Races for the Senate and governor in Oklahoma in primary elections begins today, as Donald Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party faces its next test.
Ahead of November’s midterms, president Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern in the seat previously held by Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin in the deeply conservative state.
Hern has kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990, reports AP.
But a bigger test of Trump’s influence - which has usually proved potent in Republican primaries this year - may come in a crowded race to succeed outgoing governor Kevin Stitt.
Trump endorsed former state senator Mike Mazzei last month, wading late into a primary that includes several prominent Oklahoma Republicans. They include attorney-general Gentner Drummond, former Oklahoma House speaker Charles McCall and Chip Keating, the state’s former public safety director.
It has raised the likelihood of an August runoff if no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote.
The United States and Iran have signed a memo of understanding giving them 60 days to find a way out of the war. The terms of the deal, which has not been publicly released, remain unclear. Vice-president JD Vance called the 1.5-page MOU a “very general document” whose details will be ironed out in the coming weeks of negotiations.
The future of the strait of Hormuz remains cloudy. US officials have offered conflicting forecasts for the future of the straight, with Trump saying that by the end of the week it “will be completely open,” while other officials say it may take longer for shipping to return to something approximating the pre-war status quo. Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghei, however, told reporters that Iran may still charge fees to pass through the straight.
Trump is in Évian-les-Bains, France, to attend the G7 summit, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping world leaders will help him find a way out of his country’s four-year war. He spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the G7 meeting, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin is also attending.
California govenor Gavin Newsom is accusing Trump of directing the US justice department to investigate him and his wife. Newsom, a prominent Democrat, tweeted that Trump was coming after him because he is considering running for the president.
