the campaign trail, he had pledged to cut taxes and expand housing affordability programs.

___

Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas, and Lodhi from New York.

Rick Jackson’s campaign spent more than $100 million, largely out of his own pocket, to defeat Trump-endorsed Burt Jones in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor. It was another rare example of the president’s choice falling short in a primary battle.

Trump’s efforts were more successful elsewhere. His candidate for U.S. Senate won a runoff in Alabama, and his pick for Oklahoma governor advanced to another runoff there.

Four states and the District of Columbia held primaries Tuesday. Among Democrats, the contests hinged on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

Here are some takeaways as votes come in from Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia and Oklahoma.

Trump’s endorsement can be overcome — for a price

Nothing is certain in politics, but a “complete and total endorsement” from Trump is about the surest path possible to winning a Republican primary.

Jackson found another path to the Republican nomination for Georgia governor, but it was pricy. The billionaire healthcare tycoon personally supplied most of the $100 million-plus that his campaign has spent to persuade Republican primary voters to overlook Trump’s advice.

Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones more than a year ago and reiterated his support last week, praising Jones’ “Courage and Wisdom” in a social media post.

Before Tuesday’s runoff, Jackson came in second behind Jones in the May 19 primary, though nearly a third of voters backed other candidates.

Jackson will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in November to lead one of the nation’s preeminent battleground states.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Republican primary for governor tested Trump’s endorsement in a different way. There, the president weighed in late, throwing his support two weeks ago to former state Sen. Mike Mazzei among a crowded field without a clear front-runner. Mazzei secured a spot in a runoff on Aug. 25, finishing nearly even with Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

Trump is used to getting his way, but earlier this month his choice for governor of Iowa, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, lost to Zach Lahn in the state’s primary.

MAGA becomes the insider movement and faces an outsider

Trump rose to power as an outsider, the head of a “Make America Great Again” movement keen to bulldoze the old political order.

But now the onetime insurgent sits atop a sprawling establishment. What happens when he endorses an insider candidate?

In Alabama, it worked out for Trump. He successfully backed U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman who has promised to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda” if elected to the Senate.

Moore defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who presented himself as a Washington outsider and tried to harness the anti-establishment fervor that propelled Trump to power to defeat Trump’s preferred candidate.

Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the GOP primary victor will be heavily favored to prevail in November.

The seat is being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee in the race for Alabama governor.

DC mayor’s race features a democratic socialist and a new voting system

One of the leading Democratic contenders in the District of Columbia mayor’s race, Janeese Lewis George, describes herself as a democratic socialist, a political denomination that became more prominent with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns.

Lewis George’s bid for the party’s nomination is not so far removed from democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory for New York City mayor last year. The race has drawn national attention, including the president’s.

Trump indicated days before the mayoral primary election that he might take over the city if Lewis George wins, saying “we won’t put up with it.” Lewis George called Trump’s threat “an attack on democracy itself.”

The overwhelmingly Democratic city’s relationship to the president is a focal point of the campaign as Trump has exercised broad power over Washington, D.C. That’s included an open-ended deployment of National Guard troops in the streets and his culling of the federal workforce, a chunk of the city’s jobs.

Some residents were frustrated that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, didn’t push back enough on the administration. Part of Lewis George’s platform on her website, which heavily focuses on affordability, is to “protect Home Rule” with “leaders that stand up and fight back, not shrink in the face of injustice.”

The race was too early to call on Tuesday night, and it could be decided by D.C.’s new ranked choice voting system.

Like a handful of other places, D.C. voters ranked the candidates on a ballot, and if no one crosses 50% of the popular vote, then residents’ second choices come into play. That happened in Maine, where election officials started counting ranked choice votes for governor and a key House race three days after election night.

In D.C., election officials have warned the new system could delay results by days.

Georgia Republicans opt for candidate less skeptical of the 2020 election

State Rep. Tim Fleming won the Republican nomination for Georgia secretary of state Tuesday night, defeating opponent Vernon Jones, who leaned more into conspiracies over Trump’s loss to Joe Biden.

The two were competing in an election to replace Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud and the president’s request to “find 11,780 votes” six years ago.

Those claims hovered over Tuesday’s race.

Jones had said he believes there were “irregularities” and “violations” in 2020 and he stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Of four key points on Jones’ campaign platform, three had to do with election management, including stronger voter identification rules.

Fleming tiptoed around the topic, saying there were “irregularities” in 2020 but adding he’s “not running on conspiracy theories.” Of the seven platform points on his campaign website, however, four were focused on election management and one said the state should “make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”

Fleming will face Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, who won her party’s nomination Tuesday.

More progressive candidate advances in California race to serve out Swalwell’s term

Democrat Eric Swalwell resigned from the U.S. House and dropped his bid for California governor in April after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her twice, saying she was too intoxicated to consent to sex in both cases.

A special primary election was held Tuesday to finish Swalwell’s term, and Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab advanced to the special general election on Aug. 18. It remained too early to determine who would fill the second slot.

Whoever wins will serve in the U.S. House through January. Wahab was favored along with Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director.

Wahab, who’s established in California politics, represents a more progressive wing of the party, while Hernandez is a local politician who sits closer to the political center. To lower costs, Wahab takes aim at “corporate profiteering” and argues for an expansion to social safety nets. Hernandez focuses on local job growth and supporting small businesses.

Both candidates also ran in the regular primary election for Swalwell’s seat and will face off in the general election in November. Whoever wins that race will take over next year.

___

Cooper reported from Phoenix, and Bedayn from Austin, Texas.

The results were never in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faced serious opposition for their party’s nomination. And yet Tuesday marked an especially significant moment for Platner, the embattled veteran and oyster farmer, who is fighting to rebuild his credibility in a campaign rocked by controversy.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump‘s clout within his party was tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he endorsed his favored candidates. Democrats hoped to build momentum in Nevada as part of a broader push to reclaim key governor’s seats.

Here’s some of the biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.

Platner tries to shift the conversation

There is no question that Platner has repair work to do.

The Maine Democrat openly acknowledged as much Tuesday night, telling a room packed with cheering supporters that “people can change.”

“Any of those who feel let down or disappointed or disillusioned, it is my job to earn your trust, faith and support,” Platner said. He later added, “I’ve made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret, that I live with, that I continue to learn from.”

It was hardly a defiant message for a man who sits at the very center of the Democratic Party’s fight to reclaim the Senate majority. Although he spent the closing minutes of his election-night speech attacking Collins, much of the night was choreographed to address other controversies.

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It was barely a week ago when revelations surfaced that Platner had engaged in sexually explicit messages with multiple women while married. Allies wondered if more baggage would emerge, and then The New York Times reported new allegations about his behavior during previous relationships.

Platner’s mother took the stage before he spoke. She declared: “I am very, very proud of my son. I’m proud of who he is.” And then Platner’s wife appeared at his side before and after his speech. They held hands, touched foreheads and kissed.

Platner’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in April after it became clear Platner was in a commanding position.

A much more difficult challenge lies ahead: earning his own party’s trust as he tries to defeat Collins, who is running for her sixth term.

Maine race tests Democrats’ standards

As the controversies surrounding Platner have mounted, his support among Democrats has remained intact.

His victory — and his party’s response — underscores how much the party has changed in the Trump era. Democrats who once embraced a near-zero-tolerance approach to serious allegations of personal misconduct are increasingly prioritizing electability in their quest to return to power in Washington.

Jim Messina, who led former President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, said “a star is born” after Platner’s speech Tuesday night.

Few lawmakers illustrated the Democratic Party’s evolution more clearly than Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith. On Monday night, Smith offered an unequivocal endorsement of Platner, saying that if she lived in Maine, “he’d have my support, no question.”

Smith arrived in the Senate in 2018 after replacing Sen. Al Franken, who resigned amid allegations of inappropriate touching and kissing during the height of the #MeToo movement.

She is joined by other Democrats who once derided Republicans’ acceptance of Trump and other controversial nominees, but now back Platner. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been — and continue to be — key supporters of Platner.

But not all Democrats appear comfortable. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania had pushed Maine voters to support Mills, even though she dropped out. Mills issued a statement Tuesday night that did not mention Platner’s name. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey pushed Platner to “get off” the ballot in a CNN interview.

Expect Democratic leaders to face a new round of difficult questions about their own standards in the days and weeks ahead.

Trump’s endorsement doesn’t deliver clean win in South Carolina

The president was looking to rebound Tuesday from an embarrassing loss in Iowa last week, where his preferred candidate for governor was defeated in a rare rebuke from Republican primary voters.

But South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial primary offered only an incomplete victory.

Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette was unable to secure a majority of the vote in the five-candidate field needed to avoid a runoff. She will face state Attorney General Alan Wilson on June 23.

As the results came in, Trump called Evette and pledged to help her over the next two weeks, according to a person familiar with the private conversation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The night produced a more decisive result for one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress. Sen. Lindsey Graham avoided a runoff and secured the Republican Senate nomination over businessman Mark Lynch. Trump had warned that it would be a “DISASTER for the Republican Party” if Lynch won.

Meanwhile, in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district, Trump-backed retired Lt. Col. David Flippo is facing former state Sen. James Settelmeyer. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, who announced his retirement from the seat, has endorsed Settelmeyer, as has the state’s governor, Republican Joe Lombardo.

Clyburn cruises to primary win after South Carolina redistricting scare

Longtime South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, who holds significant national political clout as the state’s lone Democratic House member, easily fended off a little-known primary challenger Tuesday.

Just weeks ago, it was unclear if Clyburn would make it to a 18th term in office. Republican lawmakers, backed by Trump, considered a congressional map that would have significantly altered Clyburn’s majority-Black district and made it harder for him to hold onto the seat. But the Republican-led state Senate rejected the effort, leaving his district largely intact.

Two Republicans are still competing for the chance to face Clyburn in November, but he is expected to be the overwhelming favorite in the general election. A win would likely ensure he plays a significant role in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential race.

The U.S. election system can be slow

It took a full week for California’s general election matchup for governor to become clear. The final results for Maine could take even longer. And key primary contests in South Carolina are headed to a June 23 runoff.

Despite what you may be reading on the internet, this is how U.S. democracy works. These differences in how votes are counted — and how long it takes — exist because the Constitution sets out broad principles for electing a national government, but leaves the details to the states.

Tallying votes collected by local officials in individual precincts can take a long time — especially in states like Maine that offer ranked-choice voting, or South Carolina, which requires a runoff if none of the candidates earn more than 50% of the vote.

In California, which held its primary elections last week, Republican Steve Hilton joined Democrat Xavier Becerra in qualifying for the November ballot for governor on Tuesday. Elections often take a long time to sort in the state, the nation’s most populous, largely because officials designed their system to prioritize accessibility over speed.

In Maine’s crowded primary for governor, five Democrats were in the running and the state will move to its ranked-choice system to determine the winner. Historically, the process has taken more than a week to resolve. And in South Carolina, the Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson emerged from the crowded primary on Tuesday and will compete in a runoff election in two weeks.

___

Peoples reported from New York.

As of Monday, 946,757 voters, or 50.35%, supported the proposed sales tax, while 933,753 voters, or 49.65%, were opposed.

With the 13,000 vote difference, the final result may not be available at least until Tuesday afternoon. LA County Registrar’s office said there are over 148,000 ballots left to count as of Monday.

Measure ER, which was introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January, is called the Essential Services Restoration Act and asked voters to enact the half-cent general sales tax increase for five years, through Oct. 1, 2031.

County officials said the measure would generate about $1 billion annually, with the goal of offsetting reductions in state and federal funding for various healthcare programs.   

The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%.

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When the Board of Supervisors voted to place Measure ER on the June ballot, Supervisor Kathryn Barger was the only dissenting vote.

