Principals

1. Kamala’s TV closeup
2. Voter enthusiasm
3. SCOTUS blocks Biden debt relief
4. Swing state polling
5. US-China talks
6. GOP sees Virginia in play
7. Nvidia earnings

PDB: Chris Christie’s new gig

Harris, Walz campaign in Georgia … Trump in Wisconsin … Politico: House Republicans brace for spending drama

How Harris could handle her toughest question

Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz will sit with CNN’s Dana Bash today for their first joint interview since announcing their candidacy. Expect a tough question — that Harris hasn’t answered on camera yet (and that the Trump campaign is emphasizing) — on why she’s since abandoned further left positions on issues like crime, fracking, health care, and the border that she took during her 2019 run for president. Her friends offer one answer: She’s grown. “Going into those presidential daily briefings when you’re briefed on national security issues, domestic issues that are pressing and facing the nation, I mean, that transforms you,” Ashley Etienne, who previously worked with the vice president, told Semafor.

— Kadia Goba

Dem excitement about voting surges to 2008 levels

More Americans are more psyched about voting in the presidential election, mostly Democrats energized by their new ticket. New data from Gallup shows 71% of registered voters polled this month reported being more enthusiastic about voting this November, up from 56% in March. Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant writes. Just 22% said they were less enthusiastic, compared to 40% earlier. A near record 78% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters were more enthusiastic, an increase of 23 percentage points in five months; 64% of Republicans felt the same way, a slight increase from 59% back in March.

Supreme Court deals blow to Biden student debt relief

President Biden’s sweeping student loan debt forgiveness plan is still in limbo after the Supreme Court kept in place a temporary pause on the program. The order, which did not note any dissents, came in response to an emergency application from the Biden administration after a federal appeals court in Missouri halted the SAVE program in July. The move does not have an immediate impact on the 8 million borrowers enrolled in the program; the Department of Education already placed them in interest-free forbearance as the legal challenges brought by GOP-led states played out. White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said the Biden administration “will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan” and “won’t stop fighting against Republican elected officials’ efforts to raise costs on millions of their own constituents’ student loan payments.”

GOP pollster: Toss-ups everywhere in Rust Belt

It’s anyone’s race in the Rust Belt, according to GOP polling firm Fabrizio Ward. New surveys of 400 likely voters in each state, commissioned by the Pinpoint Policy Institute and taken from Aug 19-21, show Donald Trump narrowly leading Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania and Michigan by one and two percentage points, respectively. In Wisconsin, Harris enjoys a four-percentage point lead (49%-45%). In the Senate races, Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is five percentage points ahead of Republican Eric Hovde (48%-43%). Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Elissa Slotkin are both tied at 43% for the open Michigan Senate seat, and Sen. Bob Casey leads GOP challenger Dave McCormick by three (46%-43%). The poll tested various GOP economic proposals and found voters narrowly favor extending the Trump tax cuts by a 52-48 margin — but swing voters liked the idea more.

—Joseph Zeballos-Roig

Biden, Xi to talk in ‘coming weeks’

President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will speak by phone in “the coming weeks,” the White House said. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, who met with Xi on Thursday, discussed the plans with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing. The two also agreed to advance military-to-military communications with a call between theater commanders, a channel the US has pushed for. Sullivan raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s industrial base and trade practices, and aggression toward the Philippines, while Wang called Taiwanese independence “the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and warned the US against “suppressing China in the areas of trade, economic and technology.” Xi, meanwhile, implored Sullivan that the US should view China with a “rational attitude.” As China evaluates the policy positions of both US presidential candidates, Beijing is using the visit to “reiterate its positions on bilateral relations, in the hope to set rules for the next administration,” one analyst told The Washington Post.

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) New York; Scott Gottlieb, Physician; Former Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (2017-2019) and Samuel Levine, Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection will join Semafor’s editors in Washington, DC on Wednesday, September 4 for discussions at the intersection of youth, social media, age-appropriate marketing and data privacy.

RSVP for in-person or livestream.

Glenn Youngkin insists Virginia is still a swing state

Back in July, Republicans were feeling so good that Donald Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, argued states like Virginia were within reach. And GOP officials there argue it still is, even after the arrival of Kamala Harris narrowed Trump’s lead both in the swing states and nationwide. Some recent polling suggests a tight race in the state, and local leaders there are urging the national GOP to keep an eye on it, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott writes. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, for example, said Wednesday that “Virginia is competitive.” Part of that could be because of Youngkin’s own appeal and influence, Virginia Republican strategist Zack Roday said. But despite the cautious optimism, there’s still reason to pause: The Trump campaign hasn’t yet invested anything significant into the state, and Democrats remain publicly confident in their chances.

