Top Democrats tussle in Florida primary but progressive liberalism not on menu
If primary elections elsewhere this summer were tussles between progressives and moderates for the direction of the Democratic party’s political future, Tuesday’s contests in Florida could not be more different.
In a former swing state that has in recent years become reliably red, moderate Democratic candidates Alex Vindman and David Jolly are heavily favored to become the party’s nominees for November’s Senate and governor’s race, respectively.
Analysts say the brand of progressive liberalism that worked so well for Democratic candidates in Minnesota, Michigan and New York, won’t cut it with voters in conservative Florida, and neither are Vindman, frontrunner for the Senate nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Ashley Moody, or Jolly, vying to succeed Ron DeSantis as governor, trying to sell it.
“There is a lot of curiosity about me from more traditional, pre-Trump-era Republicans that feel homeless,” Vindman said in March as he weighed the broad coalition of voters he will need to topple Moody, appointed by Republican DeSantis in January 2025 to replace Marco Rubio after his elevation to secretary of state.
“I’m running here as a kind of a different kind of Democrat, I’ve got my handguns, a concealed carry permit, not the standard fare.”
Florida has closed primaries, meaning only those voters who have declared party affiliation can choose its nominees. But Vindman and Jolly are already looking to court independents and disgruntled Republicans beyond Tuesday.
A northern California county that has become a hotbed of activism for those who sow doubts about the reliability of voting machines plans to hire Tina Peters, the prominent Colorado election denier recently released from prison, to work on elections.
Clint Curtis, the top election official in Shasta county, told the Guardian he plans to hire Peters as a consultant to replace Brent Turner, his top deputy, who has been on medical leave. He said Peters would not have access to the county’s voting system and did not directly respond when asked what her responsibilities would be. Plans to hire Peters, who is still on parole and must receive permission to travel outside of Colorado, were first reported by Action News Now.
Shasta county, a conservative region home to 182,000 people, has emerged as a center of the US election denialism movement in recent years. In 2023, the county’s governing body unsuccessfully sought to remake the voting process by cutting ties with the voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems and implementing a hand-count system that experts warned would be costly and far less accurate.
The MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the leading promoters of falsehoods about election fraud in the US, said he would support the county’s effort. The state ultimately blocked Shasta’s plans. In addition, several candidates who lost their race for local office have embraced baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud and sued to overturn results.
Last year, the Shasta county board of supervisors appointed Curtis, a Florida-based attorney who had never before overseen an elections office, to serve as the county clerk and registrar of voters. Curtis, who opposes the use of voting machines and has long argued US elections are being manipulated, vowed to overhaul the elections and set an example for the rest of the US.
Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, Politico reports, citing Palm Beach county voting records. The White House has confirmed the president’s mail-in vote, according to the New York Times, which added that this is at least the third time the president has mailed his ballot.
In March, the president signed an executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of US Congress. Trump has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting, calling for restrictions on the policy for years and falsely claiming that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump continued his years-long false claims of election fraud in the United States – including by implying that mail-in voting is insecure.
“Earlier this month, India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, asked our Administration – How can you have Elections in the U.S. without a valid Photo ID? India’s last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than 1% voted by mail, and every single Voter had to have a VALID Photo Identity Document. We need to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, now!” Trump wrote.
A federal judge has blocked the US Postal Service from implementing part of the executive order, although Trump’s administration has asked the supreme court to intervene.
Trump says concerns about conditions on USS Lincoln are ‘fake’
Donald Trump has downplayed reports about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln to reporters in the Oval Office.
The aircraft carrier has been the subject of escalating concern over mental health and supply issues for American sailors enduring nearly nine months at sea.
The carrier has had a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days, AP reported.
But Trump said he spoke with a retired admiral over the weekend who recounted being on ships for “much longer.” Trump said the admiral assured him that the Lincoln is “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.”
Trump did not name the admiral.
Deadline approaching for plaintiffs to lay out case for blocking White House ballroom project
Today is the deadline for plaintiffs in the White House ballroom case to lay out their case on blocking the project.
The Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to allow construction of the president’s controversial $400m White House ballroom to proceed after an appeals court ordered work to halt.
In a case testing Donald Trump’s presidential authority, the Washington-based US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled last week that the controversial project lacked the necessary approval from US Congress.
The US president, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for the planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the US people. He and his aides have repeatedly cited national security as a benefit of its construction, too.
In a filing, Trump’s administration asked the supreme court justices to keep the decision by the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit on hold while it prepares a full appeal.
“This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” D John Sauer, the solicitor general, wrote in the filing.
Chief Justice John Roberts set a deadline of today for the plaintiffs challenging the project to respond.
