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🚫 Swing-state Dems shun AOC Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios. Photo: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images Democrats in some of this year's most critical congressional battlegrounds are sending a clear message to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: We don't want you to campaign for us. Why it matters: If they continue, the snubs could hurt AOC's standing as a potential contender in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, when many voters will prioritize electability. Ocasio-Cortez and her allies argue that her unapologetic advocacy for big progressive policies like Medicare for All would make candidates like her more electable than moderate liberals, but many Democrats in tight races this fall have disagreed. 🛑 She was welcomed by several Democrats in competitive primary races, but now some of those candidates have distanced themselves as they've moved to the center to take on Republicans in the Nov. 3 election. 🔎 Zoom in: Sam Forstag, a progressive House candidate in Montana who rallied with AOC in May en route to winning the Democratic primary, suggested he doesn't want her to campaign for him in the conservative state for the general election. "I don't intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days," he told Axios when asked about AOC stumping for him. Forstag has scrubbed Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement from his campaign's website. Driving the news: Some Democrats in other close races have explicitly asked Ocasio-Cortez's team to stay away, party officials told Axios. 📉 "The polling is atrocious for her," said a senior Democratic strategist working in a key swing district. "She's a lightning rod." AOC doesn't always tell national media about her events in advance, so we asked her team whether she's campaigned in person for any of the Democrats' top House or Senate candidates this cycle. They didn't point us to any. "Call us on Nov. 3," said her chief of staff, Mike Casca, suggesting she may do more events before Election Day. Zoom out: In June, CNN reported that AOC's aides were "putting together a fall schedule meant to beta-test her appeal beyond a base that adores her." So far, that hasn't happened nationally. In contrast, several of AOC's potential 2028 rivals for president — including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — have been welcomed by Democratic candidates in competitive districts and states during the past month. Even former Vice President Kamala Harris — whose help has been resisted by some battleground candidates — has been welcomed by others. Harris was in Michigan with left-wing Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed last week and plans to campaign for statewide candidates in Georgia and Nevada. 👀 The intrigue: In the final weeks of the Senate Democratic primary last month in Michigan — a key presidential swing state — El-Sayed had AOC campaign with him. He and his allies spent almost $1 million in TV ads featuring her, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. But since winning the Democratic nomination, El-Sayed has spent almost nothing on ads featuring AOC. El-Sayed's campaign said they'd welcome Ocasio-Cortez back in the coming weeks. "There are a lot of Michiganders who can't wait to have AOC back in town," a spokesperson told us. AOC did launch a campaign swing this week throughout New York with stops in Buffalo and Ithaca, but she's not campaigning in one of the country's most competitive House districts — the 17th District in the lower Hudson Valley. Cait Conley, a former Army officer and national security official in the Biden administration, told CNN this month that she wouldn't campaign with AOC. 🗣️ What they're saying: We asked Ocasio-Cortez what she thinks of Republicans using her name in a new ad to try to hurt Conley. "I invite them to spend even more money … because they're just setting it on fire," Ocasio-Cortez said, arguing that the GOP has been running the same anti-AOC playbook since she first was elected to Congress in 2018. Read more. — Alex Thompson, Holly Otterbein

Trump Rages at Supreme Court for Ruining His Latest ‘Victory’ Checks and balances are for other presidents, apparently. Donald Trump, 80, has lashed out at his hand-picked Supreme Court justices after they handed him another defeat. In a rant on Truth Social Sunday morning, Trump raged about how the court had again refused to allow a new voting map in Missouri. “The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory. They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions,” the president wrote. With the midterms looming, Republicans in Missouri want to use a newly drafted electoral map that gives Republican candidates a leg up in races across the state and would potentially see them gaining a seat from the Democrats. The new map was created last year at the behest of Trump, who has been pushing Republican-controlled state houses to redraw boundaries and lock out Democrats. It divided Kansas City into several districts in an attempt to unseat long-time Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The president’s push to redraw districts began in Texas and has since spread to other states, including North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee. Democrats in California and Virginia also joined in the redistricting fight with maps favoring their party, but the Supreme Court blocked Virginia’s effort in a ruling that delighted the president. The Missouri map, however, has been knocked back by Trump’s own justices twice before, once by Brett Kavanaugh, and then unanimously by the full bench. On Friday, the justices shut it down a third time, issuing an unsigned ruling with no dissenters. The state’s 2022 map, which includes six seats currently held by Republicans and two by Democrats, will be used in November. “The election is not merely upcoming; it has already started. Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed. Absentee voting has already begun, as has military and overseas voting,” the decision said. Trump, furious that the highest court in the land did not do what he wanted, said the people of Missouri were “fighting so hard for Fairness and Election Security.” “Such tremendous Spirit and Love of our Country. I won Missouri BIG, all three times, and I couldn’t be more proud of doing so. A great place — I love you all! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he continued. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The GOP is struggling to hold back a predicted blue wave in November, as Trump’s approval rating has tanked over the cost of living and his hugely unpopular Iran war. The redistricting is part of their attempt to maintain control of the House, which currently has 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats serving. For control to change hands, Democrats would just need to flip a handful of seats. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-rages-at-supreme-court-for-ruining-his-latest-victory/?

