Garcia, 23, was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in a five-player trade involving Johan Oviedo on Dec. 4. He is rated as the organization’s No. 4 overall prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.

Ryan O’Hearn’s right quad strain, which is expected to sideline him for four weeks, created the opportunity for Garcia, who went 1 for 7 in five games last season with Boston.

Garcia started in right field and batted sixth against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

“Just continue the same work habits that I’ve been doing, that sort of work plan, and just transfer that to the big leagues,” Garcia said through an interpreter.

Garcia has been hitting with power since returning from a rehab assignment after dealing with lower back tightness. He hit .375 (6 for 16) with four RBIs in five games at Indianapolis, including a three-homer game on May 12.

Nick Yorke was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis after Sunday’s game to clear roster space.

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The primary turned white hot in the final stretch before polls closed in the 4th District Tuesday evening. Massie recruited a phalanx of other Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, in an attempt to show voters that they could support both him and Trump. Trump ratcheted up his social media attacks on Massie, calling him “an obstructionist and a fool,” and Gallrein shared a stage with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday.

Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party in his second term, successfully purging those who deviate from his agenda, but Massie is one of the last and most outspoken holdouts. A Massie defeat would serve as one of the most powerful demonstrations yet of Trump’s influence over Republican voters.

The matchup between the congressman, who has been in office since 2012, and a first-time candidate running on his loyalty to Trump, has been the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.

Massie challenged the president last year to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, which became a political drag for the White House. He also criticized the war in Iran and refused to vote for Trump’s signature tax legislation over concerns that it would increase the national debt.

In response Trump visited Kentucky to boost Gallrein in March. The president has had a string of success defeating dissenters in his party, pushing to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and several Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary is expected to take the general election in the deeply red 4th Congressional District, which stretches along the state’s northernmost border.

Also Tuesday, Republicans statewide chose U.S. Rep. Andy Barr as their nominee to replace Mitch McConnell, the longtime U.S. Senate leader. In a contest representing a generational changing of the guard for the party, Barr, who was endorsed by Trump, bested Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general who leaned into his Christianity on the campaign trail.

Can Republican voters support both Trump and Massie?

Massie’s challenge was to win over voters who generally think favorably of Trump, the same man telling them to vote for Gallrein. It’s not the first Republican primary Trump has tried to sway, but Massie’s overt rebelliousness has been a particular challenge to the president.

Gallrein, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, embraced the role Trump gave him, and focused his pitch to voters on his personal history and unwavering loyalty to the president. Massie, he argued, betrayed Trump and the party.

Hegseth made a visit to the district Monday to boost Gallrein and lambast Massie, a break from tradition that came while the nation is at war. Hegseth said he was speaking “as a private citizen.”

Some voters were already fed up with Massie bucking the party.

George Scherzer, who lives in the small town of Crestwood, supported Massie in past elections but did not like his lack of support for some of the president’s agenda, including last year’s tax and spending bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.

“Some of his votes just did not make sense to me,” Scherzer said.

Massie argued that voters did not have to choose between Trump and him, nothing that he voted with his party the vast majority of the time. As for the remainder, he said those were on proposals that violated his America First principles such as adding to the national debt and getting into military entanglements like the war with Iran.

Massie has voted against U.S. aid to Israel and faced accusations of antisemitism. He has denied the charges, arguing that he is generally against all foreign aid. But the race drew in millions of dollars against him from pro-Israel interest groups, including from the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund.

That became a stump topic for Massie, who said the attempt to oust him was to send a warning to other lawmakers who oppose the president or aid to Israel.

In a last-minute pitch to Kentucky Republicans, Boebert posted photos of her with Massie and with Trump on the social platform X, saying, “I support both of these men.” Replying to that, Massie said: “she likes both Trump and me! Yes it’s possible!!”

Trump lashed out at Boebert on his Truth Social platform, asking for a Republican to challenge her even though the filing deadline in her home state of Colorado has already passed. “Anybody that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!” he wrote.

Trump influenced Senate primary

The president swayed the race not just through his endorsement but by offering a third challenger, Nate Morris, an ambassadorship just over two weeks before Election Day. Morris, who fashioned himself as the MAGA candidate, withdrew from the race and encouraged his backers to support Barr.

Barr was first elected in 2012 in the 6th Congressional District. He is expected to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state.

During the campaign both Barr and Cameron tiptoed around their relationship with McConnell, whom they previously called a mentor.

