Impact2020 Briefing: Feb. 27, 2020

Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Thursday, Feb. 27. Of note today: A split in South Carolina’s black vote could help Bernie Sanders, who struck a defiant note during a visit to North Carolina. And Donald Trump’s campaign is employing a new tactic in its bid to win over African American voters: free swag.

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On the Ground

How divided is S.C.’s black vote?

Four years ago, Hillary Clinton notched a dominant win in the South Carolina Demcoratic primary thanks to the overwhelming support of black voters. In 2020, that voting bloc is less unified, which could end up benefiting Bernie Sanders, McClatchy Politics Editor Adam Wollner reports from North Charleston, S.C.

“This time, with a crowded field, it’s about coalition building,” former Charleston Democratic Party Chairman Brady Quirk-Garvan tells Wollner. “How do you put together a coalition that includes a large group of African American voters, but also young progressives in Charleston and Greenville that have seen population growth.”

Track all the presidential campaign stops in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary with The State’s 2020 candidate tracker.

No apologies

Sanders took a detour from the South Carolina campaign trail to appear with Rev. William Barber III, the prominent anti-poverty activist, at his church in Goldsboro, N.C. After an Ash Wednesday service, the Vermont senator “took questions from a racially diverse group of attendees about a variety of issues, including how he would address poverty, make health care more accessible and end voter suppression,” Lucille Sherman reports for The Raleigh News & Observer. And he told the audience he would “not apologize for the speed in which we want to transform this country.”

Like the Apple store, but Trumpier

President Donald Trump’s campaign is preparing to open “heavily branded field offices in the coming weeks across the nation, hoping to attract black voters with swag, billboards and graphics promoting the president’s policies in support of historically black colleges, opportunity zones, school choice and criminal justice reform,” McClatchy White House Correspondent Michael Wilner writes.

The first community centers will open in Raleigh, N.C., and 14 other cities across the country, where the campaign says it has identified growing black populations in inner cities open to supporting Trump.

Trail Mix

February focus

• The State’s Emily Bohatch writes that Biden opened up at his CNN town hall Wednesday night about his experience traveling to Charleston “in the wake of the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church and the feelings of loss he felt for his son, who died weeks before from brain cancer.”

• Biden told the Charleston Post and Courier’s Jamie Lovegrove that some of his Democratic rivals should consider exiting the race if they are unable to win over minority voters in South Carolina’s primary on Saturday.

• Speaking at a town hall in Orangeburg, S.C., Elizabeth Warren promised that, if elected president, she will implement the “biggest anti-corruption plan since Watergate,” Bradley Harris reports for The Times and Democrat.

• Sanders is betting on a large turnout Saturday in South Carolina, urging the nearly 3,000 people who turned out for his rally in Myrtle Beach to make sure they go to the polls, the Myrtle Beach Sun News’ Anna Young reports.

Super Tuesday and beyond

• Sanders leads a new poll of likely North Carolina Democratic primary voters and has gained the backing of a slate of politicians from across the state, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan reports for The Raleigh News & Observer.

• The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel reports on Warren’s response to a letter sent earlier this week signed by more than 200 tribal members criticizing her past claims of Native American heritage.

• Michael Bloomberg’s rally in Houston, Texas on Thursday “marked his sixth trip to the state since launching his campaign in late November, far more visits than any other candidate over the same period, Patrick Svitek reports for The Texas Tribune.

• The Dallas Morning News’ Todd J. Gillman reports that Bloomberg’s campaign is also behind 80% of the TV ads airing in Texas ahead of the March 3 primary.

• The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Amy S. Rosenberg writes that for Philly-area Jewish voters, Sanders’ appeal “is powerful but complicated.”

Battle for Congress

• The Sacramento Bee’s David Lightman and Kate Irby report that if Sanders captures the Democratic nomination, it could help, not hurt, some vulnerable House Democrats in California.

• Colorado Republican Cory Gardner has found a foil in Sanders for his Senate reelection fight, The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter writes.

Number of The Day

70%

The increase in absentee ballot requests for the 2020 presidential primary in Michigan. As MLive’s Scott Levin reports, the spike comes after the state passed a law in 2018 allowing no-reason absentee voting. Michigan holds its primary on March 10.

For Planning Purposes

Feb. 27

Sanders holds rallies in Richmond, Va. and Spartanburg, S.C.

Biden hosts a “community event” with actress Vivica A. Fox in Conway, S.C.

Pete Buttigieg holds a town hall in Rock Hill, S.C.

Amy Klobuchar participates in a Fox News town hall in Raleigh, N.C.

Bloomberg holds a rally in Bentonville, Arkansas

Warren holds a town hall in San Antonio, Texas with former Mayor Julián Castro.

Feb. 28

Biden hosts a campaign event in Sumter, S.C.

Sanders campaigns in St. George, Aiken and Columbia, S.C.

Warren attends a canvass launch in Greenville, S.C.

Buttigieg holds a town hall in Charleston, S.C. and a roundtable in Fairfax, S.C.

Klobuchar holds a campaign event in Falls Church, Va.

Tom Steyer hosts a meet-and-greet in Sumter, S.C.

Targeting the Late Night Vote

James Corden has some tips for how Bloomberg can get mentioned on the Late Late Show, amid reports that the former New York City mayor has hired former television executives as advisers to help him get mentioned in late night hosts’ monologues.

Even More

For even more 2020 politics, download a special bonus episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast, taped in South Carolina: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts

This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 2:45 PM.