MS NOW's We The People 2026 Special Primary Coverage, 11pmET hour

Summary

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The Rachel Maddow Show – “We The People 2026 Special Primary Coverage” (June 3, 2026, 11pm ET Hour)

Episode Overview

This episode delivers live, in-depth primary night coverage focusing on high-stakes contests in California and across the US, with Rachel Maddow, Ali Velshi, Jacob Soboroff, Stephanie Ruhl, Jen Psaki, Lawrence O’Donnell, and special guests. The team explains California’s unique “jungle primary” process, explores the impact of late voting and candidate withdrawals, tracks early results, and provides expert interviews—including a revealing conversation with Iowa’s new Democratic Senate nominee, Josh Turek.

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California: Primary Night Dynamics

California's Unique Primary Explained

(00:52–03:20)

• Ali Velshi illustrates the “jungle primary” system:
  • All candidates, all parties, appear on the same ballot.
  • Top two advance, regardless of party—could be two Dems, two Republicans, or otherwise.
• Early voting is widespread, but this year saw more late ballots due to unexpected candidate exits and confusion (notably Eric Swalwell dropping out).
  • “It’s easy to vote, but it’s hard to make decisions.” – Ali Velshi (01:11)
  • “We may not even know who the top two are going to the general for a matter of weeks.” – Rachel Maddow (03:21)

Key Process Notes:

• In 2024, 89% voted before Election Day; that number is down this year.
• Ballots can be postmarked on Election Day and still count if received later—results could take over a week.

National Implications & Contest Intensity

(03:21–05:24)

• California’s influence: “It factors into national politics in huge and important ways… you have to teach the whole country what California’s like.” – Rachel Maddow (03:21)
• “Brace yourself… You may not know all of the things. You probably won't know.” – Stephanie Ruhl, quoting Adisu Dumisi (04:24)
• Five critical House races—potential to tip House control.

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Key Races: Brief Profiles

Gubernatorial Race

(05:24–07:30)

• 60+ candidates, three frontrunners:
  • Javier Becerra (D)
  • Tom Steyer (D)
  • Steve Hilton (R, Trump-endorsed)
• Others: Chad Bianco, Katie Porter, Matt Mahomes Mahan, Antonio Villaraigosa.

Los Angeles Mayoral Race

(05:24–07:30, 14:21–16:32, 31:12–39:37)

• Incumbent: Karen Bass (D)
• Challengers: Spencer Pratt (Trump-endorsed reality TV figure), Nithya Rahman (progressive).
  • Bass faces rightward challenge from Pratt and left from Rahman.
  • “Politics that will curl your hair any day of the week, but particularly right now.” – Rachel Maddow (07:30)

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Notable Conversations and Insights

The "Red Barrage" and Strategic Voting

(04:24–07:11, 10:18–12:43, 40:18–42:41)

• Red Barrage: GOP ballots often reported early; Democrats surge later.
• Money in California politics: unprecedented donor influx, connections to broader national trends—echoes Trump’s and Biden’s donor class.
  • “It's almost going to be the billionaire donor class versus the American voter.” – Jen Psaki (09:40)
• Counterpoint: Money is powerful, but voters drive outcomes:
  • “Because you have the cash doesn't dictate what the vote is going to be... that billionaire only has one vote.” – Unknown Political Analyst (11:00)
• California voters practice “strategic voting” aiming to ensure two Democrats advance (encouraged by groups to back Steyer to keep a Republican out).

Wildfires as Political Flashpoint

(12:18–14:21, 16:14–16:32)

• Spencer Pratt’s campaign capitalized on his loss of a home in the Palisades Fire.
• Jacob Soboroff highlights the populist appeal but criticizes Pratt’s actual circumstances and policy proposals.
  • “He talks about unhoused people... like Donald Trump talks about immigrants... wants to round them up and put them into a quote-unquote campus.” – Jacob Soboroff (15:00)
• Bass and Newsom struggled to get disaster aid from Trump’s administration; wildfires and recovery are a sensitive voter issue.

Latest Results: Real-Time Analysis

(17:53–19:57, 31:12–39:37, 42:08–46:23)

• Early CA Governor Results (as of ~6%–44% in):
  • Steve Hilton leads early, but results are incomplete.
  • Javier Becerra and Tom Steyer close behind; large, crucial areas (LA, SF) yet to report.
• LA Mayor:
  • Bass at 38-39%; Pratt ~28%; too early to call; likely headed to runoff.
  • “Karen Bass is actually performing better than expected.” – Ali Velshi (33:54)

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Iowa: Senate and Governor Races

(19:30–27:11)

Republican Governor Primary

• Unusually close and unsettled: Zak Lon 1,400 votes ahead of Randy Feenstra with 92% in; rare scenario where party conference might resolve if no one breaks 35%.

Senate Democratic Primary

• Josh Turek wins with 62–63% over Zach Walz.
• Significance: First open Governor + Senate seats in Iowa since 1960s—shifts state from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”

National Interview: Josh Turek

(22:58–27:11; Interview Highlights)

• Turek speaks on economic hardship, health care, and Iowa’s need for change.
  • “Iowans are looking for change and looking for hope. This is a state that has completely hit the bottom.” – Josh Turek (23:22)
  • Details Iowa's decline in income, health clinics, and farm foreclosures; sees rare, broad opening for Democrats.
• On Biography:
  • Council Bluffs native; born with spina bifida due to father’s Agent Orange exposure.
  • Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball.
  • Deep appreciation for ADA and Senator Tom Harkin’s legacy.
  • “Honestly, I’m only here because of the work that Senator Harkin, the Americans with Disabilities Act.” (25:38)
  • “A life dedicated to public service… is the best way to live.” (26:33)

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Primaries in Other Key States (Rapid-Fire Wrap by Maddow)