McConnell criticized Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and more recently voted against some of his Cabinet picks. He is stepping down after becoming the longest serving Senate leader in American history, coinciding with a transformation of the party under Trump.

Many Republicans, while admiring McConnell’s achievements, see him as out of step with the Make America Great Again and America First movements spawned by Trump. Both Barr and Cameron took note, and while ingratiating themselves to the president, they put some distance between themselves and the senator.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — On his first day in the major leagues, New York Mets rookie Nick Morabito couldn’t help but think of how similar to the route the team bus took to Nationals Park was to his ride to high school every day.

The McLean, Virginia, native became the latest part of the Mets’ outfield youth movement Tuesday when he was called up from Triple-A Syracuse. Morabito was set to play left bat seventh in his big league debut.

“I grew up coming to this park, so it’s a pretty surreal moment for me,” Morabito said.

He joins fellow rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, who have all come up through New York’s minor league system and debuted this season.

Benge, the Mets’ first-round pick in 2024, debuted on opening day and has settled in as an everyday player. Ewing debuted May 12 and hit .304 while starting his first seven games in center field before getting a routine day off Tuesday.

Now Morabito, who was a second-round pick out of Washington’s Gonzaga College High School in 2022, is also in the outfield mix.

“It’s definitely more comfortable to come here with guys I already know and have played with,” Morabito said. “I’m super tight with those guys already.”

Morabito hit .253 with four homers and 17 RBIs for Syracuse. He also stole 14 bases in 16 attempts, and he had 49 steals at Double-A Binghamton last year.

To make room on the roster, the Mets designated outfielder Austin Slater for assignment. Slater hit .250 with an RBI in nine games with New York after beginning the season in Miami

Manager Carlos Mendoza said Morabito will get playing time throughout the outfield, versatility that could also make him a valuable defensive replacement, pinch-running option and a bat off the bench.

He’s also expected to get some starts as part of an outfield rotation, especially with the Mets playing on the eighth of 16 consecutive days.

“We felt like right now, we’re looking for the best 26 guys to help us win baseball games,” Mendoza said. “He’s here for a reason.”

A debut so close to home made it easier for Morabito’s family and friends to make it. The 23-year-old also recalled going to Nationals Park for bobblehead giveaways and watching the likes of Bryce Harper and Juan Soto.

Now he’s sharing a clubhouse with Soto after scrambling to Washington after learning of his callup Monday.

“Had to pack and get on a flight this morning,” Morabito said. “The last 12 hours have been kind of hectic.”

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Lamar Jackson was absent from a voluntary practice for the Baltimore Ravens, and that usually raises eyebrows.

New coach Jesse Minter didn’t seem to be sweating it.

“Lamar’s been one of our leaders of the offseason program, and he had a couple things going on yesterday and today, and I do expect him to be back soon,” said Minter, who replaced John Harbaugh after last season. “We’ve had some great conversations. I know when he’s going to be back and again, I’ll probably leave those between me and Lamar.”

Jackson’s attendance at these types of OTAs has been sporadic over the years. It’s hard to say how much that matters, but it’s certainly an issue critics have pointed to from time to time. His contract, with two years remaining, has also been a significant topic lately after he and the Ravens did not agree to an extension before the start of free agency. Baltimore instead restructured Jackson’s deal to create cap space.

Jackson was at Minter’s first minicamp with the Ravens last month.

That camp wasn’t open to reporters, but Tuesday’s OTA was, and it offered a chance to see how the new coach handled practice on a hot day in Owings Mills. At the end, the team took part in a little game in which players from the offense and defense competed at throwing medicine balls.

Minter said that’s part of preparing the team to play well in the most important moments, something the Ravens have struggled with the past few years.

“We end practice every day (with an) ‘At our best when our best is needed’ period, and so that could be anything different. Today, we decided to do a little friendly competition,” Minter said. “Right now, you can’t really do the football competition, and so I thought it would be something different, something fun. I try to get guys to not know what’s about to happen and answer the bell when their number’s called, and it’s as simple as that. That’s really all we’re trying to get done with that and make it fun, have the guys pull for each other.”

Earlier, there was a scary moment when running back Derrick Henry banged knees with another player and stayed down on the ground for a bit. He was able to resume practicing shortly thereafter.

“The ground felt like a bed for a little while,” he said. “And I saw you all (reporters) looking hot and bored, so I was like, ‘I need to give them something to tweet and write about.’”

