Election Day: Trump's endorsement spat and Bowman in a barnburner |
It's primary day. Tuesday's elections will test the strength of former President Trump's endorsements in a critical Senate race. Voters will also determine whether Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is forced into a runoff, and a special election will send a new member to the current Congress to replace former Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who resigned in January. Voters are at the polls now in Nevada, South Carolina, Maine and North Dakota, as well as in Ohio's 6th Congressional District. We have the rundown on everything to watch for, but first some breaking news… The Hill's Caroline Vakil has an early look at an eye-popping new poll that gives fresh insight into a nasty House primary race that's split progressives in a reliably blue district. The Emerson College/PIX11/The Hill survey found that Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) trails his Democratic challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, by 17 points. The race boiled over last week after former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) endorsed Latimer, who is backed by AIPAC. Jones, who was once seen as a rising progressive star, cited Bowman's blistering criticism of Israel. Progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have rallied around Bowman, who was censured by the House in December for pulling a fire alarm during a vote to avert a government shutdown. The poll finds Bowman faces a steep climb to reelection, with 65 percent having a favorable view of Latimer, against 51 percent who view Bowman favorably. The primary election will take place June 25. Tonight's races:
- There's drama in Nevada following Trump's 11th hour endorsement for Army Capt. Sam Brown in the GOP primary for the right to take on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D), who is a top target for Republicans as they seek to flip the Senate. Brown's opponent Jeff Gunter, who is Trump's former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland, is seething at Trump for meddling in the race. He lashed out Tuesday at Trump and national Republicans for sabotaging his campaign.
- Mace has had quite a run since arriving in Congress, going from a Trump critic to a Trump supporter and joining the insurgents who ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Mace is favored to win and has support from current GOP leaders. But former state official Catherine Templeton and veteran Bill Young could combine for enough support to force a June 25 runoff. Candidates in South Carolina must get a majority of votes in the primary to win outright
- Republicans are expected to add one to their ranks Tuesday night, boosting Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) slim majority. Republican Michael Rulli is expected to defeat Democrat Michael Kripchak to replace former retired Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) in a district Trump carried by nearly 30 points in 2020.
The Hill's Jared Gans has more races to watch here, including the GOP primary to take on Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) in a critical swing district and the latest on the right-wing Republicans trying to unseat Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.).
More coverage: |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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Hunter Biden guilty on all three felony gun charges
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Hunter Biden was found guilty Tuesday on three felony gun charges after brief deliberations by a jury in Delaware. The president's son was convicted of lying on a federal gun application about his drug use and unlawfully possessing a firearm. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine, although first-time offenders rarely get the max. Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell said they'd pursue "all the legal challenges available." Read the jury verdict form here. Hunter Biden still faces separate charges in California for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes and filing false returns. President Biden, who has said he will not pardon his son, released a statement reiterating that he would "accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal." Hunter Biden's conviction on gun charges came hours before President Biden addressed gun safety activists at an event sponsored by Everytown for Gun Safety, where he was interrupted by demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza. The president will now fly back home to Wilmington to be with his son. The Trump campaign responded, calling the gun charges against Hunter Biden a "distraction" from the "real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine." Some libertarian-leaning Republicans found the charges silly. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called the conviction "kinda dumb," while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said "Hunter might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it."
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Juror #10, one of the jurors in Hunter Biden's trial, went from deliberations to cable news to dish on the trial. - The juror told CNN that the jury did not consider politics. "The first family was not even spoken about. It was all about Hunter."
- The juror said he doesn't believe jail time is necessary. "It was very sad … not that he was being convicted of these crimes, but that his life has turned out the way it did."
- The juror was "really sorry" to hear testimony about Hunter Biden introducing crack-cocaine to Hallie Biden, who had a romantic relationship with Hunter after her husband Beau Biden died.
- The juror said he and others felt bad that Naomi Biden was called to the stand to testify against her father. "I think that was probably a strategy that should not have been done. No daughter should ever have to testify against her dad."
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Republicans prep contempt vote for Garland
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The House is moving closer to voting on a measure to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing a subpoena for audio files of President Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents case. The House Rules Committee debated the measure on Tuesday, although Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has not said when he expects a floor vote. Republicans already have the written transcript of the interview. Hur famously declined to charge Biden, in part because he said the president came across as an "elderly man with a poor memory." Democrats say Republicans are fishing for verbal missteps they can cut into campaign ads. In a Tuesday op-ed published in The Washington Post, Garland railed against what he described as "unfounded attacks" on the Justice Department. Republicans, meanwhile, are fuming over the myriad state and federal prosecutions against former President Trump. They'll soon take out their frustrations on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who agreed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on July 12 — one day after Trump is set to be sentenced. Earlier in the day, the Justice Department sent a scathing letter to House Republicans saying it had no correspondence with Bragg about his prosecution of Trump, which resulted in 34 felony convictions. The letter from Carlos Uriarte, the head of legislative affairs for the Justice Department, ripped House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for perpetuating a false "conspiracy theory" about collusion between the Manhattan DA's office and the Justice Department. More coverage: |
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© Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press |
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Democrats search for leverage against Supreme Court
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The Hill's Alexander Bolton has the latest on how Senate Democrats hope to force ethics reforms on the Supreme Court: "Specifically, some Democrats want to tie Supreme Court funding to the justices' adoption of an ethics code in the funding bill overseen by the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the high court's budget." Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Historical Society condemned actions by liberal activist Lauren Windsor, who posed as a conservative and secretly recorded conversations with the Justices. "We condemn the surreptitious recording of Justices at the event, which is inconsistent with the entire spirit of the evening," James Duff, the group's executive director, said in a statement. As part of the recordings, Justice Samuel Alito's wife Martha-Ann Alito talked about one day getting revenge on the people who have made a big deal out of the controversial flags she's flown at two of their properties. "You come after me, I'm gonna give it back to you…There will be a way. It doesn't have to be now, but there will be a way. They know." |
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16 days until the first presidential debate. 34 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. 69 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 147 days until the 2024 general election. 223 days until Inauguration Day 2025. |
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Tuesday - Congressional primary elections in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina. A special election in Ohio's 6th Congressional District.
Wednesday - Biden travels to Italy for the G-7.
- Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will speak at the Heritage Foundation at 1 p.m. as part of the Capitol Hill Lecture Series.
Thursday - Trump meets with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and addresses the Business Roundtable's quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C.
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