(29:37–33:54)

• New Mexico Governor: Deb Haaland wins Dem primary.
• Montana Senate: Kurt Almi (R) wins nomination; complex Democratic contest; independent candidate shakes things up.
• New Jersey 7th House: Rebecca Bennett (Dem) to face Tom Kean (R).
  • “Really interesting cases there. On to the New Jersey… 7th congressional district is a particular national interest…” – Rachel Maddow (32:20)

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Money in Politics: The California Example

(43:13–46:23)

• Ro Khanna (D-CA), guest of Lawrence O’Donnell:
  • Endorses Tom Steyer for his progressive platform and self-funding, but respects Becerra.
  • Warns of California’s "very real flaw"—unaccountable cash, with Steyer outspending rivals 20:1.
  • “Neither side is pure... This is why, in my view, we need to ban all super PAC money. We should ban individuals from spending more than the contributions of limits.” – Ro Khanna (45:48)

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Noteworthy Quotes & Moments

• Strategic confusion in California:
  • “It has also turned California voters into strategic voters.” – Lawrence O’Donnell on late-deciding voters (41:36)
• Spencer Pratt's populist campaign:
  • “He talks about unhoused people... wants to round them up and put them into a quote-unquote campus like facility.” – Jacob Soboroff (15:00)
• Josh Turek’s inspirational message:
  • “If we can win here in Iowa, I think we can change this country and that's really exciting.” – Josh Turek (26:33)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• California Primary Process & Voting Dynamics: 00:52–04:23
• Impact of "Red Barrage" and Late Voting: 04:23–07:30
• Profile: LA Mayor’s Race & Spencer Pratt Populism: 12:18–16:32
• Early Results, California & Iowa: 17:53–22:41, 31:12–39:37
• Josh Turek Interview: 22:58–27:11
• Ro Khanna on Money in CA Politics: 43:13–46:23

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Tone and Style

Throughout, the tone is conversational, analytical, and slightly irreverent—reflecting the personalities of Maddow and her expert panel, mixing policy wonkery with pop-culture references (e.g., Jersey Shore and The Hills jokes), and a palpable respect for both the unpredictability and the consequences of tonight’s races.

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Summary

This episode of The Rachel Maddow Show delivers rich, real-time insight into primary night chaos, most notably in California, where unique voting laws, massive candidate fields, and unpredictable timing make for a tense, murky outcome. The panel breaks down the “jungle” primary structure, the emotional state of America’s largest state, and the flood of money influencing the campaigns. The night also spotlights Iowa’s rare competitive moment, punctuated by an inspiring interview with new Senate nominee Josh Turek—a story of adversity, resilience, and the promise of Democratic competitiveness. As the first wave of results trickle in, viewers are urged to pace themselves—clear victors may not emerge for days or even weeks, and the stakes could reshape Congress and national politics well into 2027.

Transcript

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[Rachel Maddow]

less than 5 minutes until polls close in the great state of California. Let's bring in Allie Velshi at the board to look at how we expect the counting to go and what people should understand about the way these elections are being conducted in California tonight.

[Ali Velshi]

Ali so the great thing about California is they make it easy to vote. It's very easy to vote. Voter participation is high. People can get ballots, everybody gets mailed one. You don't need any excuses. And generally people vote in advance. This race has been thrown into some upheaval. So you see people like the ones that Jacob were talking to who haven't really thought this through. You really have to study. It's hard to vote in California. It's easy to vote, but it's hard to make decisions. Few things that are different from places that other states, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot. So those people in the line are Republicans and Democrats. Everybody appears on the same ballot, whatever party you're on. So you're voting for the top two people to advance. That means it could be two Republicans or two Democrats or two Independents. The top two vote getters advance to the general election. So in some cases you will see two Democrats advancing in the same district. Could be two Democrats advancing in the race for governor, which means that you'll end up with one for sure at the end. Or you may get a combination of two, a Republican and a Democrat. In some instances in California, you'll also get two Democrats. 89% of California's population in the 2024 primary was cast before Election Day. We don't have current data on this, but we believe the number this time to be lower because Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race. It cast a lot of voters into some confusion about who their next choice was going to be. And as a result, a number of people who would have cast their ballot early held onto it. You saw Jacob talking to them in the line. So this is important to remember. And then this is the most important thing. Rachel, I'm gonna get you a gallon of orange juice to get through tonight. Because in the 2024 primary, only 52% of voters were counted of total votes were counted by the time the sun rose in the east. And because a lot of the voters are voting late in this particular case, you can also postmark your ballot by today. There's a bit of a special process. You have to get a particular type of stamp to do it. But if you get your vote stamped, it's the course of eight or nine days before that may be counted. So, in fact, we'll have some good sense of trend in the next few hours. There may be a lot of votes that are not determined before the sun rises.

[Jacob Soboroff]

Okay.

[Rachel Maddow]

It's good to keep in mind. I mean, I should welcome our friends Stephanie Ruhl and Jen Psaki, who have joined us here at the table. I feel like as a native Californian, I'm allowed to say this, which is California is a different country in the sense that it factors into national politics in huge and important ways. In all sorts of important national figures have come out of California. But when you're looking at the state from outside the state's borders, they do things differently. It's effectively an inward directed state in terms of what their issues are and what types of campaigns their candidates run because they can afford to be, because they're so gigantic. But it means that on nights like this, when we're looking at big national implications out of California, you actually do kind of have to teach the whole country what California's like in order to understand what these votes are gonna mean tonight. I do think we should prepare people, Jen, for the fact that we may not get results in a lot of these races. We may not even know who the top two are going to the general election for a matter of weeks in a number of these camp in a number of these campaigns.