“This proposed half-cent increase would push us even higher, making our county less affordable for families and less appealing for consumers to shop and businesses to operate.,” Barger said in opposition, adding LA County residents are already “stretched thin.”

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which has consistently opposed any form of tax increase, argued that sales tax in LA County is already too high. The group said raising the tax again is “unreasonable and unfairly harsh” for those who can’t afford it.

If the “yes” vote wins LA County would add a temporary half cent per dollar or about 5 cents for every $10 spent to the sales tax for five years. The annual revenue is expected to be about $1 billion between October 2026 and 2031. The increase would not apply to groceries, prescription drugs and medical equipment.

The ballot measure would expire in October 2031, and it cannot be extended without voter approval.

Becerra rapidly caught up to Republican frontrunner Steve Hilton Friday, trailing the GOP rival by about 8,700 votes, according to the latest vote count by the NBC News Decision Desk.

Among over 63% of the expected ballots across the state, Hilton, former Fox News Host, received 26.6% of the votes, compared to Becerra, former Health and Human Services secretary, at 26.5%. The difference between the two candidates was just over 8,770 votes as of 2:45 p.m. Friday.

Because Democratic and left-leaning voters turned in their ballots later for this primary election, the votes counted later the in week are more likely to be for Becerra.

Becerra’s campaign released a statement, calling his advancement to the runoff “a landmark moment in California history.”

“The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken — loudly and proudly,” Xavier Becerra said as he said his campaign was galvanized by working families, including labor unions, nurses and firefighters.

In an apparent jab at his Democratic rival and billionaire candidate Tom Steyer, who spent more than $200 million on his gubernatorial campaign and went after his rivals mercilessly, Becerra said California voters “will not be bought.”

“We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. November, here we come,” Becerra said.

California has spoken. Thank you for standing with us. To every volunteer who made a call, sent a text, knocked a door, or showed up when it mattered most — this victory belongs to you.

We're just getting started. On to November. pic.twitter.com/fTZ1HFKzNf

— Xavier Becerra (@XavierBecerra) June 6, 2026

Becerra’s gubernatorial campaign could be one for the history books. Just four months ago, the former congressman and state attorney general was among the candidates who were urged to leave the race by the California Democratic Party, which feared two Republicans could end up in the ruoff.

But as his supporters called it, “the Becerra bounce” helped him go from polling at 3% in March to becoming the first gubernatorial candidate to advance to the general election.

Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer in third place gained about 107,000 votes in the past 24 hours, the latest tabulation showed.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco remained at fourth place with 11.2%.

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The latest project came as First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced Friday his office has “multiple” probes underway into alleged voting fraud — one day after President Donald Trump alleged, without providing any examples or evidence, that Democrats were cheating this week’s California primary election.

Essayli, a Trump appointee, wrote on social media Friday morning that “protecting the integrity of California’s elections is a top priority for my office.”

“California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities,” he wrote. “Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence. Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with (the FBI). We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”

Although he declined to provide any specifics, he pointed to a case announced last month charging a Marina del Rey woman with allegedly paying people — including the homeless living on Skid Row — to register to vote.

“Yes, there is evidence of election fraud in California,” he said.

Essayli also said his office is working with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in an effort to audit the state’s voter roll.

The comments came one day after Trump — without evidence — publicly accused Democrats of engaging in election fraud in California, pointing to the legally established mail-in voting process.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on X, writing, “Trump is lying about California again — time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to sleep.”

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that residents should expect continued updates in vote totals from Tuesday’s election as outstanding ballots are counted. She noted that California law allows county election officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and process eligible ballots that remain outstanding.

“Accuracy comes before speed,” Weber said in a statement.

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It’s not surprising those have yet to be resolved, along with several closely contested congressional races, because the state routinely takes days, or even weeks, to fully tally races. Nor is it unusual for President Donald Trump to complain about the pace of the count and allege fraud, as he did Thursday. It’s something he’s done repeatedly in the past.

What was unusual was that Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating the count: “Why the vote counting DELAY???,” the president posted on his social media account.

He suggested that the state’s Democrats were somehow cheating so two candidates he favors — Republican Steve Hilton in the governor’s race and Spencer Pratt in the nonpartisan mayor’s race — would be bumped from the top two slots and therefore ineligible for the November general election.

“You see what’s happening in California, they’re rigging the election,” he told reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday.

Trump’s posts prompted a response from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose press office posted a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed, drawing out the count.

“For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” Newsom’s office posted.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment about whether it was investigating the ballot counting.

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Slow count designed to ensure accuracy, but opens door to election lies

The law in California practically mandates a drawn-out count. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter — some 23 million of them — and the state has permissive rules for returning them. They will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.

Only after the polls have closed and most of the country has gone to sleep can local election workers begin the lengthy process of verifying the legitimacy of the late-arriving mail ballots and then start to tabulate them.

If a voters’ signature on the ballot envelope doesn’t match what’s on file, election officials are required to give those voters a chance to come in and prove their identity so the ballot will count, delaying a final tally further.

“We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don’t),” wrote Stephen Richer a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the social platform X. “But that doesn’t make it fraud.”

Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the vote count to be completed within 13 days, rather than the previous 30 days. To get an extension, counties must inform the Secretary of State’s Office that they have a reason for a delay.

That’s not quick enough for the president: “The Dumocrats are at it again!” the president wrote on his social media platform. “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who wrote the bill to accelerate ballot counting, said Trump’s comments were disappointing and “a lie.”

“While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.

Many Democratic voters waited until the last minute to cast their ballot

Some experts warned that the count from Tuesday’s primary might take even longer than after previous elections.

“What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots,” said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.

The state’s millions of Democrats this year were exceptionally slow to send in their ballots, apparently waiting until the last minute to make a selection in the ever-evolving governor’s race. The state operates a primary in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, move on to the general election, and Democrats had been fretting for months that having so many Democrats in the race would splinter the vote in such a way that two Republicans would claim the top two spots.

Democratic voters appeared to wait until the end to see which of their candidates were emerging as favorites. The high number of late ballots will likely make the delay in getting final counts even greater.

While millions of ballots have been counted by now, it’s the uncounted ones that loom largest for close races.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation’s closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes, so there’s often no way to determine a winner until the weekslong ballot count has concluded. In 2024, one House race wasn’t called until December.

Things get even more complicated in a primary election, such as Tuesday’s. That’s because the news isn’t just the top vote-getter but also the second place finisher. To know the true outcome of any race, enough votes need to be tallied to know for certain who finished in first and second.

Later ballots skew toward Democrats, feeding conspiracy theories

Another side effect of the enormous crush of late mail ballots that get tallied last is that the final vote gets more and more Democratic. That’s because Republicans are more likely to return their ballots early or vote in person, on Election Day. Those ballots get counted first.

The gradual shifting of the vote to Democrats as ballot counting goes on has sparked all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Republicans have long complained about the California count, even though the GOP did well in close House races in the state in 2024. The Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day and the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the issue sometime this month.

But worries about the California vote count aren’t only a partisan issue. Voting advocates have urged state lawmakers to better fund local election offices so they can process the avalanche of late-arriving ballots faster.

“The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker,” Hasen said.

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 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. Former state Rep. Joe Mitchell, who is backed by President Donald Trump, is projected to win the Republican nod there, while the Democratic nominee will be state Rep. Lindsay James.

The House battleground will continue to come into focus as results in other states are tallied Tuesday night. Already, Democrats in New Jersey selected Rebecca Bennett, a healthcare executive and former Navy helicopter pilot, as their nominee to take on GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in the battleground 7th District.

Meanwhile, primary results in safer seats will also continue to transform Congress, from contests between different factions in the Republican and Democratic parties to incumbents battling for their political survival.

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California’s key role shaping the House

California is home to four major battleground House races after state Democrats redrew the congressional lines as part of the national redistricting battle, and a handful of other districts could be competitive in the fall, too. In California, every candidate runs on the same ballot, regardless of party, and the top two vote-getters move on to the general election.

California’s 22nd District: The Fresno-area district, a perennial battleground, is home to Rep. David Valadao, who, if he is re-elected, would be the only Republican House member left who voted to impeach Trump in 2021. Valadao isn’t facing any Republican challengers in the primary, unlike in previous elections, so the battle for the second spot in the general election is between two Democrats with very different ideas of how to win a swing seat: establishment-backed state Assemblymember Jasmeet Baines and progressive local school board member Randy Villegas.

California’s 48th District: Another hotly contested battleground primary is in the San Diego area, which features a similar dynamic of two Democrats fighting for a shot to make the ballot in the fall against a Republican.

Redistricting moved this district from a safe Republican seat to a light-blue one, leading GOP Rep. Darrell Issa to retire instead of running again. Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, is backed by Trump, while the top Democrats are San Diego City Council member Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is making his third bid for Congress.

California’s 13th District: Democratic Rep. Adam Gray is a top Republican target in a race in which the top Republican appears to be former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, who lost a close race to Democratic Rep. Josh Harder in 2024 and is backed by Trump.

California’s 6th District: This stretch of suburban Sacramento changed significantly in redistricting. Newly independent Rep. Kevin Kiley, who recently announced he would leave the Republican Party, is running against a crowded field of Democrats looking to move on to the general.

California’s 1st District: Another formerly red seat turned blue by redistricting, this district has two former state legislative leaders — Democrat Mike McGuire and Republican James Gallagher — as the favorites to move on to the general election.

California 1st District special election: After the death of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, there is also a special election for this seat, which will be held under the current lines, which are much more favorable to Republicans.

Gallagher is the front-runner, and both he and McGuire are on the crowded ballot of candidates looking to serve out the rest of LaMalfa’s term.

California’s 21st District: Democratic Rep. Jim Costa is likely to face off this fall against either Lorenzo Rios, a military veteran and veterans activist, or Kyle Kirkland, the president of the California Gaming Association, in this Fresno-area seat, which leans toward Democrats.

California’s 45th District: Freshman Democratic Rep. Derek Tran is likely to face whoever emerges as the top choice of a crowded field of Republicans in another blue-leaning seat.

Other battleground races come into focus

New Jersey’s 9th District: Democratic Rep. Nellie Pou is running for re-election in a district Trump won by 1 point, but the wind will most likely be at her back when she faces off against her Republican opponent — either Clifton City Council member Rosie Pino or Tiffany Burress, an attorney married to longtime NFL player Plaxico Burress.

Montana’s 1st District: This seat is on the fringe of the battleground after Trump carried it by 11 points in 2024. But the district will be open this fall because Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke is retiring.

Both parties’ primaries are crowded. On the GOP side, Trump is backing Aaron Flint, a combat veteran and radio host, over Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and former state Sen. Albert Olszewski. The Democratic side includes 2024 gubernatorial nominee Ryan Busse; Sam Forstag, a firefighter backed by prominent progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and education advocate Russ Cleveland.

New Mexico’s 2nd District: Trump won this district by less than 2 points in 2024. Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez is almost certainly going to be running this fall against Greg Cunningham, a former police officer backed by Trump, after the other Republican on the ballot dropped out and endorsed him.

Incumbents face threats to political careers

A bevy of incumbents in California face tough re-election bids, with Democratic challengers calling for leaders to pass the torch and two Republican lawmakers thrust into a brutal battle thanks to redistricting.

California’s 40th District: This member-on-member primary in the Riverside and Orange County area between Reps. Young Kim and Ken Calvert, prompted by redistricting, is one of the nastiest primaries in the country. The big question Tuesday will be whether both advance to the fall — or whether a Democrat, like Esther Kim Varet, will win one of those spots.

California’s 4th District: Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, 75, faces a challenge in this Napa-area district from Democrat Eric Jones, a mid-30s venture capitalist who lent his campaign $5 million and has been making the generational argument against Thompson.

