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5 Takeaways From Primaries in Maine & S. Carolina
Graham Platner easily secured Maine's Democratic nomination for a key U.S. Senate seat. In South Carolina, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace's career derailed.
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The Hill News
Smith, Honeycutt advance to runoff in crowded GOP primary for Mace’s House seat
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Republicans Mark Smith and Jenny Honeycutt are projected to advance to a runoff for the GOP nomination in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ. Smith and Honeycutt pulled away from a crowded field of Republicans. The Democratic primary is also headed to a June 23 runoff, where former Navy Adm. Nancy Lacore and…
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Nancy Mace Flames Out in South Carolina
Anthony L. Fisher: The South Carolina congresswoman and failed gubernatorial candidate briefly stood up to Trump after he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. But that was then.
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RealClearPolitics - Homepage
Vance and GOP's Golden Issue: Federal Fraud
"Border Czar" was among Vice President Kamala Harris' greatest liabilities; "Fraud Czar" could be VP JD Vance's biggest asset.
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Politics - CBSNews.com
Bill Gates to appear today before House committee investigating Epstein
The Microsoft co-founder will sit for the transcribed interview as revelations about his relationship with Epstein have rocked his philanthropic foundation.
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NPR Topics: News
U.S. and Iran exchange strikes. And, House passes ICE and Border Patrol funding
The U.S. and Iran have exchanged strikes after a helicopter was downed Monday near the Strait of Hormuz. And, House Republicans have passed a bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through Trump's term.
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Blaze Media
House Republicans STEAMROLL obstructionist Democrats, secure ICE funding for rest of Trump's term
Democrats have worked desperately to defund or at least hinder President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and mass deportation campaign. Their efforts have proven again to be in vain.Last summer, congressional Republicans circumvented the various obstacles presented by their leftist colleagues, using budget reconciliation to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included $75 billion in new funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and tens of billions more for other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.'All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders.'The war over immigration policy and funding heated up in subsequent months, featuring a pitched battle in which Democrats partially shut down the DHS for 75 days, only to then unconditionally surrender, passing funding for the DHS in the wake of the longest government shutdown in its history.On Tuesday, Democrats were dealt another significant defeat.Days after it was passed by the U.S. Senate in a 52-47 vote, the Secure America Act went to a vote in the House. Ahead of the vote, the White House said in a statement, "The Secure America Act puts an end to Democrats’ political games by fully funding ICE and Border Patrol through President Trump’s term and providing the resources needed to keep our border secure, combat human trafficking, stop the flow of deadly drugs, dismantle criminal cartels, and enforce America’s immigration laws."RELATED: Republicans took ICE hostage — then bragged about saving it Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images"It is imperative that Congress immediately passes the Secure America Act to fully fund these critical components," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "It has been more than 100 days since congressional Democrats defunded ICE and Border Patrol in a radical attempt to protect violent criminal illegal aliens and undermine President Trump’s highly successful border security agenda."House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), among the Democrats who futilely signaled their opposition to the bill, stated, "As if ripping health care and nutritional assistance in the One Big Ugly Bill wasn’t enough, Republicans have now come back for more to give ICE and Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine another $70 billion blank check with no oversight, no accountability, and no guardrails.""As Democrats, we rise in strong opposition to this Republican scheme. Waste of taxpayer dollars," added Jeffries.To Jeffries' chagrin, the Secure America Act passed in a 214-212 party-line vote.This funding bill will allocate $38 billion to ICE, $26 billion to Customs and Border Protection, and $5 billion in additional funding to the DHS through September 2029.Following the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) emphasized that "Washington Democrats gained **NOTHING** from their RECKLESS CRUSADE to return our country to OPEN BORDERS and UNFETTERED MASS MIGRATION. Republicans will ALWAYS stand with America's law enforcement." "All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in American communities — policies that have been soundly rejected by the American people over and over again," wrote Johnson. "We hope this episode serves as a future reminder to Democrats that when they shut the government down, they will receive less than nothing in return."President Trump is set to ratify the Secure America Act in the Oval Office on Wednesday.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
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Axios
Platner's big night: 5 takeaways from Tuesday's primaries
Maine Democrats handed progressive firebrand Graham Platner an easy win in Tuesday's Senate primary, looking past his personal scandals in hopes he can oust five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November.Why it matters: Tuesday's results set up what's sure to be a nasty, expensive battle for a seat that will go a long way toward determining control of the Senate. They also illustrated the huge contrasts now animating the political parties:GOP voters are almost always in lockstep with the leader of their party, President Trump, whose pick for South Carolina governor advanced to a runoff.As for Democrats, the combination of being desperate for victory and having no one with enough clout to stop an embattled outsider helped set the stage for Platner's big win over Gov. Janet Mills, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's pick in the race.Zoom in: Platner's victory was also the latest one for Democratic progressives in their ongoing civil war with the party's moderates.Standing behind a sign that defiantly read, "They Don't Know Maine," Platner delivered an acceptance speech that mixed talk of his past regrets and slammed elites who'd opposed him."The national pundits, the political establishment, they keep looking for that one story, that one headline, that one moment in my life that they can define the campaign by," Platner said. "But in trying so hard to understand me, they failed to understand that this is not about me at all. This is a movement about us."Late Tuesday, Schumer and Senate Democrats' top super PAC put out statements making clear they support Platner.Key takeaways from Tuesday:Platner's latest round of scandals haven't hurt him — yet. His campaign has been a roller coaster ride of revelations, from the Nazi-linked tattoo he covered up to the recent reports that he'd sent sexually suggestive texts to women who weren't his wife. The reports gripped D.C. and made lots of ad fodder for Republicans, but didn't appear to damage Platner in Tuesday's primary. Early returns showed him with about 72% of the vote— close to his poll numbers before the latest headlines.Here come the attacks: In a preview of the smash-mouth assaults headed for Platner, Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters called the Democratic nominee a "racist, sexist, Nazi-loving domestic abuser." Platner, a Marine combat veteran, kick-started his campaign against Collins by casting her as a corrupt warmonger who "handed out billions of dollars to defense companies" while "I got blown up."The parties' role-reversal: On one side, there's a scandal-plagued man running as a populist that the political establishment tried and failed to stop. On the other, a moderate woman who's been in D.C. for decades. It's not the 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — it's the match-up between Platner and Collins that looks like the Senate version, with the parties switched. Dems warm to controversy: Blame it on Trump lowering the bar for candidates' personal conduct, Democrats losing trust in their leaders to know what it takes to win, or something darker. Platner's primary victory signals that Democratic voters have become more willing to accept skeletons in a candidate's closet. Trump picks a winner, while Rep. Nancy Mace hits a dead end: In the latest affirmation of Trump's power over the GOP, his pick in South Carolina's gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, advanced to a runoff with state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Mace, a former Trump loyalist who fell out of favor with him after pushing for the release of the Epstein files, was running fifth in the primary.
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US news | The Guardian
Democrats rally round Platner in Maine as Trump reaffirms grip on GOP after primaries
Outcome of polls in four states offer mixed signals about direction of two major parties before November’s midtermsProgressives rallied round the controversial Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine on Tuesday, while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the Republican party, helping to defeat a politician who had pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.Primary elections were held in four states – Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina – ahead of November’s midterms to decide control of both houses of Congress. The results offered mixed signals about the direction of the two major parties. Continue reading...
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