Politics
NBC News will put ‘Kornacki Cam’ on the L.A. mayoral, California gubernatorial races
After the polls close in California on Tuesday, NBC News chief data analyst Steve Kornacki will just be getting started.
Since December, the khaki-clad vote-counting guru has been going live and uninterrupted on streaming platforms to provide results and analysis of every special election and even some state Senate contests.
The stream — called the Kornacki Cam — provides unadulterated number crunching without any pundits weighing in. Rather than getting updates that last a few minutes, Kornacki provides continuous real-time results until the last available total is counted.
“This all happens in full view,” Kornacki said Monday in a phone interview. “The audience gets to see the whole thing. They get to see the buildup, the anticipation, the payoff.”
In the 10 Kornacki Cam sessions streamed by NBC News so far, 19 million viewers have sampled them across all platforms. The coverage — consisting of Kornacki, his Big Board, his producer and a Stedicam operator — is available on YouTube, NBCNews.com, the NBC News app and the division’s social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The Kornacki Cam will focus on the primaries for Los Angeles mayor, California and several congressional districts, shortly after the state’s polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific. NBC News has its own decision desk, which the network said has called the results of 70% of the 2026 elections ahead of the Associated Press.
In a Monday chat with The Times, here are the trends Kornacki says he’ll be looking for on the night.
Polling in mayoral races is typically pretty unreliable. What do you make of the contest based on what you’ve seen?
You don’t always have super-competitive mayoral elections and they’re not all created equal. It’s not quite like a presidential election so you just don’t have a wealth of data to draw on for expectations either.
I’ve seen the polling you’ve seen. It suggests that of the three candidates (Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV star Spencer Pratt and City Council member Nithya Raman), Bass is in the best position to get into the runoff. It also suggests that Spencer Pratt has had the most positive movement in the last month or so of the campaign. But we go in knowing there will be volatility and I’m open to any and all possibilities.
Spencer Pratt is an unusual candidate who has been able to take up a lot of oxygen in the race. Is there a hidden vote for him that people might not be eager to admit to pollsters?
You can look at the city and know where to look for whether Pratt is having a big night. The San Fernando Valley is gonna be more than a third of the vote, probably close to 40%. If he gets in the general election, he wants to be winning there by a big margin. If it’s not happening there for Pratt, I don’t think it’s happening anywhere else. Karen Bass is going to rely on central and South L.A., with probably a third of the vote coming out of those two places. Those should be her bulwarks. The Westside, I think could be more of a toss-up. There’s a fair chunk of the vote there.
We don’t do a ton of mayoral races around the country. So we’re still trying to figure out exactly how detailed we’re going to be able to zoom in, at the neighborhood level and the precinct level.
Turnouts usually are low for Los Angeles mayoral races. Will this year be different?
This mayoral race has received a lot more national attention than 2022. So my thought is that the turnout would be higher, just based on that. But this is something that is resonating nationally because Pratt has that celebrity factor. The number was 646,000 (total votes) for 2022. So that’s something we’ll be following — are we trending over or under that?
And what will be the best indicators for the gubernatorial race?
The place that I kind of got circled here is Orange County. In the last two sort of major statewide elections, it was the first to report out (its) vote. At 8:06 p.m local time in California, in 2024, Orange County reported out half of its vote, right? So you’re getting, you know, you’re getting hundreds of thousands of votes, potentially, from this enormous county within, potentially within 10 minutes of polls closing. There were a couple others — the Central Valley, and we got a good chunk of Merced and Fresno quickly.
So how long are we going to have to wait for a result on Tuesday night?
One of the other things that just surrounds everything in California, whether it’s the mayor’s race, or governor’s race, or anything else, is nothing is definitive in the first hour or so after the polls close. We’re probably realistically looking at a days or even weeks-long process of getting all the vote counted.
I know it drives many people nuts. Without editorializing on that, it’s just a fact that they can get out of about two-thirds of their vote on election night, and if the races aren’t clear and definitive, then you’re generally in for a pretty long haul.