[Stephanie Ruhl]

That's exactly right. I was just talking to Adisu Dumisi, who ran Governor Newsom's campaign back in 2018, and he basically said, everybody, brace yourself. I hate to tell you this, everybody Watching. Cuz you'll learn some things tonight, but you may not know all of the things you probably won't know. And the other thing he warned a little bit about is what he called, we talked about a little bit, the red barrage, which is votes come in a bit and they come in at different paces and sometimes there's a huge influx of Democratic votes later in the process. We'll see how it goes tonight. But because the primary was in such a crazy state of disarray a little bit because of Eric Swalwell's allegations, it means a lot of people voted late and it means things could be late. We'll see if that ends up being the case. But he said kind of pace yourself. But the reason to pay attention is not just the governor's race, but because there are five races Democrats hope to flip in the state. We may not know who those Democrats are, but that's more than Democrats need to win back the House. So stay tuned not just tonight, but the coming days and weeks, I guess is what everybody is saying here.

[Rachel Maddow]

We're about 12 seconds out from the poll closing time in California. We don't expect, I don't think to know anything right at poll closing because of the way they count. But as of right now, polls are closed in California. Here's a look at the California gubernatorial primary. As we mentioned, there are literally more than 60 names on the ballot, but these three men are considered to be the top three contenders. Democrat Javier Becerra, Democrat Tom Steyer, and Republican Steve Hilton, who has President Donald Trump's endorsement. Lots of other high profile people in this race, though. Chad Bianco is the controversial Riverside County Sheriff Katie Porter firebrand. Former Democratic Congresswoman Matt Mahomes Mahan, who is the Democratic mayor of San Jose. Antonio Villaragoza, former mayor of Los Angeles. Lots and lots of candidates in this race. Again, the top two will proceed to the runoff in November. The California, California's largest city is Los Angeles, the second largest city in the country. Karen Bass is the incumbent mayor. This is technically a nonpartisan race. Karen Bass was a longtime former Democratic congresswoman from California before becoming L. A S mayor. She's facing a challenge from the right from the reality TV guy Spencer Pratt, and from the left from Nithya Rahman from the City Council. And so again, we don't have, we don't have results to tell you about at this point. Polls have just closed. But those are two races to control very big parts of this country. One in eight Americans is a Californian. It's the fourth largest. Largest economy in the world. The governor of California is a huge potential counterpoint to a president of the United States in terms of political and economic power. And Los Angeles is one of the great international capitals, second largest city in this country after only New York. And it has politics that will curl your hair any day of the week, but particularly right now.

[Jen Psaki]

Steph, Jen's talking about the Red Barrage. My focus. Well, wait, before I get to that, Spencer Pratt. I just need to take a poll. I definitely knew who Spencer Pratt was. I'm guessing Jen did. No chance you did. No chance you did. No chance any of you ever watched this.

[Rachel Maddow]

How did you know that Jen would know we wouldn't?

[Jen Psaki]

She was major. I knew there was a chance, but I was positive you3 never darn proud of. Excuse me.

[Rachel Maddow]

Excuse me. Excuse me.

[Stephanie Ruhl]

Chris is the generation of the Hills. He might know he is, but I

[Jen Psaki]

don't think he was.

[Rachel Maddow]

Okay, you're half right. But I knew him because I knew that he. He existed as a cultural figure.

[Jen Psaki]

Okay, fine.

[Rachel Maddow]

Wait, but I did not watch. Was the Hills a regular TV show or was it like a reality show contest?

[Jen Psaki]

It was a reality show. Not. It was a.

[Rachel Maddow]

More like the Kardashians. Not a contest.

It's like Jersey Shore.

[Jen Psaki]

Yeah, right, exactly.

[Rachel Maddow]

Like I was Jersey Shore superfan. Anything you can relate back to Jersey Shore, I will understand it.

[Jen Psaki]

Jim Tan laundry Paulie, he who gets.

[Rachel Maddow]

I think one of them. I literally think one of them was going to run for governor of New Jersey, actually.

[Jen Psaki]

Okay, well, I'm going to be this table Snooki for now and tell you that the Green Barrage I'm thinking about is. I don't know that the average voter understands just how much money is going into all of these campaigns and will be going forward. Right. Thomas Massie's primary was just the most expensive we've seen. We're seeing the same thing when it comes to Ken Paxton. And so many of these giant donors aren't even setting foot in the states where they're writing these massive checks. And look no further than Donald Trump, who has trained our mega wealthy. And the mega wealthy at the end of Joe Biden's term have now become extraordinarily wealthier than that. And so for them to write big checks right now, it's like water. When you think about the amount of money in AI, in crypto, even in finance right now, they're writing such giant checks because they know from a Donald Trump presidency that you can't just influence politics, you can control it. Think about what happened just a couple of weeks ago. Donald Trump was about to sign an executive order about AI because we saw American voters from state to state to state say this isn't working for me. And he was starting to get pressure to listen to the American voter. And hours before he signed that executive order, he got calls from AI CEOs and suddenly he said, forget it. So I think what's so interesting about these elections and even these midterms, it's almost going to be the billionaire donor class versus the American voter. Cuz the checks are right now so big and they're only getting bigger. Will the American voter real, hey, the people that are starting to control my state and local politics might not even live in my state or locality. And what am I going to do about it?

[Unknown Political Analyst]

Can I just throw something on the table a little bit? That's a little bit of water on that? Because I agree, I agree fundamentally that is very true. But there is something to be said about the voter and it plays out in two fronts. On the money front, what you just described, oh, there's money coming to my state. Trust me, I have been the victim of a lot of money coming in into a campaign against me and I've been the beneficiary as well. But when I was the beneficiary running for the United states Senate in 2006 against Ben Cardin, I raised more money than Ben Cardin in a Democratic state and lost. So because you have the cash doesn't dictate what the vote is going to be. Because that billionaire only has one vote and he's got a lot of money he's got to spread. So the question that becomes on the candidates, the state parties, the organizations, the structure, the infrastructure, in the case of Democrats, how do they really plan and prepare and take the dollars they are spending to put it on the ground? The second part is on redistricting. A lot of folks right now sitting here going, oh my God about they just drew the lines in Texas. What happened to Texas? They drew those five lines and guess what? Two to three of those seats are competitive this November. So this is the point. You may draw the lines, baby, all day long, but that will not dictate how the voters inside those lines.

