Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican party after the independent-minded Congressman Thomas Massie was defeated in the Kentucky Republican House primary by the president’s hand-picked challenger.
Massie lost by a vote of 55% to 45%, in what became the most expensive House primary in US history, reportedly drawing over $32m in spending.
Trump repeatedly called for voters to back Ed Gallrein, a retired navy Seal and farmer, over the incumbent Massie who had drawn the president’s ire after breaking with him on several high-profile issues, including the war on Iran, the release of the Epstein files and his signature tax bill.
“There is a yearning in this country for somebody who will vote for principles over party,” Massie said in his concession speech.
“If the legislative branch always votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule,” he added.
Massie’s defeat was the latest in a series of successful proxy battles Trump has fought which have ousted dissenting Republican incumbents – in states like Indiana and Louisiana – by endorsing a more loyal challenger.
Thomas Massie speaks with supporters after his concession speech in Hebron, Kentucky. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
The election took place as voters in five other states – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho – went to the polls on Tuesday, to decide their nominees for the November election in what was the biggest primary night of the year so far. We’ll bring you a round up of these results shortly.
The next major test of Trump’s influence is in Texas, where the state’s controversial attorney general, Ken Paxton, has just secured the president’s endorsement in his bid to unseat four-term incumbent Republican senator John Cornyn in next week’s Republican primary run-off race.
Updated at 07.15 EDT
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Ramon Antonio Vargas
Georgia mayor who fired town’s entire police force resigns, citing family ‘health concerns’
Fired members of the Cohutta Police Department look on as Mayor Ron Shinnick speaks at Cohutta Town Hall in Cohutta, Ga. on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Matt Hamilton/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP) Photograph: Matt Hamilton/AP
The mayor of Georgia has resigned shortly after firing his community’s entire police department, a step that the local governing council ultimately reversed – but that he nonetheless took amid a political spat pitting him and his wife against members of the force.
In a 15 May resignation letter that the Guardian reviewed, Ron Shinnick avoided mentioning his attempted termination of the Cohutta police department, word of which gained international media attention. The letter instead said Shinnick had opted to vacate the mayoral post he had held since 2014 due to “health concerns” faced by family members outside Cohutta.
“This decision was not made lightly,” Shinnick wrote in his resignation letter, to which he assigned immediate effect. “But I believe it is in the best interest of both the town and myself at this time.”
Shinnick, 70, had dismissed Cohutta’s police chief and 10 officers by 6 May. A sign posted in the town of roughly 930 people announced the dissolution of its police department and advised anyone in need of help to call a non-emergency county government telephone number.
Later, Shinnick said he acted against the police department over some comments that officers made on social media. A police sergeant maintained the matter involved a complaint officers had raised about Shinnick’s wife, Pam, who had served as the town’s clerk before being fired in January.
This morning Trump continued to post on Truth Social about the congressmen, governor, lieutenant governor and senator he had endorsed who won their primaries on Tuesday.
In his 13 posts he named Republican winners from Idaho, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky, and at the end had a summary post citing that 100% of candidates endorsed by him, 37 by his count, have won their races.
Trump is giving the commencement speech to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut at 11am today, where he is likely to speak more about these wins.
ShareGeorgia’s Republican races for governor and US Senate head to June runoffs
George Chidi
The Republican primary campaign for Georgia governor will go to a June runoff, with the lieutenant governor Burt Jones facing off against healthcare billionaire and political newcomer Rick Jackson – and locking out Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state and longtime political enemy of Donald Trump who was on track to finish a distant third.
Jackson, a political newcomer who was relatively unknown in the state, upended the contest by pouring nearly $50mn of his own money into campaign advertising. Republican candidates spent more than $100m in total, according to tracking figures from AdImpact.
Rick Jackson (left) and Burt Jones. Composite: AP
Jones, who has been endorsed by Trump, and Jackson will continue their showdown on 16 June, which has soaked up almost all of the available advertising inventory on Georgia television.
The Democratic primary was relatively genteel compared to dueling attack advertising among Republicans.
Despite predictions of a runoff, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor with a decisive margin, with support from former president Joe Biden. You can read the full story here:
The EU has finally agreed to implement a trade deal with the US after hours of talks between members of the European parliament and member states, likely averting a threat by Donald Trump to punish any more stalling with steep tariffs, including on cars and trucks imported from the bloc. You can read more in this story by my colleague Lisa O’Carroll:
ShareTrump claims ‘100%’ of his endorsements won in Republican primaries
Donald Trump has posted to Truth Social claiming that “100%” of his endorsements in the May 19 Republican primaries won in their races, citing clean sweeps in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Kentucky.
Republicans backed by Trump either won or were in first place in the primaries in Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky on Tuesday. Idaho’s three longtime congressional incumbents, all Republicans supported by Trump, easily won their party’s nominations in yesterday’s primary election. A small number of races, however, remain unsettled and are heading to runoffs.
Updated at 07.13 EDT
Cecilia Nowell
Other election results poured in as polls closed in Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Oregon.
Among the most notable: US senator Tommy Tuberville won the Republican nomination for Alabama governor, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia and state representative Chris Rabb won the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania’s third congressional district.
In Georgia, lieutenant governor Burt Jones and healthcare executive Rick Jackson will advance to a runoff in the Republican primary for the governor’s race, while congressmen Mike Collins and Derek Dooley will advance to a runoff for the Republican nomination to compete against Democrat Jon Ossoff for his senate seat this November.
ShareOpening summary: Trump tightens grip on GOP after Thomas Massie defeated in Kentucky primary
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican party after the independent-minded Congressman Thomas Massie was defeated in the Kentucky Republican House primary by the president’s hand-picked challenger.
Massie lost by a vote of 55% to 45%, in what became the most expensive House primary in US history, reportedly drawing over $32m in spending.
Trump repeatedly called for voters to back Ed Gallrein, a retired navy Seal and farmer, over the incumbent Massie who had drawn the president’s ire after breaking with him on several high-profile issues, including the war on Iran, the release of the Epstein files and his signature tax bill.
“There is a yearning in this country for somebody who will vote for principles over party,” Massie said in his concession speech.
“If the legislative branch always votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule,” he added.
Massie’s defeat was the latest in a series of successful proxy battles Trump has fought which have ousted dissenting Republican incumbents – in states like Indiana and Louisiana – by endorsing a more loyal challenger.
Thomas Massie speaks with supporters after his concession speech in Hebron, Kentucky. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
The election took place as voters in five other states – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho – went to the polls on Tuesday, to decide their nominees for the November election in what was the biggest primary night of the year so far. We’ll bring you a round up of these results shortly.
The next major test of Trump’s influence is in Texas, where the state’s controversial attorney general, Ken Paxton, has just secured the president’s endorsement in his bid to unseat four-term incumbent Republican senator John Cornyn in next week’s Republican primary run-off race.
Updated at 07.15 EDT