Impact2020: May 14, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Thursday, May 14. This is McClatchyDC Politics Editor Adam Wollner filling in for Meta Viers. President Donald Trump is traveling to another swing state today, Republicans officially flip a House seat in California, and a Senate candidate in Kansas runs into a thorny ad issue.
On the Ground
Wheels up
President Donald Trump is venturing outside the White House to make a trip to a battleground state for the second time during the coronavirus pandemic. After traveling to Arizona earlier this month, he is visiting a medical supply company today near Allentown, Pa.
As Julia Terruso writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Trump didn’t visit the Lehigh Valley in 2016. But the region played a big role in helping him win Pennsylvania and the White House.”
“The Lehigh Valley is not bedrock Trump Country — in fact, it’s been shifting Democratic lately,” Terrso notes. “But in a state Trump won by less than 1% last time, it’s an important bellwether for Pennsylvania as a whole. The region is sort of a miniature of Pennsylvania, with three cities, rural areas, white working-class populations, growing suburbs, and a large population of Latino voters. And elections there are almost always close.”
Blue to red
Republican Mike Garcia officially defeated Democrat Christy Smith in the special election in California’s 25th congressional district, marking the first time the GOP has flipped control of a House seat in the state since 1998.
But as Kate Irby writes for the Sacramento Bee, the GOP’s victory “might not signal a red wave in November when … Trump will be on the ballot.”
“As with all special elections, I’d urge caution about projecting the results forward to the fall,” said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Crystal Ball. “The format of this election appeared to benefit Republicans; turnout should be much higher in the fall with the presidential race on the ballot.”
Air wars
Bob Hamilton, a Republican running for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, sold his plumbing company three years ago. But he remains the name and face on many of the firm’s ads, some of which use the “Better Call Bob!” tagline.
The Kansas City Star’s Bryan Lowry writes that the ads “could provide a boost to his candidacy in the crowded GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts. … But the distinctions between corporate and campaign advertising could also create headaches for Hamilton and the company he founded.
Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen “said the campaign finance law Congress passed in 2002 should prohibit the company from airing ads featuring Hamilton 30 days before the primary or 60 days prior to the general election.”
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ “order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort,” Molly Beck and Patrick Marley report for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina “turned his cell phone over Wednesday night to FBI agents amid an investigation into stock sales he made in February,” Brian Murphy writes for the Raleigh News & Observer. Murphy also reports that Burr will temporarily step down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Election disruption
“Florida is one of just four states that have yet to accept federal funds to prepare for elections during the coronavirus pandemic, and the state’s election supervisors are urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to take the money now,” Alex Daugherty and David Smiley write for the Miami Herald.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state Supreme Court “to order election officials in several counties to reject mail ballot applications from people who fear catching the coronavirus during in-person voting,” James Barragán reports for the Dallas Morning News.
“Missourians will get another chance to decide how state legislative districts should be drawn, with the Missouri House approving legislation … seeking to repeal a redistricting process that was approved by voters in 2018,” the Kansas City Star’s Jason Hancock reports.
North Carolina legislators “accused of passing a 2018 voter ID law for racist reasons are now fighting efforts to force them to turn over documents like emails that could show what they discussed while writing that law,” Will Doran writes for the Raleigh News & Observer.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse writes that “fears of widespread voting fraud aren’t backed up by much evidence” in Georgia.
Number of the Day
60%
That’s how many Americans think the U.S. effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak is going badly, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll.
Listen Up
A new episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast drops this evening on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
For Planning Purposes
May 14
Trump visits a medical supply company near Allentown, Pa.
Joe Biden participates in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ virtual convention with mayors and city leaders
Joe Biden also holds a virtual roundtable on the COVID-19 response with Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, and Ned Lamont of Connecticut
Jill Biden holds virtual events in Arizona
The Biden campaign holds a virtual town hall with HBCU students
May 15
Pete Buttigieg hosts a virtual organizing training with Biden volunteers and supporters in Virginia
May 16
Amy Klobuchar hosts a virtual Biden campaign event in Colorado
May 19
Idaho and Oregon primaries
May 22
Hawaii primary
Masks On
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shares his thoughts on people who don’t want to wear a mask in public during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Did someone forward this email to you? Please sign up here for the daily rundown of 2020 election news from McClatchy’s 30 newsrooms and other local journalists.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 12:24 PM.
