Millions of voters across the country headed to the polls today in crucial primaries in a slew of key gubernatorial, Senate and House races in six states: New Jersey, Iowa, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and California.<\/p>\n
Although California\u2019s gubernatorial primary is too close to call<\/a>, some candidates have begun issuing statements acknowledging they won\u2019t be moving on to the state\u2019s general election. San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, former congresswoman Katie Porter and Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acknowledged they will not be moving forward in the race. Steve Hilton, Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer lead the race for two nominations that will advance to November\u2019s general election. California\u2019s primary elections, including its fiercely fought gubernatorial contest, are at the mercy of a notoriously slow vote-counting system \u2013 meaning it could be days or even weeks before the outcomes of the tightest races become clear.<\/p>\n Karen Bass came out ahead in Tuesday\u2019s heated primary for Los Angeles<\/a> mayor, but with less than 50% of the vote will have to defend her seat in November\u2019s general election. She\u2019ll likely run against either Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV star, or city council member Nithya Raman.<\/p>\n Iowa state representative Josh Turek won the Democratic nomination for the state\u2019s open US Senate seat \u2013 setting him up to face off against Ashley Hinson in the November general election. A former television anchor turned state senator, Hinson was endorsed by Donald Trump and retiring senator Joni Ernst.<\/p>\n Adam Hamawy won the Democratic nomination for New Jersey\u2019s 12th congressional district, teeing the army doctor and political newcomer<\/a> up to face off against Republican Gregg Mele in November\u2019s general election. Hamawy decided to run for office after returning from a medical mission in Gaza<\/a> in 2024 and meeting congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who announced her retirement in November 2025.<\/p>\n Deb Haaland won the Democratic nomination for governor in New Mexico. If elected in the November general election, Haaland would become the first Native American woman governor elected in the country.<\/p>\n Christina Bohannan won the Democratic nomination for Iowa\u2019s 1st congressional district. She will compete against incumbent Republican congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the November general election<\/p>\n Zach Lahn narrowly won the Republican nomination for governor, and will face off against Democrat Rob Sand in Iowa\u2019s general election this November. Five Republicans competed for the nomination to replace retiring Republican governor Kim Reynolds.<\/p>\n Former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Benett won the Democratic nomination for New Jersey\u2019s 7th congressional district, and will challenge Republican congressman Tom Kean Jr. in the general election. Kean, who\u2019s been absent from Congress, citing a health issue, since March<\/a> shared a statement on social media saying he\u2019s \u201cmore energized than ever\u201d and will \u201cbe completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition\u201d when he returns to work in \u201ca matter of weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n As Americans went to the polls, Donald Trump<\/a> congratulated and endorsed his preferred candidates across the country \u2013 and abroad. A day after voters in Colombia cast their ballots for president, nominating right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist senator Iv\u00e1n Cepeda, who will advance to a runoff election later this month, Trump endorsed de la Espriella.<\/p>\n Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state\u2019s two majority-Black districts in this year\u2019s midterm elections, the US supreme court ruled<\/a> in a 6-3 decision today. The court\u2019s emergency ruling is the most consequential decision it had issued since its landmark ruling in late April that struck down a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n Scott Wiener has advanced in his bid to fill the seat Nancy Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term. Wiener has secured more votes than Democratic rival Connie Chan<\/a>, a San Francisco supervisor, who Pelosi had endorsed.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.08 EDT<\/p>\n The high-stakes gubernatorial race in California<\/a> remains too close to call, with early results showing a tight contest in the crowded race.<\/p>\n My colleague Lauren Gambino<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n With many ballots still left to be counted, three candidates emerged at the top: Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. And results were clear enough that two Democratic candidates \u2013 San Jose mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa \u2013 conceded the race shortly after polls closed.<\/p>\n Still, much could change in the days and weeks ahead. In California, where mail-in voting is popular and great pains are taken to verify each ballot, it could take days<\/a> for the top two candidates in both races to become clear. And many Democrats strategically held on to their ballots until the last minute, further delaying vote counts across the state.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In a video message, former congresswoman Katie Porter conceded her bid for California<\/a> governor.<\/p>\n \u201cRunning a race like this isn\u2019t easy, and coming up short is hard, but democracy is worth doing hard things for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Although it\u2019s still too soon to say which candidates will head to the runoff election in California\u2019s governor\u2019s race, Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra are giving optimistic addresses at their election night parties.<\/p>\n Thanking Donald Trump for his endorsement during a speech in Orange County, Hilton said his chances are \u201clooking good\u201d and added \u201cWe\u2019ve got everything we need for this state to be amazing again.\u201d<\/p>\n In an address to supporters Becerra shared his personal story as the child of immigrants and said he wants to lead a state that \u201cregularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.\u201d Once an underdog in the race, Becerra is now polling among the leading three contenders for two spots in November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November runoff; her opponent is TBD<\/p>\n LA mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November runoff in her bid for reelection.<\/p>\n Bass will likely run against either progressive city council member Nithya Raman or reality TV star Spencer Pratt.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks during an election night event on 2 June. Photograph: William Liang\/AP<\/p>\n My colleague Uwa Ede-Osifo<\/a> has the full story:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.44 EDT<\/p>\n California\u2019s primary elections, including its fiercely fought gubernatorial contest, are at the mercy of a notoriously slow vote-counting system \u2013 meaning it could be days or even weeks before the outcomes of the tightest races become clear.