We do know in California that they’re not going (to count) nonstop until they get a result. They’re going to then start doing updates as they process and count the remaining vote by mail, which is usually a considerable pile in a lot of these places. The vote by mail in California can continue coming in for seven days after the election.
So do you think your coverage reflects a shift in what the consumer wants? We already know how fragmented the audience is. Are there now enough political junkies who want the pure uncut stuff?
I’ve been doing this about 20 years, and when I would tell people that I reported on politics for a living, they either moved away from me or changed the subject. And now, you know, I found the last, you know, 10 years or something, has just totally changed. People come up to me, even if they don’t know I work in politics, and they want to talk politics. Everybody seems into it whatever side they’re on.
Politics
Trump to kick off Great American State Fair as 250th anniversary celebrations take over National Mall
Washington DC to host Great American State Fair for America250
Ambassador Monica Crowley discusses the Great American State Fair, set to transform the National Mall in Washington D.C. from June 25 to July 10. Celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the 16-day event will feature pavilions from all 50 states and six territories, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, traditional games, and rodeo competitions, aiming to unite the country.
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President Donald Trump will kick off the Great American State Fair Wednesday evening as part of celebrations surrounding the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“President Trump promised the greatest 250th birthday celebration in American history, and Freedom 250 is proud to help deliver it for the American people,” Freedom 250 CEO Keith Kranch told Fox News Digital.
“This celebration is about what makes America exceptional—our freedom, our faith, our optimism, and our people. We are honored to welcome President Trump as he helps kick off these historic festivities tomorrow and begin a nationwide celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday,” Krach added.
The fair brings together all 50 states and six U.S. territories for a national celebration stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument featuring military flyovers, musical performances and civic programming. Trump announced he will deliver remarks after a handful of musical artists pulled out of their musical performances, turning the bash into a “Make America Great Again Rally.”
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Organizers describe the Great American State Fair as a modern-day World’s Fair celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The event is scheduled to run from June 25 through July 10, 2026, celebrating patriotism to bring together the nation for a celebration of unity.
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U.S. President Donald J. Trump watches the UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Trump’s anticipated remarks follow his signature last week on a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, launching a 60-day negotiating period aimed at preventing Tehran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
The world’s fair-scale event will have pavilions touching on five national themes: Made in America, American Heartland, American Innovates, The American Canvas, and Faith & Family.
There will also be a 110-foot Ferris wheel and the refurbished Smithsonian carousel for families to enjoy.
Rending of 110-foot ferris wheel coming to National Mall for “Great American State Fair.” (Freedom250)
The U.S. has hosted over two dozen variations of the world’s fair since first hosted in Philadelphia in 1876, according to the State Department.
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Freedom250, the nonpartisan group helping coordinate the broader America250 effort, said the fair will feature food, games, exhibits and themed attractions designed to showcase the country’s culture, history and innovation.
Politics
Why your food scraps travel more than 100 miles — and how an L.A. council member wants to stop it
Bob Blumenfield would like to see Angelenos’ old banana peels and moldy bread stay local.
On Tuesday morning, the City Council member told a small crowd of waste advocates in front of city hall that he was introducing a motion to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by strengthening local composting infrastructure and decreasing reliance on distant facilities.
Currently, when city residents separate their food waste and yard clippings, chances are it’s being trucked to faraway processing facilities in Bakersfield or Lancaster.
The motion would help the city meet targets set by California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, or Senate Bill 1383, which phases out sending green waste to the landfill, because it is a major source of the powerful climate pollutant methane.
It also would help meet Mayor Bass’ Climate Action Plan, which aims to use at least 50% of locally produced compost and mulch within Los Angeles by 2030. Currently, only 25% to 30% of the city’s material is applied to land locally.
The city produces approximately 350,000 tons of organic material a year, Blumenfield told the crowd, which he said equates to roughly 1.2 to 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
“That’s a big number, and when you do the math,” he said, that’s roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide released by the entire country of Belize, the entirety of Humboldt County or the equivalent of burning 1.6 billion pounds of coal per year.