MAGA Revolts Over Wild White House Champagne-Spraying Video Dan Scavino is catching heat for a “shameful” video he posted partying it up. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino has sparked an uproar with a tacky flex on social media. Scavino, 50, posted what appears to be an AI-generated video on Instagram showing him popping champagne with what seems to be his second wife, Erin Elmore, and the president’s son Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump. The video is set to the tune of Pitbull’s hit song “Don’t Stop the Party.” In the caption of the video, he wrote, “This is not an intended for the Dems heads to explode—Being some of the post State Dinner party has gotten out, I felt inclined to share mine as well, in complete transparency, with the American People. GOD BLESS THE USA!!!♥️🤍💙🇺🇸🦅🚀” It’s not the Democrats Scavino needed to watch out for, however, as the video infuriated prominent conservatives. Especially as Republicans look to hone in on their messaging strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, which, if polling holds, will be a disaster for the GOP at the ballot box. Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the center-right outlet The Dispatch, responded, sarcastically saying, “This is precisely the midterm messaging the GOP needs from the Deputy White House Chief of Staff.” “You really have no shame, do you? Many Americans can’t afford groceries, gas or their mortgage payment, and you post a tone deaf AI video of you and your buddies partying at the People’s House,” Conservative activist Carrie Prejean Boller wrote. Conservative commentator Meghan McCain responded to Scavino’s post with some anecdotal economic observations, writing: “One of my friends couldn’t afford air conditioner this summer.” Never-Trump Republican Sarah Longwell wrote, “Real fall of Rome sh-t.” Other self-described MAGA accounts also weighed in on the luxurious display of wealth from Scavino. “Wow...This is really going to resonate with everyday Americans. They are so out of touch. It’s astonishing,” one person wrote. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scavino appeared to acknowledge the backlash on Sunday afternoon by reposting yet another AI-generated video depicting the imagined afterparty, this time through the supposed lens of Xi Jinping’s “lost camera roll.” “…as the typical nutters are losing their s--t over AI created content, well done! It is AI, correct?😂🎯” he wrote on X. If Republicans’ concerns about the first video’s opulence amid Americans’ cost-of-living struggles reached Scavino, he apparently did not care. The AI video opens with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, flipping through photos from the purported party. The images show Trump galloping through the White House on horseback; Vance and Musk holding his feet as Xi helps him do a keg stand; Trump jet-skiing on the Reflecting Pool; and Melania eating a lavish cake off his stomach, among other scenes. Republican concerns ahead of the November elections come as polling shows the GOP is headed towards a wipeout at the ballot box. President Donald Trump’s advisers have tried to tell him to focus more on affordability going into the 2026 midterms, especially after Republicans suffered serious losses in the off-year 2025 elections. Rank-and-file Republicans, meanwhile, are distancing themselves from Trump entirely. A growing number of Republicans, including those who represent safe Republican districts, have also deleted references to Trump on their campaign websites, including candidates whom Trump has endorsed. Trump, whose approval rating has sunk to one of the lowest of any president, has insisted that his administration has a winning record, and has doubled down on tying the midterms to his own record. He has told his MAGA base to just vote as though he is on the ballot. “Pretend that I am on the ballot,” Trump declared during the Republican midterm conference earlier this month. “I’m on the ballot.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-revolts-over-tone-deaf-white-house-video-from-dan-scavino/?

