Jensen Huang's potential ouster from Nvidia leaves a blast radius far beyond the chip giant that's the backbone of the global AI economy:

• The scandal will consume the new Congress, could take out Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, goes all the way up to President Trump, and undermines U.S.-China relations on the eve of Trump's trip to Shenzhen for a summit next week and Xi Jinping's visit to Florida for a summit next month.

Why it matters: Nvidia's chips, investments and financial guarantees sustain an ecosystem of companies worth trillions of dollars, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

At the epicenter of the blast is Huang, who spent 33 years making himself synonymous with Nvidia — and Nvidia synonymous with the AI revolution.

• "This is no ordinary CEO. This is no ordinary company. This is no ordinary sector. This is no ordinary time," economist Mohamed El-Erian wrote on X, warning of contagion across the AI industry.

🔎 Zoom in: As recently as two weeks ago, the notion of Nvidia without Jensen was unthinkable.

• Even after his affair with a suspected Chinese spy came to light, Trump and Nvidia's board stood behind him, Silicon Valley's elite rallied to his defense and betting markets suggested he would survive.
• A New York Times revelation yesterday that Huang had a second affair as recently as March — this time with an Nvidia executive who reports to him — shattered that consensus of support and put his storied reign in jeopardy.

Driving the news: After that second affair came to light last night, Nvidia's board reportedly met to settle Huang's fate, though there was still no decision as of early this morning. The White House was read in.

• The market reaction has been brutal. Nvidia had already shed more than $1 trillion in market value since the initial scandal erupted, and shares plunged further in after-hours and pre-market trading.
• One of Wall Street's most prominent voices on tech, analyst Dan Ives, said Nvidia was worth 25% less without Huang.

Zoom out: Huang's rise was the stuff of Silicon Valley legend: The Taiwanese immigrant went from cleaning toilets at a Kentucky boarding school and waiting tables at Denny's to building one of the most valuable companies in history.

• Huang and two fellow engineers hatched the idea for Nvidia at a Denny's booth in 1993, launching a chipmaker that would revolutionize gaming, transform modern computing and ultimately power the AI revolution.
• Clad in his trademark black leather jacket, Huang became a global AI rock star — with a cult of personality that drew adoring crowds, calmed markets and commanded the attention of world leaders.

🖼️ The big picture: Huang's crisis comes amid mounting anxiety over the AI industry's future, as new financial, political and regulatory risks threaten one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in history.

• The timing is especially fraught for Anthropic, whose historic IPO — backed by a $10 billion commitment from Nvidia — looms as a referendum on Wall Street's faith in the AI trade.
• Huang spent years defending the industry's soaring valuations and dismissing warnings of a speculative frenzy. Now his own scandals could help burst the bubble he insisted didn't exist.

👀 What to watch: The blast radius could extend far beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street, threatening to engulf the Trump administration in a scandal over its handling of sensitive technology exports to China.

• Huang forged a close alliance with Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who loosened restrictions on chip sales even as other officials raised concerns about Chinese espionage and smuggling.
• Two top Senate Democrats, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Coons of Delaware, demanded yesterday that Lutnick and other top Trump officials preserve records of their dealings with Nvidia and Huang.

Share this story.

🚨 Historic race call, 5:59 p.m. ET: WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Scott Colom wins election to U.S. Senate from Mississippi.

Democrat Scott Colom's upset of Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith makes him the first Democrat elected to the state's Senate delegation since 1982, Axios' Donica Phifer writes from Mississippi.

• Colom also becomes Mississippi's first Black senator since Reconstruction.

Why it matters: Colom's victory marks another extraordinary breakthrough for Democrats in the Deep South, extending the historic blue wave that handed the party control of both chambers of Congress.

• The win gives Democrats a 55–44 Senate majority, with one race still uncalled: Alaska, where Democrat Mary Peltola holds a narrow lead.

The big picture: Colom's path to a historic U.S. Senate upset ran through the Mississippi Delta — tracing some of the most painful and defining chapters of Black American history, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

• It's where Emmett Till was abducted, Fannie Lou Hamer fought for the ballot and the blues became an American art form.
• Colom won 16 of the Delta's 18 counties, beating Hyde-Smith by about 38,000 votes in the region — roughly 13,000 more than the 2020 Democratic candidate's margin of victory there.
• Colom carried the whole state by only about 4,700 votes.

