Impact2020 Briefing: Nov. 15, 2019
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Friday, November 15. Of note today: a new congressional map in North Carolina could cost Republicans two seats, Bloomberg’s billions could shake up California’s 2020 primary and a Kentucky radio host passes on a challenge to Mitch McConnell.
On the Ground
Bad news for two NC Republicans
Republicans are likely to lose congressional seats under a new district map passed by the North Carolina state legislature — but not enough to appease Democrats. “This appears on the face of it to be a 5-8 map, which doesn’t quite get us where we need to go,” Democratic Congressman G.K. Butterfield told Will Doran and Brian Murphy of the Charlotte Observer.
Butterfield was referring to the likely partisan split of the proposed districts: 5 Democratic seats to 8 Republican ones. The current North Carolina House delegation consists of 3 Democrats and 10 Republicans. The GOP-controlled state legislature was forced to redraw North Carolina’s congressional districts after a court challenge.
Doran and Murphy have more details on the political ramifications of the map, which the state Senate voted to approve Friday afternoon. More lawsuits are likely.
Bracing for Bloomberg’s billions
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has already dipped a toe into the 2020 Democratic contest. If the multi-billionaire decides to jump all the way in the race, he could make a splash in California’s Democratic primary.
The Sacramento Bee’s Bryan Anderson and I look at Bloomberg’s strategy to spend big in delegate-rich Super Tuesday states, like California, and whether that would be enough to counteract the momentum the early state victors will have.
Field of McConnell foes thins
Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones ended speculation that he would launch “an outsider campaign with the goal of taking down U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” Daniel Desrochers reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Jones’ decision helps clear the path for Democrat Amy McGrath, a former Marine Corps pilot who narrowly lost a race for Congress in 2018, Desrochers writes. McGrath has raised more than $10.7 million so far, amid rising Democratic hopes that 2020 will be their year to knock out McConnell.
Go Beyond the Bubble
The latest episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast is now online, in which Senior Political Correspondent Alex Roarty, Politics Editor Adam Wollner and yours truly examine why the impeachment hearings haven’t resonated on the campaign trail and the challenges facing late 2020 campaign entrants Deval Patrick and, possibly, Bloomberg.
Trail Mix
A rare Biden sighting in California: Joe Biden raged over school shootings during a speech in Los Angeles, his first public rally in California, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Seem Mehta.
Super PACs are bad, in theory: Cory Booker distanced himself from a new super PAC that plans to spend $1 million on social media advertising to boost his flagging presidential hopes, “but he did not say that he will specifically ask the supporters to cease their activities,” John DiStaso reports for WMUR.
Warren’s latest health care move: Elizabeth Warren laid out an aggressive timeline to move the country onto a Medicare-for-All system, which the Boston Globe’s Jess Bidgood notes would require her to “spend a significant amount of political capital on health care” early in her White House tenure.
A G7 consolation prize: The Republican National Committee will hold its winter meeting at President Donald Trump’s Doral resort in Florida in January, “the latest example of the intertwining of the Republican Party and the president’s personal business,” writes the Miami Herald’s David Smiley.
Voting headaches in Michigan: County clerks in Michigan are warning state officials that the skyrocketing number of people voting by mail could create problems on election night 2020, “when a record turnout is expected for the presidential race,” Kathleen Gray reports for the Detroit Free Press.
Help wanted in Congress: John Wildermuth of the San Francisco Chronicle looks at the “surprising number of congressional seats suddenly becoming vacant in California in 2020.”
Number of The Day
42
The percentage of Hispanic Democrats in Clark County, Nev. — home of Las Vegas — who remain undecided in the presidential race, according to a new Telemundo poll. The Nevada caucuses will be held Feb. 22, making it the first state with a significant minority population to weigh in on the Democratic contest.
For Planning Purposes
Nov. 15
Bernie Sanders holds a Green New Deal rally in Fresno, Calif.
Kamala Harris speaks at a reception for LGBTQ Democrats hosted by Equality California in Long Beach, Calif.
Michael Bennet attends a house party in Nashua, N.H.
Nov. 16
Eight Democratic presidential candidates are slated to speak at the California Democratic Party convention in Long Beach Saturday afternoon. But two of the leading primary contenders — Warren and Biden — are skipping the event.
Warren is instead hosting two town halls in Iowa on Saturday.
Biden, meanwhile, is attending a town hall in Las Vegas, Nev.
Nov. 17
California Democrats host a Latino Issues Forum with five presidential candidates in Los Angeles.
The Nevada Democratic Party hosts a “First in the West” celebration and fundraiser Sunday evening featuring 14 of the party’s presidential candidates — including Patrick, who just launched his campaign this week.
#FollowFriday
Keep up with all the presidential action in Nevada this weekend by following Megan Messerly of the Nevada Independent: @meganmesserly
“I don’t think I have such powers”
Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch reacts to a Trump tweet seeming to blame her for deep-seated problems in Somalia, an African country the Economist recently noted has been in chaos for the past 25 years.
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This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 2:17 PM.