Washington, DC

1. Trump whips college sports bill
2. Vaccine maker stays course
3. Lutnick blesses Intel offering
4. New Alaska ad buy
5. DSA leader goes viral

It’s a big primary night: Polls close at 9 pm EST in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 8 pm EST in Connecticut, and 7 pm EST in South Carolina.

Trump’s college sports Hail Mary

President Donald Trump is dialing up undecided senators on the Senate’s bipartisan college sports bill. And if that’s not enough, the president might direct legendary former Alabama Coach Nick Saban to sway a lawmaker who’s on the fence, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Shelby Talcott report. The Senate’s new legislative obsession has more legs than his voter ID priorities, too: It’s a bipartisan bill that might actually be able to pass and would probably represent one of the biggest aisle-crossing achievements of his six years as president. “This is a priority for him, and not everything that we do up there is of paramount importance,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Semafor of Trump. “He’s a sports guy. … Some politicians feign interest in ‘sportsball,’ that’s not him.” Of course, the Senate delayed action until mid-September — giving Democrats major leverage before the election.

Top MMR vaccine maker won’t divide shot after Trump order

GSK, a leading manufacturer of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, said today that it has no plans to split its shot into three, as an executive order Trump signed yesterday recommends. “At this point, there are no changes to vaccine availability, access, reimbursement, or patient care,” a spokesman from GSK told Semafor. GSK also defended combination vaccines, saying there is no evidence that administering measles, mumps, and rubella separately improves safety or efficacy and adding that combination shots can simplify immunization and reduce missed dosages. Trump suggested yesterday that the MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal” if given at once. Merck, which also makes an MMR vaccine, has previously stood by the combined shot, though did not respond to a request for comment. Under the executive order, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has 90 days to craft a plan for shifting childhood vaccination toward a single-dose-per-visit schedule, including MMR.

— Lauren Morganbesser

US to sit out Intel offering

When Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan was getting ready last week to announce a $15 billion sale of stock, he called his biggest shareholder: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The government isn’t participating in the new stock sale — which is Intel’s first since 1971, and will fund AI projects including its delayed Ohio chip factory, according to people familiar with the matter — but it approved of the idea. That will dilute the government’s 9.9% stake. But, as Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami report, it’s a vote of confidence in Intel’s turnaround and a sign that Intel can sustain itself with private money. US taxpayers are up 375% since the Commerce Department bought in a year ago in a deal meant to boost Intel’s domestic manufacturing. And Tan, whose resignation President Donald Trump publicly demanded last summer, looks safe in his job.

VoteVets goes after Sullivan for Iran votes

VoteVets Action Fund is going into Alaska, launching a $225,000 ad buy against Sen. Dan Sullivan for his votes against reining in Trump’s Iran war powers, according to details first shared with Semafor. It’s the start of what’s expected to be a larger VoteVets campaign against Sullivan, who is facing former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in a highly competitive race. The ad ties Sullivan’s Iran votes to rising costs in Alaska: “Nine-dollar-a-gallon gas in Dillingham, nine bucks a pound of ground beef in Anchorage. That’s not the cost of living. That’s the cost of Dan Sullivan’s votes,” the ad says. “Sullivan voted a dozen times for this war in Iran.” VoteVets has also launched millions in ads against Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, in her Senate race against Democrat Josh Turek and also hit Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.

— Burgess Everett

DSA leader goes viral across political spectrum

A new political star has emerged this election season: Megan Romer, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. Clips of Romer’s recent media swing have gone viral, with Republicans seizing on her descriptions of the group’s policy positions as they attempt to tie the Democratic Party to them. Romer’s first hit to catch fire was a lightning round with Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “Abolish the Senate?” Bream asked. “True,” Romer said. “Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them?” Bream asked. “Yep,” Romer replied. Yesterday The New Yorker’s David Remnick released a podcast interview with Romer in which she described the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as “inevitable,” wavered on what the DSA means by “tax the hell out of millionaires,” and defended the group’s opposition to sending Ukraine weapons. Her answers struck a nerve across the political spectrum.

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Organizations, governments, universities, schools, nonprofits, and companies are invited to submit active projects for consideration by Friday, August 28, 2026. If your team is using technology to solve real problems and create scalable impact, submit your project for consideration here.

White House

• White House officials asked the Justice Department to consider bringing a new prosecution against a former Olympic canoeist accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, despite a decision by Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for DC, to drop the case. — WSJ
• The Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion allowing the president to claim executive privilege over communication between him and “private advisors,” potentially shielding private companies from scrutiny should Democrats take the House and flex their subpoena power. — Punchbowl
• The Treasury Department announced guidance addressing employer-sponsored programs for contributions to Trump Accounts, including arrangements for making pre-tax contributions for dependents.

Foreign Policy

• President Trump announced Russia has released a former US Marine held since 2022.
• US forces fired on a Panama-flagged ship that the US says attempted to bypass the US’ Iran blockade. — WSJ

Courts

• The Justice Department sued Connecticut, New York, and Vermont over policies that offer in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants at public colleges and universities.

Campaigns

• North Carolina Republicans selected state lawmaker Jennifer Balkcom to replace embattled Rep. Chuck Edwards on the ballot this fall.
• Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs picked John Giles, a Republican-turned-independent former mayor of Mesa, as her running mate for lieutenant governor.
• Polling guru Nate Silver launched his midterm forecasting model.

Environment

• The Trump administration cut funding for an annual report on the changing environmental conditions of the Arctic.

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in an Instagram reel on her fourth day of preparing to freeze her eggs.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel