REUTERS/ USA TODAY NETWORK
Bucking the trend toward greater polarization, American primary voters sent a prominent progressive packing and chose three moderates over Trump-backed candidates on Tuesday night, suggesting the center can, sometimes, hold.
For progressive Democrats, the loss of Jamaal Bowman in New York was a big setback. Bowman lost by 17 points to George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, in an expensive and emotional contest. Bowman, who launched controversial attacks on Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, was not helped by a rescue mission led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, suggesting that a loss of focus on bread-and-butter issues gave voters second thoughts about Bowman.
In red states, moderates triumphed over the right wing in three states, with voters in Utah choosing Trump skeptic John Curtis over Trump’s candidate, Trent Staggs, to replace Mitt Romney in the Senate. Trump-backed candidates also lost in South Carolina and Colorado, a victory for establishment Republicans.
The centrists might be pleased to have more amicable colleagues, but they won’t get much of a break. Trump favorite Lauren Boeberteasily won a primary in a safe Colorado district after deciding not to risk losing her current district, where Democrats had a shot at taking her down. Moderation has its limits.
“Tuesday’s race showed that the center is indeed holding across many races,” says Clayton Allen, US director at Eurasia Group. “This is especially true with Democrats, where Bowman’s loss and Biden’s pivot toward the middle on border security leave progressives look weaker than they have since 2020. Behind that, the primaries do little to alter the main theme of the election: Biden’s age versus Trump’s temperament.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia this weekend, a first by the leader of a non-European country. He was invited to discuss common interests in trade, energy, and security. In a speech that echoed his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos two months earlier, Carney called on middle powers, including Canada and European nations, to work together in the wake of disruption of the established world order — implicitly pointing to the United States. “It’s my strong personal view that the international order will be rebuilt,” he told the crowd in Yerevan, “but it will be rebuilt out of Europe.”
There are signs AI could ripple through the economy much faster than past innovations. At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis asked Microsoft's Vickie Robinson what it will take to prepare economies for the age of AI and how quickly it needs to happen.
Apparently they really are saying this on Wall Street now. But are they SINGING it? #PUPPETREGIME
At first glance, Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar may appear to be the antithesis of the man he defeated in the April 12 election, Viktor Orbán. Yet the pair might be closer than you think – both on policy and politics.