Trump’s Wild Offer to Chinese Leader Revealed The president’s ambassador to China made the stunning admission in a Fox News interview. President Donald Trump offered China the chance to buy U.S. weapons in an astonishing proposal. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, Trump at one point asked him if he would be interested in buying American weapons, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue admitted. The U.S. last approved $11 billion in sales of U.S. arms to Taiwan in December 2025, as China has been flirting with the idea of invading the small island to take it over. When asked by Fox News on Sunday about the administration’s stance on Taiwan’s independence, Perdue made the stunning admission that Trump had actually offered Xi weapons. “President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world.’ He actually asked President Xi if he would like to buy some, at one point,” Perdue said. That confession received no further inquiry or pushback from Fox host Shannon Bream. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for more information. Trump’s offer to Xi marks a stunning departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy that outright bans China from purchasing U.S. arms. U.S. law strictly prohibits the export of defense articles and defense services to China. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, the U.S. and European countries imposed arms embargoes on China that still exist today. The U.S. does sell weapons to Taiwan, much to the dismay of Beijing, which claims the country as its territory. Trump has delayed a more recent $14 billion arms package for Taiwan for several months, as he has dismissed bipartisan calls from Congress to advance it, describing it as a “very good negotiating chip” in his discussions with China. Following Perdue’s bombshell comments, a U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration has no plans to sell weapons to China, while a second U.S. official pointed out that federal law bars weapons sales to China, adding that no plans or offers have been put on the table for Beijing. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-wild-offer-to-chinese-leader-xi-jinping-revealed-by-david-perdue/?

As to other related ilssues: * All people who wish to worshilpl in a lSDA congregation in peace, are welcomed to attend. I p[ersonally know of some homosexuals who attend SDA Congregatios but are not members. * Homosexuals who remain celebate are welcomed to be baptized and become mebbers. 8 There are a few ccases where a non-celebate homosexual has been baptized and allowed to become a SDA member. Such is rare and a viiolation of policy.

That's the way it works in my Church as well.

As to the policy related to homosexual SDA Clergy, it is simply this: Homosexuals may be ordained as SDA Clerlgy only as long as they remain celebate. If they do not remain celebate their ordination will be revocked. We do have some who do remain celebate. We have revoked the ordination of some others who did not remain celebate.

The varioius levels of the SDAChruch operte under a Constitution whilch also has w set of Bylaws. The Consstsilltion is seldom changed, bult may be changed. The Bylaws are often changed. In the Unilted States, the SDA Church has registered wlith the governlment, in order tko be covered by the protections of law that apply to religious organilzations. That process has included the ConstilltulIn the United kStates, In the Unlited States, t he authority to authorize the ordination of SDA clegy has generally lbeen given to the Union Conferences by their Constiltution. In short, the Local Conference recommends ordination and the Union Conference aplproves. As an example, my credentials cOme frkom teh Pacific Union kl coknference aftere the Northern kCalifornia conference recommended such. Under the procedure listed above, the General Conference is considered by many, including me, to not have the authority to tell the Union Ckonferences whom they can ordain.

