Impact2020: March 30, 2020

Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Monday, March 30. New York delays its April primary while Wisconsin forges ahead. And Democrats try a new way to mobilize voters in Florida as their top super PAC plans a major battleground state ad blitz.

On the Ground

And then there was one

New York became the latest state to postpone an election as Gov. Andrew Cuomo shifted the presidential primary date from April 28 to June 23, Dave Goldiner reports for the New York Daily News.

That leaves just one state that is still set to hold in-person voting for a presidential nominating contest in April: Wisconsin.

Since Wisconsinites are set to vote in several other local and statewide elections on April 7, Gov. Tony Evers has been reluctant to move voting back. He has called for every registered voter in the state to receive an absentee ballot, but significant legal and practical hurdles remain, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck reports.

Credit: Scott Bauer/AP file photo

The Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert provides the big picture: “Through an accident of timing, the state’s April election has become both a trial run and a test case for how (and whether) to conduct elections amid the coronavirus crisis. …”

“Historically one of the highest-turnout states in the nation, Wisconsin is trying to convert its election system on the fly from in-person voting to voting-by-mail. If the pandemic persists, many states may have to go through a similar transformation before the November presidential election because election-day voting would pose a public health risk.”

Turning to text

Voter registration organizations continue to explore different ways to reach out to voters amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Democratic National Committee is launching a text message campaign in Florida asking voters to switch to vote-by-mail ballots, Bianca Padrò Ocasio reports for the Miami Herald. Along with the Florida Democratic Party, the DNC plans to text over a million people in Florida. They are also looking to buy “tens of millions” of phone numbers to boost outreach.

FDP executive director Juan Peñalosa “said the state party expects to register about 70,000 fewer new voters than their original goal of 307,000. FDP said it has already registered 54,000 people.”

Ad wars

Priorities USA, a leading Democratic super PAC, is also looking ahead to the general election fight against President Donald Trump.

McClatchy’s Alex Roarty scoops that the group reserved $17 million in digital ads to run after the Democratic convention (assuming it isn’t delayed or canceled because of the coronavirus) in mid-July and through Election Day in November.

“The online ad blitz … is slated for Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — a quintet of swing states that strategists in both parties expect to be at the center of the general election.”

Trail Mix

March Madness

• Trump accused Washington Gov. Jay Inslee of not being “appreciative” of his coronavirus efforts and said he had directed Vice President Mike Pence not to call him, McClatchy’s Michael Wilner reports.

• Trump also said “it’s not been pleasant” dealing with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray report for the Detroit Free Press.

• Meanwhile, Trump approved a federal disaster declaration for Kansas, “a move that will make federal assistance available to the state as it fights the new coronavirus,” Jonathan Shorman writes for the Kansas City Star.

• Shorman, Bryan Lowry and Jason Hancock also look at how Kansas’ and Missouri’s decisions not to expand Medicaid are affecting the states’ efforts to combat the coronavirus in the Kansas City Star. Kansas and Missouri are two of 14 states that have not expanded the health program.

• Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina became the latest member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19, Emily Bohatch reports for The State.

Election disruption

• The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso outlines what Pennsylvania’s move from April 28 to June 2 on the primary calendar means for candidates and voters.

• Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon is considering an all-mail voting option for the 2020 elections, CBS Minnesota reports.

Number of the Day

49%

Joe Biden sits at 49% in two new national general election polls from ABC News/Washington Post and Fox News. Trump is at 47% in the ABC/WaPo poll, and 40% in the Fox poll.

You can get the latest 2020 presidential campaign news from McClatchy’s David Catanese via text. Impact2020 subscribers can sign up here.

For Planning Purposes

April 7

Wisconsin holds its statewide elections.

To the grocery store...

Sen. Amy Klobuchar made the TV rounds this weekend talking about how her family is coping after her husband John contracted the new coronavirus. She is staying with another senator and had a confession to make.

LISTEN

Download the latest episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast. Here’s a snippet of it for you to hear. Get the full episode on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts

Don’t miss out on the daily rundown of 2020 election news from McClatchy’s 30 newsrooms and other local journalists. Please consider signing up here if someone forwarded this to you.

This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 12:02 PM.