President Trump is already fixated behind the scenes on next year's midterm elections for the House and Senate — unleashing his billion-dollar political operation and personally burrowing into the minutiae of races, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes.

• Why it matters: Now that his megabill has passed Congress, Trump's ability to accomplish more big things there — and avoid impeachment — hinges on keeping the GOP's razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress for his last two years in office.

🔭 Zoom in: Even with all that's swirling around Trump — foreign conflicts, deportations, tariffs, the Jeffrey Epstein fallout — he's micro-level focused on 2026 races.

• Trump's been particularly locked in on the already messy GOP Senate primary in Texas, where polls indicate Sen. John Cornyn is trailing scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime Trump loyalist.
• After Paxton's wife announced she was filing for divorce, White House insiders say, Trump — who hasn't endorsed in the race — was aware of it within an hour. He has been asking others about its political impact.

Here's how Trump's team is laying the groundwork for 2026:

1. Money muscle. Trump's biggest asset could be his enormously well-heeled political operation, for which he continues to aggressively raise money. Trump has told congressional Republicans he plans to spend heavily on their races.
2. Recruit aggressively. The White House is seeking candidates to run in several key races. Trump himself is expected to get involved if an on-the-fence prospect needs a push. Trump aides are trying to land a recruit in the race for New Hampshire's vacant Senate seat, for example.
3. Early redistricting. Trump is pushing Texas Republicans to redraw the state's House districts five years early to create more GOP-friendly seats. That could net as many as five new GOP-held seats and dilute Democrats' voting power. But it almost certainly would face court challenges, and could lead blue states to try the same thing to favor Democrats.
4. Keep selling Trump's big bill. The White House is drawing up plans to spend the next year-plus selling Trump's domestic policy mega-bill to voters. That won't be easy: Polls show the measure — which includes tax cuts and a range of cuts to social programs — isn't popular.
5. Prevent retirements. Trump helped convince Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) to seek reelection to his competitive district, rather than run for governor. The White House is also trying to keep Iowa's Sen. Joni Ernst from retiring.
6. Endorse — and attack — in primaries.

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Zohran Mamdani, New York's surprise Democratic nominee for mayor, is scrambling to woo lawmakers, donors, and the city's elite who are wary of the democratic socialist, Axios' Alex Thompson writes.

• So far, they're mostly playing hard to get.

Why it matters: In their party's ongoing identity crisis, many Democrats have attacked or refused to endorse Mamdani to lead the nation's largest city, while others on the left have rallied around the 33-year-old political phenom.

• The schism over Mamdani is a version of the turbulence Democrats are wrestling with nationwide, as progressives and some party operatives are increasingly frustrated by snubs from the establishment.

That divide was clear last week when Mamdani visited D.C.:

• Most Democrats on Capitol Hill kept their distance, but dozens of progressive members of Congress greeted him enthusiastically at a breakfast arranged by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow New Yorker.
• Democratic leaders Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, both also from New York, have declined to endorse Mamdani. Jeffries did meet with Mamdani in New York on Friday but declined to endorse him afterward.

🔎 Zoom in: To try to rally the party behind him, Mamdani is changing his rhetoric, bringing on experienced operatives, talking with the business leaders he wants to tax, and repeatedly talking about "partnership."

• His recent message boils down to: I come in peace.
• Mamdani said this week he'd "discourage" pro-Palestine protesters from using the term "globalize the intifada," after repeatedly saying he wasn't interested in policing people's speech.

Mamdani also tried, with mixed success, to charm the city's business elite in a closed-door meeting with the Partnership for New York City — a group that includes representatives from big law firms and businesses.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will use a swing through Washington this week to argue that AI is already making Americans more productive — and to promise to keep AI "democratic" by getting it in as many hands as possible, sources tell Mike.

• Why it matters: Altman wants to continue driving debate over the effect AI will have on jobs. In an appearance tomorrow at a major Federal Reserve conference, Altman will offer what an adviser calls a "third path" between the bulls and the doomers.

🧮 By the numbers: In data being reported here for the first time, OpenAI says ChatGPT users send more than 2.5 billion prompts each day globally. More than 330 million of those daily prompts are in the U.S.

• The free version of ChatGPT is used by the vast majority of the platform's more than 500 million weekly active users, OpenAI says.

🔬 Zoom in: Tomorrow, Altman will join Michelle Bowman, the Fed's new vice chair for supervision, for a fireside chat at a bank regulation conference before an audience that includes Fed officials and Wall Street executives.

