Iowa's Gubernatorial X-Factor | Blanche Permanent at DOJ? | 6/4/26
The A.M. Update
Aaron McIntire
4.9 • 833 Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Todd Blanche, Josh Turek, Ashley Hinson, Tim McBride, and Spencer Pratt headline today's A.M. Update. Trump tells Miranda Devine at the New York Post he wants acting AG Todd Blanche to stay permanently, and Aaron says the DOJ's activity record makes it hard to argue with. California primary results are still trickling in with Steve Hilton leading the Republican field at 27.8% and Spencer Pratt trailing Karen Bass by only about four points with votes still outstanding, and Aaron breaks down the campaign lessons Pratt's run already offers any candidate willing to learn them. Secretary of State Marco Rubio methodically dismantles Senator Jacky Rosen's gotcha question about the Pakistan negotiations, then tells Congressman Tim McBride that Greenland is part of Denmark "for now" — and Aaron says that was the best line of the week. Iowa's general election matchup is now set: Republican Ashley Hinson faces Paralympic gold medalist and Democrat Josh Turek for Joni Ernst's retiring Senate seat, and Aaron closes with a deep dive on what Zach Lahn's populist anti-big-ag message means for Iowa politics and why it might quietly split the Democratic coalition in November.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday, June 4th, 2026, waiting on California. |
| 0:03.4 | Trump announces his pick for permanent new Attorney General and more insight and reflection on what happened in Iowa. |
| 0:11.4 | Next on the AM update. |
| 0:16.0 | Still waiting on results from some notable races out of California. Steve Hilton, the Republican there, |
| 0:23.3 | still leads the jungle primary. He's going to lose in the general election, but still a pretty |
| 0:26.8 | good showing for him. He is leading the overall field in that jungle primary with 27.8%, but still |
| 0:33.2 | only around 50%, a little bit over 50%, last I checked, actually reporting. |
| 0:39.6 | He's leading the pack there in the jungle primary. |
| 0:42.3 | Also in the L.A. Mayorles race, that would be Spencer Pratt, the upstart. |
| 0:47.8 | He is still faring pretty well with over 60% reporting. |
| 0:53.0 | He trails Karen Bass, the incumbent, 30. 30.4% to Bass's 34.8%. |
| 1:00.2 | Total results from the state of California expected by around June 31st. |
| 1:05.7 | Here is Spencer Pratt on primary night in Los Angeles. |
| 1:09.1 | Obviously got one of five more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor. |
| 1:14.8 | So it's going to be a fun ride. |
| 1:17.2 | I hope she's ready. |
| 1:19.0 | Are you ready? |
| 1:20.3 | I mean, I was born for this, clearly. |
| 1:22.6 | Spencer Pratt, I think there are some lessons. |
| 1:25.1 | I think any candidate who wants to run for elected office, especially notable offices like that, I think there are some lessons. I think any candidate who wants to run for elected office, especially |
| 1:28.4 | notable offices like that, I think there are lessons that can be learned from Spencer Pratt's campaign. |
| 1:34.7 | He played offense all of the time. Early on, he produced some viral content. He understood |
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