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All three men were shot while trying to delay and distract the two gunmen who barged into the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.

The Imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego, Taha Hassane, identified the three victims as Amin Abdullah, 51, Nader Awad, 57, and Mansour Kaziha, 78, who was known as Abu Ezz.

“We call them our brothers in the community. We call them our martyrs and our heroes,” said Hassane.

The three men saved lives

Authorities described how the shooting unfolded based on security camera footage at the mosque, which is the largest in San Diego and attracts thousands of people from across the region during major holidays. In addition to having prayer five times a day, it also provides dinners and breakfasts during the Ramadan fasting period, hosts a school for Arabic and Islamic studies, and has a store inside.

When the two shooters, ages 17 and 18, entered, they passed Abdullah, seemingly without notice, Wahl said. Abdullah, who was a security guard for the mosque for about a decade, quickly confronted them and exchanged gunfire.

At the same time, he grabbed his radio and warned everyone to go into lockdown. As the shooters made their way into the lobby, they wounded him as he kept firing, forcing them back outside into the mosque’s parking lot. There, he was fatally shot.

The shooters went back inside and searched through rooms that were emptied during the lockdown, Wahl said. The gunmen then went back out to the parking lot where Kaziha and Awad confronted them. Kaziha was able to call 911 before the gunmen fatally shot both men outside.

“All three of our victims did not die in vain. Without distracting the attention, without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities,” Wahl said.

A warm and welcoming presence

Amid an outpouring of condolences from Muslim leaders and politicians around the country, people in the tight-knit community say they are struggling to imagine the Islamic Center without the three men — who were widely regarded as central figures who made the mosque feel like home.

Abdullah greeted all visitors to the mosque with a smile and the traditional Muslim greeting in Arabic of “as-salamu alaikum,” or “peace be upon you,” according to Mahmood Ahmadi, a longtime attendee. Another friend, Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, said Abdullah was there nearly every single day and was dedicated to his wife and eight kids.

His daughter Hawaa Abdullah, surrounded by family members at a Tuesday news conference, said her father was loving and supportive, a “best friend” and a role model. He took his job protecting the community so seriously he sometimes wouldn’t eat during his shifts, she said.

“He wanted to save his food until after he left the job because he was afraid that if he were on his break, something bad will happen,” she said.

Abdullah was raised Christian and described in a 2019 YouTube video his journey discovering the Islamic faith after graduating high school. Farooq said he met Abdullah shortly after he became a Muslim in the 1990s. Most recently, they had gone on a pilgrimage trip to Mecca together.

Khalid Alexander converted to Islam around the same time as Abdullah roughly 30 years ago. The two men lived in a different San Diego mosque together at the time, where they helped each other imagine how to make meaningful, stable lives. Over the years, Alexander said that he has watched Abdullah take pride in his ability to care for his community as a security guard.

“That was his dream job,” Alexander said.

Alexander said that he and Abdullah sometimes discussed concerns about rising “anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-immigrant” sentiments on television. Often, those sentiments came directly to the San Diego mosque through hate mail, which prompted the hiring of security guards like Abdullah and installation of cameras, Hassane said.

Alexander said Abdullah “was keenly aware of the dangers of his job — and that’s exactly why he chose to do it.”

Father figure in the center

Kaziha, known as Abu Ezz, was an integral part of the mosque since it was built in the 1980s, and has served the community “non-stop” since then, Hassane said.

Hassane and others knew Kaziha as the first person to call when something went wrong.

“He was the handyman. He was the cook. He was the caretaker. He was the storekeeper. He was everything,” he said.

Alexander has known Kaziha since before Alexander converted to Islam, and still remembers the first time in the mid-1990s when he was welcomed into Kaziha’s home. Decades later, Alexander said it was hard to imagine the center without him.

“He was like, kind of like the father of that space,” said Alexander.

Running toward gunfire

Awad lived across the street from the Islamic Center and attended prayers “every single day,” Hassane said.

When he heard gunfire, Awad ran toward the building, where his wife is a teacher at the school.

The three men’s actions, Alexander said, embodied the virtues of Islamic community in San Diego.

“They really represented everything that’s beautiful about Islam and everything that is beautiful about Muslims,” said Alexander.

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This story has been corrected to say Abdullah had eight children, not nine.

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The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because LSU had not announced or acknowledged the move, which is expected to result in a petition to the NCAA to restore Luis’ eligibility.

