From Iran to the Ballot Box -- “The Sunday Political Brunch” - June 7, 2026

From Iran to the Ballot Box -- “The Sunday Political Brunch” - June 7, 2026

There’s more on the Iran War, and more big election results. It’s been a busy week in politics. Plus, there are big developments for some key political figures. Let’s “brunch” on that and more this week:

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“Iran’s Latest” – While the White House keeps reporting progress in peace talks with Iran, Congress is losing its patience. The Senate has voted to invoke the War Powers Act, and on Wednesday, the House did the same. On a vote of 215-208, with four Republicans saying yes, the lower chamber of Congress concurred with the Senate. House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeen Jeffries (D) New York said, “This reckless and costly war of choice needs to end today.” Among the critics of the move was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who believes the measure sends the wrong message to Iran. He said, “Hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said the resolution would tell Iran the U.S. is weak and, “We won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?” Among the four Republicans who voted for the resolution was Rep. Thomas Massie (R) Kentucky, whom Trump campaigned against and who led to his primary defeat. Massie said, "The People’s House is sending a message: End this war."

“California Primary Results” – California has a weird political system, as I know from living there for a dozen years. It runs an open primary with all parties running in the same race. Only the top two vote-getters advance to November, and oftentimes that means two Democrats running against each other in this heavily blue state. Not this year. While the final vote count may be days or weeks away, Republican businessman Steve Hilton lead the field with 27.2 percent of the vote, until Friday night, followed by Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra at 26.0 percent. Democrat businessman Tom Steyer is in third place, with 20.2 percent of the vote. Well, when ballot counting ended Friday, with 68% of the vote now complete, the tables have turned. Becerra (D) now leads with 26.8 percent, to 26.4 percent for Hilton (R). Steyer (D) remains in third with 21.1. percent. Again, only the top two advance. California has a large number of mail-in ballots, and they still need to be counted, so this leaderboard could change again. But for the first time in 16 years, the GOP has a shot.

“A Rare Loss for Trump” – President Trump has been on a huge roll with his primary endorsees winning their races, especially against powerful incumbents. But that all came to an end Tuesday night when one of his top candidates lost. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) Iowa lost his GOP primary for Iowa governor. Instead, businessman Zach Lahn defeated Trump’s hand-picked candidate by just over 600 votes. The people most excited about this are actually Iowa Democrats. They think they can retake the office that they’ve lost for the past 12 years. And remember, Iowa will likely hold the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus in 2026, and a rejuvenated Democratic Party here could give them momentum in this key battleground state.

“The Platner Mess” – Democrats had a real shot at picking up a seat in Maine by knocking off five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R) Maine. Popular Gov. Janet Mills (D) had a legitimate chance, but dropped out of what was going to be an expensive race she could not afford. Businessman Graham Platner (D) was already in, but he came with baggage. Platner had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol on his torso which made the rounds on social media. He has since had it covered up. Still, the original images are out there for all to see. Platner has also had upheavals in his campaign staff. He fired several top staffers while others quit. The most damaging revelation may have come from his wife, Amy Gertner, who confirmed her husband had been sending sexually charged texts to other women. But instead of blaming her husband, she blamed the media, saying, “It makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on.” So, she’s shooting the messenger for the information she provided to campaign staffers? Sen. Susan Collins will be reelected in November. Bet on it.

“Weaponization Funds” – A controversial $1.8 billion fund to compensate “victims” of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots is dead. This is according to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who told a Congressional hearing, “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.” The fund drew criticism from both sides of the aisle. It would have potentially compensated hundreds of people convicted for their roles in the Capitol assault, even beating police officers. President Trump pardoned all of them, and this fund could have made “reparations.” Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence said on NBC, “I mean, it’s deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6th.” Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) New York, had promised to kill the funding on the Senate floor, saying, “There will be no escape hatch. No fake guardrails or backroom promises to hide behind." However, Schumer was unable to get his preventative provisions into an unrelated immigration enforcement bill, so technically the January 6^th fund is still viable, despite White House promises not to use it.

“The ’60 Minutes’ Meltdown” – CBS News and its popular “60 Minutes” program are in a full-scale freefall. The network fired top producers and correspondents. Among those let go was my dear friend and former colleague Cecilia Vega. We were reporters together in San Francisco. This is part of her statement following her dismissal: “In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions. Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.” She added, “Today I lost an amazing job. But I still have my integrity.” I wish her well. She’s a first-class person and journalist. CBS has yet to comment.

“John Bolton Plea Deal” – There are reports that former National Security Advisor John Bolton will plead guilty to one federal charge of retaining a classified government document. Originally, he was charged with 18 counts. Confidential sources have told the Associated Press that Bolton will avoid prison time, but must pay a $2.25 million dollar fine. Bolton worked in Trump’s first term, but he and the president clashed often. Bolton was eventually let go. After his indictment, Bolton said the charges by the Trump administration were an “intensive effort” by Trump to intimidate his opponents. Bolton wrote unfavorably of Trump in his book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton was preparing a second book at the time of his arrest. Trump called Bolton a “washed-up guy” and a “crazy” warmonger.

“Jill Biden Comments” – Former First Lady Jill Biden is making some rather candid remarks about her husband’s poor debate performance against Donald Trump in 2024. In an interview with CBS News, Mrs. Biden said, “I don’t know what happened. As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.” She added, “I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never.” Fellow Democrats criticized Biden’s decision to stay in the race, and his wife’s support for that plan. Former Deputy Press Secretary in the Biden White House, Andrew Bates, told the New York Post, Democrats “had a duty to win and we didn’t.” Jill Biden shot back, “So I want to say to Andrew: Call me up. If somebody has something to say, then say it to my face.” Mrs. Biden is promoting her new book, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir.”

“Hillary Hits Trump’s $250 Bill” – Last week, I reported that the U.S. Treasury is working on a $250 bill to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Trump’s image would be on the bill. Technically, that is against current U.S. law, which prohibits depicting a living person on currency. But Secretary Bessent said, “So right now there is proposed legislation in front of the House, in front of the Senate to change the first requirement so that a living person - Donald J. Trump - could be on the $250 bill.” Reaction has been mixed. Trump’s 2016 election foe, Hillary Clinton, joked saying, “By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs.”

Mark Curtis, Ed.D., is a South Florida-based political writer and analyst who has covered news and politics nationwide for the past 49 years. He is a multiple award winner, including two prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards. Most recently, he served as the Chief Political Reporter for the seven Nexstar Media TV stations, covering West Virginia and its five neighboring states, as well as the Washington, DC media market. Curtis is a former Congressional Fellow who worked in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Over the years, he has been a contributing writer and analyst at Patch.com and other outlets, including GoLocalProv.com. His commentary and analysis can be heard every Friday at 1:45 p.m. ET on the 22-station West Virginia Metro News Radio Network. www.WVMetroNews.com.

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