• It's AI Week in D.C.: President Trump on Wednesday will keynote a "Winning the AI Race" summit, hosted by the All‑In Podcast and the Hill & Valley Forum.
• Also Wednesday, the White House is expected to release its long-awaited 20-page AI Action Plan — which promises a hands-off, pro-growth approach, Axios tech policy reporters Maria Curi and Ashley Gold scooped last week.

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The stock market rallied during President Trump's first six months in office, despite a volatility spike in April. But a new poll shows Main Street isn't feeling the same optimism, Axios Markets author Madison Mills writes.

• Why it matters: While investors are pricing in a post-tariff rebound, the general public is still concerned about economic issues like inflation — a reminder that the stock market is not the economy.

By the numbers: Despite a volatile April off the back of tariff announcements, the S&P 500 is up 7% so far this year — outpacing the historical average.

• 📊 But 70% of respondents in a CBS News/YouGov poll out yesterday said Trump isn't focusing enough on lowering prices. He's focusing too much on tariffs, according to 61% of those surveyed. 60% said they oppose new U.S. tariffs entirely.

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📈 Bullish lead story of today's Wall Street Journal: "Fears of economic downturn following President Trump's tariffs have eased as consumer confidence and spending rebound ... [B]usinesses and consumers are regaining their swagger, and evidence is mounting that those who held back are starting to splurge again."

• "The stock market is reaching record highs. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, which tumbled in April to its lowest reading in almost three years, has begun climbing again. Retail sales are up more than economists had forecast, and sky-high inflation hasn't materialized — at least not yet."

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A 10-page profile of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in The New Yorker, "Money Talks," out this morning, reports that he and President Trump "speak on the phone most nights, at around one in the morning, just after Lutnick gets in bed."

• The two billionaires (and former Manhattan moguls) talk about "real stuff," like Canadian steel tariffs, Lutnick told the reporter, Antonia Hitchens. Lutnick told her they also talk about "nothing," which he described as:

"sporting events, people, who'd you have dinner with, what was this guy like, can you believe what this guy did, what's the TV like, I saw this on TV, what'd you think of what this guy said on TV, what did you think about my press conference, how about this Truth [Social post]?"

Of course, Lutnick added, "Trump has other people he calls late at night." But Lutnick, often spotted in the West Wing, is a regular.

• Hitchens writes that Lutnick, 64, who became the head of a major bond-trading firm at 29, "radiates a brash, ebullient energy that is often referred to as 'scrappy' or 'outer borough.' He likes to dish. He talks with his hands and emphasizes his points with catchphrases such as 'How about no' or 'How about we don't.'"

"Lutnick sees himself primarily as the President's dealmaker-in-chief," the article says. "Lutnick is in many ways the most Trumpian member of Trump's Cabinet — a raw, unbridled expression of the President's mercantilist instincts and branding acumen, of government as deal-making in gold-plated rooms."

• Lutnick — who grew up on Long Island and is former chairman and CEO of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald — says of Washington types: "I'm just experienced in business in the way none of these people are — except Donald Trump ... I know him so well that I know where the puck is going."

🎻 In a passage about staffing the new administration, Lutnick, who was co-chair of the transition and sat at Trump's side during the Cabinet-picking at Mar-a-Lago, says: "President Trump makes decisions by orchestra ... And I would say I'm the first violin."

• An old friend of Lutnick's said he "always loved celebrities": "I think in his mind he's hanging out with Matt Damon or Brad Pitt."

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The gutting of federal funding for public broadcasters is expected to cause hundreds of local station groups across the country to significantly scale back operations or shutter, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.

• Why it matters: Those stations are often in rural places where there isn't any other local news source.

While the cuts are meant to target NPR and PBS, the national organizations won't feel much of the impact.

• NPR and PBS nationally are mostly funded by nongovernment sources, such as corporate sponsorships or viewer/listener donations.
• Only around 1% and 15% of NPR's and PBS' national revenue comes through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose funding was slashed by Congress.

But local member stations depend on CPB funding, and they're the ones that will be most heavily impacted.

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President Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington's NFL team if the Commanders don't restore the old Redskins name, which was considered offensive to Native Americans.

• Trump also said yesterday that he wants Cleveland's baseball team to revert to its former name, the Indians, saying there was a "big clamoring for this" as well.

The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their current names since the 2022 seasons. Each has said they have no plans to change them back.

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Scottie Scheffler stands with his son Bennett after winning the British Open in Northern Ireland yesterday.

• Scheffler — dominating the sport in a way not seen since Tiger Woods — won by four shots to capture his second major of the year.

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