NEW: Sen. Brian Schatz is the special guest at a virtual fundraiser for Graham Platner on Sunday. Invite went around to donors this afternoon. Schatz donated to Platner’s campaign in May after he became the presumptive nominee. politico.com/news/2026/06/05… @politico

Race, religion and wealth loom over Ohio’s fierce race for governor. politico.com/news/magazine/2…

New: Trump keeps extending the Iran war. Republicans are losing patience. One GOP operative said "the goals are worthy," but warned if it stretches into "late summer, into the fall," it will "present issues." w/@liz_crampton, @lisakashinsky, @sambbenson: politico.com/news/2026/06/12…

Hunter Biden defended Graham Platner on an upcoming episode of Gavin Newsom’s podcast “If that’s the standard by which we are going to judge people, particularly people in elected office, I don’t think we’re going to have many people in elected office.” politico.com/news/2026/06/11…

Michigan’s @MalloryMcMorrow, who rejects Schumer as leader, tells me the data is “validating” the discontent she hears on the ground in #MISen. But “in the same way it’s not enough to be anti-Trump, it’s also not enough to be anti-establishment. You’ve got to make your case.”

NEW: @POLITICO Poll results paint a complex picture of how voters who plan to vote Dem in the midterms feel about the party’s leadership. — 47% want someone other than Schumer as leader — Majority say Dems have learned wrong/no lessons from ‘24 — But 59% say Dem leaders are doing a good job standing up for working people — 48% say they’re doing a good job winning key races From Score this AM⬇️

CloseUp: @SenatorHassan is sending a letter to @CLewandowski_ asking him to preserve records from his time serving at the Department of Homeland Security as she seeks an investigation of how he handled major contracts at DHS #NHPolitics

think this is where someone says folks….

New in @playbookdc: Air rehearsal for the UFC fight Sunday held up angry midwestern members of Congress on the runway at DCA yesterday. The pilot informed the peeved passengers that if they wanted to register their frustration, they should call their congressperson.

NEW: Schumer spent the last year being a proverbial punching bag for angry Democrats. But with ~five months until the election, he believes some of his bets are paying off with the party in striking distance of retaking the majority. “We made a lot of strategic decisions that got us to this place, it didn’t happen by accident" (More in IC from Schumer tomorrow) politico.com/news/2026/06/11…

NEW: President Trump and his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments, people familiar with the matter tell us. “It should be done because I did nothing wrong,” Trump said in an interview.   “I think it makes a lot of sense the more the evidence comes out, the more we know they really were sham impeachments,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, who said he has discussed the matter with Trump. Johnson added that he has had more detailed conversations with some of the president’s allies in the legal world, including Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz and Jay Sekulow, a conservative lawyer who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial. wsj.com/politics/elections/t… W/ @AnnieLinskey @natalieandrews

Scoop: Newsom and Rubio are set to share box seats at the USMNT World Cup match tomorrow. “The Governor is there to support Team USA. Any frame-mogging that occurs will be purely incidental,” said an official familiar with the governor’s plans who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on his behalf on the matter. W/ @SophiaCai99 politico.com/news/2026/06/11…

Trump says that he "may" endorse in the Georgia GOP Senate runoff. "I may do that, but you know, every time I endorse, they win," he said. "It's been a pretty amazing track record." The runoff between Rep. Mike Collins and Derek Dooley is on Tuesday.

NEW: Ken Salazar, Biden's ambassador to Mexico, was so frustrated with admin's border policy that he considered running for president himself in '24 He's now pitching 2028ers on his border plan, which he hopes will keep them from repeating mistakes of '24 politico.com/news/2026/06/11…

NEW — Hakeem Jeffries made clear “affordability” would be House Dems’ primary focus in a majority. One problem: not all Dems agree affordability is Job 1. Some Dems told me they want to see an anti-corruption measure serve as the party’s signature HR1. The CBC is pushing for a voting rights bill. Even Democrats who agree lowering costs should be a majority’s top priority, disagree about how to do it. More about the test Jeffries faces as would-be speaker in rallying his 212-member caucus behind palatable legislation that party can champion ahead of 2028. politico.com/news/2026/06/11…

NEW: Schumer and Senate Dems are war-gaming lawsuits and messaging strategies to combat hypothetical election-interference scenarios, including armed citizens at polls and ballot seizures in battlegrounds. Inside their strategy session (another’s being planned for July) politico.com/news/2026/06/11… @politico

NEW: Dems aren’t done debating Graham Platner. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Dems “need to coalesce.” But several of her colleagues, asked whether they’d endorse Platner, didn’t commit. Platner’s “got things to explain,” Sen. Mark Kelly said. w/@jsscppr @wsteaks @calenrazor @andrewjfhoward @jordainc @politico politico.com/news/2026/06/10…

“The movement that [Sanders] started in 2016 continued into 2020 and remains a powerful force in electoral politics. And I think it’s growing stronger,” @OurRevolution’s Joseph Geevarghese tells me.

New: Bernie Sanders is on a hot streak, and Graham Platner's blowout win hands progressives fresh ammo as they argue Dems need more outsiders who can separate themselves from the national party brand. w/ @wsteaks @lisakashinsky politico.com/news/2026/06/10…

Graham Platner is officially Democrats’ nominee to take on Susan Collins dlvr.it/TSyZF6