Supporters gather during a watch party for Xavier Becerra for Governor at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in downtown Los Angeles, June 2, 2026. (Mark Abramson/The New York Times) By JILL COWAN and TIM BALK Vote counting across California yielded little change Wednesday in the races for governor and mayor of Los Angeles, with a significant portion of the state’s mail-in ballots and election day vote still to be counted over the coming days, if not weeks. In the marquee races, onl

President Donald Trump speaks while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, June 3, 2026. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that strips job protections from nearly 8,000 federal workers who are in policy-making roles, making it easier for the administration to fire them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) By EILEEN SULLIVAN President Donald Trump signed an executive order on earlier this week that strips job protections from nearl

Republican candidate for Iowa governor Zach Lahn speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Spring Kickoff in Clive, Iowa on Friday, May 1, 2026. Lahn won Tuesday’s GOP primary in Iowa over an opponent who obtained a late endorsement from President Donald Trump. (KC McGinnis/The New York Times) By REID J. EPSTEIN Republican voters in Iowa dealt a shock defeat to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, narrowly rejecting his chosen candidate for governor in favor of another con

Scott Turner, the secretary of housing and urban development, speaks during an event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, Sept. 8, 2025. The Trump administration has issued a revised plan to address homelessness that shifts large sums of federal aid from long-term housing to time-limited programs that emphasize treatment for mental illness and addiction. (Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times) By JASON DePARLE The Trump administration has issued a revised plan to address h

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee in Washington on May 12, 2026. In a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers, Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of at least seven Navy officers who had been selected by a board of senior Navy admirals. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By GREG JAFFE and KATE KELLY In a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers, Defense Secretary Pete Hegs

Kilmar Armando Abrego García arrives at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. A judge in Tennessee cast doubt on the testimony of a prosecutor who brought charges against Abrego García. (Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times) By MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ In late April, a lawyer for the Justice Department told a federal judge that her colleagues had been in the midst of negotiations with a Rhode Island hospital about turning over gender-trans

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin looks on as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, May, 20, 2026. Mullin’s proposal could block hubs like Boston, New York and Los Angeles from accepting international flights. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN and MADELEINE NGO Travel industry and business leaders are denouncing a proposal by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to remove customs officers from ai

Annie Pearl Avery of Birmingham, Ala., took part in the march from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Ala., on May 16, 2026. As Republicans rush to redraw the region’s congressional maps, some voters are confused and concerned, and civil rights activists are gearing up for the fight of a generation. (Wes Frazer/The New York Times) By EMILY COCHRANE and RICK ROJAS It is a confusing moment to be a voter in the South. Republican leaders across the region have redrawn congressio

By ORLANDO MAYORQUÍN Crews recovered the bodies of two workers who were still missing after an explosion last week at a paper mill in Longview, Washington, bringing the death toll to 11, officials said Saturday. Initially, two people were found dead and nine workers were reported missing after a tank holding 600,000 gallons of a caustic chemical known as “white liquor” exploded Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant on the Columbia River in southwestern Washin

Anti-ICE demonstrators and counterprotested yell at one other outside Delaney Hall, a federal detention facility in Newark, N.J. on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Clashes between protesters and armed federal agents here have flared off and on since the Memorial Day weekend; on Friday, federal officials left the area outside the detention center so that the state police could assume control. (Vincent Alban/The New York Times) By MAIA COLEMAN and MARK BONAMO New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sher