Go deeper: How the Delta helped carry Scott Colom to Senate history.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is shaking up her team for the second time in the past few months as she prepares to make the biggest decision of her political life, Axios' Holly Otterbein and Alex Thompson write.

• Why it matters: The overhaul comes as the democratic socialist leader debates whether to run for president in 2028 or for the seat of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, which is up the same year.

🔭 Zoom in: Ocasio-Cortez has parted ways with her longtime digital fundraising firm, Middle Seat, according to three people familiar with the decision.

• She's brought on Aisle 518 Strategies, led by Tim Tagaris, who oversaw Bernie Sanders' record-breaking online fundraising strategy in two presidential campaigns.
• Middle Seat has been key to Ocasio-Cortez's operation. Over the past two years, she has paid the firm more than $6 million — about a quarter of her operation's disbursements during that period.
• AOC is close with Sanders, and if she decides to run for president, progressives say, she would be able to quickly staff up with his former advisers.

🥊 Reality check: Ocasio-Cortez's latest move doesn't necessarily signal that she's leaning toward a presidential run or a Senate bid.

• Tagaris' firm has helped power the small-dollar fundraising operation for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's widely expected to run for the White House.
• It has also worked with potential presidential contenders Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Share this story.

Axios' Russell Contreras, who has closely tracked America's stunning post-pandemic crime drop, writes:

Homicides fell 15.2% across major U.S. police jurisdictions through the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, a new Major Cities Chiefs Association report found.

• Robberies fell 9.1%, rapes 3.5% and aggravated assaults 3.4%.
• 51 of the 66 large law enforcement agencies in the report logged overall declines.

Between the lines: Not every city followed the trend.

• New York City was a major outlier, with more violent crime reported in all four categories, including 24.5% more homicides.
• In D.C., homicides fell 29.9%, but robberies surged 41.1%.

Keep reading.

Newly emboldened Democrats are warming to a move from President Trump's playbook: Turning the federal government into an investor in private companies, Axios' Amy Harder writes.

• They're considering investments and aid for clean energy and energy infrastructure.

🎨 The big picture: The Biden administration spent billions subsidizing clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing.

• The Trump administration has gone further by taking ownership stakes in companies ranging from Intel to critical-mineral producers.
• It has announced more than $30 billion in investments across nearly 50 deals involving government ownership and related financial arrangements, according to a Council on Foreign Relations tracker.

🔬 Zoom in: Jennifer Granholm, who served as President Biden's energy secretary, said at a gathering of energy and climate experts in Berkeley last month that "the Trump administration has widened the aperture for industrial policy."

• Granholm, a former Michigan governor, told us the government could take small ownership stakes in companies for national security or global competitiveness reasons.

Keep reading ... Get Axios Future of Energy.

The midterms triggered an unusually sharp partisan shift in how Americans feel about the economy, Axios' Emily Peck writes from Morning Consult data.

• Why it matters: Partisan swings in consumer sentiment are typically far smaller after midterms than presidential elections. The latest numbers show just how much politics colors Americans' views of the economy.

🧮 By the numbers: Democratic consumer sentiment rose 6.5 points in the five days after the election compared with the week before, while Republicans' mood fell 6.4 points.

• Keep reading ... Get Axios Markets.

For the first time since 1971, fewer than half of Americans support the death penalty for convicted murderers, Axios' Avery Lotz writes from a new Gallup poll.

• Gallup started its most recent polling on the question a day after death row inmate Christa Pike survived a botched lethal injection process in Tennessee, triggering a pause on executions in the state.

Go deeper.

United Airlines is blocking personal AI assistants like Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots from accessing its systems to book tickets, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• The airline cited concerns about sensitive customer information, unintended purchases and potential violations of federal aviation rules.

AI agents can still show customers United's flight options and prices but won't be allowed to book tickets directly on its website.

• Keep reading (gift link).