Exclusive: Feds Denied Ballistics Expert Access to Prairieland Defendant Who Got 100 Years in Prison On the last day of the Prairieland trial, in which nine Texas protesters were accused of crimes including providing material support to terrorists, the attorney for activist Benjamin Song presented a novel argument that, if true, would have upended the federal government’s case. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/27/prairieland-appeal-gun-bullet-ricochet-benjamin-song/? Flock Wants the Most Detailed Map of Its Surveillance Cameras Taken Offline Amid mounting concerns about its sprawling surveillance camera network, Flock Security told the press this summer that it operates more than 120,000 cameras nationwide. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/24/how-many-flock-devices-in-united-states-300000/? DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why. Last year, well before DoorDash’s $131.5 million settlement with New York City for underpaying 264,000 delivery workers was announced Tuesday, the company spent around $1.4 million on the campaign to stop Zohran Mamdani, who oversaw the historic settlement, from becoming mayor. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/23/doordash-delivery-nyc-mamdani-wage-theft-settlement/? The Backlash to “NAZA” Shows How Little Israeli Citizenship Really Means The Israeli documentary “NAZA” will make its North American premiere tomorrow at the New York Film Festival on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vitriolic speech at the United Nations, which was met by mass protests, arrests, and diplomats walking out. Other Israeli documentaries have screened at Lincoln Center, including one at the New York Jewish Film Festival in January on the movement for LGBTQ+ rights or another about an October 7 hostage. But this film, co-directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has proven extraordinarily controversial in its home country, reviled by nearly every sector of media and politics. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/25/naza-documentary-film-netanyahu-israel-revoke-citizenship/? The “Satanic Panic” Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting. Before she became infamous as one of the youngest American women ever sentenced to die, Christa Gail Pike was a North Carolina teenager who broke into a community center to steal some candy. At 5-foot-3, with thick auburn curls, she’d been in trouble at home and in school but not with the law. A juvenile court judge put Pike on probation, but she ran afoul of the rules. In the fall of 1991, when she was 15, Pike was sent to the Juvenile Evaluation Center in Swannanoa. She arrived just before Thanksgiving. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/27/christa-pike-execution-women-death-row/? As the Pentagon Expands Across the Pacific, Guam Offers a Warning Leevin Camacho was brushing his teeth one day last fall when his mother called. The water is contaminated, she said. Moments later, she texted him a photo of a flyer issued by the local water authority. “Cancer risk,” it warned. “Increased likelihood of adverse impacts on the liver.” And in bold capital letters, “DO NOT DRINK.” https://theintercept.com/2026/09/24/guam-military-buildup-base-pollution/? Congress Failed Again to Stop Trump’s Iran War. This Group Is Trying Through the Courts. With Congress unable to rein in President Donald Trump’s war against Iran through legislative action, a group advocating for diplomacy filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration arguing the military action violates the Constitution. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/24/congress-trump-iran-war-lawsuit-constitution/? Green Energy Is Coming for the Desert When asked recently if he used artificial intelligence, President Donald Trump — whose Truth Social account is rife with AI slop — offered an unconvincing “yeah” while refusing to provide specifics. Trump, who falls asleep at Cabinet meetings, press events, and even at a 25th anniversary 9/11 memorial service, followed it up by stating that the government doesn’t need to regulate AI since he’s monitoring it. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT,” he boasted, adding: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” https://theintercept.com/2026/09/24/solar-farms-mojave-desert-renewable-energy/? The Ellisons Could Make a Killing in Big Surveillance With the Paramount Merger Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta remains embroiled in litigation over whether its products are designed to hook kids. But Zuckerberg’s got nothing on another centibillionaire pushing to expand his influence over the next generation: Larry Ellison, the octogenarian oligarch of Oracle. Ellison not only brags about having even more data about us than Meta but runs a global surveillance machine and is a major military contractor. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/23/paramount-warner-bros-merger-ellisons-surveillance/? Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous War Profiteers For the first time, the Pentagon budget topped $1 trillion, and private contractors now receive more than half of all the tax dollars flowing to the Pentagon. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/24/war-weapons-profits-lockheed-rtx-ceos/? The Blueprint for Democrats to Win Back Voters It’s the year of the democratic socialist. But the group that helped start the earthquake currently transforming the Democratic Party almost didn’t make it to 2026. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/25/progressive-justice-democrats-congress-ice/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The Intercept Newsletter

What did the General Conference mean by "educating their members" At the time all this was going on wasn't the SDA Church decidedly anti-Trinitarian? I'm not seeing how the General Conference wouldn't have been anything other than affirmative on W.O. - given they were pushing "The Personality of God" Doctrine, Christ becoming an angel, etc. Seriously, if a significant number of SDA's want to ordain as clergy women and open homosexuals who are in same sex relationships what can the General Conference do about it other than pout and put out indignant statements?

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That is not correct Gustave. The General Conference leadership made a request. They recognized that they did not have the authority. Conferences and unions had worked with the request while waiting for the condition to be met to educate our members and then freely ordain women. Sadly, well over a century has past. Some education has been done, but the General Conference went to different topics and this has fallen by the way side. There were a few times that the General Conference brought up the idea of women's ordination but a careful (and official writings) looked at these votes and says that they only resulted decision to not make a decision at that time and to just leave things as they are. The way things "are" is that the conferences and unions have the right to ordain who they wish, but that they may wish to wait for more members to get educated in the fact that the ordination of women is Biblical. They are not bound to the suggestion.