California’s 7th District: Sacramento-area Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui, 81, faces another generational challenge from Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang, who is in her early 40s. While Matsui has the backing of powerful California Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vang is backed by prominent progressive groups, as well as The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board. Matsui’s campaign had been asking outside groups to spend to lift up a Republican candidate in hope of squeezing Vang out of the general election.

California’s 32nd District: Rep. Brad Sherman, 71, faces a crowded field of fellow Democrats calling for a new direction, the most notable being Jake Levine, who worked in the Obama and Biden White Houses on climate policy.

California’s 34th District: Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez, 51, faces a challenge from a Justice Democrats-backed candidate, community activist Angela Gonzales-Torres, who has criticized Gomez over his views on Israel policy. But Gomez has outraised her 5-to-1, and there has been no real ad spending aimed at boosting Gonzales-Torres in this Los Angeles district.

California’s 41st District: Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez faces a notable challenger in former state Assemblyman Hector De La Torre.

Other key House races on the ballot

New Jersey’s 12th District: Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s retirement turned this deep-blue seat into the next battleground for progressive groups looking to elect one of their own. Adam Hamawy, a surgeon whom Sen. Tammy Duckworth credits with saving her life in Iraq and was later stranded in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas, is projected to win the nomination, a big win for the progressive wing of the party. American Priorities, a group formed to counter spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Democratic primaries, has spent heavily in support of Hamawy in a race in which Israel policy has loomed large.

California’s 11th District: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to retire sparked a competitive, three-way Democratic battle to replace her. Pelosi is backing San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, while the other prominent Democrats include state Sen. Scott Weiner, who has the state party endorsement, and Saikat Chakrabarti, a former aide to Ocasio-Cortez who has the backing of a handful of progressive Democrats and groups.

California’s 38th District: Former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is running in this district east of Los Angeles, which is open thanks to redistricting, as she looks to return to Congress — where she served before she joined the Obama administration. But Monica Sánchez, City Council member in Pico Rivera, is backed by Rep. Linda Sánchez (no relation).

South Dakota’s At-Large District: The state’s lone congressional seat is open because Rep. Dusty Johnson is running for governor. Trump-backed Marty Jackley, the state’s attorney general, won the GOP primary.

The latest Report of Registration, released by Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, found that 23,155,447 eligible Californians were registered to vote as of May 18, the highest total in state history.

“California’s record voter registration numbers show that our democracy is alive and well, powered by millions of Californians who are excited to take part in shaping both the future and values that strengthen our state,” Weber said in a statement. “Our voters are not only staying engaged, they are stepping forward with purpose.”

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Democrats continue to make up the largest share of the state’s electorate, with nearly 10.4 million registered voters, or 44.9% of the total. Republicans account for about 5.8 million voters, or 24.96%, while 5.28 million voters, or 22.82%, are registered with no party preference.

The report also found 965,068 voters registered with the American Independent Party, 231,107 registered Libertarians, 154,305 Peace and Freedom Party members and 113,790 Green Party voters.

Eligible Californians who have not yet registered to vote may still participate in Tuesday’s election through same-day, or conditional, voter registration, which is available at vote centers throughout the state, officials said.

Voters who are unsure of their registration status can check online through the Secretary of State’s Office here.

Trump endorsed Paxton last week. Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff makes Cornyn the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.

With 48% of the votes counted, NBC News projects Ken Paxton has defeated incumbent senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn by more than 25 points.

Paxton’s challenger in November will be Texas Rep. James Talarico, who won his March primary. In a video posted on social media Tuesday night, Talarico said Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America and “embodies the broken system we’re running against.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to congratulate the state’s attorney general on social media, saying he had a “resounding victory” and that he will next “destroy Talarico and become the next US Senator from the state of Texas.”

Watch Paxton’s victory speech

Talarico wastes no time launching attacks on Paxton as ‘corrupt’

Within minutes of Paxton being declared the winner of the Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate, the Democrat called him “the most corrupt politician in America” in a social media post.

Talarico’s campaign then released the following statement: “Today, James Talarico released his first general election video, titled “The People vs. Ken Paxton,” reintroducing the nation to the Most Corrupt Politician in America. Tomorrow marks the three-year anniversary of Ken Paxton’s impeachment — a scathing rebuke by his own party for using his public office to enrich himself and his donors at the expense of working people. This election will be an indictment of the broken, corrupt political system that Ken Paxton embodies — the system that makes everything more expensive for working Texans by prioritizing billionaire mega-donors over people. The way to fix it is clear: working people coming together across partisan divides — The People vs. Ken Paxton.”

In a post on social media, Talarico invited Cornyn’s supporters to vote for him. “You have a place in our campaign,” Talarico wrote.

Sen. Cruz congratulates Paxton, praises Cornyn’s service in Washington

Junior U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the following statement on the Texas Senate race after the state’s senior senator conceded the race to Paxton. After the election this November, Cruz will become the state’s senior senator.

“Congratulations to Attorney General Ken Paxton on tonight’s victory. He has my full support and endorsement as the Republican nominee. Ken is a fearless conservative who spent years taking on Texas’s toughest battles as Attorney General and has proven that he will always fight for and defend the Lone Star State. He will continue that fight in the U.S. Senate, and I look forward to fighting alongside him. I also want to congratulate and thank my friend Senator John Cornyn for his many years of dedicated service to Texas and our country. It has been an honor to serve alongside him for over a decade. He spent decades fighting for the Lone Star State, and his service in the Senate has left a significant mark on Texas and the nation. Heidi and I are grateful for his friendship, and we wish John and his family the very best. Now, it’s time to unite to make sure that Texas stays Texas. James Talarico is radical, dangerous, and does not represent the values, ideas, or principles of the Lone Star State. Defeating him is critical.”

Texas Democrats respond to Paxton’s decisive win

“Ken Paxton has spent decades in office abusing his power to serve special interests and enrich himself at Texans’ expense – and in November, we’re going to put a stop to his corruption. As Attorney General, Paxton traded favors with lobbyists and his wealthy donors so shamelessly that even his own party tried to remove him from office for alleged bribery and abuse of his position. And while Paxton became a multimillionaire, he cheered the policies that spiked the cost of gas, groceries, health care, and utility bills and made life harder for Texans. We are sick and tired of this kind of corruption from self-serving politicians – and that’s why voters are going to elect James Talarico in November to represent all Texans, not just the rich and powerful.”

Trump celebrates Paxton’s win and touts his endorsement

The president posted a graphic depicting himself and Paxton on his social media platform, Truth Social, with the words “Ken Paxton wins! Endorsed by President Trump!”

Trump’s picks dominated their runoff elections. Each Trump-backed congressional candidate won their runoff with double-digit margins, continuing Trump’s winning streak with his endorsements.

Allred is getting his old House seat back

Allred left the House to run for U.S. Senate in 2024, when he lost a challenge to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.

He was running for Senate again this cycle, but dropped his bid on the same day Rep. Jasmine Crockett announced she was running.

He then said he would run again for the House. He defeated Rep. Julie Johnson, who had replaced him in Washington.

Paxton supporter: His ‘warts’ will not be an issue

Rick Swarts, a Paxton supporter who drove from his home in Austin to see the candidate, isn’t worried that the ethical and personal questions the attorney general faces will do any damage to him in the general election.

“James Talarico is such a weak candidate, any warts Paxton has will not be an issue,” Swarts said outside the ballroom where Paxton’s supporters were celebrating. “He always lands on his feet. Like Trump.”

Swarts said Talarico is so out-of-step with mainstream voters, “Beto O’Rourke is going to look like a hardcore conservative when it’s all over.” O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, ran a competitive Senate race against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

Paxton ends his speech

The victor finished his remarks much like they began.

“Thank you for making history,” he said, before wading into the crowd to shake hands and greet supporters.

Paxton attacks Talarico as a ‘radical’ and urges Republicans to unify ahead of general election

“This campaign is not about red versus blue. It’s about so much more. My opponent is the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated,” Paxton told the crowd.

“The reality is James Talarico is going to be nothing more than a Texas-faced puppet for Chuck Schumer and the national Democrats,” Paxton warned.

Paxton also predicted Talarico is “going to raise more money than any Democrat in America” and urged his followers to donate to his campaign.

“If Republicans lose this state, we lose the country,” Paxton warned.

Paxton takes the stage

“Tonight we just made history,” he told cheering supporters.

The state attorney general paid tribute to Trump for his endorsement despite the objections of Senate Republican leaders.

“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “Instead he gave his complete and total endorsement. President Trump is the leader of our party and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”

Republicans’ Senate campaign arm attacks Talarico without mentioning GOP runoff candidates

“A state President Trump won by nearly 14 points isn’t going to elect James Talarico — a radical leftist who thinks God is nonbinary and that Texas should be a welcome mat for illegals,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Samantha Cantrell in a statement.

“He is the most dangerous flank of the far left. Texas isn’t swapping brisket for open borders,” she added.

Cornyn is a former chair of the NRSC. He was endorsed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Tim Scott, the current NRSC chair.

House Majority PAC congratulates Garcia’s win over candidate condemned for antisemitic remarks

“Mike Johnson and Republican leadership wasted millions of dollars supporting an avowed antisemite, and failed,” House Majority PAC spokesperson Katarina Flicker said in a statement. “HMP is proud to support Johnny Garcia, and we look forward to seeing the GOP dummymander backfire in November.”

A super PAC that backed Galindo, Lead Left, was accused by Democrats of being funded by Republicans.

Galindo has made several remarks that were condemned by national Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as antisemitic and unwelcome in the party.

Johnny Garcia wins the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th US House District

National Democrats stepped in to help Garcia win House nomination as the party was seeking to defeat Garcia’s rival, Maureen Galindo, who has repeatedly expressed antisemitic views.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called her comments “disgusting” and said it shouldn’t be near “our politics.” Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Suzan DelBene also weighed in.

Republicans redrew the 35th District to help the GOP win more House seats, but Democrats think they may have a chance to flip it. They worried that if Galindo won, her past comments would hurt the party.

Paxton draws Trump comparisons at victory party

Aidan Shull, in a cowboy hat and jeans, called Paxton “a really good change of pace.”

The 21-year-old Paxton supporter was attending the candidate’s watch party-turned celebration with his fiancée, Brooke Peters.

“He’s not new, but he feels new. It’s very similar to Trump 2016,” he said. “He’s giving us hope for change at a time when we really need it in Washington.”

Peters credited Paxton for his long list of lawsuits as attorney general as proof that he cares about people.

“He’s very strong-headed. We’ve seen what he’s done, and he’s gone after people,” the 19-year-old said. “And he’s going to keep doing that for Texas.”

Cornyn says he ‘kept the faith’

“Serving others is a high purpose. And while much about politics is ugly, we choose to serve through the good, the bad and the ugly,” Cornyn said of his time in office.

He cited a speech from President Teddy Roosevelt about “fighting in the arena” and a verse from the New Testament that reads: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Cornyn says he’ll support Paxton in the general election

“Tonight we’ve come up short,” Cornyn said to the gathered reporters. “A few years ago, I had a friend of mine say, ‘You know what makes God laugh?’ he said, ‘When we make plans.’”

Cornyn thanked his campaign staff and family, and said he’s spent his career building the Republican Party in Texas and the U.S. Senate.

“I’ve always supported the Republican ticket,” he said, “and I intend to do so again.”

Club for Growth backs Paxton and attacks Talarico

The conservative organization endorsed the Texas attorney general on Tuesday night and released an advertisement arguing that Talarico is out of step with Texan culture.

