The New York City Board of Elections is set to release the first round of ranked choice voting results at noon today in the Democratic primary for mayor, with progressive state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani expected to prevail.
Mamdani led the crowded field in voters’ first-choice preferences, which were released last week, winning nearly 44% of those first-choice votes, followed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 36% and city Comptroller Brad Lander at 11%, with the rest of the field winning less than 5%. Cuomo conceded the primary to Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist.
But because Mamdani did not win a majority of first-choice votes, the ranked choice process kicked in. Voters could rank up to five candidates, in order of preference. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and his or her supporters are reallocated to their next choice, with the process continuing until two candidates remain.
Today’s results will include the initial results of those elimination rounds based on ballots cast in-person early and on Election Day, as well as mail ballots received an processed as of last week’s primary election day.
Trump wavered this morning on the July 4 deadline Republicans have set to pass their sweeping domestic policy bill through Congress.
“I’d love to do July 4 but I think it’s very hard to do July 4,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before leaving for Florida.
“I would think maybe July 4, but somewhere around there,” he said as the Senate continued its marathon voting session on amendments to the legislation.
Even if the bill passes the Senate, the House would need to vote on it before it goes to Trump’s desk.
Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senate aides watch a video feed of the Senate floor during a “vote-a-rama,” while others play cards to pass the time in the chamber’s reception room in the Capitol early this morning.
The Senate rejected an amendment overnight offered by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to boost money for rural hospitals, which face cuts in the Republicans’ bill, by $25 billion. It sought to pay for that by allowing the 2017 tax cuts to expire for individuals making $25 million or more and couples making $50 million or more annually.
The vote was 22-78, with 18 Republicans and four Democrats supporting it. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the proposal fell far short, blasting it as a “Band-Aid on an amputation.”
The Senate passed an amendment overnight to strike a provision from Republicans’ domestic policy bill that would have established a 10-year moratorium on state and local artificial intelligence regulations.
The vote was 99-1, with only Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voting in support.
The amendment came after a deal between Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to reduce to ban to five years following complaints from some GOP governors.
Trump threatened to sic the Department of Government Efficiency on Elon Musk’s businesses, saying in a Truth Social post shortly after midnight that there was “big money to be saved.”
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump said in the post. “No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”
“Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this?” the president added.
With its 45th vote on an amendment to the GOP megabill, the Senate has now broken the record for the most number of votes in “vote-a-rama” history.
The record was set when lawmakers began voting on an amendment brought by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. It remains unclear how many additional amendments will be offered.
The previous record was set in 2008, when lawmakers voted 44 times during a series of votes on a budget resolution. Senators can introduce an unlimited number of amendments to budget or reconciliation measures for votes, a process known on Capitol Hill as a “vote-a-rama.”
While Congress scrambles to pass Trump’s massive domestic policy bill, many red states are already implementing key aspects of his agenda through new laws this week.
For most states, today is the start of a new fiscal year, when numerous laws take effect. Some of the statutes in Trump-won states this year mirror executive orders and other directives he signed early in his second term.
Read here for a sampling of the new laws set to be enforced.
Trump will be in the Florida Everglades today for the opening of a controversial immigrant detention center spearheaded by state Republican leaders, which has faced vocal pushback from Democrats, Native American leaders and activist groups over humanitarian and environmental concerns.
The facility, informally dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state Republicans, was the brainchild of state Attorney General James Uthmeier. It has received significant national attention, including during a “Fox and Friends” interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday.
DeSantis described the push as Florida’s continued effort to align the state with Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown. But Trump’s decision to attend in person, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has shifted some of the focus to the administration, which had to approve Florida’s plan to run the facility.
Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package that’s moving through the Senate would affect virtually every American, overhauling tax, health care and energy policy.
It renews the tax cuts Trump signed into law in his first term and pays for them in part with steep cuts to Medicaid, food aid programs and clean energy funding.
But the sprawling package — which is likely to face substantial changes before a final vote in the Senate — also touches on a range of other policy issues, from artificial intelligence and space exploration to immigration.
