March 4, 2026
Primary Elections and Middle East War
Good morning, everyone!
Today, we will look at U.S. primary election results and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Let’s get to it.
United States
-The first primaries of the midterms were held yesterday, with elections across Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
In Texas, State Representative James Talarico holds a lead over Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary contest for the U.S. Senate, with CNN projecting a Talarico win.
Changes in voting rules in the run-up to the vote led to uncertainty in two counties. The Texas Supreme Court halted a lower court ruling that extended voting hours in Dallas County amid the confusion.
Addressing supporters last night, Crockett said voters had been “disenfranchised.”
View her full remarks here:
The primary battle is one of the most closely watched races of the cycle.
In the Republican field, four-term Senator John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton will advance to a runoff election after both candidates, along with Congressman Wesley Hunt, failed to secure over 50% of the vote.
The runoff election will be held on May 26.
In the House, Democrat Christian Menefee is leading long-time Congressman Al Green.
Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, who has been mired in scandal, will face off against Brandon Herrera in a runoff election.
Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw lost to conservative challenger Steve Toth.
In the governor’s race, three-term Governor Greg Abbott won the Republican nomination, while State Representative Gina Hinojosa won the Democratic primary.
In North Carolina, former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley won in their respective primary fields, setting up a matchup that is expected to be hotly contested.
Meanwhile, incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Valerie Foushee is narrowly leading progressive primary challenger Nida Allam.
View full election results here.
-U.S. financial institutions are on high alert for cyberattacks amid the unfolding war in the Middle East.
-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.
View the contentious hearing here:
-Top House Democrats are whipping against a funding bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which is expected to come to the floor of the chamber this week for a vote.
The Department, which houses the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, has been partially shuttered since February 14 amid disagreements over immigration enforcement reforms.
-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
-Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke announced on Monday that he would not seek reelection this year, making him the 31st Republican member of the body to opt for retirement this election cycle.
-New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced yesterday that the city will provide 2,000 free childcare spots starting later this year.
-On this day in 1789, the Constitution took effect as the governing law of the United States.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for his second term as the end of the Civil War neared.
Concluding his remarks, Lincoln said, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
The widely cited words are inscribed on the north interior wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
He would be assassinated just one month later.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in the midst of the Great Depression.
In his inaugural address, Roosevelt proclaimed, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The ceremony was the last to be held on this date before the 20th Amendment officially moved Inauguration Day to January 20.
In 1952, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis were married in Studio City, California.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore met with former President Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office.
Other Links:
House Republicans are publicly cheering Trump’s Iran war. Privately, many are worried - Politico
Following Iran strikes, Trump floods news outlets with one-on-one calls - Washington Post
Ted Cruz, Tim Scott asking Treasury to approve $200B tax cut without congressional approval - The Hill
Father who gave gun to Georgia school shooting suspect for Christmas is guilty of 2nd-degree murder - AP
Newsom names Schwarzenegger to California Hall of Fame - Politico
Africa
-A Tunisian court sentenced the North African country’s richest man, Marouan Mabrouk, on corruption charges yesterday, while giving prison terms to several former senior officials who were involved in handling the case.
-Sudan’s army accused Ethiopia of involvement in recent drone strikes that came “from inside Ethiopian territory,” with the country’s foreign minister describing them as “hostile acts.”
-Doctors Without Borders said yesterday that 26 of the charity’s staff working in South Sudan remain missing after attacks last month.
-Uganda’s central bank announced it will start purchasing gold amid a global uptick in the rare metal.
-On this day in 1957, Vice President Richard Nixon and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. attended a ceremony in Accra, Ghana.
The two leaders were in the West African nation to attend its official independence ceremony on the 6th.
In 1980, the results of Zimbabwe’s first free election were announced.
The election marked the end of white minority rule in Rhodesia and led to the internationally recognized independence of Zimbabwe one month later.
Robert Mugabe and his Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party secured a landslide victory in the vote, and he would go on to rule the southern African country until he was ousted in a coup in 2017.