“Texas is a conservative state and deserves a real conservative in the Senate. Ken Paxton has consistently stood up against Democrats and the establishment in Austin to defend the rule of law and freedoms for every Texan,” said a statement from Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. He argued Talarico “has spent his career promoting woke gender ideology, fighting against meat consumption, and opposing the values Texans cherish.”

The ad includes multiple videos of Talarico’s past comments on faith, activism and gender, including one clip in which the state representative said he sounded “like a crazy person” and another in which he said that people should “try to reduce our meat consumption” to fight climate change.

Cornyn’s unusual watch party goes quiet as the race is called

The room was full of journalists and no supporters, so as the race call that Paxton won went out, the only sounds were fingers tapping at keyboards and television reporters shuffling in front of cameras to prepare to go live.

Then the murmur of those reports filled out the silence. Cornyn is expected to speak shortly.

Paxton’s supporters celebrate

Cheers rang through the ballroom as Van Halen’s “Jump” throbbed through Paxton’s election night party, while the stage was filled with people holding the candidate’s campaign signs.

Paxton wins Republican Senate primary runoff

The win also marks another victory for Trump, who endorsed Paxton as part of his effort to dislodge GOP officeholders he views as less than devout in their support of him.

Cornyn is now the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.

Paxton will face Talarico in November. It’s the matchup that Democrats wanted, and some in the GOP are nervous about how much it will cost to try to keep the seat in Republican hands.

Cheers at Paxton event when Texas comes on screen

A cheer erupted among the roughly 50 supporters of the Texas attorney general in the Plano hotel ballroom when the large TV screen flashed to CNN’s coverage of the Republican Texas Senate runoff.

The crowd is awaiting returns for their candidate in his challenge of four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn, snacking on tacos and drinking beer.

The mood is festive and upbeat, as Paxton staff have projected optimism, especially in light of Trump’s endorsement of Paxton a week ago.

Cowboy hats and boots, on women and men, are common, as are suits and cocktail dresses in the Dallas-Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center in the upscale shopping and dining area near Dallas, where Paxton is expected to speak later.

Cornyn’s watch party isn’t typical

That’s because it’s almost exclusively journalists packed in an austere hotel meeting room in downtown Austin. There aren’t crowds of excited supporters or the pomp of champagne glasses and white tablecloths. A few small campaign signs are stuck to the walls, and a lone podium is backdropped by a screen emblazoned with the candidate’s name.

The senator is expected to enter the room to speak once the race is called. Otherwise, reporters are milling around chairs, going live on their television channels and reloading the voting results online.

Angela Paxton doesn’t endorse in Texas Senate race

The Texas state senator posted several endorsements on social media for the Republican primary runoff. But there was no mention of the U.S. Senate campaign between her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Angela Paxton was a key fixture in Ken Paxton’s previous campaigns. She stood by him throughout his Texas Senate impeachment trial in 2023 and allegations of an extramarital affair. But she’s now seeking a divorce and has cited “biblical grounds” among her reasons for the split.

Angela Paxton urged Republicans to vote in several statewide offices, including the one her husband is leaving behind.

Democrat votes for Paxton to boost Talarico’s chances

Jessica Shaw, 46, who swung out of a polling place in a brightly colored dress in the hot Austin sun, had a strategy in mind.

“I voted for Ken Paxton because I think he is most likely to lose against Talarico,” she said, because Paxton is “such a morally bankrupt person” that he’ll turn general election voters away.

It’s an argument that Cornyn has made frequently on the campaign trail, saying he’s the better contender to face Talarico. In this case, a registered Democrat agreed.

“If this strategy doesn’t work and (Paxton) wins” in the general election, said Shaw, who then raised her hands in a shrug. “Something needs to change, or I think people will move out of Texas.”

Shaw gave a parting message before loading into her Volvo: “Vote against Trump at all costs!”

Cornyn voter: Trump’s endorsement ‘doesn’t have any effect’

Debbie Burdeaux strode out of the Haggard Library in Plano sporting a fresh “I voted” sticker. Her choice in the Texas Republican Senate runoff? John Cornyn.

“Because he’s done a good job for this state, and I am not a fan of Paxton,” she said.

Trump endorsed the four-term incumbent senator’s opponent, Paxton, last week.

“I don’t have a problem with Trump,” she said. “But he doesn’t have any effect on my vote.”

Burdeaux, a 69-year-old retired substitute teacher and geologist, expressed what others who have voted for Cornyn have said in this precinct: a strong distaste for Paxton.

Some Republicans have said Paxton’s previous scandals could discourage GOP voters from backing him in November.

“He is a disgrace,” Burdeaux said. “I want nothing to do with him.”

Trump’s endorsement is enough for this Paxton voter

Paul Olson was quick to say why he voted for Paxton: “He’s conservative and backed by Trump.”

The 72-year-old retired finance executive elaborated a little, saying, “I just think he represents more of what middle-class America needs.”

Olson said he was perturbed that Cornyn, the incumbent, had been airing ads projecting himself as a Trump devotee despite Trump’s endorsement of Paxton.

“He claims he’s got Trump’s backing, and he most certainly doesn’t,” he said.

Olson was among a steady stream of voters arriving over the noon hour at the Haggard Library in Plano.

Confident in his choice, Olson still expressed some worry that some conservatives might be less inclined to vote in November if costs for daily expenses, most notably fuel, remain elevated.

“If they end this war soon, then good. Energy drives the cost of everything, and prices will settle,” he said. “But they have to end this war quickly.”

‘He’s just a toady for Trump’

Lee Rodriguez, a 76-year-old registered independent, said he planned to vote for Cornyn outside a polling place in Austin, Texas, mainly because he is a “stable person; he’s willing to reach across the aisle.”

To Rodriguez, that’s in stark contrast to Paxton, who “is too corrupt” and an “extremist,” he said, echoing Cornyn’s talking points about past Paxton scandals, including allegations of an affair.

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton reaffirmed his fears that “he’s just a toady for Trump,” said Rodriguez, who did not vote for Trump in 2024.

Cornyn ‘definitely the lesser of two evils’

Linda Williams walked into the steamy, sundrenched parking lot outside of Haggard Library in Plano, outside of Dallas, on Tuesday around noon.

“Paxton is a no-go!” she said of the state attorney general, but was little more enthused about Cornyn, for whom she voted and who is fighting for his political future in the Republican Senate runoff.

“It was definitely the lesser of two evils,” the 73-year-old, retired administrative support staffer from Plano said.

“Cornyn has not been the check on Trump we need. He used to be more respectable,” Williams said. “But the way he has coddled Trump and bragged about voting with him? It’s an embarrassment.”

It was all out of Williams’ sense of pragmatism.

“At least he’ll have a better chance against Talarico,” she said with reference to the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico.

“Because Paxton is a crook.”

Trump is wrapping up a month of reshaping the GOP

This has been a big month for Republican primaries and Trump’s influence over his party.

On May 5, he successfully campaigned against five of the seven Indiana state senators who rejected his redistricting plan.

On May 16, he helped dislodge Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump in the Jan. 6 impeachment trial five years ago. Cassidy finished third in the primary, failing to make the runoff, while Trump’s choice, Rep. Julia Letlow, finished first.

On May 19, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost his primary to Ed Gallrein, whom Trump endorsed. Massie had frustrated the president by voting against his signature tax legislation and pushing to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

If Paxton wins, it would be a dramatic punctuation mark on the month.

Paxton’s supporters brush off years of scandals

The attorney general has faced an impeachment effort and criminal investigations, but his supporters say they’re not concerned.

“He’s had his flaws, but so have we; we all make mistakes,” said Daniel Vega, 18, adding, “He’s repented; let’s move on.”

Others said they appreciated his aggressive conservative politics.

“He’s a fighter. He’s a person of action. He’s proven that as attorney general,” said Jeffrey Sonnier, 72.

Cornyn and his allies have dumped money into the race

Throughout the campaign, Cornyn has had the cash advantage. The senator and his allies have spent roughly $90 million in advertising, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

That includes more than $20 million since the March 3 primary.

Paxton is supported by a single super PAC, and combined, they’ve spent about $10.5 million on advertising. Roughly $6.1 million has been spent since March 3.

What we’re watching: the geographic split between Cornyn and Paxton

There wasn’t a clear geographic divide in the March 3 primary results. The tight margins in Houston, Dallas and their surrounding areas underscore how the battle lines cut across, rather than neatly between, Texas’s urban and suburban regions.

Cornyn — whom Paxton attacked as too aligned with D.C. Republicans and not loyal enough to Trump — led in the state’s largest counties, including those encompassing the metro areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Houston. But Paxton remained competitive, trailing by roughly 1,900 votes in Harris County, home to Houston, and 4,100 votes in Bexar County, home to San Antonio. Tuesday’s runoff could be decided by who builds a stronger geographic base, particularly in the Houston area, where Rep. Wesley Hunt, who finished third, outperformed his state average.

A GOP voter who backed Cornyn leans toward supporting Democrat Talarico

Dallas-area contractor Raymond Schramm said Tuesday that he’s concerned about healthcare and Republican-authored cuts in subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage, and he has misgivings about how the war with Iran has been conducted.

He voted for President Donald Trump but thinks the Senate needs someone who will “have a little bit of a difference.” He likes Talarico because he seems kind.

“I like him. He’s a nice guy. He speaks well,” he said. “I don’t believe in the party system.”

Cornyn says Trump’s attacks on him are misplaced

“My situation is a little different than Massie’s or Cassidy’s,” said Cornyn, referencing two other Republican incumbents who were more critical of Trump and recently lost their primaries under pressure from the president and candidates he backed.

In his case, Cornyn said on Fox News Radio’s The Brian Kilmeade Show, Trump is “frustrated I think with the Senate as a whole.”

There are “grifters,” the senator continued, who are “claiming I am opposed to the president’s agenda and I think that’s caused some confusion with the president himself, but I’ve been supportive.”

‘We might as well start term limits now,’ for Cornyn, one Dallas-area voter says

Legal assistant Calise Perry considers herself “100%” Republican and voted Tuesday for challenger Ken Paxton over incumbent Cornyn in Texas’s GOP runoff.

The 65-year-old Garland resident said Paxton, the Texas attorney general, is a fighter, “and that’s what we need right now.” The runoff came a week after President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton.

“Cornyn’s been in way too long, and it’s time for him to retire,” she said. “He’s been in office a long time and really hasn’t done much, as far as I can see.”

How Cornyn and Paxton ended up in a runoff

The Republicans were the top two vote-getters in the March 3 primary, but neither candidate won the majority needed to secure the GOP nomination outright.

Cornyn finished with 42% of the vote, while Paxton won 40.5%, according to certified results.

Three other candidates were on the primary ballot. They included U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who won 13.5% of the vote.

Democrats will also choose the U.S. House nominees

Newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee and veteran Rep. Al Green are vying for the party nod in Texas’s 18th District, which the Republican-led Texas Legislature redrew last year to help the GOP.

The new map led to a contest between incumbents and marks the end of a dizzying series of elections in the Houston area. Menefee was elected in a special runoff in January to the seat previously held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March 2025. Menefee finished narrowly ahead of Green in the March 3 primary but didn’t win a majority to avoid the runoff.

Former Rep. Colin Allred and U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson are competing in the Dallas-area 33rd District. Johnson was elected to the seat in 2024, the year Allred lost his U.S. Senate challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred was running for Senate again this cycle, but dropped his bid and is now looking to return to the House.

Near San Antonio, Democratic leaders are trying to prevent Maureen Galindo, who has expressed antisemitic views, from winning the party’s runoff with Johnny Garcia. While Texas lawmakers redrew the 35th District to help Republicans, Democrats view it as within reach and don’t want Galindo’s past comments to impede them.

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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.

But in the meantime, Trump continues to prove he can not only influence the Republican primary electorate but also attack Republicans who have opposed him in any way without feeling like there are significant negative consequences.