[Jen Psaki]

No, I know you're not, but I'm saying that biggest check is so much bigger than we, than it used to be.

[Rachel Maddow]

Totally.

[Unknown Political Analyst]

But the reason I kind of wanted to wedge in there is because the thinking a lot of voters have is that because they've spent a lot of money they're going to win my vote doesn't matter. And what I'm trying to say is no, you're still in the game. Even though a lot of cash may be coming in for the, the opponent, you're still in the game because there probably a lot more of you ready to vote against him than there are people who are putting money into his campaign.

[Stephanie Ruhl]

I think that the biggest issue here is the anti incumbency aspect. I mean Spencer Pratt basically ran for a long time saying my house burned down, it's bad vote for me. And a lot of people in LA were like, yeah, we just went through that and we don't like what we're getting now. It doesn't mean it's entirely rational. It doesn't mean it's policy driven. It's about we don't like the thing representing us. And we're seeing this across the country in so many parts.

[Ali Velshi]

Yeah.

[Rachel Maddow]

And I think, you know, obviously when, when you listen to Josh Tarek give his speech in Iowa, the, you know, the change versus more than this, more of the same is going to be, you know, every single measure we have of people's satisfaction with the status quo. Interestingly, increasingly across ideological lines and across geographical lines, it's like people are like big thumbs down even sometimes when like the data doesn't even match it. Like if you look at the consumer consumer confidence index and you try to match it bottle on the macroeconomic data, like it doesn't work. They've become totally unhinged. The mood is profoundly, relentlessly sour. That mood of sourness really, really, really hurt Democrats in 2024 when they were running as an incumbent party. It's a very different situation now. And I think you're right that the positioning of who's an incumbent, who's not. I mean to go back to that Iowa race, Ernst retiring is, was an interesting call. Yeah, it's, it's. So you're gonna have someone who's not the incumbent but the person they're gonna nominate tonight. Ashley Hinson is an incumb member of Congress. Right. So Turek is going to tied to Trump, who's tied to Trump, who's going to try to paint her with that with every brush. And I think the shoes on the other foot a little bit in that in the LA mayoral race because the question of who's the pilot of the status quo changes depending on what circumstance you're in.

Well, let's go back to Los Angeles because let's go back to Jacob Soboroff in Los Angeles. Where there's still apparently a very long line to vote. Polls have closed, but anybody who's still in line will be able to cast their vote. We say that every, every state, every election night, it's always the case. But it looks like the, the line there is, is pretty, is pretty impressive. Jacob.

[Jacob Soboroff]

Yeah, it is very healthy, Rachel and it's even healthier now that they passed out. Can you show us what you have there? They came by and the pizza to the polls showed up. So there's pizza for everybody that wants to have it out at the polls tonight. I'm gonna come and catch up with you guys in one second. But I just did wanna weigh in on the Spencer Pratt conversation. Rachel Spencer Pratt lost his home in the Palisades fire. Viewers of our network know I lost the house I grew up in. My parents didn't live there anymore, but it burned down in the Palisades as well. My brother lost the house that he was living in. So many of us knew people that went through this. It was the defining issue of Spencer Pratt's campaign. It's the reason he decided to run for the mayor of the city of Los Angeles. But this populism or this form of populism that he has tried to sell to voters of Los Angeles and many people have bought into it. I guess we'll see when we get those first results in just a couple of minutes. Here in Los Angeles county is polite by the facts that underscore who Spencer Pratt really is. He said he was living in a trailer. I think Jen mentioned that on his empty lot in the Palisades. Actually he was living at the Hotel Bel Air according to recording, or at his parents house in a very fancy part of the California coast west of Los Angeles. Spencer Pratt talks about unhoused people and the affordability crisis in Los Angeles. But the way he speaks about unhoused people here in LA is just like Donald Trump talks about immigrants in the United States of America, that he wants to round them up and put them into a quote unquote campus like facility in partnership with the federal government. He is, he's got a lot of boastful, loud opinions about what he wants to do to the city of Los Angeles and about the problems that he sees here. I think we all see those problems. But his solutions sound a lot more like the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue than both Karen Bass, the Democratic mayor here, or Nithya Rahman, the progressive challenger who has looked on many of these issues for a long time. And I think we'll Ultimately see tonight what happens there.

[Rachel Maddow]

Jacob, what's your assessment of how Karen Bass has fielded those complaints and that political pairing from Pratt and others, particularly about the fires, but also just about her mayoral legacy state?

[Jacob Soboroff]

I think that Karen Bass came in as a well known congresswoman from the Los Angeles area serving decades in the United States Congress and was a community organizer before that and had a lot of goodwill here. The fires, this is my hometown and my community, Pacific Palisades, where I grew up, Altadena on the other side of town, is not in Los Angeles city, it's in Los Angeles County. So voters in Altadena are not voting for the mayor of Los Angeles tonight while they are voting for the governor. They were unhappy about the fires, obviously. This was the costliest wildfire event in the history of the United States of America, though you wouldn't know it if it was up to the Trump administration because they disbanded the billion dollar disaster registry at NOAA which keeps track of many of those things. Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom have both gone to fight in Washington, D.C. to get supplemental money in the recovery of the fires. Gavin Newsom told me he couldn't get a meeting with as much as an intern when he went to FEMA to try to meet with the Trump administration. Karen Bass went and sat in the Oval Office and couldn't get $8 billion out of this administration. They have certainly tried understand why the constituency in the Palisades is upset about what's going on there. But there are many other issues here that people in Los Angeles are voting on, which is why Karen Bass is not done yet.

