In Wisconsin's Democratic primary, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley upset democratic socialist Francesca Hong, 39.8% to 39.4% — checking the progressive left's momentum after some polls showed her up by more than 20 points.

• Crowley must now prove the argument that powered his rise: that a mainstream Democrat gives the party a better chance in November against the election-denying, Trump-backed Rep. Tom Tiffany.

🗳️ Takeaways from last night's results:

• The race was the latest example of flawed polling in Democratic primaries. Polling showed Hong with a big lead.
• A democratic socialist came within about 3,000 votes of winning a major-party nomination for governor in one of America's premier swing states yesterday. So the result reflects both the left's rise and limits.
• Wisconsin's November election will be historic. Tiffany would be the first person who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Congress to become governor of a top swing state if he won. And Crowley would be the first Black governor in Wisconsin history.

The progressive surge is still producing big wins:

• In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (59%) trounced Rep. Angie Craig (39.4%) by 20 points despite Craig's overwhelming money advantage and her pitch that a swing-district record made her more electable.
• Democrats nominated progressive Matt Little to replace Craig in Congress.

🏛️ Voters continue retiring aging longtime incumbents:

• 7th House Dem loses: Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), 78, a 14-termer, lost by 20+ points last night to his primary challenger, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, age 47 (54% to 33%). Larson is the 10th House member ousted in this year's primaries. Seven have been Dems, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
• Connecticut state Rep. Maryam Khan defeated a state senator with 22 years in the capitol. 26-year-old Eli Sabin defeated the state's longest-serving state House member.

🐘 On the right: Trump's endorsement failed to rescue one of his highest-profile allies. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell lost the GOP governor nomination in Minnesota to state Speaker Lisa Demuth.

• But another of his candidates advanced: In South Carolina, Trump-endorsed Sen. Darline Graham (33%) and Rep. Ralph Norman (25%), a hardline conservative, move to an Aug. 25 runoff in the special Republican primary to replace the late Lindsey Graham. Go deeper.

Tuesday's takeaways … Read more.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tells me in a "Behind the Curtain" interview — out tomorrow — that President Trump's cloak-and-dagger exit from last month's NATO summit in Turkey offers a revealing glimpse into how his White House operates.

• "Donald Trump is very secretive — very secretive," says Haberman, co-author with Jonathan Swan of "Regime Change," which has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. "He does not like letting information out that he has not authorized."
• Trump's second administration is "very, very good at keeping secrets when it wants to," Haberman added. "They value secrecy above the need for transparency of any kind with the general public."

Between the lines: Haberman says Trump's willingness to be spirited away in a catering container shows how serious the concerns about his safety were.

• "For him, frankly, to be willing to even get in a cart like that, which I imagine didn't smell good and wasn't especially clean, speaks to the level of concern about his safety," she said.

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Trump told reporters last night after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., that the plane switch was "up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. So I go by Secret Service — and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane — equal safety. But they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say. ... I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats."

• How Trump's great escape unfolded (N.Y. Times gift link).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is trying to pull off a political feat for the ages: bury a chapter of left-wing politics that seemed like a good idea to many liberals at the time — but not so much anymore, Axios' Mike Zapler writes.

• Why it matters: The country's most prominent democratic socialist is essentially seeking a mulligan for candidates who embraced policies like defunding the police, arguing that candidates should be judged by their current platforms. But that'll be a tough sell with moderate Democrats, let alone Republicans, in competitive races outside of blue bastions.

📺 Zoom in: In an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, AOC was asked about some of the positions democratic socialists took around 2020. They were, she said, a product of the time.

• "Woke 1 was crazy," she laughed, quoting a politician-friend. "And I think that what's important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now."

Between the lines: AOC is arguing for a fresh look at today's candidates. But plenty of Democrats rejected those positions in real time.

• That list was topped by Joe Biden, who went on to win the primary and then the presidency on a center-left platform.