Luis played three seasons in college — one at UMass and two at St. John’s. He declared for the NBA draft in 2025 after being named the Big East player of the year.

After going undrafted, the 6-foot-7 Luis signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz and was traded to the Boston Celtics. However, Luis never appeared in a game in either the NBA or the G League, and that is expected to be element of his argument as to why the NCAA should allow him to suit up for Wade’s Tigers.

Luis played in 85 games with 52 starts and averaged 14.1 points per game during his college career. During his final season at St. John’s, he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 47.5% overall and 33.6% from 3-point range.

While there is precedent for the NCAA granting eligibility to international students who have played professionally overseas, the NCAA last season denied former G League player Charles Bediako’s bid to resume his college career at Alabama.

Bediako sued to have his eligibility restored and was able to play five games for the Crimson Tide while a temporary restraining order was in effect, but he was barred from finishing the season when a judge denied his petition for injunctive relief.

Wade, who was forced to take a year off from coaching at the college level after being fired with cause by LSU in March of 2022, returned as the Tigers’ coach in March after coaching one season at N.C. State.

While Wade’s teams were successful on the court at LSU, his career was briefly derailed by a recruiting scandal surrounding payments to players that were not permitted at the time, but are now.

After Wade served his suspension, he was hired as the coach at McNeese in Louisiana. He led the Cowboys to two NCAA Tournament appearances before moving on to N.C. State.

Since coming back to the Bayou, Wade has gone about overhauling LSU’s roster.

While LSU currently is not listing any players on its 2026-27 roster, 22-year-old Mo Dioubate has announced his intention to transfer from Kentucky. And Wade reportedly is in the process of signing a half-dozen experienced players, including: 25-year-old Israeli pro Yam Madar; 23-year-old EuroLeague pro Brice Dessert of France; 23-year-old EuroLeague player Marcio Santos of Brazil; 23-year-old UTSA transfer Austin Nunez; 22-year-old Kansas State transfer Abdi Bashir; and 20-year-old Michigan State transfer Divine Ugochukwu.

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One of the people told the AP that the potential indictment is connected to Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro was defense minister at the time.

All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The Cuban government did not respond to a request for comment on the potential indictment, which was reported earlier by CBS.

Any criminal charge against Castro, which would need to be approved by a grand jury, would dramatically escalate tensions with Havana and ramp up expectations of U.S. military action in Cuba like the one carried out in January in Venezuela to bring President Nicolàs Maduro to New York on drug trafficking charges.

Following Maduro’s ouster, the Trump administration quickly turned its attention to his ally Cuba and ordered an economic blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and a collapse in economic activity across the island.

Iran war gave Cuba a breather

The U.S. war in Iran appeared to have given Cuban leaders something of a reprieve from U.S. talk of regime change.

As Trump seeks to wind down that conflict, speculation has been growing that he may soon turn his attention back to Cuba after pledging earlier this year a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership didn’t open up its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Richard Feinberg, a professor emeritus specializing in Latin America at the University of California-San Diego, said that any indictment of Castro will play well with voters in south Florida but is unlikely to persuade career war planners in the Pentagon to pursue a second war of choice — this time just 90 miles from Florida.

“There’s no easy Venezuela copy,” said Feinberg. “There’s no clear line of succession and it’s hard to imagine regime change without U.S. boots on the ground.”

The AP reported in March that the U.S. Attorney in Miami had created a special working group of prosecutors and federal law enforcement to build cases against top Cuban officials amid calls by several south Florida Republicans to reopen its investigation into Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 shootdown.

Trump calls Cuba ‘a declining country’

Trump declined to discuss a potential indictment on Friday, deferring to the Justice Department.

“But they need help, as you know, and you talk about a declining country — they are really a nation or a country in decline, so we’re going to see,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We have a lot to talk about on Cuba, but not maybe for today.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials, including Castro’s grandson, during a high-level visit to the island on Thursday.

Castro, 94, took over as president from his ailing brother, Fidel Castro, in 2006, and then handed power to a handpicked loyalist, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in 2018.

While he largely has avoided the spotlight since retiring in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, a fact underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who previously met secretly with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Florida straits shootdown a watershed moment in Cuba-U.S. relations

Cuba’s shootdown in 1996 of two Cessna aircraft operated by the Brothers to the Rescue was a watershed moment in decades of hostilities between the two countries.