[Rachel Maddow]

Jacob, thanks very much. We'll be checking back in with you over the course of the night. Polls are now closed in California and we are starting to get some of the first vote in. Let's go to Ali Velshi at the big board to talk to us about what we are seeing thus far and from what.

[Ali Velshi]

All right, we got 6% of the vote in in California right now, mostly. I'll tell you, this is where it's coming from right now. One of the bigger areas we're getting vote in from right now, in fact, well over 100,000 votes, 150, 140,000 votes, 52% of the vote in in San Bernardino county. And Steve Hilton is in the lead here. San Jose, we got 47% of the vote in. Javier Becerra is in the lead there. Steve Hilton is in second place followed by Tom Steyer. In fact, if you just pull out statewide, it's just 6% of the vote. And again, you can see there are major centers from which we have zero vote. Los Angeles, Nothing from around there, nothing from around San Francisco. So we're waiting for all of that. But at the moment, Steve Hilton is in the lead with 28% of the vote to 24.5% for Javier Becerra and 17% for Tom Steyer. So there is vote. It is real. We do not have it from a lot of major centers in the state yet. And again, I remind you, there are people who are not just in line right now to vote, but you could postmark your ballot by today, and that ballot won't even be received for a week or so. It is a very popular thing to do in California to vote by mail. So very early results. It's way too early to read anything into it, but there are significant numbers. I mean, if you look at the total numbers right now, the lead is almost 17,000 on about 100, almost 200,000 votes, more than 200, almost 300,000 votes cast right now. Again, there will be millions of votes that are counted in California. So we have a way to go, but we have started getting numbers in Ali.

[Rachel Maddow]

Let's go to Iowa. Can I ask you to walk us through a couple of things? First of all, in the governor's race, obviously we've got an uncontested Democratic race for the governorship on the Republican side, very much a contested primary. Can you show us what we've got so far on the Republican primary for governor? And then I'd also like you to talk to us a little bit more about Turek vs. Walz and how we got that Senate race on the Democratic side.

[Ali Velshi]

All right, so we know that Rob sand is the nominee, ran unopposed as the Democratic nominee. He's the only Democrat who holds statewide office in Iowa, and Democrats feel like they've got some good chance with him. Again, for the gubernatorial primary, 91% of the vote is in. And the expectation largely was that Randy Feenstra would be in the lead. He's is down by less than a percent, only 1,400 votes separating Zak lan from Randy Feenstra. And we've been wondering all night whether in some of the places that are left where we don't have a vote, and there are only four counties where we don't have a vote yet, whether Feenstra would pick up more of this. But this one's gonna be tricky to watch. I will say there's an obscure rule, as we discussed in Iowa, in that if there are more than two candidates. One has to get more than 35% to win. For the moment, it looks like Zak Lon and Randy Feenstra have surpassed that because if they don't, this would have to be decided by a party conference on June 13th. But we're gonna watch this very closely. It's very rare that you get to 92% of the vote in and you can't call a race in the Senate primary. Josh Turek, who we heard speak at 10:30 Eastern, has won. That 86% of the vote is in. 62%. Almost 63% for Josh Turek versus 37% for Zach Walz. Both very strong candidate. As you can see, there are four counties that don't have vote in. They're a little bit more rural, so the numbers won't be very big. There is one county. Well, there are three counties that Zach Walz did very well in. One of them is Johnson County. That's where he's from. He got 58% of the vote to 41 for Josh Turek and neighboring counties Louisa and Cedar county, where he's done well. But this is a real thing because there's a open governor seat and an open Senate seat. That hasn't happened in Iowa since the 1960s. So one of the things that this has done is it has put Iowa. We have now moved Iowa. Iowa was down here, likely Republican. That's sort of almost. That's almost always Republican. We've moved Iowa into lean Republican. This just happened an hour ago. So now you've got. These are the seats that Democrats are looking at. You've got toss ups. North Carolina again, Roy Cooper doing well there. You talked to Jon Ossoff. We talked to Jon Ossoff earlier this evening. Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Alaska. And Iowa is now in the lean Republican category. It's a matter of degree. But it's important that Iowa feels a little more competitive for Democrats tonight than it did even just a few hours ago.

[Rachel Maddow]

A very consequential win by Josh Turek in that Iowa Senate race. And Josh Turek's about to get very famous as Democrats in particular all over the country learn about him as their nominee in Iowa.

Yep. Yes, we have the aforementioned. The winner of the Iowa Democratic primary for Senate, Josh Hurock. Our only national interview tonight, the only one he'll be giving first Representative, it's great to have you on and congratulations on your victory tonight.

[Josh Turek]

Yeah, thank you. And thank you for having me. A lot of excitement, enthusiasm happening here in Iowa.

[Rachel Maddow]

Well, you know, campaigns are a learning process, I think, for any candidate. They're grueling. And you spend a lot of time talking to people, which is the great thing about them. What did you learn campaigning among Democrats statewide in Iowa for this seat? What did you learn that you didn't know when you started?

[Josh Turek]

Well, the thing that I heard by far the most was how many Iowans are hurting, just struggling to keep food on the table, a roof above their head, and now with the conflict in Iran, just to be able to keep gas in their tank. And the Iowans are looking for change and looking for hope. This is a state that has completely hit the bottom. We are dead last for economic growth, 48th for personal income growth, closed 250 more healthcare clinics than we've opened in the last 15 years, leading the nation in cancer rates. Now we lead the nation in farm foreclosures because the tariffs. Iowa has hit the bottom, and Iowans are ready for change and ready for change in this country as well. And I'm seeing hope in people's eyes for the very first time in a long time.

