😎 Happy Friday!

🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, with a high around 100 and a low near 80.

• Here are the open cooling centers. Stay safe.

🤖 Situational awareness: The Waymo app is now available for use to anyone in Houston — not just approved riders.

Today's newsletter is 756 words — a 3-minute read.

Texas' U.S. Senate race has changed from lean Republican to toss-up, according to the latest rating from the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report.

Why it matters: The fight for control of the U.S. Senate is extremely tight, and Democrats need to flip at least four seats to become the majority. Doing that will require wins in states that aren't typical battlegrounds.

The big picture: Yesterday, Cook moved Senate races in Texas and Iowa from lean Republican to toss-up.

• The governor's races in both states also shifted: Texas moved from solid Republican to likely Republican, and Iowa from toss-up to lean Democrat.

Zoom in: In Texas, the race for the open Senate seat between state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, has proven competitive.

• Texas hasn't elected a Democrat statewide in more than three decades.
• Recent polls have shown Talarico with a slight edge over scandal-plagued Paxton. Talarico is also a prolific fundraiser, and establishment Republicans have held off on throwing financial support behind Paxton.

Yes, but: National Democrats aren't yet investing in Texas' Senate race. Texas is served by 20 media markets, making the state by far the most expensive among the states in play.

In the governor's race, three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has taken criticism for his prior support for data centers as backlash against them grows in rural areas.

• Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa has branded the state the "wild west of data centers."

Zoom out: Iowa hasn't elected a Democrat for president or Senate since 2012, but tariffs and rising fertilizer and diesel costs are weighing on the state as Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) faces Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for an open Senate seat.

The bottom line: It's a terrible political environment for Republicans right now, and Democrats are looking to build momentum.

Go deeper

Texas' kindergarten vaccine exemption rate jumped nearly a full percentage point in the 2025-26 school year, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released this week.

Why it matters: The rise in exemptions coincided with efforts by the Trump administration to make vaccine policy changes and with measles cases hitting levels not seen in more than three decades.

By the numbers: Texas' kindergarten vaccine exemption rate rose from 4.3% to 5.2%

• Non-medical exemptions rose from 4% to 5%, while medical exemptions dipped from 0.3% to 0.2%.
• Coverage for diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP) fell from 92.9% to 92.8%, while polio coverage declined from 93.2% to 93.1%. Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) coverage was roughly 93.2% in both years.

Yes, but: Houston ISD kindergarten vaccination rates have slightly rebounded, with measles and polio up by 0.8 percentage points in the 2025-26 school year compared to the year prior and chickenpox and hepatitis A up by about 1.2 percentage points.

The big picture: Exemptions from getting one or more vaccines increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia, growing to 4.2% from 3.6% the year before.

• Coverage with the MMR, DTaP, polio and varicella vaccine decreased in more than half of states, ranging from 92% for DTaP vaccine to 92.4% for the MMR and polio vaccines.

The bottom line: Public health officials say overall measles vaccination rates should remain above 95% to maintain herd immunity.

🏥 Radiation therapy company Cerenome Inc. is planning a major expansion at Hines' Levit Green life sciences district near the Texas Medical Center. (Houston Business Journal)

⚡ Houston is waiving certain city rules to offer NRG an $11 million tax break for a new power plant. (Houston Chronicle)

🍨 Blue Bell announced its Strawberry Cheesecake is back for a limited time. (Chron)

🧢 Put on your thinking caps; we're back with another news quiz. You know the drill: reply to this email with your answers for a chance to win a much-coveted shoutout in the next newsletter.

• Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold airport grant funding over what?
• Why are temperatures staying warm at night? This one required some close reading.
• A new emergency shelter is opening in September. Who is it for?

Thanks to Bob Gee for editing this newsletter.

📚 Shafaq is in the middle of four books and hopes to finish two this weekend.