<\/p>\n As my colleague Andrew Gumbel<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n Voting experts expect the state\u2019s 58 county elections offices to be deluged with last-minute absentee ballots, as they have been in the last few election cycles, and spend weeks undertaking a painstaking ballot-by-ballot verification process.<\/p>\n That presents a procedural problem whenever races are close, as they tend to be in the state\u2019s most competitive congressional districts, and the whole country is left waiting<\/a> \u2013 as it was in 2020, 2022 and 2024 \u2013 to find out which party controls the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Congressman Ro Khanna has won his primary election in California<\/a> by a wide margin.<\/p>\n In a social media post, Khanna said his nomination \u201cshowed that you can stand up to billionaires in the heart of Silicon Valley and prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside Republican Tom Massie, Khanna led efforts to release the Epstein files<\/a> this year and has backed efforts to introduce a wealth tax on billionaires<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n At his election night party, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said \u201cwe\u2019re going to wait until every ballot is counted.\u201d Steyer is currently polling third in a tight race for California<\/a> governor, trailing just behind Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia is the richest state in the richest country in the history of the world. It\u2019s unacceptable that right now, so many Californians struggle to make ends meet,\u201d Steyer said. \u201cMy vision for California is based on a simple idea: The wellbeing of the most vulnerable shouldn\u2019t depend on corporations and billionaires choosing to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Steyer\u2019s campaign spent or booked more than $203m<\/a> in ads, setting the record for both the costliest campaign this year and in California gubernatorial history.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lahn to face Sand in Iowa governor’s race<\/p>\n Zach Lahn has narrowly won the Republican nomination for governor, and will face off against Rob Sand in Iowa\u2019s general election this November.<\/p>\n Zach Lahn, Republican candidate for Iowa governor, speaks during a campaign event Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Newton, Iowa. Photograph: Erin Murphy\/The Gazette\/AP<\/p>\n Five Republicans competed for the nomination to replace retiring Republican governor Kim Reynolds. A farmer and businessman, Lahn campaign on an \u201cIowa First\u201d agenda. The Associated Press called the race with Lahn receiving 37.8% of the vote to his rival Randy Feenstra\u2019s 37%. Feenstra had been endorsed by Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats are hoping to pull off a \u201conce-in-a-generation\u201d breakthrough in the GOP-dominated state with Trump\u2019s approval ratings deep underwater<\/a>, gas prices high<\/a> and historical political trends favoring<\/a> the party out of power. Pro-hunting state auditor Rob Sand<\/a> is the face of that effort, and the last Democrat holding statewide-elected office in Iowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.06 EDT<\/p>\n Anticipating a long night of vote-counting ahead, incumbent LA mayor Karen Bass addressed supporters at the Lion Hotel in Koreatown.<\/p>\n Bass, who faces serious challenges from Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt, said she will spend the next four years addressing homelessness and building more housing units.<\/p>\n She described LA as a rebounding city, and vowed to build on the progress made over the last three and a half years. Invoking the \u201cdark day\u201d a year ago when Donald Trump<\/a> sent immigration troops into the city, Bass declared: \u201cWe are a city that is unified.\u201d<\/p>\n The strength of her challengers would suggest voters in LA are not as unified around their choice for mayor as she would have hoped.<\/p>\n Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass gestures towards supporters while attending her election night watch party as the incumbent runs for reelection in during the California primary election on 2 June Photograph: Daniel Cole\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.55 EDT<\/p>\n Greg Hull, the former mayor of Rio Rancho, has won the Republican nomination for New Mexico\u2019s governor\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n \u201cThis fall, we will face Deb Haaland in the general election and we\u2019re going to win,\u201d Hull said. \u201cAnd I respect that she has served in various positions over her career, but New Mexico families are hurting, and the policies of the last eight years under one-party control of this state have failed.\u201d New Mexico has long reported among the highest poverty rates in the nation.<\/p>\n Hull is likely to face a challenging race for governor in the solidly blue state, where no Republican has won statewide office in 10 years.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Republican James Gallagher won the special election in California\u2019s first congressional district to complete the term of the representative Doug LaMalfa, who died unexpectedly in January.<\/p>\n Gallagher had a significant lead over his two Democratic competitors in the deeply red region and will serve until the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is for Doug,\u201d Gallagher told a room full of supporters at an election night event in Chico.<\/p>\n California state Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher of Yuba City, left, speaks against a package of measures to redraw the state’s Congressional districts and put new maps before voters in a special election, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli\/AP<\/p>\n It was the last race to be held under the current boundaries. California\u2019s Proposition 50 redrew this district to give Democrats an advantage and made it a competitive for the first time in almost half a century.<\/p>\n Trump set off a wave of new mid-decade redistricting after urging Texas to adopt changes to favor Republicans<\/a>during the midterm elections.<\/p>\n Results indicated Gallagher, who was endorsed by Trump, won the special election decisively with 60% of votes and almost 70% of precincts reporting.<\/p>\n Gallagher was also on track to advance to the general election for a congressional term beginning in January. He\u2019ll face a tough battle against Democrat Mike McGuire with the district having a solidly blue advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna shock the world and win this district,\u201d Gallagher said.<\/p>\n![\"Lauren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780468989_576_Lauren_Gambino.png\")
Lauren Gambino<\/p>\n![\"Dani](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dani_Anguiano.png\")
Dani Anguiano<\/p>\n