Hilton, Pratt Strong in California Primaries

Steve Hilton in the governor’s race and Spencer Pratt in the contest for mayor in Los Angeles both looked strong on Tuesday night. Sacramento Bee: As of 8:58 p.m., Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton has 26.6% of the vote, compared to 26.0% for Democrats Xavier Becerra and 19.8% for Tom Steyer in the primary race for California governor, according to initial reports from the Secretary of State’s office. The outcome will also likely not be officially certified for weeks, due to the state’s notoriously slow vote count. The Secretary of State’s office did not affirm the results of the 2024 presidential race until that December (SacBee). In the Los Angeles mayoral race: Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Spencer Pratt held the top two spots in early returns Tuesday in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, with Pratt opening a sizable lead over Councilmember Nithya Raman in the race for a potential November runoff berth. As of 8:48 pm, following the Los Angeles County Registrar’s second release of election results, Bass held 36.54% of the vote, followed by Pratt with around 30.12%. Nithya Raman was in third with 20.18%, followed by Adam Miller with 4.40% (Daily News). Wall Street Journal highlights the erosion of trust that comes from California’s election month: This absentee-ballot-counting process benefits Democrats, but it also can fuel public distrust in elections. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said as much last month in a letter urging election officials to expedite vote counting. “The longer the voting count takes, the more mis- and disinformation spreads,” he wrote. “Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold.” He’s right. Time is also of the essence for candidates who need to know if they can get on with the transition to holding office, or seek a new line of work. Why not require that ballots be returned by Election Day? (Wall Street Journal).

California Democrats Have Failed

For conservative readers of Daybreak, that’s not exactly breaking news. But the very fact that Steve Hilton in the governor’s race and Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral contest have been competitive illustrates that voters in deep blue California are less than pleased with the status quo. The news is that the Los Angeles Times has felt the need to report it. Jenny Jarvie: “There’s a clear sense of frustration with the Democratic Party,” said Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College. The reason a wave of conservative outsiders like Pratt and Hilton are doing so well in such a solidly liberal city and state, Sadhwani said, is that they’re more willing to spell out the challenges that L.A. and California face. “Democrats tend to be very concerned about not upsetting one coalition or another, so it’s politics as usual with many of the Democratic candidates,” Sadhwani said. “Spencer Pratt has blown a hole in that by just naming the problems that everyday residents and voters are seeing and feeling on the ground.” On homelessness, many Angelenos are frustrated Bass hasn’t significantly moved the needle. “We can point to facts and figures that might suggest that things have changed,” Sadhwani said. “But when you walk down the streets of Los Angeles, it doesn’t feel like it, so she hasn’t passed the field test. That’s the problem.” … Whichever candidates make it to the runoff, the California Democratic Party will face questions about its strategy and vision. Less than two months ago, the party chair had urged Becerra to drop out of the race to make way for Swalwell. “Clearly, the party itself has lost its way in California,” Sadhwani said. “I would not be surprised if the California Democratic Party looks for new leadership after this election” (Los Angeles Times).

Lawsuit: Over 800,000 Inactive Voters on the Rolls in California

The layers and layers of corruption in the Golden State make it difficult to see how things could get better. This lawsuit starts in Orange County: Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, joined the American Independent Party of California in suing incumbent Secretary of State Shirley Weber, alleging that 873,092 inactive voter registrations are still on the rolls. The complaint, filed through conservative voting watchdog organization Judicial Watch, claimed the Democrat Weber is in violation of federal law that requires most inactive voter registrations to be removed after two general federal elections. Instead, more than 800,000 registrations have remained inactive and on the rolls for at least three elections — with 151,202 on the rolls after at least four consecutive elections, the suit claims. The lawsuit also alleges that the state takes no effective action to require counties to fix the issue, citing admissions by California officials (New York Post). Judicial Watch: “Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuit confirms California has a dirty voting rolls crisis – with thousands of old names on the rolls going back at least 10 years,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections. And California and its counties must take immediate steps to clean the over 870,000 dirty names on the voting lists” (Judicial Watch).

The Atlantic’s Proposed Solution for Ailing Democrats: 'Sports Geeking'

Yes. That’s the argument from Nathanial Frum at The Atlantic: The politically disengaged male voters whom Democrats are so desperate to reach aren’t at bars arguing about Medicare funding. They are arguing about a roughing-the-passer penalty. Bettors on Polymarket give Stephen A. Smith higher odds of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential primary than Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, and Ruben Gallego. Nothing gets attention like sports takes (Atlantic). Ed Morrissey: This may not be the best advice to give to a Democrat Party that hasn’t had authentic connections to masculinity in at least a generation, as Nathanial Frum concedes. Few situations will expose phoniness more quickly and completely than when a person attempts to discuss sports without any real connection to it. Sports fandom has significant depth and passion built into it, especially in the sports-talk industry, where even experts get shellacked for their arguments on arcane issues related to the particular sport or team involved (Hot Air).

New Jersey Democrats Nominate Candidate With Links to al Qaeda

We’re talking about Adam Hamawy and the race for New Jersey’s 12^th Congressional seat. He just defeated his nearest opponent by over 10 percentage points: 28 percent for Hamawy, 16 percent for Brad Cohen (Decision Desk). Ed Morrissey reminds us of Hamawy’s associations: He assisted the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, both before and after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, for which Abdel-Rahman was tried and convicted for terrorism and seditious conspiracy. Even Politico noted three weeks ago that Hamawy “had a real yearslong association” with Abdel-Rahman, as established at trial. Hamawy shrugged it off as “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates.” It turns out that Hamawy has some other associations that are just as problematic. Jewish Insider dug up Hamawy’s volunteer work in Bosnia as related by Hamawy himself to the Newark Star-Ledger in 1996. He worked with the “Benevolence International Foundation,” a non-profit that later got exposed as a front for al-Qaeda, which provided financial support for Osama bin Laden (Hot Air). Mike Lawler: How in the hell has a defense witness in the 1993 WTC bombing, with ties to Al-Qaeda been nominated by the Democrats to serve in Congress? If elected in November, Congress should fully investigate his ties to terrorist organizations and determine whether he is fit to serve (Lawler).

