By Samantha Komrowski
This is the first edition of a new political news column, which will be released with each edition of the Mariner Explorer. The goal of this segment is to provide an unbiased account of current events and to help the Mariner community stay involved in politics. The first edition will cover the two largest national disputes right now: the War in Iran and the upcoming Primary Elections.
By now, most people have heard about the war with Iran, but how has it progressed so far?
The United States’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio currently claims that America has already achieved its objectives in this military campaign. However, the main published objective, that being to ensure that the Iranian government in the capital city of Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon, has not yet been achieved. A diplomatic solution is being attempted, but Tehran has not given up the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium that they are believed to have.
There is currently a ceasefire, though it is tentative and unstable, and the U.S. is still making an effort to ensure safe passage for oil transfer in the Strait of Hormuz. Around 20,000 crew members of over 800 ships remain trapped in this region, adding additional pressure to this exploit. This Monday, President Donald Trump launched “Project Freedom,” which intends to open up the route, and stated that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacked U.S. ships in the Strait.
The other largest current political event is the Primary Election, which is coming up in California on June 2, 2026. The votes in the Primary Election decide which candidates will be on the ballot during the November 3 General Election, which will determine representatives for the next term.
California has 61 total candidates running in the Primary Election to be California’s Governor, and though there is no clear leader among them, there are 7 that poll higher than the rest. Two of these candidates are Republicans, the other five are Democrats.
The Primary Election narrows down the number of candidates to two, though registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2:1 in the state, their votes are currently split among five, and there is fear among Democrats that the two Republicans will advance.
If the GOP candidates were to continue, it would be the first time the Republican Party had won a statewide election in California in two decades. Some of the issues candidates are running on include gas prices, cost of living, and immigration, which were brought up during a televised debate this Tuesday, May 5.
A large talking point leading up to this election is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is redrawing the areas in a map to cater to a specific political party, confining registered voters of the opposing party to a few districts so that they have less influence. This matters in the upcoming election because it would impact how many congressional seats each party holds.
A recent ruling from the Supreme Court that overruled part of the Voting Rights Act will now impact primary elections. This Monday, the court chose to expedite its established process of releasing a formal judgment to lower courts after waiting 32 days. This allows states to gerrymander their maps immediately, and two highly conservative states, Alabama and Tennessee, are currently in the process of doing so, while Florida, another red state, has already signed a new gerrymandered congressional district map into law.
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