2026

By Steve Holland and Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed previously undisclosed details about his new bunker-like White House ballroom, saying it would have a drone base on the roof and a military hospital as part of a six-story subterranean complex.

Amid the bang and clang of construction, Trump took a group of reporters on a tour of the project to try to bolster his argument that the U.S. Congress should allocate $1 billion to pay for security enhancements to the building.

Democrats and some Republicans are balking at the request, calling it extravagant as Americans grapple with spiraling gasoline prices and other fallout from Trump’s war on Iran ahead of November midterm elections.

Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, did not hold back in describing previously unknown details about the project, which at 90,000 square feet stands to dwarf the adjacent White House built in the late 18th century.

Trump has argued the ballroom is needed for large events of 1,000 people, far more capacity than the White House entertainment spaces can accommodate. He pressed his case for the ballroom after an apparent assassination attempt at a Washington hotel where he was attending a media gala, arguing that it would be a much more secure venue.

Trump detailed the ballroom’s security features, describing a bunker-like structure with a hardened roof able to withstand a direct attack.

He said titanium fencing recently installed around the ballroom was so strong that “a bulldozer cannot knock it over.” The roof, he said, would be constructed of “impenetrable steel.”

Beneath the ballroom, there will be a complex extending six stories deep, he said, pointing to two that were already under construction. 

The underground complex would include a military hospital and research facilities, although Trump did not explain the focus of the research. The White House declined to provide further details.

He spoke excitedly about installation of a drone base on the roof “set up for unlimited numbers of drones.”

“The entire roof is built for military,” he said. “They have a massive drone capacity. Not only is it drone-proof, if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won’t have any impact. But it’s also meant as a drone port that would protect all of Washington.”

The ballroom’s windows would be four inches thick and made from a special kind of glass.

“You can see through it as though it doesn’t exist,” he said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Ross Colvin and Stephen Coates)

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There are primary elections Tuesday in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Idaho and Pennsylvania. These contests will be a further test of President Donald Trump ‘s grip on Republican voters.

In Kentucky, Trump is trying to oust Rep. Thomas Massie, who has been a thorn in his side for years. Trump handpicked challenger Ed Gallrein after Massie broke with him over issues including the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The first polls there closed at 6 p.m. ET.

In Georgia, Republicans are choosing a challenger to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Trump has not endorsed a candidate, which could lead to a runoff on June 16. There’s also a bruising Republican primary for governor. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

In Alabama, Republican voters will choose a U.S. Senate candidate to replace Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic voters will pick their nominees to flip four Republican-held seats seen as critical for the party to retake the U.S. House. The races will be a test of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s influence. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek will face nearly two dozen challengers. Voters will also decide whether to raise gas taxes to pay for improvements to the state’s roads and bridges. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

In Idaho, voters are picking their party’s nominees for governor and U.S. Senate. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

The Latest:

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who was endorsed by Trump, beat Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general who leaned into his Christianity on the campaign trail.

The winner in November will replace U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down in a generational changing of the guard for Republicans.

Trump swayed the race not just through his endorsement but by offering a third challenger, Nate Morris, an ambassadorship just over two weeks before Election Day. Morris, who fashioned himself as the MAGA candidate, withdrew from the race and encouraged his backers to support Barr.

Barr was first elected in 2012 in the 6th Congressional District. He is expected to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state.

Eleven polling places in Georgia’s Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, will be staying open late because of issues that arose during the day.

Blake Evans, who oversees elections for the secretary of state’s office, said the precincts were staying open because of problems with the electronic poll pads that are used to to check in voters. The extensions range from six minutes at one location to an hour at another, according to a judge’s order.

Deputy Secretary of State Matt Tyser said they are waiting on an order from a Fulton County judge to extend voting at a precinct in Sandy Springs, just north of Atlanta. That’s because a “law enforcement issue” that was unrelated to the election forced the closure of the polling place for several hours.

Most polls in Georgia are set to close at 7 p.m. ET.

Most of the polls in the state closed at 6 p.m. ET, including in the 4th District where U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is up against Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary that’s garnered national attention.

The president picked Gallrein to compete against Massie, who’s frustrated Trump partly by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Western Kentucky is in the Central Time Zone and polls there close at 7 p.m. ET.

Five of Oregon’s six congressional districts are held by Democrats.

Its 5th District, considered the most competitive, was flipped by Republicans for the first time in decades in 2022 but reclaimed by Democrats in 2024. The district stretches from southern Portland across the Cascade Range to Bend.

The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum, is running against a primary opponent who has not reported raising any money.

Two candidates, a county commissioner and a political consultant, are running in the district’s GOP primary in the hope of trying to win the seat back for Republicans in November.

Both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican Stacy Garrity are running unopposed in their primaries.

Shapiro is heavily favored to win reelection this fall over Garrity, the state treasurer.

