Impact2020: March 27, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Friday, March 27. A Georgia senator faces a more difficult election path after selling stocks amid the coronavirus pandemic, voter registration groups are forced to get creative, and Trump doesn’t want to change the GOP convention.
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On the Ground
Down-ballot blues
Revelations that Sen. Kelly Loeffler sold stocks after a private coronavirus briefing have given the campaign of another Republican, Rep. Doug Collins, new life in the Georgia Senate race.
“If the contest between the two Republican lawmakers becomes more competitive, it would mean a bigger headache for the GOP establishment that has worked hard to give Loeffler the edge after failing to push Collins out of the race,” McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers and Emma Dumain report.
“Republicans in Washington fear that an ugly fight between Loeffler and Collins could cause the party to lose the Senate seat in a special election in November, in which Republicans and Democrats will compete against each other on a single ballot.”
Credit: John Bazemore/AP
Getting out the vote during a crisis
In a normal election year, both parties would be kicking their voter registration drives into high gear in key battleground states like Florida. But this is anything but a normal year.
“[A]s the number of cases and deaths related to COVID-19 continue to swell in the nation’s most populous battleground state, ‘Get Out The Vote!’ groups are scrapping old plans and scrambling to address the challenges posed by a society in near-lockdown,” Bianca Padró Ocasio and David Smiley write for the Miami Herald.
“Suddenly unable to reach voters on their doorsteps, Democratic activists are scaling back voter registration plans and focusing more on mail voting. Republicans are leaning on a massive collection of voter data to help drive a new focus on digital outreach. And, for the non-profit voter registration organizations that do the bulk of the heavy lifting in Florida, the consequences of the crisis are still setting in.”
Convention watch
As Democrats consider contingency options for their national convention in Milwaukee mid-July, President Donald Trump is making clear that the Republicans’ gathering in Charlotte in late August is full steam ahead.
He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that there is “no way” he would cancel the GOP convention, the Charlotte Observer’s Adam Bell and Jim Morrill report.
Trump said: “Somebody was asking today, ‘Will you cancel your convention?’ I said no way I’m going to cancel the convention. We’re going to have the convention, it’s going to be incredible. … I think we’re going to be in great shape.”
North Carolina Republicans, however, are pushing back their state convention, Morrill notes, “the latest change in a delegate selection process already affected by the coronavirus.” Instead of starting May 14, it will now begin June 4.
Trail Mix
Election disruption
- Georgia House Speaker David Ralston asked Secretary of State John Raffensperger to delay the state’s primaries again. The election was rescheduled for May 19, but the new request asks for the date to be “no earlier than” June 23, Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Maryland’s elections board is recommending there be no in-person voting in the state’s June 2 primary, the Baltimore Sun’s Emily Opilo writes.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock told counties they can conduct an all-mail election for the June 2 primary, Holly Michels reports for the Helena Independent Record.
Two new lawsuits were filed to try to change voting rules in Wisconsin. One lawsuit seeks to delay the election for weeks (or months) while the other “seeks to allow people to cast absentee ballots without having to get a witness to sign their voting certificate,” Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Fort Worth officials have asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for permission to delay their May 2 election until summer, reports Anna M. Tinsley for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Two poll workers who spent Florida’s primary day at precincts in the city of Hollywood have tested positive for coronavirus,” the Miami Herald’s David Smiley and Bianca Padró Ocasio report.
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Number of the Day
48 percent
That’s how many Americans approve of Trump’s overall job performance, up five points from February, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. But the Post notes: “The rise in Trump’s approval rating, however, is far smaller than some other presidents have experienced in times of national crisis.”
For Planning Purposes
March 27
Joe Biden participates in a virtual CNN town hall focused on the coronavirus at 8 p.m. ET.
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This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 11:53 AM.