Think More: Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Paxton ousts Cornyn, Rabb's socialist win, California's NGO money, a third UCLA antisemitism suit, and the economy.
Paxton ousts Cornyn, Rabb’s socialist win, California’s NGO money, a third UCLA antisemitism suit, and the economy.
Lead · The Primary Map
Paxton Ousts Cornyn, and the Senate Becomes Trump’s
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton routed three-term Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s runoff, leading roughly 62% to 38% after a last-minute Trump endorsement. Cornyn becomes the second Senate Republican this cycle, after Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, to lose a primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
The Primary Map
Pennsylvania’s Parties Split: Democrats March Left, Republicans Hold the Center
Salena Zito | The American Spectator
Reporting from Monongahela, Zito reads the downballot results as two parties heading opposite directions: incumbent Republican state senators Camera Bartolotta and Chris Gebhard beat back challengers from their right, while Democrats elevated the Democratic Socialists’ Chris Rabb over the Philadelphia machine’s Sharif Street.
The New Radicalism
Meet Chris Rabb, the Democratic Socialist Headed to Congress Unopposed
Rabb, who won Pennsylvania’s 3rd District primary with backing from AOC and the DSA, faces no Republican opponent in November. Talgo walks through a platform of “Universal Basic Guarantees,” a Green New Deal, and Court-packing, and counts the cost.
Before Mamdani’s Grocery Store Opens, the Site Has Already Cost Taxpayers Millions
The La Marqueta site in East Harlem that Mayor Zohran Mamdani picked for a city-owned supermarket has already absorbed tens of millions in prior taxpayer redevelopment money, on top of the roughly $30 million the city plans to spend building the store itself. Roughly 45 grocers already operate within a 35-minute walk.
Roughly 45 grocers already operate within a 35-minute walk of the site the city will spend $30 million to compete with.
New York’s “Anti-Insurrectionist Act”: A 100% Tax Aimed at a Single Fund
State Assemblyman Alex Bores has introduced a bill to tax at 100% any payment a New Yorker receives from the federal anti-weaponization fund. Critics across the spectrum, including Josh Barro, flagged it as a likely bill of attainder.
Follow the California Money
California’s Cap-and-Trade Slush Fund Buys Solar Panels for Illegal Immigrants
Christopher F. Rufo & Austen Hufford | Christopher F. Rufo
A $49 million “weatherization” program funded through California’s cap-and-trade system installs free solar panels and appliances for farmworkers, including illegal immigrants, at roughly $23,000 per household across only 2,000 homes. Rufo traces one operator, Mauricio Blanco, connected to entities at multiple stages of the money flow.
Becerra’s NGO Network and Its Ties to Mexico City
Seamus Bruner & Price Sukhia | Just the News
Drawing on Government Accountability Institute reporting, this piece maps California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s decades-long ties to UnidosUS, CHIRLA, and CARECEN, groups with operational links to the Mexican government. CHIRLA alone reported nearly $34 million in government grant revenue in 2022.
The California Money, by the Figures
$49M
Cap-and-trade weatherization program
$23K
Cost per household, 2,000 homes
$34M
CHIRLA grant revenue, 2022
Campus and the Antisemitism Question
Justice Department Sues UCLA a Third Time Over Campus Antisemitism
Jaweed Kaleem | Los Angeles Times
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, under Harmeet Dhillon, filed a 53-page complaint alleging UCLA was “deliberately indifferent” to harassment of Jewish and Israeli students after October 7, seeking a court-appointed monitor and repayment of federal grants. It is the third federal suit against the UC system this year.
Spare Us the Selective Outrage
Victor Davis Hanson | American Greatness
Hanson sets the condemnation of Israel against the silence over Turkey’s treatment of Armenians and Cypriot Greeks, the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Arab world, and other documented atrocities. The tell of the antisemite, he argues, is the fixation on Israel’s supposed crimes while greater horrors pass unmentioned.
The Data
Only a Quarter of Voters Call the Economy Good
Scott Rasmussen | Napolitan News Service
Just 25% of registered voters rate the economy as good or excellent, down 3 points in two weeks, while 42% call it poor. Republican optimism has collapsed from 54% in late March to 36% now.