“I think what everyone can take away from this is that Donald Trump is going nowhere,” said a Trump adviser working for his political operation. “He has won, and will continue to win.”

Trump earlier this month defeated five incumbent Republican state senators in Indiana who opposed his push for mid-decade redistricting. Over the weekend, Trump’s political machine also blocked Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial, from advancing in his primary in Louisiana, a state he has represented for two terms.

The biggest and most exciting win for the White House, though, came on Tuesday: defeating Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who opposed Trump on key issues, including on the “big beautiful bill” tax and spending plan and on pushing for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie lost to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, who received 54% of the GOP primary vote.

For months, Trump and his allies have attacked Massie, and on Tuesday they got their win in what was the most expensive House primary in history in terms of ad spending.

“Thomas Massie is just the latest proof that being Democrats’ favorite Republican is not a badge of honor in our party,”James Blair, a former Trump administration official who now runs the president’s political operation, told NBC News. “Goodbye and good luck with the cows.”

In an interview last month with NBC News, Massie noted that, with the exception of Cassidy in the Senate, he was one of few Republicans in Washington willing to cross Trump on principle and policy, even as he also usually voted with the president on most issues. Massie added that the results of his race would determine how many more might follow his lead.

“There can always be this cascading effect,” Massie said. “It’s a big herd. The herd moves as a herd, right?”

Massie’s loss was met with disappointment in other corners of the GOP.

“What happened tonight is sad to be honest,” said a veteran Republican strategist who has worked “with both the liberty and MAGA” movements and was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the Trump-fueled intraparty clash.

“This was a revenge tour on a solid conservative vote who refused to break to the will of Trump,” the person said. “Thomas Massie refused to be compromised. He refused to bend the knee, and for that he was taken out.”

Trump, however, did not outright win everything he touched Tuesday night.

In Georgia’s nationally watched race for governor, Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who also has major GOP establishment backing in the state, moved onto a runoff against billionaire Rick Jackson, who has framed himself as a Trump ally, even as organizations, including Trump-backed super PAC MAGA Inc., have leaned in for Jones.

Jackson has spent over $80 million of his own fortune on TV ads, many of which have tied him to Trump, but the president has been clear he does not support the businessman now headed to a Georgia runoff.

“There’s a lot of confusion, everyone’s saying I endorsed them. I didn’t. I endorsed a man named Burt Jones, your lieutenant governor,” Trump said earlier this month. “Vote for Burt Jones. He’s just an incredible guy who has my complete and total endorsement in the race.”

What’s unclear, however, is how Trump’s GOP primary dominance will play out in the midterm general election, with Republicans trying to hold onto slim House and Senate majorities. Democrats could take the House and are trying to challenge for the Senate, even as that is considered a much more difficult endeavor.

Some Senate Republicans think what could be seen as a Trump “win” Tuesday, ahead of yet another primary, actually hurts Republican chances.

The most notable example is Texas state Attorney General Paxton, as of Tuesday the Trump-endorsed Senate candidate in his state. If he wins next week’s GOP primary runoff, as is now expected, Paxton enters the general election at a significant fundraising disadvantage to Democratic nominee James Talarico. And he also comes with significant political baggage, including a 2023 impeachment by the GOP-led Texas state House before his acquittal in the state Senate. Then there is the fact that his wife filed for divorce on “biblical grounds.”

A number of Republicans fear that Paxton was the inferior candidate compared to sitting Sen. John Cornyn, and they are believe that national GOP groups will now have to spend money in Texas that otherwise could have been used to boost Republican Senate candidates in other key states.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the pathway for Paxton is there, but it’s more uphill,” Sen Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate — a tall order but one increasingly seen as doable because of Trump’s tanking approval ratings with independent voters.

It leaves Democrats excited about their prospects of flipping the chamber.

“While the Texas GOP has been embroiled in a ‘bitter,’ ‘costly intraparty war’ that has fractured their base and left them drained of resources, Democratic enthusiasm has surged to its highest level in decades,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokeswoman Maeve Coyle.

“James Talarico is building the campaign to win, and Texans will send him to the U.S. Senate in November,” she added.

Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, appeared Monday morning in a Santa Ana courtroom after agreeing to plead guilty to paying another person to register to vote. She was expected to enter the guilty plea coming weeks, the Department of Justice said.

Decision 2026 May 15

Planning to vote in the June primary? An important deadline is coming up

Decision 2026 May 15

Here are the state office races in the June California primary election

Brown Armstrong, of Marina del Rey, was identified by federal authorities in court documents as a long-time “petition circulator.” She collected voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums and recalls for election ballots, according to the court documents.

The signed petitions were then returned to coordinators, who provided payment for signatures that could be attributed to registered voters.

Some of the signatures were collected in downtown LA’s Skid Row. Federal prosecutors alleged that Brown Armstrong paid $2 to $3 and offered cigarettes and phone cards in exchange for signatures on petitions.

“While Skid Row offered a high-density location to collect petition signatures, many of the homeless people were not registered to vote in California,” according to federal court documents.

Starting last year, Brown Armstrong brought voter registration forms to Ski Row and offered payment to complete the forms, prosecutors alleged.

“Before she could have a homeless person sign a petition, she first needed to get them to register to vote, and that’s what she paid them to do,” First U.S. Assistant Attorney Bill Essayli said at a Monday news conference.

The investigation stemmed from video of an interaction in the Skid Row area, authorities said.

When the individual did not have a home address to include on the form, Brown Armstrong provided her own former address “on at least several occasions,” according to court documents. In the court documents, prosecutors said ballot in some homeless individuals’ names “could have the potential” to be sent to Brown Armstrong’s former residence, where she did not collect mail.

It was not immediately clear how many people were registered to vote.

In a statement, Dean C. Logan, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk of Los Angeles County, condemned Armstrong’s actions.

“These charges and the admission of guilt represent egregious offenses that both undermine access to voter registration and elections and that exploit those who are unhoused in our community,” the statement read. “Our office applauds the enforcement of this illegal activity and reminds anyone who attempts to falsify voter registration applications or encourages others to misrepresent their qualifications to vote is subject to enforcement referral.”

“Further, we want to reinforce that additional guardrails are in place to ensure that when such activity occurs, the integrity of our elections remains sound. All voter registration applications in California are subject to verification. Under the California Elections Code, if verification cannot be made based on the information provided, the prospective voter is required to show identification at the first time they vote,” the statement continued. “Voter registration records are also subject to address verification through the United States Postal Service (USPS) National Change of Address Program (NCOA). Any NCOA notification of a mismatched address for voting, or any undeliverable mail returned by the USPS, triggers inactivation of a voter record until the voter provides appropriate verification. Similarly, the Elections Code requires signature verification on mail ballots returned prior to being approved for counting.”

Brown Armstrong faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.

Polis, a Democrat, wrote in an executive order that Peters “is granted parole effective June 1.”

Peters thanked the governor in a statement released by her lawyer Peter Ticktin, and also expressed remorse for her actions for the first time.

“I made mistakes, and for those I am sorry. Five years ago I misled the Secretary of State when allowing a person to gain access to county voting equipment. That was wrong,” she said. “I have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law, and I will avoid the mistakes of the past.”

The commutation comes after a state appeals court found last month that Peters’ lengthy sentence was improper and directed she be resentenced.

Peters’ cause had been repeatedly championed by President Donald Trump, who has posted “Free Tina Peters” numerous times on his social media site, including Friday, and blasted Polis as a “sleazebag” who should “rot in hell” for not using his power as governor to free the former Mesa County clerk.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and the state’s top election official, told NBC News in a brief phone interview Friday, “I believe the clemency grant is an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado and election officials across the county.”

“No official should bow down to retaliation from Donald Trump,” she said, adding she’s concerned the move will “embolden”election denialists.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement Saturday that Polis’ commutation of Peters’ sentence “is mind-boggling and wrong as a matter of basic justice.”

“Caving in to this president will only lead to more abuse from the bullying Trump administration. Today is a sad day for Colorado and the rule of law,” Weiser said, adding that it was an “unwise and unprecedented step” for Peters to be released early.

The commutation was also criticized by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who wrote in a post on X that “I vehemently disagree” with the commutation. Peters, he wrote, “broke the law, undermined our elections, and was convicted by a jury of her peers.”

“With Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law,” added Bennet, who is running for governor.

The term-limited Polis said in a statement on Facebook that he was standing for the rule of law.

“I believe based on the facts of the case that her sentence is simply disproportionate for a first time, non-violent offender. It’s one of my bedrock beliefs that our laws should be applied fairly, and I simply do not believe that was what happened in this case,” he wrote.

“To be clear, I am not pardoning Tina Peters, and I have never considered a pardon. Tina Peters violated state law and broke the public trust by lying to the Secretary of State and illegally accessing a computer room in 2021 prior to a software update. Her actions were clearly illegal, wrong, and financially costly to Mesa County, and Colorado,” he added.

“Tina Peters will remain a convicted felon for her crimes. I am simply correcting what I see as the error the trial court made by sentencing her to nearly nine years in prison,” Polis said.

Polis told CBS News in January he thought Peters’ sentence was “harsh” but that he wouldn’t let his clemency decisions be driven by presidential directives.

Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in August 2024 for using another person’s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier, access to county election equipment involving Dominion Voting Systems.

The county’s machines had to be replaced afterward when data, including passwords for the machines, was posted online.

Polis indicated in a March post on X that he was considering cutting Peters’ sentence short in light of a much shorter sentence that had been handed down on a similar charge against a Democratic politician.

“Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly,” he wrote in the post.

At her sentencing in 2024, District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, while noting that despite Peters’ claims of widespread fraud, she never identified a single bogus vote.

County officials said Peters’ fraud claims led to a slew of death threats against election workers.

Peters maintained she had done nothing wrong.

“It is with a heavy heart that I hear the vile accusations and anger levied against me for what I did to protect the people of Mesa County,” she told the judge at her sentencing.

In their April 2 ruling, a panel of Colorado Court of Appeals judges found the judge who’d sentenced Peters put too much weight on Peters’ beliefs about election being stolen, violating her First Amendment rights.

“Her offense was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud; it was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud. Indeed, under these circumstances, just as her purported beliefs underlying her motive for her actions were not relevant to her defense, the trial court should not have considered those beliefs relevant when imposing sentence,” the appeals court ruled.

It also noted that Peters was out of office and “no longer in a position to engage in the conduct that led to her conviction.”

They directed the trial judge, Matthew Branch, to resentence her — without consideration of her comments on the 2020 election.

Griswold said Friday that the governor should have waited for the resentencing.

“The court system was working,” she said. “Tina Peters should not get special treatment.”

In her statement Friday, Peters said that after she’s released “I plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform to help ensure the detention system is more fair and equitable for people of all ages.”

“I am grateful for a second chance and an earlier release, and I look forward to doing good in the world,” she said.

Kyla Guilfoil contributed.

Monday marks the deadline to register to vote and receive a vote by mail ballot for the June 2 primary.

Decision 2026 May 15

Here are the state office races in the June California primary election

Decision 2026 Apr 21

See key dates in the 2026 California primary election

Unsure of your registration status? Click here to find out.

The California Secretary of State has everything you need to know to register. Voter registration applications also are available at most government buildings, such as libraries, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and county elections offices.

All active registered voters in California receive a vote-by-mail ballot.

Eligible voters who miss the May 18 deadline won’t receive a vote-by-mail ballot, but can still vote in-person at a vote center, starting May 23 in Los Angeles County. Those ballots will be processed and counted once the county elections office completes a voter registration verification process.

California law provides for same-day voter registration, also known as conditional voter registration.