Is Texas Really Ready for James Talarico?

Or, more specifically: Is Texas ready for the sort of Christianity the Democrat’s nominee for Senate in the Lone Star State represents? The New York Times looked at Talarico and Jim Rigby, his longtime pastor. The faith that both men represent is not really Christianity at all. It’s something akin to a post-Christian religion that has the external forms Protestantism—without the theological substance. On Rigby, Ruth Graham and J. David Goodman explain a slight difference of opinion between Rigby and Talarico. Talarico has infamously claimed that God asked Mary for permission to accept her pregnancy with Jesus—as an argument for abortion. Rigby doesn’t see it that way, but it doesn’t matter anyway: “It’s mythological, not historical,” Mr. Rigby said (New York Times). Albert Mohler: Now let me just state on obvious fact and that is that I think the vast majority of people in Texas do not understand the Bible in those terms. I think that’s fair to say. And by that, I do not mean that they are all faithful, evangelical or orthodox Christians in terms of historical theological orthodoxy. I just mean I think even intuitively they know better than what they’re hearing here. And I think over and over what you’re going to have is an eye-opening experience that this candidate is really way, way out there on trans issues, of course on the sexuality issues, on all kinds of issues, and in particular in what theologians call theology proper, that is to say the doctrine of God. We’re talking about someone who is way outside, let’s just say light years outside biblical orthodoxy and he following a pattern that was very clear in terms of the original theological liberals in the 20th century in terms of modern liberalism. They claimed to be following the words of Jesus even as they repudiated Orthodox Christianity. That’s explicitly what James Talarico does (Mohler).

It’s Always ‘Almost a Deal’ With Iran

The basic reason we’re always almost there is relatively simple: The demands of the two sides are irreconcilable. That likely fits with what you have observed. But where does it go from here? Aaron MacLean of the School of War podcast: [Trump is] not willing to admit defeat by taking a weak deal, even though he appeared close to such an outcome a week ago, before pushback from Senate Republicans seems to have held him back. Indeed, neither President Trump nor the Iranians believe they have been defeated. Instead, both sides appear to believe that economic or political catastrophe awaits the other, given enough time. The American blockade of Iranian ports—the strongest action taken by the president since the ceasefire went into effect—will in time cause substantial economic damage in an already weakened Iran. But the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz will in time also cause substantial damage, especially in the form of inflationary pressure, to the global economy. No one really knows how to assess the comparative timelines, though we might note that economic warfare, as a form of combat, tends to be a slow burn…. Motion without movement, activity without achievement: Neither side is prepared to surrender to the other at the negotiating table, and neither side appears eager to return to major combat. But time can’t be on everyone’s side (Free Press).

Iran Launches Missiles at US Installations in Middle East; Attacks Thwarted

Continued provocations from the radical regime. Central Command: U.S. forces successfully defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and conducted self-defense strikes on Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Iran across the Middle East, June 2. Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors; however, all failed to hit their intended targets. Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart enroute, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by U.S. and Bahrain air defense forces. Moments earlier, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces shot down three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters. American forces also conducted self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island (Central Command). More from Joseph Chalfant at Townhall: The Iranians have claimed that “any new foolishness” that American forces may pursue would result in a “crushing and decisive response” and the the IRGC “would not hesitate to reduce all the aggressors’ and interests in the region to ashes” (Townhall). Iran is acting as though they believe they have the upper hand.

An End to Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund

The fund had drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle, putting other items on Trump’s agenda at risk. Wall Street Journal: The Trump administration is abandoning its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund after it drew broad condemnation from Republican lawmakers and threatened to sink an unrelated immigration-enforcement bill. “We’re not moving forward with the fund. Period,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday at a congressional hearing…. Blanche said the department stood by a related deal—to end all pending tax audits of Trump, his family and associates and planned no changes to it. Republican leaders had been working to assure rank-and-file lawmakers that the “anti-weaponization” fund was indeed on ice. Hours earlier, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters he had spoken to Blanche and expected his statement would be “very definitive, very clear, and create the certainty that I hope all of our members and House members need as well, in order for us to proceed” (Wall Street Journal).

Supreme Court Allows Alabama Map Favoring Republicans to Stand

More significant news from the redistricting wars in the run-up to the 2026 elections.  SCOTUSblog: The Supreme Court on Tuesday night cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map in the 2026 elections that lower courts found to be racially discriminatory. In a four-page, unsigned order, the court held that that “the District Court’s analysis departed from” the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, in which the court (among other things) made it more difficult for plaintiffs to prevail on a claim that a map violates a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, in which she criticized the majority for paving the way toward “a chaotic election.” The majority “disregards both democratic values and the rule of law,” Sotomayor contended. The court’s ruling, which came after 9 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, was likely the final chapter in a dispute that began in 2021, when Alabama enacted a new map in the wake of the 2020 census (SCOTUSblog). Associated Press: The high-court order is the latest development in a redistricting frenzy that is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections. It comes a day before an important deadline that Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had already extended in the state’s desire to use the map in special primary elections in August (Associated Press).