Coming Soon!

NOTUS becomes The Star.

Be the first to know!

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. By continuing on NOTUS, you agree to its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Iowa Democrats’ Landslide

Election 2026 Iowa

Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave) Bryon Houlgrave/AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave

Today’s notice: Democrats overwhelmingly picked their candidate in the Iowa Ssenate race. The first election results out of California. A scoop about Sen. Ruben Gallego’s plans. Examining the state of things in Maine. A new process for understanding processed foods. And: A new version of “the dog ate my homework.”

THE LATEST

Turek’s triumph: In the end, the closely watched Democratic Senate primary in Iowa was not much of a race — state Rep. Josh Turek trounced state Sen. Zach Wahls in a race fought over who was more electable. Turek now carries the party establishment’s hopes against the Republican nominee, Rep. Ashley Hinson, NOTUS’ Elena Schneider reports.

It was a rough primary, and Wahls supporters were a little bitter last night. Turek pushed past Wahls in no small part thanks to a $10 million-plus spending campaign by VoteVets, which Wahls supporters said was actually Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer’s money in disguise (VoteVets denied this). Elena caught one Wahls supporter’s dark primary-night sense of humor as the shellacking by Turek became apparent.

Trending

Democrats “probably should’ve kept that $10 million to resuscitate Janet Mills in Maine,” the Wahls booster said.

Most California races remain too close to call, but Scott Wiener and Connie Chan will advance to a runoff to replace former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Wiener polled ahead throughout the race – and had the most votes as of this writing – but Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff endorsed Chan just last month. It’s one of the most progressive districts in the country, and it’s unclear how much kingmaking power Pelosi and establishment democrats have.

The governor’s race has yet to be called, but Xavier Becerra is leading among Democrats with about 57% of votes counted. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton currently has the most overall votes, while billionaire Tom Steyer is trailing in third. It could take days before an official call is made in the jungle primary on who’s going to the November runoff.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has secured enough votes to advance to the runoff, the AP has called, but Republican TV star Spencer Pratt and Democratic City Council member Nithya Raman are still fighting for the spot as her opponent.

Open tabs: CBS News Fires Scott Pelley of ‘60 Minutes’ (NYT); Rep. Andy Ogles deletes anti-Pride Month tweet (Politico); Roger Stone helped Trump choose Bill Pulte (Semafor); DOJ is investigating former congressman George Santos for insider trading on Kalshi (NPR)

From the Hill

Ruben Gallego’s populist turn: The Democratic senator from Arizona will announce a raft of policy ideas today that tap into the energy of his party’s left wing, NOTUS’ Jeff Stein scoops. Among them: a $20/hr minimum wage, a federal jobs program, an antitrust push and support for sectoral bargaining — a fundamental change to the way organized labor works that would allow unions to organize entire sectors at once, rather than through individual companies.

A middle path: Jeff writes that Gallego’s plans, which he will announce at a speech to the Communications Workers of America, actually put him in between the most vocal sides of the Democratic economic policy argument: He’s not endorsing a wealth tax like Sen. Bernie Sanders advocates for, but he is sure to rattle centrists’ cages with his tough-to-sell sectoral-organizing plan.

From the campaign trail

Fear of Graham Platner is gripping the Senate Democratic Caucus this week, NOTUS’ Igor Bobic reports. After Platner met with members yesterday, the public response was, to put it generously, tepid.

“He has questions he’s got to answer,” Sen. Peter Welch told NOTUS, adding that a steady “drip, drip, drip” of negative information about a candidate is “never good.”

What’s next: Political professionals in the party were never that amped about Platner carrying the Democratic banner against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The latest Platner revelations have led to a lot of I told you so’s in D.C. The question is whether or not the revelations are changing minds in Maine.

Igor traveled there recently to talk to Platner (he flaked on Igor a couple times; his campaign cited scheduling issues) and captured some of the ride-or-die support that has gotten Platner this far: “I’m never looking for a political candidate that says, ‘I’ve done no wrong ever,’ because what would that make me? I’m not that either,” Kyle Drew, 52, said of Platner, before this week’s revelation. Is that enough? Washington worries it isn’t.

From the administration

Process carefully: The American Journal of Public Health is defining what it views as ultra-processed foods and hopes that the Trump administration follows its lead.

The leading health journal has identified a classification system called NOVA, NOTUS’ Paige Winfield Cunningham reports. The system sorts foods by additives and industrial processing rather than by nutritional content.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially promised a new definition of ultra-processed foods by April, and the administration had asked for public input. “The FDA is reviewing the comments following the request for information to help inform next steps,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

NEW ON NOTUS

Always check the drafts folder: “As a brand-new member still learning the filing system, I mistakenly left the reports in draft status instead of hitting the final submit button,” Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee told NOTUS’ Dave Levinthal of how he became the latest member of Congress to violate the STOCK Act.

NOT US

Thank you for reading! If you liked this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.com. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.com.

The newsletter was produced by Kelly Poe, Matt Berman and Andrew Burton. Photo of Josh Turek by Bryon Houlgrave/AP.