One of America’s most conservative congressmen was locked in a tight renomination battle against an opponent endorsed by former President Donald Trump in Virginia’s primary election Tuesday.(

Rep. Bob Good, who chairs the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, is seeking a third term representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, but state Sen. John McGuire has mounted a strong challenge that highlights frictions in the party.

Ballots remained to be counted, and the close margin made the race too early to call. Virginia observes the Juneteenth holiday and isn’t expected to count votes Wednesday as a result. McGuire led Good by 327 votes, or 0.52 percentage points, out of 62,495 ballots counted as of 12 a.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Democrats in northern and central Virginia chose nominees to replace popular incumbents who aren’t seeking reelection. In House District 7, Eugene Vindman won a crowded Democratic primary to try to hold the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor in 2025, while Republicans chose Derrick Anderson.

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And in House District 10, voters chose Suhas Subramanyam from a field of 12 Democrats to try to hold the seat held by U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who is not seeking reelection to her northern Virginia seat after being diagnosed with a rare, incurable neurological illness. Republican voters nominated Mike Clancy for that seat.

Statewide, voters selected Hung Cao as the Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate to take on Democrat Tim Kaine.

Here’s a look at the major battles on the ballot:

House District 5

Conventional politics might suggest a congressman with the conservative credentials of Good would be safe in a primary. But he earned the wrath of Trump when he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. He switched back to Trump after DeSantis dropped out, but Trump is endorsing McGuire and portraying Good as a backstabber.()

Trump continued to bash Good as he campaigned for McGuire in a telephone rally Monday night.

"Unlike Bob Good, John McGuire will not let you down," Trump said, adding that McGuire is "strong on the border" and "will always defend your under-siege Second Amendment."

Good says he considers Trump the best president in his lifetime and only endorsed DeSantis because Trump is constitutionally limited to only one more term.

McGuire, for his part, claimed victory late Tuesday and thanked Trump for "believing in me." No winner has been called by The Associated Press.( )

"There are still a few votes left to count, but it’s clear that all paths end with a victory," McGuire said in a written statement.

Good, meanwhile, posted a statement on social media saying his campaign "implemented the best early voting operation that the 5th District has ever seen."

"We are still waiting for the results of mail-in ballots and provisional ballots," he said. "We are doing what we can to ensure we have teams of observers and legal counsel to ensure all the votes are properly counted in the coming days."

Good also alienated Republican insiders by voting to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, throwing the party into a measure of chaos.

Seeking to capitalize is McGuire, a state legislator and former Navy SEAL who has echoed Trump’s attacks on Good, calling him a "never Trumper."( )

Good has bashed McGuire as a serial campaigner who announced his congressional bid just one week after winning election to a four-year term in the state Senate.

If Good loses, he would be the first House incumbent to go down to a primary challenge this year, with the exception of one race in which two incumbents faced off due to redistricting.

The winner will face Democrat Gloria Tinsley Witt, who defeated Gary Terry and Paul Riley.( )

The 5th Congressional District stretches from Charlottesville in the north, past the far western suburbs of Richmond, through Lynchburg and down to Danville and the North Carolina border.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday morning that the city will hold a rolling rally parade on Friday at 11 a.m. to celebrate the Boston Celtics' 18th NBA Championship. ()

During the parade, the mayor's office said Celtics players will celebrate on Boston's famous duck boats, which has been the tradition in the city for past championship teams.

The parade will begin in front of TD Garden on Causeway Street, passing by City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common on Tremont Street and ending on Boylston Street by the Hynes Convention Center.(

The city will hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to share additional event details, including safety measures to make the parade a family-friendly celebration and preparations for the heat wave expected this week.

Wu spoke Monday about how the upcoming heat wave might factor in to any Celtics celebrations, and she said there were meetings going on Monday morning at City Hall, "to talk through what the projections are and what the forecasts are, if it is likely to be above a certain threshold of the heat index for multiple days at a time."()

Later Monday, Wu's office declared a heat emergency in Boston, triggering cooling centers and other measures to keep the population cool.

"It's also the last week of school in the Boston Public Schools, and so there's some half days, and we're thinking about how that affects students who might need a full day of support as well," Wu said. "So we'll have more to come probably very shortly on that front."()

The Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win the franchise's 18th championship, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. It was the first time they'd won the NBA title since 2008 and marks the 13th championship won this century by one of Boston's Big 4 professional sports franchises.( More)

Post-fight quotes from David Benavidez

Endangered wild horses have returned to the Golden Steppe of Kazakhstan for the first time in at least 200 years after decades-long efforts.

The airlifts of seven Przewalski's Horses from Europe to the Central Asian country took place in early June in an operation run by Prague Zoo.

