Transcript of Supreme Court Upends Midterms & DHS Funded, Mostly | 5.1.26

A major shakeup in Maine's Senate race. Governor Janet Mills drops out, reshaping a high-stakes battle that could determine control of the Senate.

The contrast between what common-sense Mainers want and what the Democrat Party is offering consistently and completely out of step with Maine.

I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Friday, May 1st. This is Morning Wire.

After weeks of disruption, the Homeland Security shutdown is largely resolved, but funding for key border agencies remains uncertain.

Democrats that are setting the precedent for taking out ICE and Border Patrol out of the Homeland Security funding. And by the way, two can play at that game. So they're setting a precedent for how this is gonna play out from now on. And a major Supreme Court decision is already reshaping the political map. The Supreme Court said that in Louisiana's case, It was blatantly unconstitutional, and I think that principle applies probably in other states as well. We want constitutional maps.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned, we have the news you need to know.

American agriculture isn't just another industry, it's a tradition passed down through generations. It's families getting up before sunrise, putting in long days, and taking pride in raising food the right way. That's easy to forget when you're just grabbing something off the grocery store shelf, but the truth is where you buy your meat matters. It supports those hardworking families and helps keep that legacy going. With summer grilling season here, it's the perfect time to be a little more intentional about what you're putting on the grill. That's why I subscribe to Good Ranchers. Good Ranchers delivers high-quality meat straight to your door from local farms and ranches. They deliver 100% American pasture-raised meat with no antibiotics or added hormones—stuff you can actually feel good about putting on the table in front of your family and friends. My Good Ranchers box delivery day is always a highlight of the week. The chicken is delicious, the ground beef is so good, and it comes from places that I actually want to be spending my money here within the US. Subscribe to any box and get American Meat for Life, plus $40 off your first order with code WIRE. That's free chicken, steak, salmon, burgers, and more.

Perfect for summer grilling season for free, plus $40 off your first order with code WIRE. Goodranchers.com. American meat delivered.

Control of the Senate is on the line, and the GOP's precarious hold on the chamber may come down to a crucial race in Maine. That race has just narrowed after Democrat Governor Janet Mills pulled out, putting a controversial upstart, Graham Plattner, squarely in the driver's seat for the Democrat nomination.

Joining us now to discuss the state of the Senate race now in Maine is Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of Mainewire. First of all, thank you so much for coming on.

Oh, thank you very much for having me.

So we just had this big development in your state. Governor Mills has withdrawn. She would've appeared to be the big player for the Democrats to try to give Republican Susan Collins a real run. Now she's out. She says she's actually out of campaign money. What happened with Janet Mills?

Well, I think that was the DC conventional thinking, was that she was the best candidate and that she was going to be the strongest person to take on Senator Collins. But here in Maine, I was always very skeptical of the idea that she was going to run in the first place. In fact, I think I lost a lobster dinner to a DC Politico when she did declare. Her support was always very weak. And really the only message that she had during her brief primary campaign was that she, you know, was a brat at a White House dinner and picked a fight with President Trump over keeping boys in girls' sports. And even, even in Maine, as far left and wacky as we are, that's like a 60-40 issue, a 70-30 issue. A bipartisan majority of voters disagree with the governor on that policy. So I, I never thought that she was going to be a very strong Senate contender. So I had always predicted that Governor Mills was going to drop out as soon as the legislature was done with its business. That happens here in Maine on veto day, which took place on Wednesday.

And I don't think that this is a good sign for Senator Collins. I think that Governor Mills would have been much more beatable. The fact that she never caught fire in the Democratic primary shows how soft support always was for her. And Graham Plattner, despite all of the controversies swirling around him— his Nazi tattoo, his history of making racist, lewd, homophobic, anti-Semitic comments on Reddit, uh, his temper, uh, very, very volatile person personality. Democrats seem to be sticking with him almost as the anti-Trump, a reaction against Trump. And so I think Senator Collins is going to be in for the toughest reelection she's had in her entire career. Yeah.

So you mentioned some of the controversy surrounding Plattner. For our audience, we haven't talked much about him, frankly, in the past. What are some of the key controversies and why are voters attracted to him at all? Does he have charisma? What is it about him?

Well, so I think the first thing to know about Graham Plattner is that he ended up as a candidate because he was an amateur actor in an aquaculture commercial. Some progressive political consultants saw it and flew up to Maine and convinced him to run as a candidate. So he was tabula rasa, you know, he, he was like a, you know, a punk internet communist type of guy. But they saw a vision of a masculine guy who had military service and lived on the coast of Maine, and they figured they could, used the same kind of political consulting that gave us Mayor Momdani and Senator Fetterman. They are describing him as an oyster man. That's a joke here in Maine. There's no such thing as an oyster man. There's a GQ profile that was written about him that is just dripping with homoeroticism. It's the craziest thing I've ever read, but they call him an oyster man and it's not a thing. There's oyster farming, But then the other thing is that his oyster business is not even a business, it's a hobby. So he has a hobby where he occasionally grows oysters, which he sells to his mother's restaurant, and he lives off his disability payments.

