Top of the Fold

• Tuesday’s primary wrap-up: Seven states held primary elections yesterday. California held a special election to fill the House seat vacated by Devin Nunes when he left earlier this year to run Donald Trump’s new social media company. In that election, Republican Connie Conway easily defeated Democrat Lourin Hubbard. Conway will be running for a newly redistricted seat in November that will be a bigger challenge for her to win, as redistricting has made the state even more hostile to Republican election prospects. The other six states that held primaries were Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Of note, in Montana, which receives a second House seat following the census, Trump’s former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had a slim edge (41.3%) over challenger Al Olszewski (40%) in an election too close to call. The seat is considered likely Republican. New Jersey saw six-term Democrat Representative Donald Payne easily hold off a challenge from an extreme leftist candidate; he won with 84% of the vote. Garden State Democrat Senator Bob Menendez’s son, Rob Menendez Jr., was also successful in his primary bid for New Jersey’s 8th District. In Mississippi, several GOP races will be headed for runoffs, as state law requires candidates to obtain more than 50% of the vote to secure victory. One of the runoffs of note pits two-term Congressman Michael Guest against Navy veteran and former test pilot Michael Cassidy, who effectively blasted Guest over his vote in support of Nancy Pelosi’s January 6 Commission. Finally, in South Dakota, Republican Representative Dusty Johnson secured a victory over challenger state Representative Taffy Howard, who derided Johnson for not being strong enough in his support for Trump.

• CDC suggested masks as protection against monkeypox: There are currently 31 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S. While the relatively rare disease has been known for years — including its means of transmission, which is via bodily contact — the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued an advisory related to monkeypox that initially urged travelers to wear masks. The CDC statement read in part that “wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.” But that statement is not true, as monkeypox is not an airborne disease. The CDC has since removed that statement from its site but still recommends mask wearing for monkeypox-infected individuals while in quarantine. This mask obsession is bordering on superstition rather than scientific reality, and this is coming from the CDC. If one engages in bodily contact with an individual infected with monkeypox, wearing a mask won’t make that person any less susceptible to getting infected.

• Jim Jordan: FBI is purging conservatives: On Tuesday, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray with allegations that the agency has actively sought to “purge” conservatives from its ranks. Jordan noted how the FBI has responded to agents questioning the Democrats’ January 6 “insurrection” narrative. “In one such example,” Jordan said, “the FBI targeted and suspended the security clearance of a retired war service member who had disclosed personal views that the FBI was not being entirely forthcoming about the events of January 6. The FBI questioned the whistleblower’s allegiance to the United States despite the fact that the whistleblower honorably served in the United States military for several years … valiantly earning multiple military commendation medals.” Jordan observed that he received no response to a letter he sent to the FBI in May requesting details regarding the suspension of security clearances for several agency employees for expressing their First Amendment rights. In this latest letter, Jordan writes: “We are conducting oversight to ensure the FBI is not retaliating against FBI employees for exercising their First Amendment rights and engaging in disfavored political speech. We reiterate our earlier requests for your personal assurance that the FBI will cooperate fully with the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General’s examination of these matters and for a briefing on the FBI’s purge of employees holding disfavored viewpoints.”

Headlines

• San Francisco DA recalled by voters in one of nation’s most leftist cities (Fox News)

• “We … want the whole loaf”: Matthew McConaughey gives away the Left’s game on gun control (Daily Wire)

• Democrats straight up admit the J6 hearings are political theater (Daily Caller)

• “Sharpest slowdown in 80 years”: World Bank releases ominous news about recession risk (Daily Wire)

• Treasury Secretary Janet “Transitory” Yellen says U.S. facing “unacceptable levels of inflation” (National Review)

• Shrinkflation: Cereal brand cuts amount per box by 17%; toilet paper brand slashes roll size 24% (Daily Wire)

• Kamala Harris announces $1.9 billion more for Central America as caravan heads for border (NY Post)

• George Soros prosecutors run half of America’s largest jurisdictions (Free Beacon)

• Pro-abortion terrorists firebomb Buffalo pro-life pregnancy center (National Review)

• Louisiana bans male athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams (Lafayette Daily Advertiser)

• No one out-sleazes the Hut: Pizza Hut peddles books about “drag kids” (Free Beacon)

• Policy: Democrats yell “Do something!” on guns while their prosecutors and policies create our culture of crime (The Federalist)

• Satire: Colin Kaepernick transitions in order to make Carolina Panthers cheer squad (Babylon Bee)

*For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.