[Rachel Maddow]

Rob sand is already an elected statewide Democrat. He's running for governor. How do you think that the interplay between those two campaigns works? I know that there's a lot of excitement because Sands looks like he's got a real shot at the gubernatorial levels while.

[Jacob Soboroff]

Well,

[Josh Turek]

yeah, as, as you had mentioned earlier, this is the first time since 1968 that we've got an open governor's race and an open Senate race together, two open congressional races. I know that a lot of your viewers will look at Iowa as a red state. And what I've been going around the the state saying over and over and over is we're not a red state. We're a common sense state that has masqueraded more red than what we were. We're 30 years. We elected Senator Tom Harkin, Obama twice, Trump three times. We have more Obama, Trump counties than any other state in the and you look at Trump's last midterm, and I think there's significantly more energy and desire for change now than even then. We won three of the four congressional races. This is a generational chance, no power of incumbency, a state that has hit the bottom and candidates like myself and Rob sand, with proven ability to be able to win over the independents and the moderate Republicans, we can win this thing.

[Rachel Maddow]

For viewers that are just kind of getting to know you, maybe even possibly this evening, who did not see some of your ads, which were, by the way, great, great You're a, you're a multi time Paralympian. You, you met your wife playing basketball abroad. You are a, a, a true baller, which of course I love and respect. Tell us a little bit about yourself and about that, that career trajectory and how, how it took you back to Iowa to try to, to join the U.S. senate.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Sure.

[Josh Turek]

Well, I'm born and raised in Council Bliss, Iowa. Working class family, working class community. I was born with my disability. I was born with a condition called spina bifida. It was due to my father's exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Had 21, was even 12. So understand the adversity of what so many people are going through with economic and healthcare struggles. Did find wheelchair basketball. It, it really honestly saved my life. Was able to play professional wheelchair basketball and then the great highlight of my basketball career was able to, to represent the United States in four Paralympic Games and win back to back gold medals is something I'm, I'm very proud of and now trying to represent in a, in a much more meaningful way because I think it's a generational opportunity that we have here in Iowa to be able to win Senator Harkin's seat back. And honestly I'm only here because of the work that Senator Harkin, the American with Disabilities Act.

[Rachel Maddow]

Is there the same less or more trash talking in wheelchair basketball, would you say?

[Josh Turek]

I'll tell, I, I'll tell you this. I always thought that the hardest thing that I was going to do in my life was winning gold medals. But I will say this. I'm, I'm not as physically tired doing this, but this is without a doubt the hardest thing that I've done. It's a lot of long days and it is arduous. But this is certainly the most meaningful work that I've ever done in my life. I think a life dedicated to public service, in service to trying to make your state and your community better is the best way to live. And this is a once in a generation opportunity here in Iowa to win this Senate seat. And if we can win here in Iowa, I think we can change this country and that's really exciting.

[Rachel Maddow]

All right, Josh Turek, thank you so much for making time tonight. Really appreciate it.

[Josh Turek]

Thank you. Thanks for the time.

[Rachel Maddow]

Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for United States Senate from the great state of Iowa, making a very good case to Democrats nationwide that this is a winnable seat. Democrats in Iowa certainly have been very excited about that and about their shots at that governor, at their shot at that governor's race. And now we know who that candidate will be. It's going to be really interesting to watch there. We've still got a lot coming in tonight. We've, I'm told, just got a bit more vote coming in in California in terms of the governor's race. We've now got 17% of the vote. Again, what we're looking for here is two the top two candidates who will proceed to the general general election in November. Right now with 17% of the vote in that is Republican FOX News guy Steve Hilton and Democratic former congressman, former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, former Health and Human Services secretary, former California Attorney General Javier Becerra will be keeping close eyes on this as these numbers continue to roll in. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[Rachel Maddow]

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[Rachel Maddow]

All right, we've got some results in. We're looking at a half, half dozen states across the country that are voting tonight. New Mexico governor in the Democratic primary. Former U.S. interior Secretary and Democratic Congresswoman Deb Haaland has prevailed in the Democratic primary for governor in New Mexico. Onto Montana. Looking at the governor, excuse me, on the Republican primary in New Mexico's governor race, forgive me, right now with 72.2percent in, we've got Gregory Hull in the lead over Doug Turner. That, of course, will be an uphill battle. New Mexico is a reliably blue state these days, Montana. The Senate primary in Montana is complicated and interesting. But in the Democratic primary in Montana, Alani Bankhead right now leading Riley Neal. We'll keep a close eye on this one. Less than half the vote in here. Also an independent campaign candidate in Montana really scrambling expectations in terms of what might happen in this race. On the Republican side of the U.S. senate primary in Montana, Kurt Almi has been projected the winner. He was basically handed this by Steve Daines, who was the outgoing incumbent Republican senator who waited until like a nanosecond before the filing deadline to announce that he was leaving. Oh, and by the way, I endorse Curtin. He's already declared. It was a bit of a three card monty to get that nomination to omi, but it works. In Montana's first Congressional District in the Republican primary, Aaron Flint, the projected winner over Christy Jacobson. That 1st congressional district is competitive. Democrats like their like their odds. They like their shot at this. It's been a hot, hotly contested primary on the Democratic side for that first congressional district right now a 55% of the vote in we've got Ryan Bussey with a narrow lead over Sam Forsak who's had a lot of national attention. He's a smokejumper and has had endorsements from Alexandria, Ocasio Cortez, Bernie Sanders and others. We'll keep watching those closely. Really interesting cases there. On to the New Jersey, one of the the many primaries that we're watching in New Jersey, the 7th congressional district is a particular national interest because this is one of the swingiest districts in the whole country, certainly the swingiest district in New Jersey. It's held by incumbent Republican Tom Kaine, who ran unopposed on the Republican side tonight. But he also hasn't been seen in months. So it really matters who the Democrat is is going to be taken on Tom Kaine. We now know it'll be be Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett prevailing in that Democratic primary tonight. In New Jersey's seventh district now 31% of the vote is in in California. This is where we're at right now with the California gubernatorial primary. There isn't a Democratic primary that's separate from a Republican primary. Everybody's all in and the top two go to a runoff election in November. So we're looking for top two finishers, Javier Becerra, Steve Hilton and Tom Stier sort of in contention right now. The only candidates right now in double digits with 31% of the vote in. Ali, what can you tell us about oh, sorry. Excuse me. The Los Angeles mayor's race. 39% of the vote in. In the Los Angeles mayor's race. This is a nonpartisan election. Right now, the incumbent, Karen Bass, at 38, Spencer Pratt, the Trump endorsed reality TV guy, at just under 28%. Again, just under 40% of the vote in. In the California mayor's race. Now, theoretically, if somebody gets 50% in the California mayor, the Los Angeles mayor's race, they'll win and it'll be over tonight. With this many people running and with this many strong candidates running, it's very unlikely that anybody, even the incumbent, Karen bass, will cross 50% threshold, in which case it'll again be the top two finishers going to a runoff election in November. So, Ali, in terms of where we're getting vote from and what our expectations are in terms of any mirages that we should be aware of now or

