1. Goodbye, Zacharia
2. AOC’s platform test drive
3. Thune looking safe
4. Sanctions decision looms
5. Another Trump-era equity stake?

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved 11 new House race ratings toward Democrats today as the midterm map expands further into GOP-friendly territory.

Zacharia’s rocky stint as press secretary ends

Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after less than one week on the job. An administration official told Semafor that Zacharia will be “transitioning out” of her role, which began on Monday and quickly descended into a series of stumbles, culminating in Fox News pressing her earlier today on whether she regretted not being clearer about her failure to pass the bar exam. Moments before news broke of her departure from the role, President Donald Trump said he told Zacharia “you don’t have to do this,” but suggested he’d give her the decision to stay or leave. One source familiar with the situation emphasized to Semafor that Trump remains a fan of hers, adding that Zacharia and her family are planning to dine with Vice President JD Vance and his family at his residence tonight.

— Shelby Talcott

AOC and Abdul El-Sayed field-test a national agenda

Abdul El-Sayed and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are already thinking beyond 2026, even though he’s not a senator yet, Semafor’s Nicholas Wu reports from Escanaba, Mich. During three stops Thursday on his Senate campaign’s bus tour through redder, rural areas of this swing state’s Upper Peninsula, El-Sayed and Ocasio-Cortez drew crowds that showed notable star power. While Republicans see Michigan as their strongest chance to pick up a Senate seat, the progressive pair are casting themselves as heirs to the broader movement that Bernie Sanders has commanded for a decade — a push they plan to expand beyond Michigan, even as Ocasio-Cortez mulls her 2028 plans. “Once you elect one person like that, people will then catch on,” Ocasio-Cortez declared of El-Sayed in this paper-producing town, whose county last went Democratic in 2008. “And we will start electing more people like that.”

Thune’s surprisingly clear path back to GOP leader

John Thune took criticism from President Donald Trump, agitated online conservatives, and occasionally frustrated some of his own members this year. Yet his next leadership election is looking smooth compared with the past couple of bouts to lead the Senate GOP. In fact, Thune may actually run unopposed this year, regardless of how the midterms go. “I’m not aware of anyone who wants the job. I certainly don’t,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Semafor. “I don’t envy the leader’s task.” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who challenged Thune in 2024 and Mitch McConnell in 2022, told Semafor there’s “no wiggle room; I am not running for leader” this cycle. He said Thune is “probably the only person that’s going to run. But I always want to say if other people run and someone comes up with better ideas, you’ve got to listen to them. But I’m not running.”

Tariffs risk US-India relationship

Trump faces a deadline Sunday to decide whether to impose certain penalties on other countries under a bipartisan sanctions law he signed last month. Any move by him to waive sanctions on Russian individuals or entities will be met with criticism, as would a decision not to impose tariffs on China for buying Russian gas. But Washington is hoping he’ll spare at least one country: India. “Both the United States and India should not buy Russian oil and gas, but I don’t think simply imposing big tariffs on India is the way to get them to” reduce their purchases, said Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security. Punishing India for its reliance on Russian energy “would deal a body blow to the US-India relationship,” argued Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

— Morgan Chalfant

FAA equity talks raise legal questions

The Federal Aviation Administration’s pursuit of an equity stake in a private company that uses AI to manage air traffic is raising questions about whether it has clear legal authority to strike such a deal. The Trump administration has negotiated stakes in dozens of other companies, but none through the FAA. The agency’s interest in owning part of Air Space Intelligence, first reported by Politico, is too “premature” for there to be specifics, a person familiar with the matter told Semafor. One possible statutory underpinning for a deal: Existing law authorizes Transportation Department financial help for state or local governments to “acquire an interest” in some public transportation companies. That argument, like other agencies’, would be a stretch. “It’s further proof that the administration doesn’t have a ‘plan’ or ‘strategy,’” said Tad DeHaven, who tracks the stakes for the Cato Institute.

— Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott

White House

• Several prominent MAGA activists have openly called for martial law if the results of the midterm elections appeared to be rigged. — Axios
• The State Department is updating its travel advisory for mainland China to include an increased risk level for wrongful detention, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott first reported.

Campaigns

• A new Peak Insights poll shows Republican Kurt Alme up by 15 points in Montana’s Senate race, demonstrating how a split field is hurting Independent Seth Bodnar, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. A poll released on Thursday showed Bodnar slightly ahead of Alme, but this latest poll shows Democrat Alani Bankhead continuing to take votes from Bodnar.

Outside the Beltway

• FIFA’s council could axe the FIFA Peace Prize at their council meeting in Zurich next week, nearly a year after FIFA President Gianni Infantino handed the award to President Trump last year. — The Athletic

Economy

• US import prices jumped 1.1% last month, exceeding expectations.
• Brent crude oil surged to $110 on Friday, its highest level since May, as investors weighed heightened risks to global energy supplies amid hostilities in the Russia-Ukraine war and the Middle East.

— Matt Murray, executive editor of The Washington Post

Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Laura McGann, editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Ashley Gold, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel, David Lim