Casting your ballot in the primary election

The ballots feature a long list of races for voters to decide, including contests for California governor and other state offices, Los Angeles mayor and other important races, many of which will determine the candidates in the November runoff.

Once they’re filled out and signed, ballots can be returned to the county elections office by mail or dropped at one of more than 400 official ballot drop boxes. Ballot also can be submitted at a vote center, starting May 23.

Voters also can track their ballots using this tool.

If a ballot is postmarked by Election Day on June 2 and received within seven days, LA County elections officials will process, verify and count that ballot. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk recommended mailing ballots at least seven days prior to Election Day.

Here’s what to check before returning the ballot.

• Place your voted ballot card(s) inside the official return envelope.
• Securely seal the official return envelope.
• Sign and date the back of the official return envelope.

Important dates for California voters

Below, some key dates for voters in the California June primary election.

• April 23-May 12: Voter information guides will be mailed.
• May 4: County elections officials must begin mailing every registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot no later than this date.
• May 4: Early voting sites open.
• May 5-June 2: All counties must open ballot drop-off locations by this date.
• May 18: This is a big one — the last day to register to vote in the primary election.
• May 19-June 2: Same-day voter registration will be available, allowing voters to cast a provisional ballot.
• May 23: Voter’s Choice Act counties will open vote centers.
• June 2: Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. stateside for Election Day.

How to find a ballot drop box in Los Angeles County

The county offers a searchable map here. Here’s what to know about the drop box program, which started in 2017

• Drop boxes are available to voters beginning 29 days before and on Election Day.
• Drop boxes close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• Drop boxes are bolted securely into cement or chained in place.
• Drop boxes are designed with security features identified in state regulations.
• Drop boxes have an exterior coating to reduce permanent graffiti or damage.
• Ballots are picked up regularly by two election workers.
• The county works with law enforcement agencies, cities, local stakeholders, and community-based organizations to monitor and safeguard all boxes.

Voter information for other Southern California counties is available below.

• Orange County
• Riverside County
• Ventura County
• San Bernardino County

The live blog has ended.

Candidates aiming to become Los Angeles’ next mayor and succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom as California governor met in a debate double-header in LA.

Three candidates in the race for mayor of Los Angeles and seven contenders seeking become California’s next governor will be on the debate stage Wednesday night with just weeks to go before the high-stakes California primary election.

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 will host two live, hour-long debates featuring the top-polling candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The debates will cover a range of topics facing Los Angeles and voters throughout the nation’s most populous state.

Decision 2026 Apr 21

See key dates in the 2026 California primary election

Decision 2026 May 4

Who wants to be California's governor? What to know about top candidates

Up first, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will face off against two challengers, Councilmember Nithya Raman and reality TV star Spencer Pratt. The mayoral debate will be followed by a debate featuring seven candidates for California governor, one of whom will succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom after his final term.

The debates will offer voters an opportunity to hear from the candidates courting their votes on the June 2 primary election ballot, which will determine who will meet in the November runoff. Under California’s direct primary system, all candidates for voter-nominated offices are listed on one ballot. Only the top two vote-getters in the primary election, regardless of party preference, move on to the general election in November.

Here’s what to know about Wednesday night’s debates, being held in partnership with Loyola Marymount University and the Skirball Cultural Center, the venue for both events.

When are the debates?

The debates will air back-to-back Wednesday, starting with the mayoral debate at 5 p.m. The gubernatorial debate is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Who will be part of the mayoral debate?

Bass was elected mayor of the country’s second-largest city in November 2022, defeating LA businessman Rick Caruso. She also served in the U.S. House of Representative and the California State Assembly.

Raman, a graduate of Harvard and MIT, has represented Council District 4 since winning election in 2020. She was elected to a second term in 2024.

Pratt, who lost homes he shared with fellow “The Hills” star Heidi Montag in the Palisades Fire, has been calling for Mayor Bass to resign over her handling of the 2025 wildfires.

Who will be part of the gubernatorial debate?

Seven candidates for governor will be on the debate stage at the Skirball Cultural Center. They include two Republicans and five Democrats.

• Former U.S. Health secretary, former state attorney general Xavier Becerra (D)
• Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (R)
• Former adviser to UK PM and Fox News host Steve Hilton (R)
• San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan (D)
• Former member of Congress Katie Porter (D)
• Environmental advocate and investor Tom Steyer (D)
• Former Assembly Speaker and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)

What are the debate topics?

The debates will focus discussion on five subjects: Wildfires, immigration, homelessness, public safety and quality of life.

Who are the debate moderators?

NBC4 News anchor Colleen Williams, NBC4 chief political reporter Conan Nolan and Noticiero Telemundo 52 News anchor Enrique Chiabra will moderate the debates.

How did candidates qualify for the debates?

To qualify for the debate stage, a candidate must have met or exceeded 5% in at least two reliable polls that meet NBC News standards for reporting by May 1, 2026. The polls must have been conducted in 2026. An organization’s polls are deemed reliable based on methodology, accuracy in past performance, and transparency. The pollster behind the qualifying surveys must also be nonpartisan, or the poll must have been conducted on behalf of a nonpartisan organization.

How to watch the debates

In addition to being available on the broadcast channels, the live events will stream on nbcla.com, telemundo52.com, on the free NBCLA and Telemundo 52 mobile apps and on the stations’ free 24/7 local news streaming channels NBC Los Angeles News and Noticias Telemundo California which are accessible on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Samsung TV Plus. 

Coverage also will be provided on the stations’ social media platforms.

Additionally, the gubernatorial debate will be presented live across the state on NBC-owned stations NBC Bay Area/KNTV and NBC 7 San Diego/KNSD, and Telemundo-owned stations Telemundo 48 Area de la Bahía/KSTS, Telemundo 20 San Diego/KUAN, Telemundo 33 Sacramento/KSCO, and Telemundo 51 Fresno/KNSO, as well as on NBC affiliates KCRA in Sacramento and KSBW in Monterey.

How to submit a question for the debate

You can use the form below to submit a question.

Where are the debates?

The Skirball Cultural Center, open to the public since 1996, is nestled into Los Angeles’ Sepulveda Pass alongside the 405 Freeway. The Jewish cultural institution houses a museum, offers educational public programs and hosts a variety of events.

Important June primary election dates

May 5-June 2: All counties must open ballot drop-off locations by this date.
May 18: This is a big one — the last day to register to vote in the primary election.
May 19-June 2: Same-day voter registration will be available, allowing voters to cast a provisional ballot.
May 23: Voter’s Choice Act counties will open vote centers.
June 2: Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. stateside for Election Day.

The ballots feature a long list of races for voters to decide, including contests for California governor and Los Angeles mayor. Once they’re filled out and signed, ballots can be returned to the county elections office by mail or dropped at one of more than 400 official ballot drop boxes. Ballot also can be submitted at a vote center, starting May 23.

Community Apr 14

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 To Host Statewide California Gubernatorial and Los Angeles Mayoral Debates

Decision 2026 Apr 16

Share your thoughts on the LA mayor and California governor debates

Voters also can track their ballots using this tool.

Eligible voters who have not registered and want to vote by mail must register to vote by May 18 to be mailed a ballot.

If a ballot is postmarked by Election Day on June 2 and received within seven days, LA County elections officials will process, verify and count that ballot. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk recommended mailing ballots at least seven days prior to Election Day.

Here’s what to check before returning the ballot.

• Place your voted ballot card(s) inside the official return envelope.
• Securely seal the official return envelope.
• Sign and date the back of the official return envelope.

Important dates for California voters

Below, some key dates for voters in the California June primary election.

• April 23-May 12: Voter information guides will be mailed.
• May 4: County elections officials must begin mailing every registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot no later than this date.
• May 4: Early voting sites open.
• May 5-June 2: All counties must open ballot drop-off locations by this date.
• May 18: This is a big one — the last day to register to vote in the primary election.
• May 19-June 2: Same-day voter registration will be available, allowing voters to cast a provisional ballot.
• May 23: Voter’s Choice Act counties will open vote centers.
• June 2: Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. stateside for Election Day.

How to find a ballot drop box in Los Angeles County

The county offers a searchable map here. Here’s what to know about the drop box program, which started in 2017

• Drop boxes are available to voters beginning 29 days before and on Election Day.
• Drop boxes close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• Drop boxes are bolted securely into cement or chained in place.
• Drop boxes are designed with security features identified in state regulations.
• Drop boxes have an exterior coating to reduce permanent graffiti or damage.
• Ballots are picked up regularly by two election workers.
• The county works with law enforcement agencies, cities, local stakeholders, and community-based organizations to monitor and safeguard all boxes.

Voter information for other Southern California counties is available below.

• Orange County
• Riverside County
• Ventura County
• San Bernardino County

With 93% of the vote in, the “yes” vote on the ballot referendum held a narrow lead of roughly 2 percentage points.

The special election is a major victory for Democrats as they seek to gain control of the narrowly divided House this fall. Democrats have now won statewide votes in California and Virginia to redraw congressional maps as part of a mid-decade redistricting arms race that began last year when President Donald Trump urged GOP-led states to alter their district lines.

Republicans had hoped they could insulate their three-seat House majority, but the result of the redistricting back-and-forth may end up being close to a wash.

The constitutional amendment that was on the Virginia ballot Tuesday sought to authorize the Democratic-controlled Legislature to bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission and implement a new congressional map through the end of the decade.

Democrats’ proposed map is designed to leave just one solidly Republican district out of 11 in the state. Currently, Virginia is represented by six Democrats and five Republicans in the House.

After Republicans enacted new maps last year in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, Virginia offered a rare, seat-rich prize for Democrats — who control the redistricting process in fewer states — as they sought to respond.

“Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms, Virginia Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said in a statement. “At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country.”

In a statement, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she was looking forward to campaigning with candidates to win the new newly drawn congressional seats and said she was committed to returning to the state’s bipartisan redistricting after the 2030 Census.

“Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they approved a temporary measure to push back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” she said. “Virginians watched other states go along with those demands without voter input — and we refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”

Unlike in some states, where regular legislation can change maps, Virginia Democrats were required to pass the proposed amendment in two different legislative sessions, with a general election in between, before sending it to voters for approval. Democrats also successfully urged voters to approve a new congressional map in California last year that could allow the party to gain five new seats.

Supporters of the measure flooded the zone with early ads, putting former President Barack Obama front and center. Spanberger did not enthusiastically embrace the redistricting effort as a candidate last year, but as governor she hit the campaign trail in support of the referendum, as did other national figures like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Virginia Jan 17

Abigail Spanberger sworn in as Virginia's first woman governor

Supreme Court Feb 4

Supreme Court allows new California congressional districts that favor Democrats

Politics Aug 30, 2025

The battle for partisan advantage has some states drawing redistricting maps

But when a public poll in early April gave Republicans some hope for their campaign backing a “no” vote, they ramped up spending. In the last month, they narrowed a massive 17-to-1 spending gap in the campaign to a 3-to-1 Democratic advantage, according to ad-tracking data from AdImpact.

The group that organized against the referendum mobilized former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and tried to spur rural voters to turn out. Trump, meanwhile, stayed silent on the race until Monday night, when he added a tele-rally to his schedule at the last minute and called into a conservative radio show in Virginia.

While Virginia is a blue-leaning state, and one where Spanberger won by 15 points in last fall’s election, Democrats faced challenges as a party that had long been opposed to partisan gerrymandering in selling a map made up of jagged districts radiating messily from Northern Virginia throughout the rest of the state.

Some Republicans took the massive swing in Tuesday’s results compared to 2025 as a moral victory, even as they stared down the prospect of losing congressional seats this fall.

“This basically says, ‘Hey, Republican Party, we’re not dead yet,'” said Brian Kirwin, a Republican strategist based in Virginia. “Reports of our demise have been exaggerated.”

