Politics
Barbara Lee surges into lead in Oakland mayor's race

Former longtime Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee surged into the lead in the race to become Oakland’s next mayor, according to vote results released Friday evening.
The latest tally showed Lee moving ahead of her primary challenger in the race, former City Councilmember Loren Taylor, with 53% percent of the vote compared to Taylor’s 47%. Her lead was commanding enough that the San Francisco Chronicle called the race, declaring Lee “has been elected Oakland’s next mayor.”
Oakland, a city of 436,000 people, uses ranked-choice elections, which allows voters to select multiple candidates by order of preference. The method complicates the vote count, and it could be weeks before Alameda County election officials announce a final tally for this week’s special election.
Lee’s campaign held off on declaring victory Friday evening, although campaign officials released a statement calling the latest results “encouraging.” Taylor, who represented East Oakland on the City Council for four years, could not be reached for comment.
If the results hold, Lee, 78, a progressive icon who represented Oakland and surrounding areas in Congress for nearly three decades, would replace ousted Mayor Sheng Thao, a progressive elected in 2022. Thao was recalled from office in November amid deep voter frustrations with crime, homelessness and the pervasive sense that Oakland is in crisis. Thao was accused of bungling the city’s finances, contributing to a budget shortfall that will almost certainly require sweeping cuts across government departments.
Efforts to recall Thao from office were already underway when, in June, FBI agents raided her home as part of an investigation into an alleged corruption scheme involving Thao’s boyfriend and a father-son team who run the company that provides Oakland’s recycling services. That probe energized the recall, which easily passed with more than 60% of the vote. Thao, her boyfriend, Andre Jones, and Andy and David Duong of California Waste Solutions were indicted on federal bribery charges in January. All four have pleaded not guilty.
“I decided to run for Mayor knowing that Oakland is a deeply divided City — and I ran to unite our community,” Lee said in her Friday statement.
The election created an unexpected career opportunity for Lee, who left Washington in January after losing her bid for the Senate in last year’s primary to fellow Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who went on to win the seat in November.
With Oakland in sudden need of a new mayor, a broad coalition of business groups, labor organizations and elected leaders spent last fall calling on Lee to run in the April 15 special election and save their city from collapse.
Though nine people ultimately competed in the race, Taylor, a business management consultant who is 30 years Lee’s junior, emerged as her main opponent. He painted the city as “broken” and in desperate need of a chief executive with on-the-ground experience at City Hall who could make tough decisions without fear of disappointing longtime political supporters.
Taylor received a financial boost from tech and business leaders who funneled tens of thousands of dollars into independent expenditure committees supporting his candidacy.
Lee ran on her record as a veteran politician with decades of experience forging connections across diverse interest groups. She touted the hundreds of millions of dollars she brought home to the East Bay during her time in Congress, where she advocated for anti-war policies and promoted legislation that targeted racism, sexism, poverty and labor exploitation. Those values stem from her roots as a Black Panther activist and her educational training at Mills College and UC Berkeley.
She promised to “make life better for everybody” in Oakland, while vowing to fight crime and encourage the estimated 5,400 homeless people in Oakland into shelter and housing. She has pledged to hire more police officers, curb government spending and increase transparency into decisions made at City Hall.

Politics
GOP Rep. Randy Feenstra files paperwork for Iowa gubernatorial run

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, filed paperwork on Monday to run for Iowa governor in the 2026 election.
Feenstra, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020, filed the paperwork for “Feenstra for Governor” with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, which is needed to launch a gubernatorial campaign, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
The congressman is seeking to replace Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said last month she would not run for a third term in 2026. Feenstra has been considering a gubernatorial run since Reynolds’ announcement.
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Rep. Randy Feenstra filed paperwork on Monday to run for Iowa governor in the 2026 election. (Getty Images)
“I’ll tell you right now, I’m focused on fulfilling and making sure that we get Trump’s agenda completed,” Feenstra told reporters on April 23. “However, I always want to do what’s best for our state, and I will continue to look at all aspects of what that looks like.”
Feenstra has not publicly announced a campaign for governor.
The GOP primary in the Hawkeye State could potentially be crowded, although former state Rep. Brad Sherman is the only Republican to have officially joined the race after he launched his campaign in February.
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Rep. Randy Feenstra was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020. (Getty Images)
But others have taken steps toward a gubernatorial bid, including Iowa state Sen. Mike Bousselot, who launched an exploratory committee last month, as well as Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and House Speaker Pat Grassley — the grandson of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa — who each said they are considering a run for governor.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand filed paperwork on Monday to run in the state’s Democratic primary.
Feenstra is the only U.S. House member from Iowa considering a run for governor. The other three — U.S. GOP Reps. Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn — all said they will not launch a gubernatorial campaign.