Researchers told the BBC that the horses are already doing well two weeks in: roaming around the plains and even beginning the mating process.()

Zoo officials say it's a triumph of generations of conservation work.

"This is an endangered species returning to their ancestral lands, a species which went extinct in the wild in the 1960s, last seen in Mongolia...so it's just marvellous... a miracle," said Filip Mašek, a spokesman for Prague Zoo.

While the horses have been slowly reintroduced to Mongolia and China in recent decades, this operation marks the first time they are back in Kazakhstan.()

The Przewalski's Horse is the last wild horse species on the planet, named after Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski who was the first to identify the horse for the European science community.

The species originated millennia ago from the steppes of Central Asia and was taken by researchers to Europe and North America in the 19th and 20th Centuries, where populations were established in zoos.

Some of them ended up in zoos in Munich and Prague - it's their descendants that have now been reintroduced in Kazakhstan.(

Cultural artefacts show people in the country's north were riding and using the horses for food at least 2,000 years before records of domesticated horses in Europe.

But by the time of Przewalski's "discovery" in 1879, the horses could only be found in a small section of western Mongolia. Competition with humans and livestock, along with changes in the environment led to them dying out.

Recognising the threat, international efforts were made after World War Two to save the animals. Prague Zoo was entrusted with the "international studship" of the breed.( )

It introduced the first contingent back into Kazakhstan last week- a group consisting of one stallion and six mares. It aims to bring in at least 40 more over the next five years.

"This is an event of historical import," said the zoo's director Miroslav Bobek in a statement.

"The seven horses that we transported here by two Czech Army planes represent the first individuals of this species in central Kazakhstan in hundreds of years."

Przewalski's horse has long been considered the one true remaining wild horse species- as species such as the American mustang and Australian brumby are feral horses descended from domesticated animals.( )

The Przewalski's horse is shorter and stockier than modern domesticated horses and their genetic differences show that neither species are ancestors of the other.

Prague Zoo, which has spent the past decade and a half introducing the horses back to Central Asia, mainly in Mongolia, said the Kazakhstan operations had been in the plans since 2022 after signing a deal with the local government.

Last week saw the culmination of years of work. Prague Zoo selected horses from different programmes around Europe and put them together in the same zoo in Berlin - Tierpark Berlin - for several months to become acquainted before their journey.( )

That then kicked off in early June, with military 

Przewalski's horse has long been considered the one true remaining wild horse species- as species such as the American mustang and Australian brumby are feral horses descended from domesticated animals.( )

The Przewalski's horse is shorter and stockier than modern domesticated horses and their genetic differences show that neither species are ancestors of the other.

Prague Zoo, which has spent the past decade and a half introducing the horses back to Central Asia, mainly in Mongolia, said the Kazakhstan operations had been in the plans since 2022 after signing a deal with the local government.( )

Last week saw the culmination of years of work. Prague Zoo selected horses from different programmes around Europe and put them together in the same zoo in Berlin - Tierpark Berlin - for several months to become acquainted before their journey.

That then kicked off in early June, with military aeroplanes flying the standing horses in two groups on a 6,000km-route that included stopovers in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

(READ MORE) 

Unless you are fully loaded, fully equipped, to consistently challenge the menacing Blues forward pack, don’t bother turning up to Eden Park.()

The Blues, as they marched into their second Super Rugby final in three years with consummate ease, delivered another clear illustration of their brutal blueprint to crush the Brumbies 34-20 and prolong Australia’s wretched playoff run in New Zealand.()

One moment in the second half summed up Cotter’s hardline mantra. Replacement halfback Taufa Funaki tried an audacious backwards chip kick that backfired to turnover possession.(

The Blues were leading by 14 points but Cotter was unimpressed – letting out a spray from the coaching box. Such adventure was not in the playbook.

The Brumbies, riding a seven-game winning run, arrived with hope of upsetting the odds. Yet it was immediately evident they would suffer the same fate as 18 of their counterparts to lose finals matches on this side of the ditch.( )

That not one Australian team have managed to win a playoff match in New Zealand underlines one of Super Rugby’s glaring issues.

Such concerns are irrelevant for the Blues, though.

Cotter’s Blues won’t win any beauty pageant prizes. No one in Auckland’s long-suffering rugby region will care, though, if this team break their 21-year drought for a fully fledged Super Rugby crown.( )

With an extra day’s rest before next week’s finale the Blues have the benefit of sitting back to watch the Hurricanes and Chiefs take lumps out of each other in Wellington on Saturday to earn the right to join them and contest this year’s title.

A Chiefs upset would allow the Blues to return to Eden Park, where they have won their past 15 matches in a row, next week.( )

Should the Hurricanes ride their compelling campaign to defeat the Chiefs for the third time this year, they will retain home advantage for the decider.

READ MORE....