But the fight over Virginia’s map — and the broader redistricting battle — won’t end Tuesday.

Republicans have challenged the legality of Democrats’ rushed constitutional amendment. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled to allow the special election to move forward, while simultaneously reserving the right to rule after the race on questions surrounding the measure.

In a statement, Virginia House Republican Leader Terry Kilgore said “serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum and the process used to put it before voters.”

“Tonight marks the end of the campaign,” he said. “It does not mark the end of this fight.”

Six states — Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Utah, and California — enacted new maps in the last year, giving Republicans as many as nine new seats and Democrats up to six new seats. Once Virginia passes the map authorized by Tuesday’s election, Democrats could win as many as 10 new House seats due to redistricting..

Republicans could still add to their total in Florida, where lawmakers have discussed drawing two to five new seats that would favor the party in a special legislative session next week.

Still, both parties will still need to actually win the redrawn districts they’ve created at the ballot box, and election results are not always consistent from year to year. Democrats have outperformed past results in special elections in 2025 and 2026, and if that trend extends into the midterm elections, it could erode some of the districts drawn to be more Republican-friendly in states like Texas.

Adam Edelman contributed.

The primary features several races that will determine which candidate will face off later this year in the November general election.

Community Apr 14

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 To Host Statewide California Gubernatorial and Los Angeles Mayoral Debates

Voting Mar 27

Not all driver's licenses usable for voter registration under the SAVE Act. Here's why

Some key dates in the process are coming up, including the mailing of ballots, early voting and registration deadline.

Here are some important dates to know in the run-up to the June 2 primary election.

April 23-May 12: Voter information guides will be mailed.
May 4: County elections officials must begin mailing every registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot no later than this date.
May 4: Early voting sites open.
May 5-June 2: All counties must open ballot drop-off locations by this date.
May 18: This is a big one — the last day to register to vote in the primary election.
May 19-June 2: Same-day voter registration will be available, allowing voters to cast a provisional ballot.
May 23: Voter’s Choice Act counties will open vote centers.
June 2: Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. statewide for Election Day. If you’re in line at 8 p.m., you can vote.

After vote centers close, county elections officials will be reporting election results. Updated results will be reported through the night and the following days.

July 2 is the last day for county elections offices to certify election results.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation Tuesday, designating Aug. 18 as the special election date to fill the congressional seat for the 14th congressional district.

Swalwell had already planned on leaving his congressional job when his term comes to an end in December as he tried to become California’s next governor. Swalwell announced over the weekend that he was dropping out of the gubernatorial race amid the allegations.

It was not immediately clear why Newsom wanted voters in the 14th congressional district to pick someone who will serve for four months.

Special elections are often costly. When California held a special election last November for congressional redistricting, the state spent over $250 million.

Swalwell has been serving the 14th congressional district since 2023. He switched from the 15th congressional district, which he served for 10 years from 2012, due to new congressional maps.

The decisions come after a former aide accused him of sexually assaulting her.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make,” Swalwell wrote in a post on X. “I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress. I will work with my staff in the coming days to ensure they are able, in my absence, to serve the needs of the good people of the 14th congressional district.”

On Sunday, Swalwell provided the following statement on X:

“I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” . “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

His statements follows a torrent of criticism from both sides of the aisle following a San Francisco Chronicle article published Friday in which the former staffer alleged she had sexual encounters with the congressman while working in his office and that he sexually assaulted her twice while she was too intoxicated to consent. NBC News has not verified her allegations but confirmed her identity and that she worked for Swalwell from 2019 until 2021.

The Chronicle says it corroborated the former staffer’s story by reviewing text messages she sent to a friend three days after one of the alleged encounters, with the woman saying in a text that she told Swalwell to stop. The paper also interviewed her boyfriend at the time, who confirmed she told him about the alleged assault. Additionally, the paper’s reporters viewed medical records that showed she sought pregnancy and STD tests afterward.

Swalwell told the Chronicle in a statement that the woman’s allegations were “false.”

CNN later reported on sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell from four women, including one whose story matched details from the Chronicle article. One of the women, Democratic influencer Ally Sammarco, said Swalwell sent her unsolicited photos of his penis.

The news outlet said it corroborated the women’s accounts through interviews with family members and friends, in addition to reviewing messages Swalwell exchanged with the women. NBC News has not independently corroborated their stories.

Swalwell later posted a video to social media saying “these allegations of sexual assault are flat false.”

“They did not happen, they have never happened. And I will fight them with everything I have,” Swalwell said in the video.

Still, Swalwell faced immediate calls from fellow Democrats to drop out of the race, including Reps. Jimmy Gomez and Adam Gray of California, the co-chairs of his campaign.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has been a close ally to Swalwell, said in a statement Friday that the allegations “must be respected and heard.”

“This extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability,” the former speaker said. “As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign.”

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Democrats outside of California also urged Swalwell to drop his bid. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said he was retracting his endorsement of Swalwell, writing in a social media post that he read the Chronicle’s reporting and “takes it seriously.”

Fifty-five former congressional and campaign staffers who worked for Swalwell on Sunday signed a public letter calling on him to drop his gubernatorial bid and resign from the House. They also urged law enforcement to open an investigation into the allegations from the former staffer who alleged he sexually assaulted her twice, saying, “No one is above the law.”

“We stand unequivocally with our colleague, who showed extraordinary courage in coming forward to share her truth. We believe her,” the letter read.

On Saturday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed to NBC News that they were launching an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Swalwell.

The primary election for governor of California is June 2, with early voting set to begin May 4.

Swalwell has been near the top of every recent poll in the gubernatorial primary, often as the best-performing Democrat. But he and several other Democratic contenders, including billionaire Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter, have been locked in close competition.

All candidates run on the same primary ballot regardless of party in California, with the top two finishers advancing to the general election. Some Democrats have been concerned in recent weeks about the possibility of a split in the crowded field, allowing two Republicans to grab the general election slots. But President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of one prominent Republican, Steve Hilton, changed the calculus.

Swalwell, who has served in Congress since 2013, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s and served as one of the Democrats’ nine impeachment prosecutors during the president’s trial following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The congressman was the subject of a two-year investigation looking into his ties to a 2014 campaign volunteer, Christina Fang, who later was suspected to be a Chinese spy. The House Ethics Committee took no action against Swalwell after that investigation and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Since Friday’s allegations, the California congressman has also faced calls for his resignation or expulsion from the House. On Saturday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed to NBC News that they were launching an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Swalwell.

On Sunday, Rep Ro. Khanna, D-Calif., told Fox News, “I believe that he should resign,” adding that he’s also calling for a law enforcement investigation and a House Ethics investigation into Swalwell.

Two other California Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Sam Liccardo and Jared Huffman also called for Swalwell to resign from the House on Saturday.

“I’ve seen enough. With his nuanced statement aimed at defending likely criminal charges, Swalwell all but admits a per se abuse of power under House ethics rules: sex with a subordinate. He must now drop out of the Governor’s race and resign from Congress. Rep. Tony Gonzales, who admitted to the same violation, should also resign. If they don’t, I will support voting to expel both of them,” Huffman said in a post on X.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, has been accused of exchanging sexually explicit messages with two former staffers, including one who committed suicide. On a podcast in March, Gonzales admitted that he’d had an affair with a staffer, saying, “I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment. And there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions. He added that he’d “reconciled” with his wife.

“Swalwell must halt his campaign, resign from office, and face the consequences of a full investigation. Democrats must not equivocate in the face of uncomfortable allegations about one of our own,” Liccardo wrote in a separate X post.

On Saturday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in a post on X vowed to bring a motion to the House floor to expel Swalwell. It would need a two-thirds vote in favor to pass.

Several House members, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., have signaled openness to the idea of expelling Swalwell alongside GOP lawmakers who have faced sexual misconduct allegations, like Gonzales. like 

Asked Sunday if she’d vote to expel Swalwell, Jayapal told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” “And Congressman Gonzales, I would, I’ve already said that.”

Appearing earlier on the program, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., also said he’d vote to expel Gonzales and Swalwell. 

“As far as I’m concerned, both gentlemen need to go home,” Donalds said.

Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orbán. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.

It’s not yet clear whether Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Orbán’s governing Fidesz party.

It’s a stunning blow for Orbán, a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orbán conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result.

“I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition,″ he said.

‘’Thank you, Hungary!” Magyar posted on X, as thousands of his supporters thronged the banks of the Danube in Budapest, chanting “We got it! We did it!”

Orbán, the EU’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.

Voters showed up in droves

Turnout by 6:30 p.m. was over 77%, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The parties of both Orbán and Magyar said they had received reports of electoral violations, suggesting some results could be disputed by both sides.

“I’m asking our supporters and all Hungarians: Let’s stay peaceful, cheerful, and if the results confirm our expectations, let’s throw a big, Hungarian carnival,” Magyar said.

Mark Radnai, Tisza’s vice president, also called for reconciliation after a tense campaign. “We can’t be each other’s enemies. Reach out, hug your neighbors, your relatives. It’s the day of reunification.”

‘Choice between East or West’

The EU will be waiting to see what Magyar does about Ukraine. Orbán repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy imports.

Recent revelations have shown a top member of Orban’s government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.

Orbán occupied an outsized role in far-right populist politics worldwide.

Members of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orbán’s government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.

Casting his ballot in Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred.”

Strained relationship with the EU

During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary’s institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.

He also heavily strained Hungary’s relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orbán has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.

Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.

His challenger came from the inside

Magyar, 45, rapidly rose to become Orbán’s most serious challenger.

A former insider within Orbán’s Fidesz, Magyar broke with the party in 2024 and quickly formed Tisza. Since then, he has toured Hungary relentlessly, holding rallies in settlements big and small in a campaign blitz that recently had him visiting up to six towns daily.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Magyar said the election will be a “referendum” on whether Hungary continues on its drift toward Russia under Orbán, or can retake its place among the democratic societies of Europe.

Tisza is a member of the European People’s Party, the mainstream, center-right political family with leaders governing 12 of the EU’s 27 nations.

Uphill election battle

Magyar faced a tough fight. Orbán’s control of Hungary’s public media, which he has transformed into a mouthpiece for his party, and vast swaths of the private media market give him an advantage in spreading his message.

The unilateral transformation of Hungary’s electoral system and gerrymandering of its 106 voting districts by Fidesz also will require Tisza to gain an estimated 5% more votes than Orbán’s party to achieve a simple majority.

Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries had the right to vote in Hungarian elections and traditionally have voted overwhelmingly for Orbán’s party.

Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán’s favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post. The prime minister, however, has accused neighboring Ukraine, as well as Hungary’s allies in the EU, of seeking to interfere in the vote to install a “pro-Ukraine” government.

Such accusations are part of why many in the EU see Orbán as a danger to the bloc’s future.

But across the Atlantic, Trump and his MAGA movement were all-in for another Orbán term. Trump repeatedly endorsed the Hungarian leader and U.S. Vice President JD Vance made a two-day visit to Hungary last week meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.

___

Associated Press journalists Béla Szandelszky, Marko Drobnjakovic, Ivan L. Nagy and Florent Bajrami in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.

“We urge survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division at 212-335-9373,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office said in a statement Saturday. “Our specially trained prosecutors, investigators, and counselors are well-equipped to help you in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered manner.”

The investigation follows reporting this week from the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN that accuses the top Democratic candidate for governor of California of sexually assaulting the staffer while she was too intoxicated to consent.

The woman alleges that in April 2024, after a night of drinking with Swalwell, she woke up in the hotel room to him having sex with her.

“I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” she told CNN. “He didn’t stop.”

The woman worked for Swalwell from 2019 until 2021, NBC News confirmed. The woman’s lawyer declined to comment and NBC News has not verified her allegations.

