New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump are not on the ballot, but their sway over the Democratic and Republican parties will be tested Tuesday as New York, Maryland, Utah, and South Carolina hold primary elections and runoffs.

Trump, seemingly aiming to hedge his bets, made an 11th hour endorsement ahead of the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial runoff and is now backing both candidates in the showdown to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

Meanwhile, Mamdani is testing the limits of political power as he takes on the party establishment one year after sending political shock waves across the country with his New York City Democratic primary victory en route to winning election as mayor of the nation’s most populous city.

The 34-year-old socialist mayor is backing a slate of candidates in the primary, including a trio of left-wing congressional contenders who are taking on the Democratic Party’s old guard.

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At the top of this list is political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Mamdani-backed primary challenger taking on Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, in New York’s 13th U.S. House District, which covers the northern third of Manhattan and a sliver of the Bronx. Chevalier, 32, says a victory on Tuesday could be the «domino» that falls and builds a «socialist power» nationwide.

The 71-year-old Espaillat, who has been in Congress for a decade, is supported by a slew of party leaders, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The mayor is also backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who ran against Mamdani last year in the crowded primary field but became one of his biggest backers. Lander is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th Congressional District, which includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Goldman’s supporters include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

And in New York’s 7th, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, Mamdani’endorsed state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who is battling Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who is backed by retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez.

Along with the mayor, Valdez and Avila Chevalier are also members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Valdez has said voters are looking for Democratic candidates with moral clarity on Israel, and the three congressional primary races have focused in part on anti-Israel sentiment, with Mamdani recently referring to AIPAC, a top pro-Israel lobbying group, as «monsters.»

«This is the team. This is our year. It’s up to all of us to get them over the finish line,» Mamdani emphasized in a social media post ahead of a rally last week with the three candidates and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longtime progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up.

And at the rally, Mamdani emphasized that the Democratic Party «must change.»

‘FULL-BLOWN BATTLE’ BREWING IN DEM PARTY AS MAMDANI-STYLE CANDIDATES RISE IN KEY RACES

It’s a risky bet for the mayor, which could end with Mamdani being crowned a kingmaker, or weakening his political powers.

The socialist has been a darling of the far left for a year and a half. But six months into his tenure as New York City mayor, he can also count former critics within the Democratic Party, including Hochul, as allies. And he’s even earned praise from Trump.

Trump last year repeatedly claimed Mamdani was a «communist lunatic,» but during an Oval Office meeting in November that grabbed plenty of national attention, the president lauded Mamdani as a «very rational person» who would do a «really good job.»

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets with President Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 26, 2026. (Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani via X)

Longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital, «It’s crystal clear that Mamdani understands power and how to leverage it.»

«He remains incredibly popular, and it appears he also understands that may not always be the case. That’s why I think you see him flexing his political muscle now. It’s smart politics,» added Caiazzo, a veteran of the 2016 and 2020 Sanders presidential campaigns.

The candidates Mamdani’s backing, including some running for state legislative offices, are mostly showcasing the mayor’s platform of focusing on affordability in a city with one of the nation’s highest costs of living.

Mamdani’s support for the trio of congressional candidates, along with Thursday’s rally with Sanders, gives Republicans, who have long cast the mayor as a radical, more ammunition to use him as a cudgel as they work to hold their razor-thin House majority in this year’s midterm elections.

«Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as it comes,» National Republican Congressional Committee National Press Secretary Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital.

«And during a time when Democrats don’t have a leader or a message, he’s exactly the kind of bogeyman we can use against Democrats to truly show who is leading their party and the crazy policies they all support.»

In South Carolina, Trump on Friday took to social media to say that he was supporting longtime state Attorney General Alan Wilson as well as Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, left, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, campaigns with GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, on June 22, 2026 in Sumter, South Carolina (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

«I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so, therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!» Trump wrote, adding: «With either one you can’t go wrong.»

The endorsement of Wilson appeared to be a move by Trump to cover his bases, because Trump was already backing Evette, who is also supported by McMaster, a longtime top ally of the president.

The South Carolina runoff had been viewed as the latest test of Trump’s immense grip over the GOP and the power of his endorsements in Republican nominating contests.

And his decision to back both Evette and Wilson wasn’t the first time he’s made dual endorsements in the same Republican race. Most famously, Trump endorsed «ERIC» in the 2022 GOP Senate primary in Missouri, where the two major candidates were Eric Schmitt and Eric Greitens. Both candidates claimed the endorsement, with Schmitt ultimately winning the nomination.

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette announces her bid for the Republican nomination for governor at The Smokestack at Judson Mill in South Carolina on July 14, 2025. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)

In South Carolina, Trump endorsed Evette late last month, a week and a half before the gubernatorial primary.

Evette finished on top of a crowded field of contenders in the primary election, with Wilson second. The field also included Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and multimillionaire businessman Rom Reddy. Since no candidate won a majority of the vote, as the top two finishers, Evette and Wilson advanced to the June 23 runoff.

Mace and Norman endorsed Wilson after failing to advance to the runoff. And Wilson was also backed — and joined on the campaign trail on the eve of the runoff by Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative firebrand from Texas.

Mace, reacting to Trump’s endorsement of both Evette and Wilson, wrote on social media, «LMAO,» which is a common abbreviation for the phrase «laughing my a– off.»

The runoff between Evette and Wilson turned combustible, and in last week’s final debate, both candidates launched personal attacks and accused each other of lying and misrepresenting their records.