Trump warns Alaska voters against 'imposter' Dan Sullivan
Donald Trump is up early today, weighing into the Alaska primary and urging voters to back the “real Dan Sullivan”. In typical capital-letter-laden style, he posted on Truth Social:
ALASKA: Be careful, VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN TODAY. Through me, he’s brought HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS BACK TO YOUR STATE. The Dumocrats know how good he is and have put up an imposter of the same name. Vote for the “INCUMBENT SENATOR.” Don’t let these Fraudsters get away with this HOAX. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP
CNN defends its reporter and says personal attack 'beneath the office'
CNN defended its journalist Kristen Holmes in a statement, calling her “one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House”.
The White House’s “rapid response” social media account posted a clip of the exchange and tagged Holmes, calling her a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession”.
The White House later sent out another post criticizing Holmes, writing: “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.”
In response, the network said:
This afternoon, she did her job and asked the president of the United States a tough, relevant and newsworthy question on behalf of the American people.
Public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.
We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible terms.
Trump has a long history of aggressively attacking and insulting women in the press corps who ask tough questions, including saying, “Quiet, piggy” to a Bloomberg reporter, calling another CNN journalist “corrupt”, and storming out of NBC’s Meet the Press after calling the moderator “crooked or stupid”.
Other journalists condemned the White House’s personal attack against Holmes, with one of her colleagues at CNN saying: “Kristen is an incredible reporter, person and, above all, mother. I don’t understand such a reaction to a journalist asking the president for his response to something a Democratic senator has leveled against him.”
Updated
White House launches personal attack on CNN reporter over question to Trump
The White House launched a personal attack against a CNN reporter on Monday with a social media post that mentioned her children and accused her of asking a “disgusting and inhumane question”.
A White House post targeted Kristen Holmes, a senior White House correspondent for the network, after she asked Donald Trump to respond to a widely shared comment by Democratic senator Jon Ossoff in a speech on Sunday.
The Georgia senator told a crowd that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar”.
The comment was an apparent reference to Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant, fueling scrutiny of her perceived closeness to Trump.
When Holmes asked Trump in the Oval Office to respond to Ossoff’s remark, the president dismissed her, calling the senator a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike”.
The White House’s “rapid response” social media account posted a clip of the exchange and tagged Holmes, calling her a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession”.
The post went on to criticize her for taking a “cheap shot” at a staffer, adding: “These scumbags are the lowest of the low.”
Redistricting scrambles Florida primary as Alaska awaits Dan Sullivan vs Dan Sullivan
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Attention turns to Florida and Alaska, where primaries later on Tuesday will highlight Republican-led redistricting efforts that have scrambled congressional maps.
Today’s contests will also help shape the fiercely contested midterms this fall to determine control of Congress, where Republicans retain a narrow edge, and offer a referendum on president Donald Trump’s second term, AFP reported.
In the Alaska Senate race, incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan, a Trump ally seeking a third term, is facing another candidate, curiously also named Dan Sullivan.
Republicans have argued the second Sullivan, who’ll be appearing on the ballot as “Daniel J Sullivan Jr,” is a sham candidate running at the behest of Democrats to cause confusion. Dan J Sullivan Jr, a retired teacher, has denied the charge.
Also in the race is former US representative Mary Peltola. She was the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, and she would become the first Alaska Native senator if she wins in November.
Meanwhile, in Florida, a GOP-led redrawing scrambled the congressional map, which has created some awkward matchups.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, first elected to Congress in 2004, is running for a new seat in Florida’s 20th congressional district, centered in Broward County, after her existing seat was redrawn to favor Republicans.
Wasserman Schultz, who is white, has faced some criticism for running in the historically Black district from activists who are already worried about losing Black representation in Congress following a Supreme Court decision that weakened a landmark civil rights law. She faces several Black candidates, including rapper Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, who found fame with the 1989 hit “Me So Horny,” and former Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who faces criminal charges of stealing $5m in disaster relief funds. Cherfilus-McCormick, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from Congress in April ahead of a possible expulsion.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, Politico reports, citing Palm Beach County voting records. The White House has confirmed the president’s mail-in vote, according to the New York Times, which added that this is at least the third time the president has mailed his ballot.
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A northern California county plans to hire Tina Peters, the prominent Colorado election denier recently released from prison, to work on elections. Shasta county, a conservative region home to 182,000 people, has emerged as a center of the US election denialism movement in recent years. California governor Gavin Newsom’s office said the state is investigating Peters’ hiring.
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CNN has said it stands behind reporter Kristen Holmes after Trump repeatedly told the CNN reporter to “be quiet” and accused her of being “a fake reporter” during questioning over conditions onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Shortly after the president reprimanded Holmes, the White House invoked her children in a social media post further attacking the reporter when she asked about comments from Democratic senator Jon Ossoff in a speech on Sunday. He had told a crowd that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar”. It was an apparent reference to Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant.
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Trump again threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the US-Israel war on Iran, as the two-month window to negotiate peace with Iran expired on Monday with no end to the conflict in sight. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News.
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Trump said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had responded to his overtures after he ordered the US to scale back military exercises with South Korea. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked why Kim had not responded to his overtures.
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