At the time, President Bill Clinton had been cautiously exploring ways to reduce tensions with a Cold War adversary but faced stiff opposition from exiles who organized publicity-seeking flyovers of Havana, dropping anti-Castro leaflets, and aiding Cuban rafters fleeing economic deprivation and single-party rule.

The Cubans had warned the U.S. government for months that it was prepared to defend against what it considered deliberate provocations. But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes just beyond Cuba’s airspace, according to an investigation conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization. A third plane, carrying the organization’s leader, narrowly escaped.

“With hindsight, it appears the Castros’ motive was to slow down the Clinton outreach because they needed the U.S. as an external enemy to justify their national security posture,” said Richard Fienberg, who worked on Cuban issues at the National Security Council at the time.

They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, said Feinberg.

Shortly after the shootdown, Congress passed what became known as the Helms-Burton Act, which codified a U.S. trade embargo enacted in 1962 and made it far more complicated for successive U.S. presidents to engage with Cuba.

To date, the U.S. has convicted only a single person of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown. Gerardo Hernández, the leader of a Cuban espionage ring dismantled by the FBI in the 1990s, was sentenced to life in prison but was released by President Barack Obama during a prisoner swap in 2014 as part of an attempt to normalize relations with Cuba.

Two fighter jet pilots and their commanding officer have also been indicted but are outside the reach of U.S. law enforcement while living in Cuba.

Castro previously investigated for drug trafficking

Castro has been under U.S. criminal investigation before. In 1993, federal prosecutors in Miami considered charging him and several other senior Cuban military officials with cocaine trafficking based on testimony from Colombian traffickers that emerged in the drug trial of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the AP reported in 2006.

But an indictment never followed amid concerns about the witness’ credibility as well as fears that it could risk U.S. intelligence operations and derail Clinton’s tentative outreach.

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In this story first published May 15, 2026, The Associated Press erroneously reported that four planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down Feb. 26, 1996; that Castro took over from his brother Fidel Castro in 2011; and that Miguel Díaz-Canel became president in 2019. It was updated on May 19, 2026, to correct that two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue were downed, and they were shot down Feb. 24, 1996. Raúl Castro took over for his ailing brother in 2006 and handed power to Díaz-Canel in 2018.

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Tucker and Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed.

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The whales were identified by their distinctive tail markings at the two locations about 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) apart. They traveled in opposite directions and journeyed farther than any humpback known so far.

“It’s a very rare event, but it is a really wonderful demonstration of just how wide-ranging these animals are,” said Phillip Clapham, former head of a NOAA whale research program who was not involved with the new findings.

Humpback whales are known for roaming long distances across major oceans in predictable patterns, typically following migration routes learned from their mothers. They feed on krill and small fish in the warmer months and breed in tropical waters over winter.

It’s difficult to track the movements of creatures that spend most of their lives underwater. In the new study, scientists analyzed over 19,000 whale images taken in the past four decades by research groups and citizen scientists.

Recognition software helped to identify the whales based on their tails’ color patterns and jagged edges. Researchers pinpointed two different whales at breeding sites in eastern Australia and Brazil over the years, suggesting they had crossed from one place to the other.

One whale traveled just over 9,300 miles (15,000 kilometers), outranking previous recordholders including a humpback that swam from Colombia to Zanzibar.

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Since the photos only depict the whales at the beginning and end of their journeys, researchers don’t know the exact route they took.

Whales don’t typically travel between mating sites so it’s not yet clear why these two separately embarked on their journeys. They may have met other whales on shared feeding grounds and split off instead of returning to where they came from, study co-author Stephanie Stack with the Pacific Whale Foundation said in an email.

“Finding not one but two individuals that have crossed between Australia and Brazil challenges what we thought we knew about how separate these populations really are,” Stack said.

Such odysseys are more difficult for whales in the Northern Hemisphere, where massive continents make traveling across oceans tougher.

Scientists said the record journey shows just how far humpback whales can go. These methods can also help keep track of them as climate change warms oceans, possibly changing where krill live and where humpbacks might go to feed and breed.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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In Kentucky, Trump is trying to oust Rep. Thomas Massie, who has been a thorn in his side for years. Trump handpicked challenger Ed Gallrein after Massie broke with him over issues including the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The first polls there closed at 6 p.m. ET.