[Ali Velshi]

how things are coming in, this becomes really important because actually, 39% of the vote, I mean, we're half an hour into poll closing. We got 39% of the vote. So on one hand that's really good and really fast. On the other hand, this could slow down really, really quickly. Karen Bass is actually performing better than expected at 30 right now. But again, there's just no way of telling when this number's gonna jump to 49, 59, 69, 79, 89%. So at the moment, Karen Bass is in a good position. This is Los Angeles. So we've got those numbers in which we've been waiting for. And in fact, a lot of the rest of the state's primary depends on those Los Angeles numbers which you've been waiting for. Statewide, we have 35% of the vote in, so it's very similar. 39% in Los Angeles, 35% statewide. Same primary. Could jump fast, could jump real slow. And when I say slow, we could mean more than a week. But for the moment, Javier Becerra, who was polling higher than anyone else, although it was very slim, is in the lead, 26.4%. Steve Hilton is at 25.6. Tom Steyer at this point is underperforming in his numbers because their polling numbers were actually very, very close. He's underperforming. In fact, he's only got two counties roughly, that are coming in his favor. 30% here, where he's got 24 against Steve Hilton up in Northern California. And then in Southern California, in Santa Barbara county, he's got 21% again, Steve Hilton coming in in second place to 25%. Steve Hilton's coming in either in first place or in second place in a lot of these areas. We're waiting for some of the more populated areas. We have nothing coming in from San Francisco yet, but right above it, Marin County. This is interesting because that's where Tom Steyer's from, and that's where Tom Steyer Dyer's donor base is sort of from in Marin County. And he's running second to Becerra there in San Mateo County. Becerra is in the lead with 26.8%. Steve Hilton's in the second place. So this is giving us a bit of a story that Becerra, who is, you know, he's got a lot to his name. He is one of these guys. As attorney general, he sued the Trump administration in the first Trump administration, I think about 122 different times. He was a cabinet secretary in the Biden administration. He's coming across as sort of the. The sort of the normal, stable guy that Californians may want to put forward as their gubernatorial candidate. But the dream for a lot of California Democratic voters would be to have two Democrats in the top spot, in which case one would definitely win in November. It may turn out, again, we're at 44%, so we've had a bit of a jump. 44%. It may turn out that you've got Becerra and Steve Hilton. I've heard the argument that that may motivate people to come out and vote, Democrats to come out and vote, rather than knowing that they're gonna have a governor. I don't know that to be true and hard to tell. And again, I'll warn you, it's 44% of the vote in a vote that could take a long time to figure out. I want to just quickly go back to the LA Mayor race and see if we've got a jump in the vote there. Now we're still at 39%. Karen Bass still at 38% of the 39%. That's a lead of 31,000 votes. So we'll stay on top of it, but probably a better situation for Karen Bass to be in than what the polling indicated.

[Rachel Maddow]

Interesting. All right, Lawrence o' Donnell standing by for us in Los Angeles right now. We're going to take a quick break. Be back with him right after this.

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[Ali Velshi]

you why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster Nibbles in our yard for me? Because I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet Nibbles after his untimely end. Huh, Nibbles gone too soon. May he scurry in peace.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff.

[Ali Velshi]

Nibbles would have loved you like a

[Jacob Soboroff]

brother Connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years Angie the one you

[Rachel Maddow]

trust to find the ones you trust

[Unknown Political Analyst]

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[Rachel Maddow]

