Impact2020: April 23, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Thursday, April 23. Mail voting is expected to “explode” in Florida, coronavirus is upending two North Carolina races, and President Trump faces backlash for his lack of black outreach.
On the Ground
Florida’s voting evolution
In the swing state of Florida, “where the steady rise of mail voting has dramatically transformed the campaign season over the last 20 years, the novel coronavirus could fast-forward the evolution of elections,” David Smiley writes for the Miami Herald.
“Elections offices in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — home to more than a quarter of Florida’s 13.2 million voters — are preparing to send vote-by-mail registration forms to every voter in those counties amid worries that the virus will disrupt in-person voting this summer and fall.”
Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine said: “I think the number of mail-in ballots are obviously going to explode.”
Smiley notes that “a significant spike in mail voting in the nation’s largest swing state could have political implications for the 2020 elections and affect campaigns for years to come by pushing a larger percentage of the vote into the weeks before Election Day.”
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has not responded to requests to provide flexibility under state law to help local officials administer the election, but they are still encouraging voting at home.
Meanwhile, the Herald’s Alex Daugherty reports that a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that a majority of Florida voters think DeSantis “should have responded sooner to the coronavirus pandemic and are not ready for the state’s stay-at-home order to be lifted.”
North Carolina’s showdowns
The COVID-19 crisis is also shaping two critical races in North Carolina.
The Senate race between Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Cal Cunningham, which could determine which party controls the upper chamber, has largely moved online, Brian Murphy reports for the Raleigh News & Observer.
“Tillis is holding regular public telephone town halls, pushing the callers to wear face masks and follow social distancing guidelines while answering constituent questions about government actions in response to the virus,” Murphy writes. “Cunningham is hosting his own virtual town halls, taking questions from voters and talking about experiences of living through outbreak. … The virus’ impacts and the nation’s response are likely to dominate the Senate race through November.”
Official photos of Democrat Cal Cunningham (left) and incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (right).
In the state’s governors’ race Republican Dan Forest “has been mostly quiet during Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s response to COVID-19,” Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan reports for the News & Observer.
“But now Forest is among other Republicans calling for Cooper … to announce a specific plan for starting to reopen the state’s economy. The statewide stay-at-home order expires April 29. Cooper told reporters ... that he would announce decisions on the stay-at-home order and schools later this week.”
The GOP’s ‘Achilles heel’
McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers reports that “black leaders say the White House has not made engagement with them a priority, despite assertions from President Donald Trump and his coronavirus task force that COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting African American communities.”
And conservatives are among those who are the most frustrated, saying that Trump’s team “should have worked harder to build up a robust network of black leaders it could tap into prior to the global health crisis.”
Republican strategist Raynard Jackson said the White House should reconnect with African Americans who were part of previous GOP coalitions.
“What this virus should convince the party of is the need to have ongoing relationships with black folks, even when there’s not a crisis. ... They should be doing this as a general principle, because it’s necessary to have these lines of communication, whether there’s a tragedy going on or whether there’s not,” he said. “And so, this, again, has been the party’s Achilles heel.”
Trail Mix
Election disruption
Priorities USA, a leading Democratic super PAC, “is backing a new lawsuit aiming to make it easier to vote by mail in Pennsylvania,” Jonathan Tamari reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is leading a lawsuit against the South Carolina Election Commission to allow residents to vote by mail in elections through the end of the year,” Emma Dumain reports for The State.
Iowa’s secretary of state is urging voters to cast ballots by mail in the June primary, the AP reports.
Kentucky’s secretary of state said the state’s June 23 primary will include “a significant expansion” of absentee voting by mail,” the Lexington Herald Leader’s Jack Brammer notes.
Massachusetts’ secretary of state is “crafting a legislative package that would allow early voting by mail before September’s primary election and expand the window people could send in ballots before November’s general election,” Matt Stout and Victoria McGrane report for the Boston Globe.
A conservative group filed a federal lawsuit against Nevada’s secretary of state over the proposed all-mail primary election, claiming that the plan would “all but ensure an election replete with ballot fraud,” the Nevada Independent’s Riley Snyder reports.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin is pushing back its state convention from mid-May to July, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bill Glauber writes.
Georgia on my mind
Trump said he disagreed “strongly” with GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen some businesses, Nick Wooten reports for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
Trump’s comments are already roiling Georgia Republican politics. In the Senate race, Sen. Kelly Loeffler said she supported Kemp’s efforts, while Doug Collins was critical. Greg Bluestein has more for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Number of the Day
10
Biden leads Trump by 10 points, 52% to 42%, among Florida voters who are age 65 or older, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton with those voters by 17 points, 57% to 40%, exit polls showed.
You can get the latest 2020 presidential campaign news from David Catanese via text. Impact2020 subscribers, sign up here.
“The president doesn’t like me”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was blunt when asked about his relationship with Trump on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Later today
Listen to the latest episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast: “Trump, the pandemic, and the African American vote.” Download it from: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
For the future
April 23
Biden holds a virtual fundraiser
Amy Klobuchar holds a virtual Biden campaign town hall
April 28
Ohio primary (almost entirely by mail)
May 2
Kansas primary (done by mail)
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This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 1:25 PM.