In Georgia, Republicans are choosing a challenger to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Trump has not endorsed a candidate, which could lead to a runoff on June 16. There’s also a bruising Republican primary for governor. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

In Alabama, Republican voters will choose a U.S. Senate candidate to replace Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic voters will pick their nominees to flip four Republican-held seats seen as critical for the party to retake the U.S. House. The races will be a test of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s influence. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek will face nearly two dozen challengers. Voters will also decide whether to raise gas taxes to pay for improvements to the state’s roads and bridges. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

In Idaho, voters are picking their party’s nominees for governor and U.S. Senate. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

The Latest:

US Rep. Andy Barr wins GOP primary for Senate in Kentucky

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who was endorsed by Trump, beat Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general who leaned into his Christianity on the campaign trail.

The winner in November will replace U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down in a generational changing of the guard for Republicans.

Trump swayed the race not just through his endorsement but by offering a third challenger, Nate Morris, an ambassadorship just over two weeks before Election Day. Morris, who fashioned himself as the MAGA candidate, withdrew from the race and encouraged his backers to support Barr.

Barr was first elected in 2012 in the 6th Congressional District. He is expected to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state.

Several polling places to stay open late in Georgia because of Election Day issues

Eleven polling places in Georgia’s Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, will be staying open late because of issues that arose during the day.

Blake Evans, who oversees elections for the secretary of state’s office, said the precincts were staying open because of problems with the electronic poll pads that are used to to check in voters. The extensions range from six minutes at one location to an hour at another, according to a judge’s order.

Deputy Secretary of State Matt Tyser said they are waiting on an order from a Fulton County judge to extend voting at a precinct in Sandy Springs, just north of Atlanta. That’s because a “law enforcement issue” that was unrelated to the election forced the closure of the polling place for several hours.

Most polls in Georgia are set to close at 7 p.m. ET.

Polls have begun closing in Kentucky, where Massie faces Trump-backed Gallrein

Most of the polls in the state closed at 6 p.m. ET, including in the 4th District where U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is up against Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary that’s garnered national attention.

The president picked Gallrein to compete against Massie, who’s frustrated Trump partly by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Western Kentucky is in the Central Time Zone and polls there close at 7 p.m. ET.

Republicans will select a challenger for Oregon’s lone competitive US House district

Five of Oregon’s six congressional districts are held by Democrats.

Its 5th District, considered the most competitive, was flipped by Republicans for the first time in decades in 2022 but reclaimed by Democrats in 2024. The district stretches from southern Portland across the Cascade Range to Bend.

The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum, is running against a primary opponent who has not reported raising any money.

Two candidates, a county commissioner and a political consultant, are running in the district’s GOP primary in the hope of trying to win the seat back for Republicans in November.

The Pennsylvania governor’s race is set

Both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican Stacy Garrity are running unopposed in their primaries.

Shapiro is heavily favored to win reelection this fall over Garrity, the state treasurer.

Republicans acknowledge Shapiro’s electoral strength, and may hope that Garrity can at least make it a close contest to help protect the party’s other candidates on the ballot in contests for Congress and the state Legislature.

The Alabama governor’s race is likely to feature a rematch

Tuberville could face former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, if both men secure their parties’ nominations.

The two last competed in the 2020 Senate race, when Tuberville easily defeated Jones, who was then the incumbent. Tuberville was boosted by a Trump endorsement and his high profile from his years as a football coach.

Jones, a former U.S. attorney, won a 2017 special election for U.S. Senate over Republican Roy Moore. Jones remains the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alabama.

A former Republican tries his luck in a Democratic primary

When Geoff Duncan was Georgia’s lieutenant governor, he resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020. He’s since left the Republican Party, and he’s running for governor as a Democrat.

His campaign has involved a lot of apologizing to win over voters who may be turned off by his previously conservative positions.

It’s an interesting example of how traditional partisan lines have been scrambled since Trump rose to power a decade ago. Many Republicans who have crossed the president have retired or been defeated in primaries. Only a few of them have attempted to switch parties like Duncan.

Oregon’s Democratic governor seeks reelection

Incumbent Tina Kotek is expected to win the Democratic primary and advance to November’s general election.

Elected to her first term as governor in 2022 after years in the Legislature, Kotek pledged to tackle homelessness, mental health and education. Despite approving funding and programs aimed at those issues, the state has continued to see rising homelessness and flagging student test scores that have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Kotek also has sparred with the Trump administration, which sought to deploy the National Guard to Portland last fall during its immigration crackdown for the stated purpose of protecting federal property and personnel.

