The Trump White House is pushing ahead with efforts to redraw congressional maps ahead of the midterms. Democrats are finding it tricky to fight back.

Why it matters: The push to add Republican House seats is sparking a chain reaction as the parties fight tooth and nail over the majority.

The big picture: Republicans are hoping to pick off more than a half-dozen Democratic-held seats by redrawing congressional maps ahead of 2026.

Zoom in: In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week that it "would be appropriate to do a redistricting in the mid-decade" and that his administration was "working through what that would look like."

• Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a congressional map DeSantis spearheaded that helped Republicans flip the U.S. House in 2022, POLITICO reported.

The other side: "This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to rig the system and silence voters before the 2026 election," Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement.

Redistricting for partisan advantage is nothing new, but it's usually done after the census every ten years. The next one's scheduled for 2030.

• In Texas, Trump has encouraged Republicans to embark on a redistricting project that he's said could net the party as many as five seats.
• In Ohio, which is required by law to redraw its House map, party strategists believe they can gain two or three seats.
• In Missouri, Republicans believe they can pick up another seat.

The intrigue: Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas Republicans were at first hesitant to take up redistricting, the Texas Tribune reported. After Trump's call to Abbott, it appeared on the special session agenda.

• Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have vowed to punch back by drawing roughly as many new Democratic seats.

Between the lines: The White House has no bigger priority in the midterms than keeping the House.

• Should Democrats seize the lower chamber, it would paralyze Trump's legislative agenda for his final two years in office and potentially lead to his impeachment.
• Trump was impeached following the 2018 midterms, when Democrats won the House majority.

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Cleveland Clinic Weston was named the top hospital in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area by U.S. News & World Report, the lead authority on health care rankings.

Why it matters: The report, which ranks hospitals on performance, enables individuals and families to "choose the highest quality care available in their own communities," Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, said in the news release.

Between the lines: The 2025-2026 report, released today, marks the 36th year of the annual study.

• The ratings are generated by evaluating data on nearly 5,000 hospitals, including care outcomes, patient surveys and breadth of services offered, among other factors.

Zoom in: Cleveland Clinic Weston was rated high performing in three adult specialties (pulmonology, neurology and gastroenterology) and 14 procedures and conditions.

Here are the region's top five, per the report:

1. Cleveland Clinic Weston.
2. Baptist Health Baptist Hospital.
3. University of Miami Hospital and Clinics UHealth Tower.
4. Mount Sinai Medical Center.
5. Jupiter Medical Center.

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🧑‍⚖️ A federal judge in Miami yesterday asked the DeSantis and Trump administrations to provide more information about who is overseeing the Alligator Alcatraz facility. (Miami Herald)

• State and federal officials have failed to provide the legal agreement detailing which federal authority governs the site.
• A high-ranking Trump official previously cited the 287(g) program that grants local and state agencies immigration-enforcement powers.
• A hearing to consider oral arguments was set for Aug. 18.

📸 Broward County Public Schools are again expected to have cameras in special-needs classrooms this school year after a one-year hiatus of the program. (Sun Sentinel)

• The idea is to allow parents the ability to review footage if they suspect their child was mistreated.

✏️ Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this year's Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday will begin Friday and run through the end of August. (NBC 6)

👋 Martin here. I'm celebrating my 3-year anniversary at Axios by thinking about how lucky I am to have the opportunity to report the news in my hometown.

Why it matters: About two-thirds of U.S. counties have a below-average number of local journalists.

• Many American neighborhoods lack adequate news coverage for everything from school board meetings and elections to local sports and cultural events.

Driving the news: The U.S. now has 8.2 "local journalist equivalents" (LJEs) for every 100,000 people, down 75% from 2002 on average.

• That's according to the Local Journalist Index 2025 from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, a local journalism nonprofit.
• The groups' ambitious new project aims to illustrate "the stunning collapse in local reporting" as old business models falter and newsrooms scramble for sustainability.
• While newsrooms in shrinking towns are certainly hurting, even some growing areas have a below-average number of local journalists.

The bottom line: Thanks for reading.