And also his father is a lawyer and his grandfather is a famous architect. So he's projected this image that he's like a crusty barnacle on the coast of Maine, working class guy, just like you know, everybody else, but he's a, a child of privilege, comes from an elite family, doesn't really work or have a business. And to the extent that he has military service, he's totally rejected that. In, in an interview a couple of weeks ago, he said that all of the nasty things that he's ever done in his life or written on Reddit, he blamed that on the military. So he's running based on military experience that will appeal to Maine voters. Maine has one of the highest rates of veterans per capita of any state. But at the same time, he's trying to, you know, take the advantages of that. He's also saying the Marine Corps turned him into, you know, a racist buffoon.

Well, now you mentioned his Nazi tattoo that he's now partly covered up. Are you surprised that Maine voters aren't more turned off by that?

Well, I think we haven't yet— we haven't seen yet whether Maine voters will be turned off by that. What we're seeing is a fringe minority of rabid progressives, many who moved to this state during COVID relocating here. There was about 25,000 or 30,000 Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut residents who fled cities, relocated to the coast of Maine during COVID brought their politics with them. It was a very sharp, very distinct change in the politics of the state, and they've become very active political activists. So those are the people who form Grand Platner's base. And I think that the more moderate voters who aren't even paying attention to politics, politics yet really haven't had an opportunity to reject him.

Regardless though, you do think he does have a shot, as you said?

I, I do think that he has a shot because the Democrats in Maine, uh, it's machine politics. It really is. Uh, it's a patronage system and a well-oiled machine.

Well, it's gonna be fascinating to watch all of this unfold. Steve, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

This episode is sponsored by Brickhouse Nutrition. You've probably heard about those weight loss injections that everyone's been talking about, and for good reason. The results can be pretty incredible. They work by helping regulate blood sugar and keeping your appetite in check. But here's the thing— not everyone wants to deal with weekly injections, especially when you start hearing about some of the side effects that can come with them. That's where Lean comes in. It's a weight loss supplement developed by doctors, and people are seeing some really impressive results. The ingredients in LEAN are backed by research showing that they can help lower blood sugar, turn stored fat into energy, and reduce those constant cravings that make dieting so hard. This stuff is no joke. I am one of those people that eats sometimes a lot when I'm stressed, but once LEAN came into the picture, I was able to rein in my cravings. Let's get you started with 20% off and free rush shipping so you can add LEAN to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit takelean.com and enter wire for your discount. That's promo code WIRE at takelean.com today.

After 75 days, Congress has voted to reopen the majority of the Department of Homeland Security. The House passed a Senate bill Thursday afternoon to restore funding to most of the department, though the bill did notably leave immigration enforcement out in the cold.

Joining us now is Cabot Phillips, host of Wired In Live. Hello, Cabot. So we just had the longest shutdown in DHS history end. In fact, the longest shutdown of any agency, over 2 months. What changed to get this passed?

So it really came down to two things. Agencies were running out of money and members of Congress were running out of patience. DHS was on its last legs funding-wise, and the White House sent an internal memo to members of Congress this week warning them that DHS personnel, including Secret Service agents, Coast Guard, TSA officers, and FEMA staff, were going to start missing paychecks starting this month. Remember, for the past 6 weeks, the White House has been scraping together emergency funds from other agencies. To cover back pay for DHS staff. But according to this memo, even that well was running dry. And as I said, members of Congress, especially moderate Republicans, started to run out of patience with party leadership, and a few refused to leave for recess until this Senate bill was put to a vote.

All right. So the Senate first passed this bill. Now the House finally passed it yesterday.

What exactly is in this bill? Yeah, as you said, the bill was passed by the Senate over a month ago and had been sitting on Speaker Mike Johnson's desk while negotiations between both sides stalled out. This bill funds every element of DHS through September except for ICE and also parts of Customs and Border Protection, or CBP. This funding for ICE and CBP had previously been a hard line for the White House. They said it has to be in there, which is why any movement on this Senate bill was shot down by Speaker Johnson. But evidently the GOP position did soften a bit in recent days, and House leaders decided to just cut their losses and fund ICE and CBP later on with a reconciliation bill down the road. Reconciliation would, of course, allow Senate Republicans to bypass the 60-vote threshold. But it does come with strict rules about what is and isn't allowed to be included. So we'll keep a close eye because that's going to be a whole new battle down the road. Yeah, indeed.