The authority here appears to be coming from the General Conference and by the General Conference saying to wait until "more" SDA's were Ordained this tells me the General Conference would be the one who would identify what "more" constituted. As I said earlier, this is looking A LOT like the SSPX issue I've been following. If I were to word this in words familiar to me it seems that the General Conference issued a "dispensation" for certain conferences or what I thought SDA's called "Unions" to "sort of" allow for limited female clergy (if that's what you can call it) provided the word "Ordained" was not used in the context of anointing or whatever it is that is done by SDA religious Authority to do whatever they do in cases like this. In my Church Deacons, while not Priests, are still officially "Ordained". Granted I know nothing of this situation - just my own musings on a subject I know nothing about.

In the western territories people such as Elder Loughborough ordained women. The New York Conference wanted to ordain women and the Atlantic Union approved the ordination of women. The General Conference said that while they were free to ordain the women, they requested that the women get the paperwork without the word "Ordained" until more of our members were ordained that it is Biblical to ordain women. From this history, which part would you say they understood to be only a temporary measure? If they did not want to ordain women they would have simply told Loughborough and the others and the conferences and unions that wanted to ordain women to simply not to, instead of setting up a system where we have always for all practical purposes ordained women only avoiding the word. Ellen White could have taken the paperwork without the word "Ordained" She could have written testimonies to Loughborough, the New York Conference, the Atlantic Union telling them that women's ordination was wrong and to send Daniels and General Conference leaders before him that we simply should not ordain women instead of setting up this way of ordaining women and avoiding the word. While some religions may argue over ordaining women, the issue in the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been whether we should be honest and open that we ordain women, or to ordain them in a round-about way avoiding the word but in fact doing the task? The purpose for hiding what we were doing was, according to Daniels, to allow to educate our members that it is Biblical to ordain women. The church has never decided to make ignorance, that our pioneers wanted to educate away from, to be a rule to be enforced on to the church.

Hurricane Nolo skirts Hawaii but could still unleash powerful winds, flash flooding HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Hurricane Nolo just skirted the Hawaiian Islands as it gained intensity on Saturday, but officials said it still posed a risk for flash floods, dangerous winds and extreme surf in areas recovering from previous storms. https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-nolo-hawaii-5b03b3f9fea549355c55b1edd985907a?

5 men arrested near UK air base used by US in Iran war on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act LONDON (AP) — U.K. police said that five men arrested in the early hours of Sunday near an air base used by the United States during its war against Iran are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks. https://apnews.com/article/britain-explosives-us-air-base-fairford-49495441036e78763e106bbeadd1e839?

Kevin H, That was some very interesting history you posted there. I have a question on the last part of your last paragraph. Here is the section. What part was temporary? Ordaining women WITHOUT using the word ordained or actually ordaining women?

Kevin thank you for this history lesson. Now why are some neurotic? Could it be that Seattle is becoming the lesbian capitol of America ? Could it be because there was a major revolt in the Oregon conference over LGBT issues? Could it be that many have lost all trust in the Oregon Conference? I can assure you, that 90% of the church strongly rejects this action and views it as disobedience. Additionally, there is no safeguards in the PUC statement that prevent ordaining LGBT or Trans. What could go wrong?

