Aug 3, 2018 - Politics & Policy

Texas Senate race is getting closer

Beto O'Rourke. Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images

The Cook Political Report just moved the Texas Senate race from "likely" Republican to "lean" Republican — another sign that things are shifting blue ahead of November.

What's happening: President Trump's disapproval rating is at 52% in Texas, and a new poll from the left-leaning Public Policy Polling shows Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke trailing Republican Sen. Ted Cruz by just four points.

Fundraising is a big part of it, too. Cook's Jennifer Duffy writes that O'Rourke had $10.2 million in Q2, compared to Cruz's $4.1 million.

The other side: Duffy writes, "There are some observers who believe that there simply aren’t enough Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents voters to push O’Rourke across the line."

The bottom line: Just because the race has shifted to "lean Republican" doesn't mean it's Democrats' to win. Texas hasn't had a Democratic senator since 1993.

Go deeper

Ben Geman, author of Generate

15 mins ago - Energy & Environment

Tallying Trump's climate changes

Reproduced from Rhodium Climate Service; Chart: Axios Visuals

The Trump administration's scuttling or weakening of key Obama-era climate policies could together add 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere by 2035, a Rhodium Group analysis concludes.

Why it matters: The 1.8 gigatons is "more than the combined energy emissions of Germany, Britain and Canada in one year," per the New York Times, which first reported on the study.

Go deeper (1 min. read)

Courtenay Brown

1 hour ago - Economy & Business

Boeing's one-two punch

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX was the worst crisis in the plane-maker’s century-long history. At least until the global pandemic hit.

Why it matters: Wall Street expects it will be cleared to fly again before year-end. Orders for what was once the company’s biggest moneymaker were expected to rebound after the ungrounding, but now the unprecedented slump in travel will dash airlines’ appetite for the MAX and any other new planes, analysts say — putting more pressure on the hard-hit company.

Go deeper (2 min. read)

Ursula Perano

1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

New downloads of TikTok, WeChat to be blocked in U.S. on Sunday

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Commerce Department issued Friday an order blocking new downloads of WeChat and TikTok in the U.S. as of Sept. 20.

The state of play: President Trump has been in a standoff with TikTok, threatening to ban the app if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not relinquish control to a U.S. company. A deal is in the works with the American tech company Oracle, but would need to go through before Sunday to prevent TikTok from being ousted from app stores.