As the announcement was underway, in the background a fire burned for a sixth day in a Boyle Heights warehouse, where 85 million pounds of frozen food was thawing and beginning to rot.
Signed into law in 2016, the state’s composting bill mandated a gradual increase in the amount of organic waste that must be diverted away from landfills. It required 50% of all green and food waste be diverted by 2020; by 2025, that number was supposed to hit 75%.
But it hasn’t. Although Los Angeles has pushed to get a residential curbside bin program in place — recall the “Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025” — it has struggled to get people to comply.
According to reports for the recycLA program, a commercial and multifamily waste collection franchise program, only about half of households and business are separating their compostable waste.
Alex Helou, assistant general manager of L.A. Sanitation & Environment, provided a much brighter picture of the city’s food waste situation. L.A. is the first major city to provide green bins to 750,000 residential customers, he said. The city has “exceeded expectations” in food recovery, he said, saving 80 million meals that would have been thrown out and redirecting them to people in need.
Helou said Blumenfield’s motion completes the loop by keeping food waste close to home, creating more local composting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transporting waste outside of the city. It doesn’t directly affect the city’s compliance with SB 1383, but that isn’t necessary, he said. “We’re meeting that and exceeding that at multiple fronts.”
Blumenfield’s initiative directs the Bureau of Sanitation to develop a plan for expanding local composting across the city. It would also increase the use of locally produced compost and mulch.
For instance, the motion would encourage using the compost on urban farms and at community gardens and city parks. It also would be used to replace artificial grass and turf.
It will support a “citywide transition away from artificial turf and towards nature-based solutions, such as California native plants and natural grass plant fields, and ensure everyone has access to safer, cooler, and sustainable parks, schools, and communities,” said Terry Saucier, a Tarzana resident and member of the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance and the Tarzana Neighborhood Council.
The state’s composting law has proved challenging on several fronts.
The Antelope Valley has become a dumping site for many of the city’s haulers looking to cut transport and facility costs — causing concern among environmentalists and others who say the material is destroying fragile ecosystems.
Complying has been particularly difficult for Los Angeles and much of coastal Southern California, where there are few large composters and low demand for compost. Unlike areas to the north, there is little agricultural demand for compost and mulch.
Experts say dumping in the desert has always been a problem, but the law made it worse by making it more expensive and difficult to deal with.
In addition, composters are struggling with the amount of plastic and other debris that people and businesses put in the food waste bins.
According to a report by Closed Loop Partners, which partners with companies such as Pepsico and McDonald’s, nearly 4% of food waste is contaminated with other materials — most of it plastic. State law requires that finished compost contains no more than 0.5% by dry weight of physical contaminants.
Politics
Trump foe wins crucial Dem primary as 2028 presidential speculation swirls
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Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, whom pundits consider a potential 2028 presidential contender, is one step closer to winning re-election this year.
Moore on Tuesday captured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the solidly blue Mid-Atlantic state, the Associated Press reports.
Moore and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, easily dispatched a primary challenge from Eric Felber and his running mate, LaTrece Hawkins Lytes. Felber, a physician, unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin in the 2024 primary in the state’s 8th Congressional District.
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks during an announcement at the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket in Maryland.
The Democratic ticket will face the winners of a nine-way Republican primary field.
Moore is running for re-election this year amid speculation that he also is eyeing a run for the White House in 2028, in the race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump. Democrats are expected to field a large and competitive field in the race for their party’s presidential nomination.
The governor has consistently ruled out running for the White House in 2028, saying that his political focus is on his home state and his 2026 re-election.
But regardless, Moore remains a top Democratic Party surrogate in national politics. And Moore, a 47-year-old Army veteran, who is also a Rhodes Scholar and was CEO of the charitable organization the Robin Hood Foundation during the coronavirus pandemic, is viewed as a rising star in the party.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and President Donald Trump are pictured together in a split image. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Moore, the nation’s only Black governor, has had a combustible relationship with Trump, which has included very public feuds and verbal sparring, and clashes over policy.
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Earlier this year, Trump initially excluded Moore from a National Governors Association dinner at the White House, charging that the governor was “not worthy” of attending.
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