Axios' Marc Caputo reports from the GOP convention at American Airlines Center in Dallas:

Support for President Trump is dropping among millennials and Gen Zers — particularly young men. Vice President Vance is in charge of getting them back in the midterms.

• Why it matters: The 42-year-old Vance, the first millennial VP, capped off the GOP's two-day convention with a direct appeal to families with young children, emphasizing the "birthright" of U.S. citizens.

Vance also sought to cast Democrats as anti-American, anti-family "crazies."

• "America belongs to those who love it. Not those who hate it," he said.

🔎 Zoom in: Support for Republicans is slipping across all age brackets. But the disapproval among millennials and young men is an acute concern for Trump's political operation, because they were crucial to the president's 2024 victory.

• Millennials (born from 1981 to 1996, so roughly ages 30-45) are the largest generation in America — and the cohort with the most school-age kids. So they particularly feel the bite of higher food and gas prices.

In his 41-minute speech, Vance established his millennial bona fides by mentioning that he's now the father of four young children who share in the "birthright ... to inherit the blessings of the greatest country on Earth."

• Vance spoke on the first anniversary of the assassination of his friend and ally, Charlie Kirk.
• "Charlie spoke to young men in particular," Vance said. "He understood that there was no greater calling for a young man ... than falling in love, starting a family and becoming a father."

👀 Behind the scenes: Earlier in the day, Vance addressed a closed-door room of Republicans and emphasized the need to talk up the administration's record on lowering costs for prescription drugs — and to attack Democrats.

• "We have to remind the American people of all the good things that we're doing. And number two, we have to remind the American people of how effing crazy the Democrats have become over the past couple of years," Vance said.

Between the lines: Vance is younger than any member of Trump's Cabinet, the freshest face in an administration led by the oldest person ever elected to the presidency — Trump, an 80-year-old Baby Boomer.

• An administration political adviser told us: "The dynamic you're seeing play out in the administration between the young millennial leader and the boomer is happening in corporate boardrooms across America."
• "JD is uniquely qualified to talk to parents with young families. He's one of them, so this is only the start."

🔮 What's next: Vance and Trump plan to hit the campaign trail to support as many as 35 congressional candidates and a dozen Senate campaigns.

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Anthropic insiders' warnings this week that AI could end humanity in the next decade have members of Congress frantically seeking answers and trying to cobble together some kind of response, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.

• Why it matters: Federal lawmakers are at the "concepts of a plan" stage, with congressional leaders showing little apparent urgency to mobilize.

Some rank-and-file members in both parties say something must be done: "We should absolutely act, and act with urgency," Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.) told Axios.

• Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote Wednesday on X: "Congress needs to convene a special session on AI and what the future of the U.S. looks like."

🔬 Zoom in: Dozens of members of Congress — mostly Democrats, but a handful of Republicans as well — have since called for urgent action and floated a wide variety of legislative responses.

• Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), one of House Democrats' most vocal advocates for AI regulations, is pushing a bipartisan bill requiring AI developers to build a human-activated "kill switch" into any AI system.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) "will soon be introducing legislation ... to pause advanced AI and ban superintelligence altogether."
• Others called for a more cautious approach, with Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) writing that "we need AI to flourish" and calling for "deliberate, thoughtful, and prudent policymaking" to mitigate its risks.

🥊 Reality check: Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, haven't indicated they're treating this as a pressing matter.

• The House is set to be in session for just four more days before Election Day, with lawmakers meeting on Capitol Hill next week before going on a six-week recess.

🔮 Many Democrats are speaking about the issue as something they'll tackle in 2027 if they take the majority in one or both chambers.

• Keep reading.

53 days before midterms, Republicans are fighting roughly 200 legal battles over elections — including several cases in which the GOP isn't officially participating but is paying legal fees or advising on strategy, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes.

• White House political staff and the White House counsel's office are regularly updated on the RNC's work.

Zoom in: The Republican National Committee's vast roster of cases includes efforts to tighten voter ID rules in Montana, decrease ballot drop-off locations in Georgia, increase scrutiny of voter lists in New Jersey and Delaware, and boost access for election observers and challengers elsewhere.