🔭 Zoom out: AOC's "Woke 1 was crazy" explanation looks like an attempt to redefine democratic socialism — distancing it from cultural and social positions that are hard to defend now and moving toward a populist economic agenda with broader appeal.

• Her own political future — whether it's a Senate run or a presidential campaign in 2028 — could be the ultimate test of that effort.

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Earlier this month, Kennedy Center budget planners sketched out three options for its two-year renovation, including ways to keep the National Symphony Orchestra performing during construction, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil has learned.

• Why it matters: The early plans — ahead of a board meeting tomorrow — offer a glimpse at how President Trump's allies are contemplating undertaking a controversial two-year closure.

One scenario envisions the renowned 96-year-old orchestra — a fixture at the Kennedy Center — performing at "offsite alternate venues," according to a slide deck of budget plans obtained by Axios.

• Another scenario is more logistically complex. It'd keep the NSO performing inside the Kennedy Center — with a "phased" construction approach that could stretch beyond two years.
• A third, slimmed-down option appears to pause NSO programs.

👂 What we're hearing: Financial projections for the two-year renovation reveal keeping the NSO running costs $25 million annually.

• The forecasts are separate from the $250 million Trump anticipates spending on the renovation.

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Simon Hernandez-Arthur — the new author of Axios Communicators, our weekly newsletter covering the biggest trends in the comms industry — writes:

Anthropic's new models will add machine-readable "watermarks" to Claude-generated text and files to comply with new European Union transparency regulations.

• Why it matters: People using Claude to clean up, translate or format human-drafted press releases could stamp those documents with an AI signature. The watermarks will be applied worldwide, not just in the EU.

💡 How it works: For models launched after Aug. 2, Anthropic is marking content in two ways.

• Text watermarks: Claude embeds patterns into the generated text that Anthropic claims are "imperceptible."
• File metadata: Generated media files carry digital signatures confirming the asset was processed by Claude.

🔬 Between the lines: Anthropic highlighted two major limitations to its detection tech:

• AI-assisted text can look AI-generated: Content may trigger a "detected mark" even if Claude was used solely to proofread, format or translate human-written copy.
• Detection drop-off: If text is heavily rewritten, mixed with other copy or too short, then the watermarks might not be detectable.

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AI is starting to unlock millions of dollars of new efficiencies in clinical trials on cancer treatments, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes from a new Tufts study.

• Why it matters: AI-powered tools could shave months off time-consuming processes like recruiting and enrolling patients, monitoring results and interpreting data.

🧪 What they found: The analysis, from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, found AI agents can accelerate clinical development of cancer drugs by approximately 10 weeks and reduce direct operating costs by as much as $5.6 million in late-stage trials.

• The efficiencies increase with the number of tumors a drug can target: An experimental treatment with 50 active uses could see benefits as high as $565 million.

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America's biggest financial firms are lining up to unlock vast sums of private capital for infrastructure investment, Axios' Neil Irwin writes.

• Why it matters: Amid an AI buildout that is creating new strains on computing power, energy supplies and manufacturing capacity, major banks see opportunity for large-scale investment that could help satisfy those needs — and reward investors.

A new $250 billion effort from Bank of America is the latest in a week packed with jaw-dropping funding announcements.

• Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley announced its own infrastructure initiative, which it said will total $1.5 trillion over a decade. Both firms tied their plans to honoring the 250th anniversary of the U.S. being celebrated this summer.
• Also this week: A remarkable announcement by chipmaker Nvidia of plans to finance $500 billion in AI infrastructure buildout in partnership with Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms.

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President Trump dances onstage yesterday with winners of Freedom 250's Patriot Games Finale at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio.

• The competition featured 120 athletes ages 14 to 17, including one boy and one girl from each state, plus athletes representing territories, military bases and tribal nations.
• The male and female winners split a $250,000 scholarship.

ESPN host Pat McAfee greets Trump yesterday at the Patriot Games Finale.

McAfee and Trump walk toward Marine One at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport en route to the games.

• List of events.