After the state and city sued to block the deployment, a federal judge found that protests at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building didn’t meet the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

Trump has been seeking retribution, including in Kentucky

The president supported an opponent to Massie, just as he has done elsewhere.

On May 5, several Indiana state senators who defied Trump on redistricting lost their primaries to candidates backed by the president.

On May 16, Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his primary in Louisiana. Rep. Julia Letlow, who Trump endorsed, and state Treasurer John Fleming will compete in a runoff.

Cassidy had voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Why Trump is angry with Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie

Massie angered Trump by voting against his signature tax legislation over concerns of adding to the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

His positions, Massie insists, reflect the America First promises Trump initially made on the campaign trail.

In a Kentucky district where the president won by 35 points two years ago, Massie told The Associated Press that this primary is “by far the most challenging reelection I’ve ever faced.”

Voters have sent Massie back to Congress ever since his first election in 2012, embracing his stalwart independence and jaunty personality. Back in 2020, they brushed off Trump’s social media demand to throw Massie out of the Republican Party because he was a “third rate Grandstander.”

The Democrats running for US Senate in Kentucky

Their names may seem familiar.

The Democratic field in Kentucky includes former state lawmaker Charles Booker and former Marine pilot Amy McGrath. McGrath beat Booker and several other candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary to face McConnell.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky since 1992.

Josh Shapiro tests his political clout

Pennsylvania’s governor is also a potential 2028 presidential candidate. With his own primary uncontested, he’s been spending money and support on Democrats running for U.S. House and the state Legislature.

Shapiro is on track to break his own campaign spending record and, in a step to help races up and down the ballot, has plunged more than $900,000 so far this election cycle into the state Democratic Party’s accounts.

The election year is an opportunity for Shapiro to show his political strength in a premier battleground state should he decide to run for president in 2028.

Coons says Hegseth stumping against Massie is part of Trump’s ‘retribution’

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, said Trump is continuing a “campaign of retribution” against his political enemies.

He suggested that the latest example is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth campaigning — “during a war” — against U.S. Rep. Tom Massie ahead of Kentucky’s primary on Tuesday.

“That continues to prevent Republicans from having the courage to speak out on matters of principle, which I think is putting all of us at risk,” Coons told reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Massie angered Trump by opposing his signature tax legislation over concerns about the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

Oregon voters to decide to fate of gas tax increase

They are being asked whether to approve a 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature last fall.

They’ve been casting ballots as prices at the pump have skyrocketed because of the war with Iran.

Democrats increased the tax and other fees to help pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded by launching a successful referendum campaign to refer the tax and fee increases to the ballot, saying they drive the cost of living even higher.

Democrats say the main cause of skyrocketing gas prices is Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. But they’ve acknowledged the difficult timing of the ballot measure, which has also complicated national Democrats’ affordability messaging in midterm campaigning.

When can we expect to see vote results tonight

Kentucky will release the first results of the night.

In the 2024 primaries, the AP reported the first Kentucky votes six minutes after most polls closed at 6 p.m. ET. The last vote update of the night was at 9:47 p.m.

Georgia will be next, with polls closing at 7 p.m. ET. In the 2022 state primaries, results were available at 13 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:29 a.m.

Polls in Alabama and Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. ET, and both states started releasing votes at roughly the same time in the 2024 primaries — at 8:01 p.m. and 8:03 p.m., respectively. Both stopped counting for the night around 2 a.m.

Idaho and Oregon are expected to begin releasing votes just as voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET. In their last state primaries, Oregon began releasing votes right at 11 p.m. and Idaho at 11:09 p.m. Idaho’s last update of the night was at 4:51 a.m., while Oregon’s last update was at 5:11 a.m.

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No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Tehran and its militia proxies have launched drone attacks targeting Gulf Arab states since Israel and the United States began their war against Iran on Feb. 28. In the past, the militias have provided Iran with a way to deflect blame over such attacks.

There were no reported injuries or radioactive leaks at Barakah after the attack, which Emirati officials said hit a generator on the facility’s perimeter.

But at an emergency U.N. Security Council session Tuesday, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog described his agency’s “grave concerns” about the growing trend of targeting operating nuclear plants in the Iran war.

“In case of an attack on the Barakah nuclear power plant, a direct hit, could result in a very high rate of radioactivity to the environment,” said Rafael Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief.