The union conferences were given the ability to choose ordination back in the 1800s. Some, back then, choose to ordain women, however, the General Conference did make a request for a temporary differentiation between male and female ordination. That men get the papers that include the word "Ordination" while women's papers get the same pay, with their husbands getting the same stipend as given to the wives of the ordained men, but that the women's papers omit the word "Ordained." That the women get ordination in the local church, but are allowed the same responsibilities as ordained pastors (although there tended to be an exception for certain administrative offices in the hagiarchy of the church). In other words, since the 1800s, our church has been ordaining women, but in a round about way. According to General Conference President A. G. Daniels (who came into office long after this practice was started) this round-about ordination was only to be temporary so that our members can become educated, but agreed that the unions had the right to ordain who they wish. Ellen White did NOT take this round about ordination option, but took the same papers as the men that included the word "Ordained." (Now, there is one copy, out of several copies over the years) where someone crossed out the word "Ordained." Now, when Mrs. White crossed out something, she would place her initials over the cross out. However, this cross out does not contain her initials. Critics of women's ordination argue that Mrs. White needed the paper with the word "Ordination" to get paid. However, other women who carried the papers that did not include the word "Ordained" got paid, got the same pay as the men who carried papers that carried the word "Ordained." Mrs. White could have carried the papers that did not use the word "Ordained" and still have gotten the same pay, so this argument does not fit the facts. The votes taken in the General Conference sessions has never changed this policy, but has been described as "kicking the can" further down the road while maintaining the same round-about ordaining women with paperwork that does not include the word "ordained." What these "rebellious" conferences are doing is deciding to just be open and above board about the language of the paperwork, taking advantage of the powers the church gave them in the 1800s, and choosing to no longer fulfill a temporary REQUEST by the General Conference leadership. Why do so many of our members show a neurotic need to prove that we are good Baptists, and if we are not going to ordain women, then why didn't our leadership prevent the ordination of women from the start? Why did our pioneers and leadership set up a way of ordaining women without using the word "Ordained" which they said was only to be temporary?

🍽️ 1 for the road: Meet your neighbors Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios More than 1,200 Axios readers coast to coast have signed up for dinner with people they've never met on Oct. 6. It's part of Axios Social Club, an experiment Axios Local has been running in partnership with the DNNR dinner-club platform. Readers take a personality quiz and get matched with five other locals for dinner. We pick the restaurants: You don't find out where you're going until event day. 💡 It's a signal of a broader yearning for human connection, Axios Local's Emma Way tells us: Making friends as an adult is hard, loneliness is real, and people are hungry for reasons to get off their phones and connect IRL.

🚶 Data du jour: America's top walkers Data: StreetLight. Chart: Jim Sergent/Axios The average American walked 151 miles in 2024, according to research from StreetLight, a transportation data firm. But some cities logged far more miles than others. Orlando topped the list — all those steps inside Disney World add up! Explore the data.

🔎 What rural voters want Data: KFF/AP Rural Voters Survey. Chart: Herb Scribner Cost of living and health care top the list of issues rural voters want 2026 midterm candidates to address, Axios' Herb Scribner reports from a new AP/KFF poll. Affordability concerns rank above immigration, the conflict with Iran and several major domestic policy debates. Reality check: Rural voters' unhappiness with rising costs doesn't necessarily translate into support for Democrats. According to the poll, 40% trust Republicans more to handle the cost of living. 25% trust Democrats and 27% trust neither party. Explore the data ... Read our story.

🏈 Pic du jour Photo: Randy Sartin/Imagn Images Above: Air Force One flies super low over Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., before President Trump watched the first half of the No. 1 Texas Longhorns' 20-17 victory over the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers.

🚗 President Trump said he has approved plans to scale back fuel-efficiency rules for new cars and light trucks, gutting the Biden administration's EV push. A formal announcement comes tomorrow. (NYT gift link) ⚾ Major League Baseball asked the Trump administration if it's possible to host a game in a national park, similar to the recurring Field of Dreams game in Iowa. Locations have been scouted in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, but the White House said it's not a priority. (WashPost gift link) 📺 TV networks plan to resume pool coverage of President Trump today, even though the White House blocked CNN from Air Force One yesterday. (NYT gift link)

🏖️ Scoop: "Delusional" forecast rattles Senate retreat Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios A pollster for Senate Republicans, Erik Iverson, was met with disbelief yesterday after he told GOP donors and operatives that they can add seats in November's midterm elections, sources tell Axios' Stef W. Kight. In fact, Republicans are increasingly fearful they'll lose their majority. "Delusional," an attendee at a National Republican Senatorial Committee retreat in Sea Island, Ga., told Axios after the presentation. "The mood is not good," griped another. "I think most attendees down here are politically astute and realistic about the headwinds Republicans face," said a third. 🗳️ Zoom in: The NRSC's Sea Island fall retreat is a major donor event that attracts big-dollar givers, senators and their senior staff. Iverson, a former Montana Republican Party chair, suggested Republicans could gain one seat in the Senate after the midterms, but didn't provide a state-by-state explanation. Iverson told Axios that he "pointed out that in 2022 President Biden's image was double digits underwater in every single swing Senate seat, yet Democrats still gained a seat. The message was for folks to keep their heads up." Keep reading.