Now, this sounds like a lot of compromise from the Republican side. Were they effectively forced by Democrats to pass this bill?

Yeah. Afterwards, after it passed, GOP leader Mike Johnson came out and told the press they were thrilled with the progress made. But some on the right are concerned that this entire saga sets the president that Democrats can simply pick and choose which parts of the department they want to fund in future budget fights. And it is worth noting this measure was ultimately passed by a voice vote. That literally means members shouted yay or nay on the floor, and that allows them to avoid going on the record, which gives an idea of how both sides feel about this bill. They were concerned about how it would play with their constituents ahead of the midterms. Most Americans say they want compromise in politics, but compromise is not always popular in practice, especially when it comes to winning a primary.

So how did Johnson ultimately get his conference to pass this?

Well, if everything goes according to plan, the GOP would still get everything they want on paper. They're securing funding for the vast majority of DHS right before it completely runs out of money for services like TSA and FEMA, as I mentioned earlier. And by funding ICE and CBP through separate, later budget reconciliation, the GOP can avoid having to compromise with Democrats at all. Johnson has already teed up a reconciliation vote. The House passed a budget resolution earlier this week that paves the way to fund ICE and CBP through that process. DHS to the tune of roughly $70 billion. That would go on for the next few years until Trump's term expires.

So what about on the other side of the aisle? What has been the Democrats' response to this?

Well, Democrats, like Republicans, are also considering this a major win, or at least that's the message they're telling their voters. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the bill funds DHS, quote, in its entirety, with the exception of ICE and the violent Republican mass deportation machine. He pointed out the Democrats began this shutdown 75 days ago in order to avoid funding immigration enforcement after the deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Petty up in Minneapolis. So ultimately, he's saying they got the outcome they were looking for, at least for now. Mike Johnson expressed confidence, though, in the budget reconciliation process for funding immigration enforcement moving forward. But we'll have to see how that develops. Ultimately, though, last night President Trump did sign this bill into law. So the DHS shutdown has ended.

A lengthy saga finally coming to an end. Capa, thanks for reporting. Absolutely. In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling this week redefining requirements for congressional districts, the ripple effects for the midterm elections are already taking shape.

Joining us now to discuss the ruling and how it will affect the House map is Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon. Harmeet, thanks for coming on.

Yes, thanks for having me today.

So we had a huge ruling this week from the Supreme Court related to gerrymandering, tons of downstream effects. Who is this going to affect the most?

Well, first of all, this is a huge ruling and huge victory for equal protection and equal rights in the United States. And I was proud to co-author the brief of the United States in this case that our Solicitor General's Office did such a great job arguing. This is actually going to impact all voters in the United States in the following way. For decades, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has been interpreted to require states to draw their lines for congressional districts incorporating race. In circumstances where there has been, you know, discrimination in the past. And basically this assumes all of the southern states and some other states as well. And so effectively for decades, there have been safe districts drawn for mainly Black, some Hispanic members of Congress from the Democrat Party. And in order to accomplish that, they basically had to make the districts gerrymandered. So in any state that has this type of protected Section 2 majority-minority district, those lines are going to change in coming years. So this is a sea change and it's going to really impact almost all of the southern states. Pennsylvania has a Section 2 district as well.

And, you know, the mapmakers and demographers and lawyers are going to be busy for coming years. This should all shake out by the time of the 2028, 2030 election. And, you know, you're going to see really a stronger position for competitive districts throughout these states.

Now, you've also been involved with some election integrity investigations. Both Georgia and Michigan, for different reasons, have been in headlines for some voter irregularities. What can you tell us about the work you're doing there?

So I was investigating and asking for ballots from Fulton County, Georgia, but then one of my colleagues at the Department of Justice has opened up a criminal investigation. And so criminal work typically takes precedence over the civil work that I initiated. So I'm not part of that lane. I may eventually pick it up again if appropriate, but for now that's being handled on the criminal side. In the Michigan side, we keyed our investigation there in demand for ballots in Wayne County, Michigan, off of the fact that several people had actually been prosecuted for illegally voting in that county. We also saw some irregularities in the 2020 election as to how they administered that election. The goal here is to make sure— we've had a lot of elections where both sides, sometimes one side, sometimes the other side, Stacey Abrams, Hillary Clinton, have complained of election irregularities. Supporters of President Trump complained about that for 2020. So what we're looking for is for all Americans to accept the outcome of our elections, and for that we need to have a regular, a verifiable, and auditable process that's also required by federal law. But we're seeing a lot of problems with that.

So we want to get rid of those problems before the next elections. Right.

Well, Harmeet, thank you so much for making time for us today. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for waking up with us. And for those listening to the show, you can also now watch the show free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.