Republicans acknowledge Shapiro’s electoral strength, and may hope that Garrity can at least make it a close contest to help protect the party’s other candidates on the ballot in contests for Congress and the state Legislature.

Tuberville could face former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, if both men secure their parties’ nominations.

The two last competed in the 2020 Senate race, when Tuberville easily defeated Jones, who was then the incumbent. Tuberville was boosted by a Trump endorsement and his high profile from his years as a football coach.

Jones, a former U.S. attorney, won a 2017 special election for U.S. Senate over Republican Roy Moore. Jones remains the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alabama.

When Geoff Duncan was Georgia’s lieutenant governor, he resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020. He’s since left the Republican Party, and he’s running for governor as a Democrat.

His campaign has involved a lot of apologizing to win over voters who may be turned off by his previously conservative positions.

It’s an interesting example of how traditional partisan lines have been scrambled since Trump rose to power a decade ago. Many Republicans who have crossed the president have retired or been defeated in primaries. Only a few of them have attempted to switch parties like Duncan.

Incumbent Tina Kotek is expected to win the Democratic primary and advance to November’s general election.

Elected to her first term as governor in 2022 after years in the Legislature, Kotek pledged to tackle homelessness, mental health and education. Despite approving funding and programs aimed at those issues, the state has continued to see rising homelessness and flagging student test scores that have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Kotek also has sparred with the Trump administration, which sought to deploy the National Guard to Portland last fall during its immigration crackdown for the stated purpose of protecting federal property and personnel.

After the state and city sued to block the deployment, a federal judge found that protests at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building didn’t meet the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

The president supported an opponent to Massie, just as he has done elsewhere.

On May 5, several Indiana state senators who defied Trump on redistricting lost their primaries to candidates backed by the president.

On May 16, Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his primary in Louisiana. Rep. Julia Letlow, who Trump endorsed, and state Treasurer John Fleming will compete in a runoff.

Cassidy had voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Massie angered Trump by voting against his signature tax legislation over concerns of adding to the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

His positions, Massie insists, reflect the America First promises Trump initially made on the campaign trail.

In a Kentucky district where the president won by 35 points two years ago, Massie told The Associated Press that this primary is “by far the most challenging reelection I’ve ever faced.”

Voters have sent Massie back to Congress ever since his first election in 2012, embracing his stalwart independence and jaunty personality. Back in 2020, they brushed off Trump’s social media demand to throw Massie out of the Republican Party because he was a “third rate Grandstander.”

Their names may seem familiar.

The Democratic field in Kentucky includes former state lawmaker Charles Booker and former Marine pilot Amy McGrath. McGrath beat Booker and several other candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary to face McConnell.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky since 1992.

Pennsylvania’s governor is also a potential 2028 presidential candidate. With his own primary uncontested, he’s been spending money and support on Democrats running for U.S. House and the state Legislature.

Shapiro is on track to break his own campaign spending record and, in a step to help races up and down the ballot, has plunged more than $900,000 so far this election cycle into the state Democratic Party’s accounts.

The election year is an opportunity for Shapiro to show his political strength in a premier battleground state should he decide to run for president in 2028.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, said Trump is continuing a “campaign of retribution” against his political enemies.

He suggested that the latest example is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth campaigning — “during a war” — against U.S. Rep. Tom Massie ahead of Kentucky’s primary on Tuesday.

“That continues to prevent Republicans from having the courage to speak out on matters of principle, which I think is putting all of us at risk,” Coons told reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Massie angered Trump by opposing his signature tax legislation over concerns about the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

They are being asked whether to approve a 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature last fall.

They’ve been casting ballots as prices at the pump have skyrocketed because of the war with Iran.

Democrats increased the tax and other fees to help pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded by launching a successful referendum campaign to refer the tax and fee increases to the ballot, saying they drive the cost of living even higher.

Democrats say the main cause of skyrocketing gas prices is Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. But they’ve acknowledged the difficult timing of the ballot measure, which has also complicated national Democrats’ affordability messaging in midterm campaigning.

Kentucky will release the first results of the night.

In the 2024 primaries, the AP reported the first Kentucky votes six minutes after most polls closed at 6 p.m. ET. The last vote update of the night was at 9:47 p.m.

Georgia will be next, with polls closing at 7 p.m. ET. In the 2022 state primaries, results were available at 13 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:29 a.m.

Polls in Alabama and Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. ET, and both states started releasing votes at roughly the same time in the 2024 primaries — at 8:01 p.m. and 8:03 p.m., respectively. Both stopped counting for the night around 2 a.m.

Idaho and Oregon are expected to begin releasing votes just as voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET. In their last state primaries, Oregon began releasing votes right at 11 p.m. and Idaho at 11:09 p.m. Idaho’s last update of the night was at 4:51 a.m., while Oregon’s last update was at 5:11 a.m.

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