— Shelby Talcott

Nvidia revenue doubles over previous year

Nvidia posted strong quarterly revenue growth, proving the AI boom is still going strong. The AI chip company said sales in the second quarter more than doubled from the previous year to $30 billion and predicted third-quarter revenue would hit $32.5 billion (an 80% increase over the previous year) — an estimate that beat an average of Wall Street’s projections but fell short of some of the most optimistic forecasts. In a sign of some disappointment, Nvidia’s shares fell on Wednesday. The company also said it is working on production issues with its next-generation Blackwell chips that Nvidia said contributed to gross profit margins shrinking. Meanwhile, smaller competitors are seeking to “break the company’s stranglehold on the AI chip market, raising hundreds of millions of dollars and rolling out new products as they look to share the spoils of a boom in artificial intelligence technology,” the Financial Times reports.

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: Donald Trump’s campaign is expected to reject assistance from the General Services Administration for the transition if he wins.

Axios: Kamala Harris’ campaign is a three-headed beast, bringing in her own aides, as well as former staffers for President Biden and Barack Obama.

Congress

• The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the CEO of a company that employs New York Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter.
• New footage captures former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacting to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol. — CNN

Outside the Beltway

• Former New Jersey governor and two-time failed presidential candidate Chris Christie will teach a “How to Run a Political Campaign” class at Yale University this fall, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports.
• Former Nevada politician Robert Telles was convicted of murdering a Las Vegas journalist who wrote critically about him.

Economy

The Labor Department said a technical glitch delayed the release of US payroll data last week.

Business

• Berkshire Hathaway became the first non-technology American company to reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
• Companies are finding ways to pay their employees less. — WSJ

Courts

• French prosecutors charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with a wide range of crimes related to illegal activity on the app, releasing him from custody but banning him from leaving the country.
• Yelp sued Google, alleging the search giant uses its market dominance to promote its own local search offerings.
• A US appeals court rejected a longstanding argument from social-media companies that federal law provides them with immunity over user harms.

Polls

• Vice President Harris has gained on Donald Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina, lifted by strong support from women, Blacks, and young voters, according to statewide surveys from Fox News.
• Only 10% of American adults polled in a Wall Street Journal/NORC survey said that homeownership is easy or somewhat easy to achieve.
• ABC News explained how it has adjusted its 538 election model to fit the Harris-Trump matchup.

On the Trail

• The Trump campaign blamed an Arlington National Cemetery official for a confrontation on the grounds of the cemetery during Donald Trump’s visit on Monday. Meanwhile, Trump running mate JD Vance said Vice President Harris “can go to hell” when asked about the incident, which has prompted a debate on X.

• Vance may have played a role in brokering peace between Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. — NBC
• Venture capitalists backing Harris’ campaign listed their priorities as women’s reproductive rights, climate change, and more friendly policies toward startups. — Reuters
• The Harris campaign hired Egyptian-American attorney and former Department of Homeland Security official Brenda Abdellal to help lead its outreach to Arab-American voters.

National Security

The FBI said that the man who opened fire at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., last month searched for information on the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.

Foreign Policy

• Chinese officials are trying but failing to secure meetings with Donald Trump’s campaign and allies. — FT
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as part of efforts to “reset” Britain’s relationship with Europe.

Environment

Canada’s wildfires last year produced more carbon emissions than all but three countries, according to a new study.

Technology

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in talks over another funding round to raise several billion dollars that would value the startup at more than $100 billion. — WSJ

Media

• A number of journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post have been barred from entering Russia.
• Sarah Palin’s libel lawsuit against The New York Times was revived by a federal appeals court.
• A new Russian sitcom will portray Joe Biden as an English teacher.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Donald Trump’s attorneys accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of showing “racial animus” toward him in a new filing in his Georgia election subversion case.

What the Right isn’t reading: The number of public electric vehicle chargers in the US has doubled since 2021, according to the Biden administration.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Mikko Hautala is Finland’s ambassador to the US.

• The US needs a new plan to sell clean power to the world, a top Harris adviser says.
• Nigerian students avoid UK after migrant policy shift.
• Donald Trump buries the hatchet(s).