Rep. Randy Feenstra is seeking to replace Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said last month she would not run for a third term in 2026. (Getty Images)
Before he was elected to the U.S. House in 2020, when he defeated then-incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve King in the Republican primary, Feenstra served as a state senator since 2009. Before that, he was Sioux County treasurer from 2006 until 2008.
Politics
Trade truce with China is hailed, but it may not be enough to stop shortages
WASHINGTON — China and the United States retreated from an emerging economic crisis on Monday, agreeing to drastically reduce tariffs on each other for the next 90 days as they continue to negotiate a more permanent trade deal, providing welcome news for investors and retailers who increasingly feared a breakthrough was out of reach.
The temporary truce will see the United States lower tariffs on Chinese imports to 30% from 145%, and China reduce its import duties on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%, starting Wednesday. Wall Street rejoiced at the announcement of a deal, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 2.81%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 up 3.26%, and the Nasdaq up 4.35%, the largest market rally since President Trump last walked back rate hikes on other countries in mid-April.
Trump referred to the development as a “total reset with China.” But the end result of the provisional agreement is a return to tariff rates that were in place before the president launched a global trade war on April 2, in what he called “Liberation Day” — a move that brought the largest decline in commercial shipping traffic since the COVID-19 pandemic and prompted financial institutions to warn of an imminent recession.
Supply shortages and price increases on Chinese products may still hit American consumers in the coming weeks, a lingering effect of weeks of uncertainty, experts said. Many retailers have already increased their prices. And shipping costs are expected to skyrocket as manufacturers and wholesalers attempt to make up for lost time. The 90-day deadline for a more lasting trade deal could fuel further market volatility in the coming weeks.
Trump’s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who led the negotiations with Beijing, also secured a commitment from China to cut non-tariff barriers it had put in place after April 2, including certain import restrictions and blacklisting of U.S. companies.
“It de-escalates trade tensions and reduces the probability of a stagflation,” said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University and a former commissioner at the Port of Los Angeles, referring to a phenomenon feared the world over by economists: a combination of slow economic growth, high inflation and increasing unemployment. “But this is a temporary truce. A tough road is ahead of us.”
Over the next three months, the Trump administration says it intends to develop a “mechanism” that will “rebalance” the U.S. trade relationship with China — a task that has eluded presidents for decades. Trump hopes to change Beijing’s policy of providing government subsidies to state-owned enterprises and to reduce a $400-billion U.S. trade deficit with China, both tall orders in such a short time frame.
“Supply chains have been disrupted and there are a lot fewer ships sailing the ocean,” Sohn added. “Supplies in stores won’t be as plentiful as it used to be. During the back-to-school season, for example, there will be shortages, stockouts and higher prices. If the negotiation progresses well, there will be more merchandise at retail stores for back-to-school and Christmas.”
After the deal concluded in Geneva, Bessent said he would draw inspiration in the upcoming talks from a preliminary agreement negotiated with Beijing at the end of the first Trump administration called Phase One, which included new rules governing the exchange of intellectual property, technology transfer and financial services. Bessent claimed that deal was not enforced by the Biden administration.
But the Treasury secretary acknowledged that the upcoming talks would be difficult. “Neither side wants a decoupling,” he said.
“I don’t think anything’s going to be easy, because this has been going on for a long time,” Bessent told CNBC.
Before departing for an official visit to the Middle East, Trump said he expected to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping and praised the agreement as a temporary step toward a permanent deal. The truce, Trump added, does not include tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum.
He also spoke with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook shortly after announcing the deal, Trump said.
“The relationship is very good. We’re not looking to hurt China — China was being hurt very badly,” the president told reporters at the White House. “They were very happy to be able to do something with us.”
Trump said that pharmaceuticals may also be exempt from tariff reductions with China going forward, speaking at a signing ceremony for an executive order aimed at lowering drug prices.
The majority of the world’s pharmaceuticals are manufactured in China and India. But Trump reserved his harshest critique at the event for the European Union, which produces several high-profile drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, weight loss medications that Trump said are heavily overpriced in the United States.
“The European Union is in many ways nastier than China,” Trump said, adding: “We’ve just started with them.
“We have all the cards,” he said. “They treated us very unfairly.”
Politics
Hawley Urges Republicans Not to Cut Medicaid as House Debates Reductions

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri on Monday urged his Republican colleagues to reject deep cuts to Medicaid as part of legislation to implement President Trump’s ambitious domestic agenda, including a plan to cut more than $4 trillion in taxes.
In an opinion piece published in The New York Times, Mr. Hawley declared that cutting funding for a program that provides health insurance to more than 70 million low-income Americans, including 1 million people in his state, would be “morally wrong” and “politically suicidal.”
“Republicans need to open their eyes: Our voters support social insurance programs,” Mr. Hawley wrote. “More than that, our voters depend on those programs.”
His plea comes a day after House Republicans released a plan that would cut an estimated $715 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and could leave 8.6 million people uninsured, although the proposal does not include the more drastic cuts that fiscal hard-liners were demanding. He argued his opposition to the cuts aligns with Mr. Trump’s own repeated promises to not “touch” the program in any way.
Mr. Hawley has carved a lane for himself as the sole Republican populist voice in the Senate. He has repeatedly diverged from his party by, for instance, embracing policy proposals that would cap insulin costs at $25 a month, and he was the sole Republican to vote earlier this year in favor of limiting bank overdraft fees to $5.
He also has accused Republican institutionalists of prioritizing the interests of wealthy Americans and corporations at the expense of the working-class voters who formed the wave of populism that sent Mr. Trump to the White House. Unlike most of his party, Mr. Hawley has refrained from calls to extend the corporate tax cuts that Mr. Trump enacted in his first term, saying he was skeptical that they did much to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States or incentivize corporations to treat workers better.
“If Republicans want to be a working-class party — if we want to be a majority party — we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America’s promise for America’s working people,” Mr. Hawley wrote.
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