• Five RNC officials described the scope of the party's nationwide "election integrity" effort to Axios.
• They said strict enforcement of voting laws and preventing noncitizens from registering and voting are top priorities — even as analysts say there's no evidence of any systemic or significant voter fraud.

Separately, the Trump administration is pursuing criminal charges for alleged voting law violations. Executive branch offices have told state election officials they're criminally liable for registering or allowing a noncitizen to vote. ICE also has been trying to obtain voter data to investigate cases.

• Keep reading.

A worker buffs the surface of the September 11 Memorial in New York yesterday ahead of remembrance events on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

• The annual remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero will begin at 8:40 a.m. ET.

The first of seven moments of silence will be observed at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane struck the north tower of the World Trade Center.

• The other moments of silence commemorate when the south tower was struck, when each of the towers fell, the attack on the Pentagon, the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa., and to honor those who lost their lives to 9/11-related illnesses and injuries.

President Trump will speak at a Pentagon ceremony this morning.

Above: A drone show depicts the Twin Towers using 2,977 lights, one for each life lost on 9/11, on Wednesday during a test of the annual "Tribute in Light."

• 📸 Axios interview: 9/11 photographers who ran toward the danger.

🛢️ Driving the day: U.S. diesel fuel prices hit another record this morning, soaring past $6 a gallon amid the escalating conflict with Iran. Go deeper.

Intel from Axios' Barak Ravid: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) called President Trump twice yesterday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group closed in on a vital Red Sea chokepoint.

• Trump declined, and U.S. officials stressed the administration has no plans to intervene directly against the Houthis for now.

Why it matters: Oil prices surged yesterday as the Houthis seized a strategic coastal city in Yemen, pushing them closer to the Bab al-Mandab Strait — a vital artery for global trade and Saudi oil exports.

• With Iran already disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi control of Bab al-Mandab could give Tehran a powerful new point of leverage over the U.S. and its Gulf allies.

Keep reading.

Test scores of 15-year-old students fell sharply worldwide in math, reading and science, according to new results from the influential PISA exam.

• Reading took the biggest hit, falling to the lowest level ever recorded in the assessment. "Hasty reading" — skimming fast but getting it wrong — nearly doubled between 2018 and 2025.
• OECD, which administers the test, found the sharpest declines in "the very skills that matter most in the AI age: evaluating information, making connections across multiple sources, and thinking critically about what we read."
• Math and science scores also hit record lows across 23 OECD countries.

🧪 Between the lines: U.S. science scores were a rare exception, ticking up three points from three years ago to match where they stood in 2009 and 2018.

• American reading and math scores both fell to their lowest on record.

Read the full report.

TikTok has rejected ads from Meta that call on TikTok and other tech platforms to join Meta in settling with U.S. state attorneys general in a landmark children's safety lawsuit, sources tell Axios' Sara Fischer.

• Why it matters: Part of Meta's historic multibillion-dollar settlement is contingent on its peers also agreeing to settle. Other tech firms have yet to publicly comment on their plans.

Meta has been running a public campaign to encourage TikTok and YouTube to join its settlement through statements and advertisements. Snap Inc., which is notably not mentioned in its campaign, appears poised to settle.

• Meta argues it will face a competitive disadvantage if it's the only platform forced to add restrictions as part of a settlement.

Keep reading ... Get Axios Media Trends.

A blockbuster new exhibition at the British Museum in London showing the Bayeux Tapestry — an embroidered account of the Norman ​invasion of England in 1066 — has set off a national frenzy.

• Newspapers are running special ​guides, ticket strategies are circulating online and the pub opposite the museum temporarily changed its name to "The ​Beer Tapestry."

The masterpiece will be shown at the museum in central London for the next 10 months, after leaving France for the first time since the 11th century.

• Believed to have been sewn by English seamstresses before being taken to France, the embroidery tells the story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings — one of the most pivotal moments in European history.

Explore the tapestry (NYT gift link).