After Noel Pichardo called out his city's embrace of Flock surveillance cameras, he was subjected to five internal affairs investigations in less than two years.
The SEC accuses a Long Island firm of running a $74 million boiler room that sold retirees marked-up shares in Anduril, Anthropic, Perplexity, and SpaceX.
Tuesday is the Florida Man primary. "It's really weird," one political pro said.
Why it matters: Florida, MAGA's beating heart, is President Trump's home and was a top, successful target of his redistricting push to add more GOP-leaning congressional seats.
Zoom in: What makes some of the contests stand out isn't their competitiveness — it's how they invoke the wacky Florida Man internet meme.
These campaigns featured carpetbaggers, racial conflict, homophobia, struggling socialists, antisemitism, and even a scandal-plagued member of Congress slapped with a restraining order.
"It's like Florida Man is having his own election right now," said a Republican political consultant financing one of the state's marquee races.
Between the lines: As in the rest of the nation, Trump's approval ratings have declined in Florida. But it's a mostly Republican state, and oddsmakers and political insiders from both parties believe the odds still favor the GOP.
Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 1.5 million in Florida. In 2018, Trump's prior midterm, Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans by 245,000.
Tuesday's key showdowns in Florida:
1. The governor's race: Rep. Byron Donalds is expected to cruise to a win over his lesser-known and comparatively underfunded opponents in the Republican primary.
Donalds is on the cusp of becoming the GOP's first Black nominee for Florida governor, and he'd be the favorite to become the Sunshine State's first Black governor.
One of Donalds' opponents — James Fishback — has generated social media buzz and snagged mainstream media coverage, partly with racist dog whistles. Two weeks ago, a federal judge ordered Fishback to pay his former hedge fund $1.3 million in attorneys' fees and costs stemming from a contentious split.
On the Democratic side, former Rep. David Jolly is outraising and outspending lesser-known rivals. Jolly, a former Republican, made the unorthodox decision to pick former Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham as his running mate long before the primary.
2. The Senate race: From Tallahassee to D.C., Democrats' consensus view is that the party's likely nominee, Alex Vindman, has run such a lackluster campaign that he may come uncomfortably close to his underfunded opponent, state Rep. Angie Nixon.
A poll last month from a Democratic-leaning group, shared with Axios, showed Vindman up by just 10 points.
Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, played a starring role in Trump's first impeachment trial. Vindman's twin brother, Eugene, is a House member from Virginia.
Nixon recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America, long viewed as too far left for Florida.
On the Republican side, Sen. Ashley Moody, the former state attorney general who was appointed to her seat last year, faces token opposition.
Like Vindman, Moody faces internal party grumbling about running an uninspiring campaign.
Unlike Vindman, Moody has more voters and, in the words of one top Senate GOP consultant, "she's going to ride Byron Donalds' coattails and the $100 million he'll spend to get out the vote."
3. The House races
Florida's 25th House District: Redrawn by GOP legislators to favor Republicans, the Democratic primary is a test between the pro-Israel establishment (which supports Rep. Jared Moskowitz) and the anti-Zionist progressive left (which backs Oliver Larkin, a democratic socialist).
The district is heavily Jewish, and Moskowitz has better name ID than Larkin, so he's favored to win.
On Friday, a "Chomp the Oligarchy" rally for Larkin, Nixon and another progressive, Elijah Manley in Florida's 20th congressional district, had to be moved after two venues canceled amid accusations of antisemitism because the event featured Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a critic of Israel.
Florida's 20th District: The South Florida seat Manley is running for has been empty since Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned in April, five months after she was federally indicted for allegedly stealing FEMA funds. Now she's running for her old job again in a crowded primary.
The 20th is a historically Black-held seat. But the only white primary candidate, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, could win if African Americans split their votes among the other four candidates, all of whom are Black.
Miami rap icon Luther Campbell, one of those Black candidates, has blasted Wasserman Schultz for moving from her district to this one after Republican legislators redrew her district to favor the GOP.
Florida's 6th District: In the GOP primary, Rep. Randy Fine, a pro-Israel conservative who's made incendiary comments about Palestinians, is being challenged by former "manosphere" influencer Dan Bilzerian — who has drawn bipartisan condemnation for his hate speech in the race.
On Thursday, Bilzerian posted an AI video calling Fine a "fat Jew" and referencing Hitler by asking, "Should we revisit that Austrian painter's opinions?"
Fine is expected to win.
Florida's 24th District: In the Democratic primary, a mystery group last week blasted out a text message that falsely said it was sent by Equality Florida and smeared state Sen. Shevrin Jones by claiming he had tested positive for HIV. Jones, who is gay, does not have HIV.
Six primary candidates, all African American, are running for this historically Black and heavily Democratic Miami seat.
Florida's 7th District: In the GOP primary, Rep. Cory Mills is widely considered the state's most scandal-plagued member of Congress. He's been accused of "stolen valor" over his military record, faced a federal investigation and is suspected of abusing at least two girlfriends in separate instances.
Last year, a judge issued a restraining order against Mills after he allegedly threatened to release sexual videos of one of the ex-girlfriends.
Trump had endorsed Mills last year but last week issued a new endorsement list again that notably snubbed him. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also said he doesn't support Mills.
