Washington, DC

1. Court tosses voter-approved map
2. FDA’s Makary in peril
3. Waiting for Tehran to call
4. Trump’s tough China trip
5. Jobs report beats expectations
6. CDC ratchets hantavirus efforts

The S&P 500 ▲ .8%, hitting another record after a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

Virginia Supreme Court invalidates Democratic-led map

Democrats’ jubilation over the prospect of claiming four new Virginia House seats evaporated today when the Virginia Supreme Court tossed the state’s Democratic-led remapping that voters approved late last month, Semafor’s Nicholas Wu and David Weigel report. The decision cements a new GOP advantage in the mid-decade congressional redistricting war. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his allies sank tens of millions of dollars into the high-risk, high-reward effort. They saw Virginia as a pivotal offset to Republican redistricting pushes in Texas and other red states that President Donald Trump has cheered. But the Virginia ruling, alongside a Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act and sparked GOP-led redraws underway across the South, is a huge setback. Still, Jeffries vowed: “Our fight is not over. We are just getting started.”

Trump OKs plan to fire FDA head

Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, according to The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. His expected departure caps a year of turmoil at the FDA. Trump had reportedly grown frustrated with Makary over his refusal to approve fruit flavored vapes, a decision Makary reversed this week. Makary also faced heavy criticism from anti-abortion activists over the FDA’s continued approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. Some movement leaders met with aides at the White House yesterday, Semafor reported. Makary also clashed with the pharmaceutical industry on gene therapy and vaccine policies. A White House spokesman responded to questions about Makary’s future in a statement: “President Trump has assembled the most experienced and talented administration in history, an administration that continues to focus on delivering more historic victories for the American people.”

Trump waits on Iran

Trump is still waiting to hear back from Tehran. The US proposed a one-page agreement on Wednesday that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and suspend hostilities for a month while a fuller deal is negotiated to end the war. Trump is eager to wrap up the conflict, as he prepares for a summit in Beijing next week and as polls show high fuel prices denting him and the Republican Party. But Iranian leaders have moved slowly, aware of the international and domestic pressures Trump faces. They may even have more time than the US first thought: An intelligence report circulated among White House officials this week concluded that the regime can withstand a blockade for at least three to four months — a much longer timeframe than Trump would like.

Tariff ruling deals Trump a blow before China trip

A federal court’s decision to strike down Trump’s new 10% global tariffs is a particularly tough blow to the president, as he’s preparing to travel to China next week for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Already Trump was grappling with a fraught political moment — an ongoing war abroad and souring public opinion at home. The tariff ruling robs the president of what could have been a cudgel to pressure Beijing into a trade deal. Officials in Beijing, meanwhile, believe the Iran war has likely strengthened their negotiating position, CNN reported. “Trump will arrive in Beijing a more diminished figure in Chinese eyes than perhaps any visiting” American president, one Shanghai-based commentator wrote in The New York Times. It’ll nevertheless be a big moment for Trump, who may come home with announcements on business deals, trade, and AI.

Labor market beats expectations again

US employers blew past expectations for the second month in a row, adding 115,000 jobs in April across a range of industries, according to new data from the Department of Labor. Analysts hope the strong back-to-back months mean the labor market is picking up momentum after a year of near-zero job growth. The report also showed the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.3%, as economists had expected. The strong data should free the Federal Reserve to set aside worries about the labor market and focus on inflation, as it considers whether to cut interest rates. Inflation has surged since the war in Iran started, driven by rising energy prices. So far, wage gains have kept up, but if inflation continues upward, it could surpass those gains and workers will start to feel the squeeze.

Hantavirus efforts grow

The Centers for Disease Control is ratcheting up its efforts on hantavirus after getting off to what former officials describe as a slow start. CDC activated an emergency response a month after the first reported death, according to reporting in The New York Times — a step experts said used to happen within 24 to 48 hours of an outbreak. Former officials blame cuts: CDC has lost a quarter of its staff in Trump’s second term. “It’s not limited to hantavirus, it’s really how well the country is prepared for a disease threat,” Jeanne Marrazzo, a former top health official who was fired last year, told The Wall Street Journal. The US has withdrawn from the World Health Organization but is coordinating with the WHO on hantavirus, the Journal reported. The CDC is also sending a team to assist Americans on a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship.

Semafor today launched Semafor Intelligence, a new AI-enabled editorial insight product that transforms the full onstage record of Semafor’s global convenings into evidence-backed analysis — capturing the views of the world’s most consequential decision-makers, the debates shaping their thinking, and forward-looking signals.

The first edition draws on Semafor World Economy 2026, where more than 500 CEOs, policymakers, and G20 leaders gathered in Washington, DC to discuss the forces shaping the new world economy.

To produce it, Semafor developed a proprietary AI tool that analyzes the full onstage record of each convening, identifying key claims, topics, stances, and supporting evidence, then linking each finding back to the relevant speaker, session, transcript, and video moment. Semafor’s editorial team then distilled the strongest patterns into the sharpest insights. Each published theme combines transcript-backed analysis, speaker moments, citations, and a journalist’s view on why the signal matters.

Semafor Intelligence findings from Semafor World Economy 2026 tell the story of The Chokepoint Economy — the consensus among leaders that the promise of globalization has given way to concentrated power and risk, and that resilience is now the organizing principle of the new world economy. Across nine themes, the report surfaces where consensus is forming, where it is fracturing, and where the prevailing views may be dangerously wrong.

White House

• President Trump said on Truth Social that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a three-day ceasefire at his request.
• JD Vance is driving a new push toward AI oversight. — WSJ
• The president is “bored” with the war in Iran and believes he can sell any deal as a victory, according to aides. — The Atlantic
• The Trump administration used an urgency exemption to award a $6.9 million no-bid contract to the company that’s painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue. — NYT

Media

• ABC accused the government of violating the First Amendment in a filing made public today that challenges the Trump administration’s use of regulatory authority against media companies. — NYT

World

• Nigel Farage’s populist, right-wing party, Reform UK, is performing well in early election results.
• Iran has ramped up trade with China via rail to get around the US naval blockade. — Bloomberg

Courts

• The Justice Department today announced 12 denaturalization cases in district courts nationwide against individuals alleged to have concealed serious offenses while pursuing citizenship, part of a Trump administration effort to expedite what had been rare actions.

Campaigns

• Local Republican officials view Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., whom Trump targeted for defeat in his primary, as growing more vulnerable ahead of the May 19 election. — NOTUS

National Security

• The Pentagon released what it described as “new, never-before-seen” files on UFOs.

— eToro market analyst Zavier Wong explains the new snack acronym for “Not a Chance Hormuz Opens” to CNBC.