Impact2020: May 5, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Tuesday, May 5. The president is turning to the Senate’s lone black Republican to help with COVID-19 outreach, Florida’s governor hopes for a political rebound as he reopens the state, and Democrats file another voting lawsuit in North Carolina.
On the Ground
Trump’s new COVID point man
President Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, to help his administration develop a plan to improve assistance for African Americans and other other minority communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, Emma Dumain and Francesca Chambers report for The State.
In an interview, Scott said he would deliver a presentation at the White House this month that would include “some ideas on ways to address the systemic issues that are confronting vulnerable as well as minority communities.”
Credit: Andrew Harnik, AP
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, the only black member of Trump’s cabinet, leads the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which is now focusing on economic disparities in African American communities. Carson and Scott, as well as their staffers, have been trading ideas, according to Scott.
The move comes as Trump has faced criticism for his lack of outreach to black Americans during the COVID-19 crisis.
As goes Florida...
GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was heavily scrutinized for his handling of the pandemic in Florida, is hoping to reverse his political fortunes as he slowly reopens the state.
The Miami Herald’s David Smiley writes that the move “isn’t without risk. Florida continues to see sickness and death, particularly in hard-hit South Florida. But after avoiding worst-case predictions in March and April, DeSantis has, in May, positioned himself as a conservative coronavirus success story.”
DeSantis has enjoyed a national platform on Fox News to tout his successes, which Smiley notes is also welcome news for Trump.
“To have Florida reopening successfully — if it is, indeed, successful — would give the president a potential high-profile success story in his home state, a battleground his campaign has treated as a must-win.”
Voting wars
There’s yet another Democratic-backed lawsuit to loosen rules around voting by mail, this time in the battleground state of North Carolina.
Brian Murphy reports for the Raleigh News & Observer that a group of voters, with the support of Democratic legal groups, “want the state to provide prepaid postage on all absentee ballots, change a requirement for two witnesses to sign a ballot, extend the deadline for receipt of ballots until nine days after Election Day and give voters a chance to fix signature discrepancies before election officials reject those ballots.”
Marc Elias, a top Democratic attorney representing the challengers, said: “The current restrictions on mail ballots not only violate the state Constitution, but they also pose significant risks to voters’ health and safety, and, unless they are remedied, they could result in the disenfranchisement of an unprecedented number of North Carolinians.”
Murphy notes that fewer than 5% of North Carolina voters mail in their ballots, but that number could jump to as high as 40% this year.
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
Trump is visiting Phoenix today to highlight Honeywell International producing millions of N95 respirator masks for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as states reopen. More on the trip from the Arizona Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.
The Tampa Bay Times’ Dara Kam provides an update on a high-stakes trial that “could decide whether hundreds of thousands of felons who have served their time behind bars can cast ballots in this year’s presidential election” in Florida.
The Columbus Dispatch’s Darrel Rowland notes that “for the first time since 2008, more Democrats than Republicans voted in an Ohio presidential primary.”
Will Michigan Rep. Justin Amash pull some Ohio voters in the suburbs away from Trump and Biden as a third-party candidate? Rick Rouan explores that question in the Columbus Dispatch.
Election disruption
“Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she will send out absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in the state and pay the postage for their ballots” ahead of the Aug. 11 primaries, Emily Brindley reports for the Hartford Courant.
Battle for Congress
In Georgia, Sen. Kelly Loeffler is buying about $4 million worth of ads pushing back on criticism about her stock transactions, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports.
Rep. Josh Harder of California said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is being “too slow” when it comes to setting coronavirus standards for most nursing homes, Kate Irby reports for the Sacramento Bee.
Convention watch
Lawmakers overlooked a part of a COVID-19 bill that would reopen public schools in the Charlotte, N.C., area the week before the Republican National Convention, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morill reports.
Number of the Day
44%
That’s how many Americans approve of the way Trump has handled the coronavirus response, according to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Meanwhile, 75 percent approve of the way their governors have handled the pandemic, and Dr. Anthony Fauci gets a 74 percent positive rating.
For planning purposes
May 5
Trump visits a Honeywell facility in Phoenix, Ariz.
Biden holds a virtual fundraiser.
May 6
Jill Biden holds virtual events in Michigan
May 7
Biden holds two virtual events in Florida, including an African American leaders roundtable in Jacksonville.
May 12
Nebraska primary
May 19
Idaho and Oregon primaries
May 22
Hawaii primary
Get the latest 2020 presidential campaign news from David Catanese via text. Impact2020 subscribers, sign up here.
‘Sup bro?
Is it just me, or does Seth Meyers’ brother sound like part Gov. Gavin Newsom, part Will Arnett’s LEGO Batman?
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