The Daily Brief — June 10, 2026
Graham Platner wins, US strikes in Iran, Trump signs $70B immigration bill into law
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Primary Elections
Voters in Maine and South Carolina, among others, delivered primary results yesterday. In California, the second candidate in the governor’s race has advanced to the November election after the latest count.
Maine: Military veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner won Maine’s Democratic Senate primary yesterday. With most of the votes counted, Platner had 72%, according to AP. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her Senate campaign in April citing fundraising difficulties, received about 20%. Platner, who recently faced allegations of sexting other women while married and assault, will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who ran unopposed for her party’s nomination. If reelected, she would be serving her sixth term.
South Carolina: Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette led the crowded Republican governor primary with 29% but fell short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. She will face state attorney general Alan Wilson in a June 23 runoff. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace finished a distant fifth. Mace conceded yesterday and endorsed Wilson for the runoff. Another Trump-endorsed candidate, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, won his Republican primary, avoiding a runoff against five challengers.
California: Republican Steve Hilton, a Trump-endorsed former Fox News host, has advanced to the November general election in the California governor’s race. He will face Democrat Xavier Becerra, who topped the open primary last week.
Iran
President Trump warned today that Iran “will have to pay the price” for taking too long to reach a peace deal with the United States. Yesterday, in response to the downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, US forces hit Iranian air defenses near the area.
Iran then launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes against US military bases across the Middle East.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it hit 21 US targets in the region, including the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and US bases in Jordan and Kuwait.
Nearly all the missiles and drones were intercepted, a US official said, contradicting Iran’s claim that it destroyed four of the 21 targets it hit, including an F-35 hangar in Jordan. There have been no reports of American casualties or damage to US installations.
Inflation
Inflation rose to its highest level in three years in May, with one of the primary drivers being an increase in energy prices.
Consumer prices rose 4.2% from a year earlier, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight monthly increase, the Labor Department said today. It is the highest annual reading since April 2023.
The Consumer Price Index — which tracks changes in the prices of everyday goods and services such as food, gas, rent, and clothing — showed energy costs rose 3.9% in May, after rising 3.8% in April and 10.9% in March. Energy accounted for more than 60% of May’s overall price increase. Gasoline alone rose 7% on the month and is up 40.5% from a year ago.
Newsbreak
Looking for your next summer read? Check out Runner, the forthcoming new book from The Preamble’s own executive editor, Ashton Lattimore. Set in Prohibition-era Martha’s Vineyard, this historical novel follows a young woman from a Black seafaring family who plunges into the dangerous world of rum-running to save her home and uncover the truth about her father’s death. The story was inspired by a real-life shipwreck that took place in 1923, and offers a rare glimpse into the historical Black community of Oak Bluffs. It’s history, mystery, and family saga all rolled into one — we’d be so honored if you pre-ordered a copy!
$70B Immigration Funding
President Trump signed the Secure America Act into law today, directing roughly $70 billion to ICE and Customs and Border Protection through the end of his term in January 2029.
The House of Representatives passed the bill by 214–212 yesterday. The Senate approved the proposal last week.
The vote was along party lines, with one exception: Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, an independent who caucuses with Republicans, joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, citing the lack of oversight provisions like body cameras, training requirements, and a judicial warrant requirement for searches by immigration officers.
Democrats had refused to back ICE and CBP funding without such measures after federal agents fatally shot two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during immigration operations in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Karmelo Anthony Verdict
A Texas jury yesterday sentenced Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing fellow high school athlete Austin Metcalf at a 2025 track meet, hours after convicting him of murder.
The April 2025 confrontation happened during a rainstorm at a Frisco Independent School District track meet. According to trial documents, Anthony, a Centennial High School student whose team had no tent, sat under rival Memorial High School’s tent and Metcalf told him to leave. When Anthony refused, Metcalf tried to physically remove him from the tent. Anthony then stabbed Metcalf, 17, once in the chest, and Metcalf later died at a hospital.
Anthony was 17 at the time of the killing, but Texas generally treats 17-year-olds accused of serious crimes as adults. As a result, he was prosecuted in adult court and faced the same sentencing range as an adult defendant convicted of murder.
The jury rejected Anthony’s self-defense claim and a “sudden passion” finding, a legal standard that, when applied, can reduce the maximum sentence of 99 years for murder to two to 20 years.
The case has become a racial flashpoint. Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white. Anthony’s supporters, who had gathered outside the court, said the verdict was racist. Next Generation Action Network president Dominique Alexander said the trial showed “Black lives do not matter in Collin County” and compared the case to that of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old Black person who was killed in Florida in 2012.
White supremacists, including the Protect White Americans group — led by a January 6 rioter pardoned by Trump — have argued that Metcalf’s death is another example of what they say is “Black-on-white” crime.”
Lawyers on both sides told jurors race was not a factor.
Judge Blocks Execution by Nitrogen Gas
A federal judge has permanently blocked Alabama from executing a death row inmate by nitrogen gas, ruling that the method violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
It was not immediately clear whether Lee’s execution, scheduled for tomorrow, would move forward using either of Alabama’s two other authorized execution methods: lethal injection or electrocution. The state dropped lethal injection as its default method in 2018 after struggling to obtain necessary drugs and botching several attempts during executions, and switched to nitrogen gas. The judge also wrote that Alabama could adopt the firing squad — Lee’s preferred alternative — though that is currently not authorized in the state.
Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall is appealing.
Lee was convicted of capital murder for killing pawn shop owner Jimmy Ellis and employee Elaine Thompson during a 1998 robbery in the state.
Bill Gates on Epstein
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee this morning that he made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender.
In a prepared opening statement posted online before his testimony, Gates expressed regret for his association with Epstein, and said he was “deeply sorry” if the time he spent with the disgraced financier “lent him any credibility.”
The committee is investigating the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. Gates’s name appears in the files multiple times. He told lawmakers he never witnessed criminal conduct by Epstein and denied any wrongdoing.
Gates also testified that Epstein attempted to blackmail him after learning that Gates had been “unfaithful in my marriage” to Melinda French Gates. According to Gates, Epstein used that information and other alleged falsehoods in an unsuccessful effort to pressure him into maintaining contact.
Gates said he initially met Epstein through professional and philanthropic circles and believed the financier might help support global health philanthropy. Gates said that while he was aware Epstein had faced “prior legal issues,” he “did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed.”
Cage Fight Diplomacy
The State Department and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) have reached an agreement to promote US diplomacy through cage fights. UFC CEO Dana White is a close friend of President Trump.
The agreement says this “will mark a new public–private partnership to enhance sports diplomacy initiatives and collaborate on the global growth of mixed martial arts.”
Trump, a longtime UFC fan, plans to host UFC Freedom 250 — a seven-fight mixed martial arts event — on the White House’s South Lawn on Sunday, which is both his 80th birthday and part of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. The UFC is building a temporary outdoor arena on the lawn. A federal lawsuit filed by the anti-corruption group Public Integrity Project has called the plan “deeply corrupt,” arguing it is a private, for-profit event being promoted on public property.
Diplomatic cage matches?? This is giving Christians v. Lions vibes. Zero stars.