In 2003, President George W. Bush met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the Oval Office, where the two leaders discussed ongoing efforts to rebuild the East African country following the 1994 genocide.
Kagame, who led a rebel group that ended the genocide, became president in 2000 and remains in office today. In his 26-year rule, he has rooted out nearly all dissent.
Other Links:
China’s media push in Africa has largely failed, analysts say - Semafor
African nationals among 58 people injured by Iranian strikes on UAE - Africa News
Zimbabwe releases over 4,000 prisoners under presidential amnesty - Africa News
Conservative Anglicans meet in Nigeria to pick rival leader - Reuters
US aims to bring in 4,500 white South Africans per month as refugees, document says - Reuters
Americas and the Caribbean
-The United States and Ecuador carried out joint military operations against what U.S. Southern Command described as “designated terrorist organizations in Ecuador.”
The attack is the first known land operation by the U.S. in Latin America against drug cartels, which the Trump administration has prioritized combatting.
-The Trump administration is reportedly building a criminal case against Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez as a means to strengthen its leverage over Caracas.
In January, President Trump launched an operation that captured the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. The administration said the move was to enforce a criminal indictment by the U.S. Justice Department.
Since Maduro’s removal, Rodríguez has maintained good relations with Washington, hosting U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in the country last month. Yesterday, Trump praised Rodríguez in remarks at the White House, saying her government had been cooperative with his administration’s efforts to export the country’s vast oil resources.
-Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called on his government to “immediately” implement social and economic reforms as the Trump administration continues its pressure campaign on the island nation.
-Brazil’s economy expanded by 2.3% in 2025, its slowest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The country boasts the largest economy in Latin America, and the 11th largest in the world, with a gross domestic product of $2.26 trillion.
The economic slowdown was caused by higher interest rates that dampened investment and consumer spending.
-Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Australia yesterday as part of his multi-nation trip across Asia.
-Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency yesterday amid a surge in violent crime.
-On this day in 1929, Mexico’s National Revolutionary Party (PNR) was founded, which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The party would go on to hold uninterrupted executive power for 71 years until Vicente Fox’s presidential election victory in 2000.
Other Links:
Exxon to send team to Venezuela in a few weeks, executive says - Reuters
Venezuela’s oil exports fell in February with loss of China, larger cargoes ahead - Reuters
Senate approves Milei’s weakening of glacier protection law - Buenos Aires Times
4 former Argentine navy officers face trial for 2017 submarine sinking that killed 44 crew members - AP
Jalisco cartel leader ‘El Mencho’ buried in a golden casket in a Guadalajara cemetery - AP
Asia/Indo-Pacific
-U.S. allies in Asia are expressing concerns that the Trump administration’s military campaign against Iran could divert Washington’s attention from the region and embolden China’s regional ambitions.
-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos hosted his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae Myung, in Manila yesterday, where the two leaders agreed to deepen their economic and security ties.
-Fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan continued yesterday along their shared border, with the United Nations reporting that 42 civilians have been killed since fighting renewed last week.
-The United Nations warned yesterday that 200,000 more Afghan children will face acute malnutrition in 2026.
-On this day in 1985, Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping outlined what would become known as his “Peace and Development Doctrine” in a meeting with Japanese officials.
In his remarks, Deng said “peace and development” were the two most important issues in the world, signaling a stark departure from the “inevitable global war” framing adopted during Mao Zedong’s rule.
Later that year, Deng appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, with the headline “Moving Away from Marx.”
Other Links:
China removes three retired generals from national advisory body - BBC
An Epstein Associate Steps Down From Japanese Government Tech Project - The New York Times
North Korea’s Kim gives rifles to officials and his daughter takes aim after party congress - NBC
North Korea to hold election for Supreme People’s Assembly following party Congress - Reuters
South Korea’s Kospi sees worst day in 19 months amid broader decline in Asia markets - CNBC
Europe
-President Donald Trump hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz yesterday in the Oval Office, where the two leaders discussed the U.S.-Israel offensive against Iran.
