Impact2020: May 22, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Friday, May 22. Ballot requests are up in some states with an early June primary, Joe Biden’s campaign deals with fallout over comments he made about black voters, while his lack of Latino outreach continues to worry Democrats.
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On the Ground
‘Ain’t black’?
Joe Biden is facing backlash, including from the only African-American Republican in the U.S. Senate, after he told a host of ‘The Breakfast Club’ radio show, “If you’ve got a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.”
The exchange came during Biden’s interview with host Charlamagne Tha God on Biden’s support among black voters and reports that he is considering Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is white, as his running mate.
“I’m not acknowledging anybody who is being considered,” Biden said. “But I guarantee you there are multiple black women being considered.”
When an aide tried to end the interview, the host responded, “You can’t do that to black media.” And Biden replied, “I do that to black media and white media.”
Credit: Evan Vucci, AP
After his comments, Biden campaign senior adviser Simone Sanders tweeted, “The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest, but let’s be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump’s any day. Period.”
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the only black Republican in the Senate, lambasted the former vice president.
“Joe Biden told every single one of us we ‘ain’t black,’” he tweeted. “I’d say I’m surprised, but it’s sadly par for the course for Democrats to take the black community for granted and brow beat those that don’t agree.”
Black voters, especially older black voters, helped boost Biden’s campaign in this year’s Democratic primary after a lackluster start. But Biden continues to struggle to gain the support of younger voters of color, and this latest controversy probably won’t help him.
You can see more reactions to Biden’s comments in this story from McClatchy’s Summer Lin.
‘Always an afterthought’
“Democratic activists worry that Joe Biden has done too little with Hispanic voters” to win Florida, write Bianca Padró Ocasio and David Smiley for the Miami Herald.
Biden is slightly ahead of Trump in polls in Florida, the nation’s largest swing state, but the Hispanic vote will be critical to any victory there. Democrats lost races for governor and U.S. Senate in the last midterm elections after poor Hispanic outreach, and some strategists are concerned that Biden is making the same mistake, Ocasio and Smiley report.
Now some activists are asking if the Biden campaign will invest enough to reach Hispanic voters ahead of Election Day. “The Latino vote is always an afterthought for these campaigns. They don’t understand the nuances,” said Chuck Rocha, a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign specializing in Latino mobilization.
Advocates and strategists say Biden can gain more traction by stepping up radio appearances in Miami, “tailoring unique messages to Florida’s Venezuelan, Colombian, Nicaraguan and other Latin American communities” and including events for Hispanic voters during his virtual stops.
Ocasio and Smiley note, “when he kicked off a virtual tour of the country early this month by holding virtual events with allies in Jacksonville and Tampa — a relaunch of a new, online-only phase of the campaign amid the pandemic — Biden didn’t include an event for Hispanic voters.”
What all these ballots by mail mean for Election Night
Today is the mail-ballot return deadline for Hawaii’s Democratic primary, which was extended until today after in-person voting was cancelled in April. But, on June 2, eight states and the District of Columbia hold primaries. We’re getting a look ahead at some of those elections.
In Indiana, “an unprecedented 391,000 Hoosiers — and counting — have requested absentee ballots,” reports Chris Sikich for The Indianapolis Star. The Star says some voters have reported not receiving ballots yet, but “anyone who’s requested a ballot by mail cannot simply walk into a polling place and vote as usual. To cast a vote, you’ll either need to request a new ballot; or fill out paperwork to vote in person.”
And in Iowa, Roxanna Moritz, Auditor and Commissioner of Elections, said in an interview, “just under 18,000 have requested ballots to vote from home. That’s more than I’ve ever, ever even had vote in a primary election.” WVIX’s Michelle O’Neill and Herb Trix have the report on how that number is rising.
In Pennsylvania, “instant electoral gratification is about to become a thing of the past” as the surge of requests for mail-in ballots “has set up a 2020 election in which everyone could be left waiting for days before results are known,” writes Jonathan Lai for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
You can hear more about the battle over mail-in voting in the new episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast. Download it on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts.
Trail Mix
Elections
The coronavirus pandemic apparently didn’t keep thousands of Georgians from registering to vote before the June primary. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse reports, “About 72,000 voters registered in the two months after Gov. Brian Kemp declared a public health emergency March 14…”
U.S. Postal Service trucks had to drive overnight shifts after an out-of-state vendor “failed to mail hundreds of thousands of ballots to Baltimore voters for nearly a week despite assuring Maryland they were on the way,” reports Emily Opilo for the Baltimore Sun.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak called Trump’s threats to withhold funds from Nevada because of the mail-in primary “inappropriate and outrageous”. More on the Twitter exchange from KOLO.
Former Republican congressman Darrell Issa and Judicial Watch sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom over a coronavirus executive order that gives voters a mail-in ballot for the November election, the Sacramento Bee’s Sam Stanton reports.
A bipartisan group of North Carolina lawmakers want to expand vote-by-mail for 2020. News & Observer’s Will Doran has the story on the bill at the NC General Assembly.
Battle for Congress
Twenty-four former donors to Sen. Lindsay Graham have switched sides this election cycle and contributed to Graham’s Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, reports McClatchy’s Emma Dumain and Ben Weider.
Kelly Loeffler’s campaign is targeting the news media in its latest TV ads, saying the media has “unfairly targeted” the U.S. Senator from Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports.
Candidate for Pennsylvania’s state Senate, Nikil Saval, received the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, and then $11,286 from 2,477 donors from “every single state,” according to his campaign manager. Chris Brennan has more on the Democratic primary for the 1st Senate District in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida will self-isolate after visiting a nursing home where 15 residents and six staff members tested positive for COVID-19, Alex Daugherty reports for The Miami Herald.
The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature approved limits on Gov. Laura Kelly’s emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic, the Wichita Eagle’s Jonathan Shorman and Dion Lefler report.
Road the White House
Jill Biden’s trip to Albany may have clued us in to the Democratic strategy in Georgia, writes Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein.
U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and former Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland endorsed Joe Biden, reports the Baltimore Sun’s Phil Davis.
Number of the Day
3
The percentage point margin Trump holds over Biden among voters asked who they trust to do a better job with the economy in the latest Fox News Poll. But the same poll found voters trust Biden to do a better job than Trump on health care and the coronavirus.
For planning purposes
May 22
Hawaii primary (mail-in)
Joe Biden hosts grassroots fundraiser with Pete Buttigieg
Mike Pence travels to Georgia
June 2
Primaries in the District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota
And, we’re all teens again
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves got pranked while he read names of high school graduates online, but even the governor himself thought it was funny. He later tweeted, “Harry’s submitter has a bright future as a Simpson’s writer!” My high school graduation seems so uneventful now...
A NOTE
We will be observing Memorial Day. We’ll have your election news roundup in your inbox again on Tuesday.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 1:58 PM.