On Friday, Swalwell denied the allegations and said that he would spend the weekend with family and friends and share an update “very soon.”

“These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They’re absolutely false. They did not happen, they have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have,” he said.

Swalwell was among the leading Democrats in the race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom. But in just hours, he saw his most prominent supporters — including U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and powerful labor unions — drop their endorsements and call for his exit from the race.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that a woman said Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2019 and 2024. The newspaper reviewed text messages about the alleged 2024 assault and spoke to people whom she had told about it. She told the newspaper she did not go to police because she was afraid she would not be believed.

The woman worked for Swalwell in 2019, when the first alleged assault occurred, and the 2024 assault allegedly occurred after a charity gala, the newspaper reported. She said in both cases she was too intoxicated to consent to sex.

Swalwell was elected in 2012 and represents a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but shuttered it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters. Swalwell, who is married and has three children, is perhaps best known nationally as a House manager in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial during his first term in early 2021.

According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, a former staffer for Swalwell said the congressman sexually assaulted her in 2024. The Chronicle reports it reviewed text messages the woman sent to a friend about the alleged incident, spoke with people she confided in and examined medical records showing she later sought pregnancy and STD testing.

NBCLA did not independently confirm the allegations against Swalwell.

Swalwell maintained the allegations are false, saying they came out because he’s the frontrunner in the gubernatorial race. Friday evening, Swalwell posted a message on his X account saying he will fight the allegations.

“For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women,” Swalwell said in a statement to NBCLA. “I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action.”

Swalwell has been considered one of the Democratic frontrunners in the gubernatorial race although polls have shown the two Republican candidates, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, appeared to have more support as of April.

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Amid the bombshell accusations, all gubernatorial hopefuls called on the Bay Area congressman to suspend the campaign or even resign from Congress.

The fallout from the allegations continued Friday afternoon as Sen. Adam Schiff, who served in Congress with Swalwell, announced that he’s rescinding his endorsement for Swalwell.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, who represent the East LA neighborhoods, said he’s stepping down from the Swalwell campaign while demanding him “leave the race now.”

Mayor Karen Bass posted a message on her X account Friday evening saying Swalwell should end his campaign and resign from Congress immediately because his conduct is incompatible with elected office, and “the women who came forward deserve to be heard and deserve justice.”

The California Teachers Association, a powerful union for educators, also announced it’s immediately suspending its support.

California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks also weighed in, saying the accusations are “deeply disturbing.”

“First, the stories of victims and survivors should be heard and believed. Period,” Hicks said. “Second, any person engaged in misconduct must take responsibility and be held accountable for their actions – including a Member of Congress and candidate for Governor.”

Hicks reiterated his message from last month that candidates without a clear path forward in the race should drop out.

“(That) call is more important now than ever before.”

I have been working with a number of women who are in the process of coming forward and sharing their stories of sexual harassment and even alleged abuse at the hands of Eric Swalwell. Here’s why we’re talking about it before mainstream media: 🧵

— Cheyenne Hunt (@CheyenneHuntCA) April 6, 2026

Before the San Francisco Chronicle article came out, conservative media outlets and social media users began circulating Swalwell’s misconduct allegations, citing Democratic activist and lawyer Cheyenne Hunt.

Hunt took to social media, saying she’s working with a number of women who are in the process of coming forward with their allegations against Swalwell.

NBCLA did not independently reviewed Hunt’s allegations.

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The woman worked for Swalwell from 2019 until 2021, NBC News confirmed. The woman’s lawyer declined to comment and NBC News has not verified her allegations, as reported by the Chronicle.

Swalwell did not immediately respond to requests to comment via his campaign, congressional office or his attorney. He told the Chronicle in a statement that the woman’s allegations are not true.

“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor,” he wrote, later adding: “I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”

The former staffer told the Chronicle that in September 2019, while she was employed by him, Swalwell invited her out for drinks, and she became so intoxicated that she doesn’t remember what happened. She said she woke up naked in his hotel bed and could “feel the effect of vaginal intercourse.”

In April 2024, after she stopped working for the congressman, she said she met Swalwell for drinks after a charity gala at which he was honored. She again became so inebriated while drinking with him that she only remembers “snippets” of the evening, she told the paper. One of the flashes she recalled was Swalwell having sex with her in his hotel room and telling him no.

The Chronicle says it reviewed text messages she sent to a friend about that encounter three days later, which included that she told Swalwell to stop. The paper also interviewed her boyfriend at the time, who confirmed she told him about the alleged assault and its reporters viewed medical records that showed she sought pregnancy and STD tests afterward.

In the days before the story was published on Friday, rumors bounced around both left-wing and right-wing social media about potential allegations against the congressman related to sexual misconduct. Swalwell was asked about the rumors by a reporter for KTXL in Sacramento, who said she asked whether he had ever had inappropriate relations with a staffer or intern. “It’s false,” he replied.

Swalwell’s campaign attempted to get out in front of any story, issuing a rare but vehement preemptive denial, saying that the congressman had not engaged in any inappropriate behavior.

“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” Micah Beasley, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement did not mention or address any specific allegations but said in response to some online rumors that Swalwell had not asked anyone in his office to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The Chronicle’s report did not include any allegations related to NDAs.

“In 13 years, no one in Eric Swalwell’s Congressional office has ever been asked to sign an NDA. Ever,” Beasley said in his Wednesday statement. “In 13 years, not a single ethics complaint by any staff in his office or any other office has ever been lodged. Ever.”

After the Chronicle story published on Friday, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., said in a statement he had stepped down from Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign, where he served as a campaign chair, and called on him to drop out of the race. “Today I learned shocking information about Eric Swalwell containing the ugliest and most serious accusations imaginable,” Gomez said, adding that Swalwell “should leave the race now so there can be full accountability without doubt, distraction, or delay.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said he was withdrawing his endorsement of Swalwell, a close friend. “I’ve read the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting and I take it seriously,” he said. “What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed. … I am withdrawing my endorsement of Congressman Swalwell, effective immediately.”

The California Teachers Association also suspended its endorsement of Swalwell.

“The allegations are incredibly disturbing and unacceptable against Rep. Swalwell. We are immediately suspending our support,” CTA President David Goldberg said in a statement.

On Friday, all of Swalwell’s campaign ads for his gubernatorial bid on Facebook and Instagram were listed as “inactive,” including ads that were running earlier in the day, according to a review of Meta’s ad archive.

The California primary for governor will take place on June 2, with early voting starting on May 4.

Swalwell, 45, a close ally of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, a fellow San Francisco Bay Area Democrat, has served in Congress since 2013 and launched a long-shot, failed bid for the White House in 2020.

He’s been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump in both of his terms. After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Pelosi named Swalwell, an attorney, one of Democrats’ nine impeachment prosecutors.

Swalwell’s sharp criticism of the president made him a target of Trump allies and the right. At the start of 2023, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blocked Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, citing his ties to a 2014 campaign volunteer who later was suspected to be a Chinese spy, Christina Fang. That year, the House Ethics Committee took no action against Swalwell after a two-year investigation into the matter.

Swalwell cut ties with Fang in 2015 after the FBI gave him what’s known as a “defensive” briefing that she was working for Beijing and targeting several local rising politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swalwell has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the Fang affair and said he assisted the FBI in its investigation.

Last month, Swalwell asked the FBI not to release files related to his past association with the suspected Chinese intelligence operative.

Kyle Stewart, Adam Edelman and Andrew Arenge contributed.

“For too long, politicians and insiders from Sacramento to Washington have tried to pick our leaders for us,” Bianco said on social media. “That’s not leadership. That’s a coronation.”

Bianco is the other leading GOP candidate alongside Hilton, and may be one of two Republicans who could appear on the ballot during the general election in November.

The Riverside County sheriff had  previously shown support for Trump, including during the 2024 presidential election when Bianco said, “I think it’s time we put a felon in the White House.”

Hilton’s campaign thanked Trump for his endorsement on social media.

“With President Trump’s full backing and federal support, we are going to take California back and make it better than ever before,” the campaign wrote.

While some Democrats are concerned about a Republican-only runoff, California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks said Trump’s decision won’t slow down the party’s efforts.

“We’ll remember this as the moment Hilton won the favor of the unpredictable, unpopular con artist in the White House,” Hicks said. “Trump’s endorsement of Hilton does little to change the work for California Democrats.”

The Democratic Party could be at risk of having no candidates on the general election ballot due to the crowded field and California’s “top-two” primary system.

Hicks previously urged Democratic candidates without “viability” to drop out of the race to prevent that outcome.

“While (the Republican-only run-off) is implausible, it is not impossible,” Hicks said in an open letter in March. “It is imperative that every candidate honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaign.”

There are over 50 candidates for governor, including eight established Democrats and the two leading Republicans.

California law makes it so that only the two candidates who receive the most votes during the primary election on June 2 will show up on the general election ballot.

A recent UC Berkeley poll showed that Hilton and Bianco have 17% and 16% of the support, respectively, while Democratic candidates Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter both have 13%.

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The dispute over the ballot seizure in Riverside County, which began last month, escalated this week as Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta urged the court to step in and Bianco doubled down by taking more ballots from a county election office. A Riverside County judge held a hearing Friday on Bonta’s request for the case to move quickly.

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Bonta’s first effort earlier this week to stop the count failed after an appeals court said his petition was filed in the wrong place. He’s now refiled it in a lower court.

“Absent swift action by this Court, the Sheriff’s misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence in the upcoming primary and general elections, not just in Riverside County but around the State,” the petition reads. “It also sets a dangerous precedent that could invite future attempts to improperly contest election results through a misuse of law enforcement authority and the criminal process.”

His office said in a Thursday filing that Bianco seized another 426 boxes of election materials this week. Bianco said his probe was legal and approved by a Riverside County judge.

“We are conducting a lawful investigation, approved by a judge,” he said in a statement. “I think the failed democratic candidates are just trying to rally a base for their own political benefit.”

Separately, the UCLA Voting Rights Project argued in a state Supreme Court filing Thursday that the seizure violated state laws on election materials.

Bianco, one of two prominent Republican gubernatorial candidates, earlier this month said his office had launched the investigation after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. He called the effort “a fact-finding mission,” seizing some 650,000 ballots in Riverside County, the inland California county of 2.5 million people where he has twice been elected sheriff.

Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors last month the complaint was unfounded.

“There is zero evidence that any wrongdoing has occurred,” Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina said Thursday.

Medina said he met with the group behind the independent audit and listened as they made their case.

“Never did they present a single shred of evidence of anything irregular,” Medina said.

Bianco said last week that his office would physically count the ballots and compare the result with the total votes reported to the state. The counting is being done by sheriff’s officials under the supervision of a special master appointed by a court. He did not give a timeline on when the counting would conclude.

The sheriff, a supporter of President Donald Trump, said he obtained warrants signed by a judge to seize the ballots. Bianco said the alleged discrepancy amounted to about 45,800 votes — a difference elections officials have refuted at county meetings, saying the machine count and the final count submitted to the state differed by about 100 votes. They argue the handwritten rolls, which were not relied on to check the count, were being kept by temporary elections workers who had worked long days and may have made mistakes.

The UCLA Voting Rights Project argued the sheriff has no authority to seize the ballots in a petition filed on behalf of several Riverside County voters. It’s asking the state Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots.

“Law enforcement officials are legally prohibited from interfering in counting ballots, in California and nationwide,” former state attorney general Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who is running for governor and serves as a senior advisor of the group, said in a statement. “A candidate for Governor should know the law and lead by example, not weaponize his law enforcement office for political gain.”

The ballot probe came as President Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration recently seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trump’s rhetoric on voting in their states.

NBCLA’s Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.