Addressing reporters, Trump praised Merz, saying they had a good relationship.
View their remarks here:
-Trump criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s limited support for the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, the latest development in a growing rift between the two leaders.
In remarks alongside Merz, Trump said of Starmer, “This is not Winston Churchill.”
Meanwhile, Trump again expressed disapproval yesterday of Britain’s plan to cede the sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago island of Diego Garcia to Mauritius.
The two countries signed an agreement last year that would transfer sovereignty of the region to Mauritius while extending a 99-year lease that would allow London and Washington to continue having access to a strategic military base there.
Mauritius says it was forced to sell the territory in exchange for its independence in 1965.
In comments at the same meeting, Trump scorned London for not increasing its spending on defense to 3.5% of its economy, in line with targets set by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
As of last year, the country spends 2.4% on defense, with a commitment to reach the 3.5% target by 2035.
-Trump threatened to cut all trade ties with Spain yesterday after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez scorned Washington’s military operation in the Middle East.
-On March 4, 1963, President John F. Kennedy met with Walter Hallstein, the first President of the Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC), in the Oval Office.
The EEC was the direct predecessor of the European Union.
Other Links:
Zelensky fears Trump’s Iran war could hurt Ukraine - BBC
EU urges Ukraine to allow access to pipeline carrying Russian oil - Financial Times
European capitals push back as Ukraine seeks fast-track EU membership - Reuters
European Parliament considers invitation to Reza Pahlavi amid calls for regime change in Iran - Euronews
Iran Conflict Pushes Europe Toward Fresh Energy Crisis - The Wall Street Journal
Middle East
-The conflict in the Middle East continued yesterday, with U.S. and Israel ramping up their air bombardment of Iran.
Meanwhile, fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah expanded.
Over the weekend, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, capping months of building tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Both U.S. and Israeli officials have said that the two countries now exercise near total control over the country’s airspace.
-President Trump expressed hesitation when asked whether he would support Reza Pahlavi’s return to Iran to lead an interim government, saying someone already in the country could be “more appropriate.”
Pahlavi is a leader of the Iranian opposition and the son of the late deposed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In recent days, Pahlavi has said he is ready to return to Iran “as soon as possible” to lead a government.
Separately, the Conservative Political Action Committee announced yesterday that Pahlavi would appear at its conference in Texas later this month.
-Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday that Tehran had not reached out to the United States about possible peace talks.
-Global oil prices climbed nearly 5% yesterday, settling at the highest since January 2025 amid fighting in the region.
As prices rise, Washington has sought to offset further increases, with Trump saying his administration would extend “political risk insurance and guarantees” for energy tankers and other ships transiting the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Since hostilities began on Saturday, Iran has targeted oil facilities and shipments through the Persian Gulf region, through which approximately 20% of the world’s total oil consumption passes each day.
-The State Department urged Americans in 14 countries in the region to depart.
-Syria is reportedly sending thousands of troops to reinforce its shared border with Lebanon amid the escalating conflict in the region.
-The Pentagon identified four of the six U.S. service members who were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Sunday.
-On this day in 2008, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hosted U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as Washington sought to resuscitate peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian government.
Other Links:
U.S. allies in Middle East denounce Iran attacks - NBC
Bombardment unleashes terror in Tehran with no sign of protests - Reuters
Western Governments Rush to Help Stranded Travelers in the Middle East - The New York Times
Zelenskiy holds talks with UAE, Qatar leaders - Reuters
CIA station in Saudi Arabia struck by suspected Iranian drone, source says - Reuters
That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.
Very interesting reading. A certain person should keep his nose out of British politics. Unlike some, we can think for ourselves.
Amazing that you are not overwhelmed by all of this mishegas, ¡Jacob!💡
Your efforts have assured that I no longer am.🙂
Thank you.🫱🏻🫲🏽