First an Energy Crisis. Now El Niño?

The world’s most powerful climate pattern is shifting, and it could hit the global economy harder than this year’s energy crisis. On the Wednesday, June 24th edition of WSJ What’s News, host Luke Vargas walks through a packed news cycle dominated by primary election upsets, a presidential threat to Big Oil, and a deepening concern that El Niño—compounded by the lingering effects of the Iran War—is about to become the next major stress test for food prices, energy grids, and growth across Asia and beyond.

A Political Earthquake in New York

The biggest political story of the morning comes out of New York City, where Mayor Zoran Mamdani cemented his role as a Democratic kingmaker. Three congressional candidates backed by Mamdani defeated more mainstream opponents in primary races, riding a powerful anti-incumbent wave. The most striking upset: 32-year-old community organizer and Democratic Socialist Dari Lisa Avila Chevalier ousted Representative Adriano Espion, the chairman of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Espion had made history a decade ago as the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected to Congress. In her victory speech, Avila Chevalier cast him as out of touch, accusing him of “doing nothing about the affordability crisis and looking the other way while the real estate corporations that funded his campaign raised our rent and priced us out of the community