The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks even after its ceasefire with the U.S. began April 8.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s willing to give Iran a few days to make progress in peace negotiations before the U.S. resumes military strikes.

Later in the day, the Senate advanced a bill aiming to force Trump to seek congressional approval or withdraw from the war, though it was not clear whether the legislation could gain final passage.

On Monday, Trump had said he was “an hour away from making the decision” to launch a new round of strikes and end the fragile ceasefire before he called off the attack. He has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.

Tensions have risen over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway gripped by Iran while its ports remain under a U.S. naval blockade. A maritime data firm reported Tuesday that ship traffic through the strait more than doubled last week, but still remains a fraction of its prewar levels.

On Tuesday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said the blockade has stopped 89 commercial vessels since it started in mid-April.

Trump refrains from setting firm deadline for Iran negotiations

Trump didn’t set a firm deadline for Iran on Tuesday, at first saying he was giving Tehran “two or three days.” He then said Iran could have until “maybe early next week.”

He also said “serious negotiations” were underway to end the war. Key sticking points include U.S. insistence that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.

There’s also broad disagreement over Iran’s nuclear program. Trump has said he wants to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said that a failure to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions would lead to other countries pursuing atomic weapons.

“If you have every country in the world scrambling to try to get a nuclear weapon, it would make us all much less safe,” Vance said. “And Iran would really be the first domino.”

In the Cold War era, U.S. policymakers argued that if a country went communist it could cause neighboring nations to fall like dominoes, too, and the “domino theory” led to efforts, including military interventions, to contain the spread of communism.

Iraqi government condemns strikes on UAE

In Iraq, government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi, without mentioning the Emirati accusations, said that Baghdad “expresses its strong condemnation of the recent drone attacks targeting the UAE.”

“We also emphasize the importance of effective regional and international cooperation to prevent any escalation or harm to the stability of the region, or any targeting of the security and sovereignty of sisterly and friendly nations,” al-Awadi added.

There were three other drones that targeted the country over the last two days, the UAE added, without elaborating on their targets. Saudi Arabia, which had also condemned the nuclear plant attack, later said it had intercepted three drones that had entered the kingdom from Iraqi airspace.

The $20 billion Barakah nuclear power plant was built by the UAE with the help of South Korea and went online in 2020. It is the only nuclear power plant in the Arab world and can provide a quarter of the energy needs in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms.

Earlier Tuesday, a prominent Emirati diplomat elliptically criticized regional countries over the attacks his country has faced.

“The confusion of roles during this treacherous Iranian aggression is baffling, encompassing the Gulf Arab region’s surrounding states,” Anwer Gargash wrote on X. “The victim’s role has merged with that of the mediator, and vice versa, while the friend has turned into a mediator instead of being a steadfast ally and supporter.”

Maritime firm says ship traffic increased last week through the Strait of Hormuz

According to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence maritime data firm, a total of 54 ships transited the strait the week of May 11, more than double the 25 vessels counted the week before.

Traffic through the strait remains a trickle compared to before the war, when 130 or more vessels passed it each day.

Last week’s traffic included 10 China-owned ships after Tehran said it would permit some Chinese vessels to transit, Lloyd’s said Tuesday on X. Two were carrying cooking gas headed for India.

Iran has imposed a murky vetting scheme for vessels trying to leave the Persian Gulf, which in some cases has included demanding payment and excludes US and Israeli vessels.

Iran depends on China as the sole remaining major customer for its heavily sanctioned oil. India is suffering a politically sensitive shortage of cooking gas supplies and has secured passage for some of its ships through diplomatic intervention with Iran.

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Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York; Joshua Boak in Washington; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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The evaluation will focus specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle, according to a May 11 letter to Defense Department officials. The phases include a military commander’s intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office said in a statement Tuesday that the review was “self-initiated” and that it would not provide a timeline for when it would be completed. It was reported earlier by Bloomberg.

The evaluation will not probe the legality of the strikes, which have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The Trump administration says the U.S. is at war against the Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many American communities.

The administration’s campaign of blowing up small boats accused of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea has persisted since early September and killed at least 193 people in total. U.S. Southern Command said one person survived the latest attack on May 8, but it is not clear if the Coast Guard was able to find and rescue the survivor, which would raise the death toll.

The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs, repeatedly pointing in social media posts to intelligence confirming they were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes.”

The U.S. military’s first strike in early September drew particular concern from some lawmakers and those who study military law. Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them.

Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in December that the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.

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