Primary Season Heats Up: South Carolina, New York and California Set the Stage for Midterms

America's 2026 primary season is entering a critical stretch, with marquee contests in South Carolina, New York, and California all bunched within days of each other. In South Carolina, Trump-backed Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette is facing off against a sitting member of Congress in the Republican gubernatorial primary, a race widely seen as an early test of the president's continued sway over the party's base heading into the broader midterm cycle. Results from that contest were still being tabulated as of Saturday morning.

In New York, the political temperature is rising fast ahead of the state's June 23 primary. Punchbowl News reported that Democratic campaign battles across the Empire State have turned increasingly vicious with just over a week to go, as candidates jostle for position in races that will shape the state's congressional delegation and Governor Kathy Hochul's bid for a second full term. Hochul, the incumbent Democrat, is running for re-election in what is expected to be a competitive general election in November.

Meanwhile, California's 14th congressional district is gearing up for a special primary election on Tuesday, June 16, to fill the seat vacated by former Representative Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April amid allegations of misconduct. If no candidate secures a majority in Tuesday's primary, the race will head to an August runoff between the top two finishers, a scenario considered likely given the crowded field vying for the seat in the heavily Democratic district.

Adding a symbolic note to the day's political news, workers in Washington began removing President Trump's name from the wall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, complying with a court-ordered deadline. The removal follows a ruling that found the administration had not provided sufficient assurance that the naming change would not be reversed in the future. Taken together, the primary races and the Kennedy Center development reflect a Washington still consumed by the long shadow of the 2024 election, even as attention turns toward November's midterms, where control of the House and several pivotal Senate seats, including a closely watched contest in Alaska, remain very much in play.