Stay with us. If you are still in line to vote in California and you were there before polls closed 37 minutes ago, please stay in line. Polls are closed, but if you were in line, you can still vote. Right now with 37% of the vote in and the gubernatorial all part all party primary, we've got Javier Becerra and Steve Hilton very close to one another in the top two positions. Tom Steyer in the third position right now, but again, less than 40% of that vote in. Looking specifically at Los Angeles, the nation's second largest city, we've got a Heart a hot fight for this mayoral election. Incumbent Mayor Karen bass standing at 36.5% of the vote. Six about six points ahead of the Trump endorsed reality TV guy Spencer Pratt. This is with 45% of the vote in. Our friend Lawrence O' Donnell is in Los Angeles watching these results come in along with us. Lawrence, when you and I talked last night in our handover at 10pm Eastern from when I was going from my show to your show, you said that you not only hadn't voted yet, but you still didn't vote, know how you were going to vote? Did you figure it out? Did you vote? Was it hard to figure out what to do? How do you feel about.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Was harder than it has ever been. And it took longer because the electorate here, especially on the Democratic side, was really shaken when Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race. Not, not because of support for Eric Swalwell, but because of the unpredictability of the race. Who's going to drop out next and for what reason? Would some of the lower candidates drop out because they're in the single digits? And would there be some kind of coalescing in the polls that Democratic voters could look at and say, okay, here is strategically how we have to vote when what really matters is who comes in first and second. And there was a painfully long period in the polling where it looked at least theoretically possible that two Republicans, Republicans could come in first and second tonight. That is now clearly impossible and has been impossible for the last couple of weeks. But it took quite a while for voters here on the Democratic side to settle down. And then they just had to stare at these candidates and make a slow and careful decision. That's why, I mean, I voted today on Election Day for the first time in literally as long as I can remember. It was like a reunion at the polling place. People who hadn't seen each other in a long time and friends of mine texted me tonight saying, I'm in line tonight, you know, because I didn't decide until today. And there's two tough decisions. Actually, Democrats had two tough decisions, including in the mayor's race, as you can see, two Democrats running in the mayor's race. And I had someone standing in line tonight at 7:30 saying, you know, she hadn't decided which one of those Democrats to vote for in the mayor's race. That's what was slowing her down in casting her ballot. And so it has also turned California voters into strategic voters.

[Jen Psaki]

Voters.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

There was a progressive group that rates the candidates that was. That was suggesting that the vote be for Tom Steyer so that he would come in second because they were confident Becerra would come in first. So they were advocating voting for Steyer, not because they were choosing him or endorsing him, but saying, strategically, vote for him. Then you'll get two Democrats in November and nothing to worry about. So it's been just a mess of strategic confusion for California voters right up till the last minute here.

[Rachel Maddow]

And with, you know, as. As we get to 30, 40, 50% of the vote in it looks like we're going to have definitely some drama tonight in terms of figuring out who the top two is, who the top two finishers are going to be in in each of these races. But in, in the meantime, Lawrence, I understand you have a special guest.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Yes, we do. I'm going to bring in California's Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, who is joining us tonight. Carson Khanna, you you made your decision on the governor's race a while ago. How did you decide?

[Rachel Maddow]

Side

[Ro Khanna]

I liked Tom Steyer because he was for the billionaire tax, because of his record on climate, because he's for single single payer health care. But let me just say it looks like Javier Becerra is likely to be one of the top two. He I have a lot of respect for him. He served well in the Biden administration, He was an effective attorney general and if he were to win, he'd be the first letter Latino governor. But I wouldn't count out Steyer. And the reason is that a lot of the late breaking votes anecdotally and through some of the exit polls are breaking for Steyer. And it would be fantastic if we end up with two Democrats. If there's no Republican on the ticket that would really help us win back the five House seats that we need in California.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

But just to stay with the strategy of that for a second, if there's no Republican on the ticket, would that depress the Democratic vote statewide? Would that then reduce your chances of picking up those House seats that you want to pick up? Because Democratic voters don't feel they've got a some won't feel they need to go to the polls in November.

[Ro Khanna]

I don't think so, Lawrence. Look, the one thing Democrats in California are is energized. They want to stand up to Donald Trump. They want to stand up to Donald Trump who shafted us after the fires, didn't give us money, who did the awful ICE raids in Los Angeles and they're going to come out if the Republicans don't have a gubernatorial nominee. I actually think it would depress Republican turnout. But look, we are poised in my view to win at least four of those seats. The hardest seat is going to be the Valdeo seat. The last I checked, Randy Villegas is up there. We'll see how that plays out. He's a very strong candidate. But California is going to deliver and I give the governor, Governor Newsom, Speaker Pelosi Zolofgrain, a lot of credit for mobilizing us in Prop 50 and getting five seats which we're hopefully going to deliver ever to get Hakeem Jeffries to be speaker.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Carson Connor, we've been having a discussion of money in these campaigns. No one has seen the kind of money in California that Tom Steyer, your candidate, has spent. LA Times reporting this morning that his $200 million that he has spent to get this far is 20 times more, 20 times more than what the frontrunner heavy above Becerra has spent to get to this point. What does that tell you about money in politics in California?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, it's a terrible thing. And look, neither side is pure. I mean, Javier Becerra is getting a ton of money from donors and corporate donors, but Tom Starr is spending hundreds of millions of his own money. And this is why, in my view, we need to ban all super PAC money. We should ban individuals from spending more than the contributions of limits. I mean, I don't take PAC money, I don't take super PAC money and I don't use my own money in elections. And I really think the Americans are taught people are tired of super PAC money or self funded candidates. And it's a real flaw in our political system.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

[Ro Khanna]

Thank you, Lawrence.

[Rachel Maddow]

Rachel thank you, Lawrence. That was excellent. I was still watching while you're talking. We're still watching for more more numbers coming in, both from the Los Angeles mayoral election and from that gubernatorial race. We're starting to see some significant numbers in a number of House seats that we have been watching as well. I will also tell you among all of these storylines that we're following on the elections tonight, we're also following some breaking news. A dramatic decision from the United States Supreme Court tonight. Okay. The Alabama's the Alabama congressional map, which this United States Supreme Court had previously struck down as deliberately racially discriminatory. We talked about that at the top of this special coverage tonight. We also talked about the dramatic firing at CBS news of veteran 60 Minutes journalist correspondent Scott Pelley. We've got a little bit of development in that story that we're going to tell you about right on the other side of this break. Stay with us.

[Ali Velshi]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of ANGIE From Roof Repair to Emergency Plumbing and more.

[Jacob Soboroff]

When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done.

[Ali Velshi]

Well, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust, find a pro for your [e-mail].