Republican insiders say he's in danger of losing in the crowded primary to former TV reporter Ryan Elijah.
Florida's 19th District: This crowded GOP race in Southwest Florida has become known as the "carpetbagger primary," in which a record five candidates have run for Congress in other states. Two are former House members.
Trump last week endorsed Catalina Lauf, who showed signs of surging late.
Data: FBI; Note: 2021 data was estimated due to a low number of agencies reporting; Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios
The U.S. violent crime rate plunged 9.7% last year — the largest annual drop since the FBI's national estimates began in 1936 — according to the bureau's data released Friday and reviewed by Axios.
Why it matters: The FBI's 2025 report indicated that the post-pandemic declines in violent crime accelerated sharply last year in communities of all sizes across the U.S. (That drop appeared to continue during the first half of this year, a separate Axios analysis of big cities' violent crime data found last week.)
Among the declines cited by the FBI:
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter dropped 18.1%.
Robbery fell 18.5%, rape 7.6% and aggravated assault 7.2%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. murder rate decreased 18.5% to 4.1 per 100,000 residents, tying 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate since FBI national estimates began.
Property crime declined 12.4%, led by drops in motor vehicle theft (22.7%), burglary (15.8%) and larceny-theft (9.8%).
Zoom in: The decline in crime was unusually broad, touching every population group in the FBI's violent-crime data — from the largest cities to small cities, suburbs and rural counties, an Axios analysis found.
Cities with 500,000 to 999,999 people had the biggest decrease, 15.3%, including drops of 27.4% in murder, 22.8% in robbery and 12.6% in aggravated assault.
The report is the FBI's final one for 2025 crime, but the national figures remain statistical estimates. The FBI estimates missing data to produce nationally representative figures.
17,075 law enforcement agencies submitted 2025 data, covering more than 96% of the U.S. population. Every city agency serving at least 1 million residents submitted a full 12 months.
Between the lines: The breadth and timing of the overall decline in crime decline make it difficult to credit any single president, policing strategy or local policy.
The decline in homicides began in 2022 under President Biden, continued through 2025 and has extended into the second year of President Trump's second term.
Trump came into office casting America as being overrun by crime at time when the numbers already were falling dramatically.
As that decline has continued Trump has taken credit for it, often linking it to his administration's National Guard and federal interventions in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Memphis, to declines in violent crime.
The Iran war has only deepened those impulses: Trump is growing angrier at allies that stayed out of the conflict — and punishing them as he struggles to end it.
Zoom in: South Korea — recently hailed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a "model ally" — is the latest and most surprising casualty in Trump's retribution campaign.
On Sunday, Trump ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, citing their cost and his "very good relationship" with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
The joint drills have served for half a century as a pillar of the deterrence architecture binding Washington and Seoul against a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Trump noted in his Truth Social announcement that he "recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, 'No thanks!'"
"We can't go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they're not there to help us," he told reporters Monday.
Zoom out: For years, Europe has borne the brunt of Trump's assault on American alliances. As the Iran war has widened those transatlantic fractures, his pressure campaign has taken on a more systematic form.
Bloomberg reports the Pentagon has sent NATO allies a survey probing their loyalty to Trump's foreign policy as it weighs where to keep — or withdraw — U.S. troops.
The questionnaire ranges from support for U.S. operations and military access to weapons purchases. Most pointedly, it asks whether each country has "shown alignment" with the Trump administration's approach to foreign policy.
Between the lines: Allies that have departed from that submissive posture have already paid a price.
The Pentagon moved in May to withdraw roughly 5,000 troops from Germany after Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly savaged Trump's Iran strategy.
Trump threatened to cut off all trade with Spain after Madrid denied U.S. base access for strikes on Iran. Weeks later, Reuters reported that a Pentagon official had floated suspending Spain from NATO altogether.
Even Oman — the key intermediary trying to broker a Hormuz deal — is now in Trump's crosshairs. He threatened Monday to "bomb the sh*t out of" the longtime U.S. partner if it "gets in the way" of an agreement with Iran.
The big picture: The same war fueling Trump's fury at U.S. allies is also exposing the limits of American hard power.
The 60-day deadline Trump and Iran set for a final peace deal expired Monday with no agreement — and the two sides further apart than when they signed their June memorandum of understanding.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a stubborn monument to that impasse after months of U.S. military and economic pressure, even as Trump insists the waterway is "open" and could become a U.S. territory.
Amid the growing strain, the Navy is pulling the USS George Washington from the western Pacific to relieve the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln, temporarily leaving Asia without a U.S. carrier.
What they're saying: "President Trump has successfully made America respected again, and the results speak for themselves – nine wars have ended, hostages have been freed from Gaza, trade deals are fairer, and now, Iran will be prevented from ever possessing a nuclear weapon," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.
"At the same time, the President will never allow the United States to be treated unfairly, and he is righting decades of wrongs of his predecessors by ensuring all of our diplomatic relationships are reciprocal."
The bottom line: Trump is teaching America's partners to prepare for a world in which Washington may not be there when they need it.
That gives them every incentive to hedge against the U.S. — and gradually erodes the network of relationships that has amplified American power for generations.
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