Wilson worked to contrast his tenure as attorney general with what he’s argued is Evette’s largely ceremonial role as lieutenant governor. And he has spotlighted his experience as a combat veteran, prosecutor, and the state’s top law enforcement official.

Evette showcased herself as an outsider and a Trump-endorsed businesswoman, while casting Wilson as a career politician.

The power of the president’s endorsement is also on the line in upstate New York, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Trump is backing first-time candidate Anthony Constantino, a businessman and former boxer, who is facing off against Robert Smullen, a retired Marine Corps colonel and New York assemblyman who has the backing of the state party.

Also on the primary ballot

Incumbent Rep. Jerry Nadler’s decision to retire left his Manhattan district open for the first time since he was elected in 1992. Notable Democratic candidates in this crowded field include New York Assembly members Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, the late President John F. Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, and former conservative lawyer and onetime anti-Trump Republican George Conway. Nadler endorsed Lasher — a former congressional staffer.

 Meanwhile, five Democrats are facing off in the primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District, in New York City’s northern suburbs and exurbs, with the winner facing off against GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in a key general election race that is one of a couple dozen that will decide if Republicans hold their razor-thin House majority.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., stands outside the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital.)

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In Utah, voters will nominate candidates for Congress using a new map that created a Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City, which upended reelection plans of the state’s all-Republican delegation.

And in Maryland, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore faces a longshot primary challenger as he runs for re-election amid speculation that he also has his eye on a potential 2028 presidential campaign.

Fox News’ Sally Persons and the Associated Press contributed to this report

El presidente iraní, Masud Pezeshkian, visitará este martes Pakistán para mantener reuniones con las principales autoridades del país y abordar los compromisos diplomáticos derivados del memorando de entendimiento firmado recientemente entre Irán y Estados Unidos para el cese de hostilidades en Medio Oriente.

Pezeshkian llegará a Islamabad acompañado por una delegación de alto nivel integrada por ministros y otros funcionarios iraníes, en una visita que realizará por invitación del primer ministro paquistaní, Shehbaz Sharif, según informó el Ministerio de Exteriores de Pakistán.

Durante su estancia, el mandatario iraní se reunirá con el presidente de Pakistán, Asif Ali Zardari; con Sharif; con el presidente del Senado; con el titular de la Asamblea Nacional; y con el ministro de Exteriores, Ishaq Dar, quien desempeñó un papel central en las negociaciones entre Teherán y Washington.

La Cancillería paquistaní señaló que durante los encuentros “ambas partes (…) explorarán nuevas vías para profundizar la cooperación en diversos sectores, como el comercio, la energía, la seguridad fronteriza, los intercambios entre personas y la conectividad regional”.

El Ministerio de Exteriores indicó además que la visita de Pezeshkian, la segunda que realiza a Pakistán desde su llegada a la Presidencia iraní en julio de 2024, “brindará una importante oportunidad para abordar los compromisos diplomáticos en curso tras la firma del Memorando de Entendimiento de Islamabad, así como los acontecimientos regionales e internacionales de interés mutuo”.

Pakistán actuó como mediador en los contactos entre Irán y Estados Unidos que culminaron con la firma del memorando de entendimiento destinado a poner fin a las hostilidades en la región.

En paralelo, el secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, iniciará este martes una gira de tres días por Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Kuwait y Baréin para presentar a los aliados del Golfo el memorando de entendimiento que Washington firmó la semana pasada con Teherán.

El portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Tommy Pigott, informó que Rubio permanecerá en esos tres países entre el 23 y el 25 de junio. Según el comunicado oficial, durante la visita “abordará diversas prioridades regionales, entre ellas el memorando de entendimiento con Irán, los esfuerzos para garantizar el tránsito seguro y libre por el estrecho de Ormuz y la importancia de la paz y la estabilidad en la región”.

En Baréin, el jefe de la diplomacia estadounidense participará además en una reunión del Consejo de Cooperación del Golfo (CCG), integrado también por Arabia Saudita, Catar y Omán.

El memorando fue firmado el miércoles pasado por el presidente Donald Trump en el Palacio de Versalles, durante una visita oficial a Emmanuel Macron. El documento establece un plazo de 60 días para negociar un tratado de paz definitivo que incluya el programa nuclear iraní.

Aunque los países del CCG respaldaron en términos generales los esfuerzos para poner fin al conflicto, dos aspectos del acuerdo generan preocupación en la región: la creación de un fondo de reconstrucción para Irán por USD 300.000 millones y la falta de referencias al desmantelamiento del programa de misiles balísticos iraní.

Los gobiernos del Golfo consideran que esos recursos podrían destinarse a la reconstrucción de capacidades militares iraníes y al financiamiento de grupos aliados en la región. Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Arabia Saudita, Kuwait, Baréin y Catar, países que albergan bases militares estadounidenses, sufrieron ataques con misiles y drones atribuidos a Irán en los últimos meses. Cualquier modificación en el esquema de seguridad regional tendría consecuencias directas para la estrategia militar de Washington en Medio Oriente.

La gira de Rubio coincide con una intensa agenda diplomática vinculada al acuerdo. Durante el fin de semana, el vicepresidente J. D. Vance encabezó en Suiza una ronda de conversaciones con mediadores cataríes y paquistaníes para avanzar en los aspectos técnicos del pacto. La primera etapa de las negociaciones concluyó el lunes y las discusiones continuarán durante esta semana.

(Con información de Agencias)

El peligro de ser un «Presidente mufa»

El presidente Donald Trump durante el tercero partido de las finales de la NBA. Foto EFE.