Impact2020: June 1, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Monday, June 1. Demonstrations and clashes occur in cities across the United States, forcing elected officials and candidates to respond. Meanwhile, the GOP is anxious over a House race in South Carolina and leading members of the party still want the convention to take place in Charlotte — with limited to no coronavirus regulations.
On the Ground
Trump defers
President Donald Trump is relying on mayors and governors to secure cities rocked by protests over the death of George Floyd and does not plan to federalize National Guard troops in response, McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers, Michael Wilner and Tara Copp report.
National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said Trump would activate military police “if the governors and the mayors need it, and they can’t get control of the situation, we’re there as a reserve.”
Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP
Georgia National Guard Adjutant General Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Carden said the violence over the weekend should be a wake-up call and that a domestic military response should not become the norm.
Trump held a video conference meeting with governors and law enforcement and national security officials today, where he reportedly derided many governors as “weak” and urged them to “get much tougher” with protesters.
Over the weekend, Trump “said he would designate … Antifa as “terrorists,” blamed Democratic governors and mayors for allowing them to congregate, and attempted to link the chaos to … Joe Biden,” Chambers, Wilner and Copp write.
For his part, Biden met with with black leaders in Wilmington, Del., on Monday, his first in-person campaign event since March, Meredith Newman reports for the Delaware News Journal. He pledged to create a police oversight board in the first 100 days of his presidency and said he wasn’t taking support from the black community for granted.
“Nobody can pretend any longer what this is all about,” Biden said. “Nobody can pretend who has carried us on our backs. It’s been minorities. It’s been Hispanics. It’s been blacks.”
Make sure to check out McClatchy’s on-the-ground coverage of the protests that took place all around the country over the weekend here.
RNC organizers forge ahead
Despite concerns about the spread of the coronavirus and restrictions in the state, Republicans are still forging ahead with plans for a full convention with 19,000 people in the Charlotte arena, according to a letter party officials sent to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper this weekend.
Brian Murphy reports for the Charlotte Observer that the letter came after Trump called Cooper and asked for no social distancing and no required masks at the convention. Cooper suggested “a scaled back event with fewer attendees,” during the call.
As Trump and Cooper struggle to reach an agreement ahead of a Wednesday deadline set by the president, members of the Republican National Committee say they still want to hold the late August convention in Charlotte. But as Francesca Chambers and Alex Roarty report for the Charlotte Observer, they are bristling at the notion that mask-wearing should be made mandatory inside the arena, while some are going so far as to suggest the event could be held without any additional safety precautions
Ginger Howard, an RNC member from Georgia, said she’s hoping Cooper “will trust us. We are adults, we are not going to make unwise decisions. We are not going to be foolish.”
Anxiety high in SC House race
South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, a longtime GOP stronghold that Democrat Joe Cunningham won in 2018, will be one of the most hotly contended House races this year. And in the crowded June 9 primary to take him, two Republicans have emerged as the leading contenders, The State’s Maayan Schecter reports.
Kathy Landing, a Mount Pleasant Town Council member, is lesser-known, but has picked up some key conservative endorsements and is pitching herself as a candidate who can win suburban women and independents.
Nancy Mace, a state representative who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2014 and served as Trump’s South Carolina state director in 2016, has a longer history in state politics. Like Landing, Mace is promoting herself as a conservative and independent voice, but also as a candidate who can raise the money necessary to win a competitive race.
Much more on next week’s primary here from Schechter.
Trail Mix
Election disruption
Democrats requested mail ballots at higher rates than Republicans in every county of Pennsylvania ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Lai and Julia Terruso report.
Idaho voters who requested absentee ballots for the primary election may not get them in time to vote after the deadline to request ballots was extended by a federal judge but the deadline to return them was not, the Idaho Statesman’s Hayley Harding reports.
Veepstakes
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is receiving praise for her “denunciation of the wave of violence” that happened during protests in her city, Greg Bluestein reports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Florida Rep. Val Demings’ national profile is also on the rise following her comments on George Floyd’s death, Scott Powers notes for FloridaPolitics.com
Battleground state watch
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Bud Kennedy previews this week’s virtual Texas Democratic Party convention.
Trump will head to Dallas for a private fundraiser this month limited to 25 people and costing $580,000 per couple, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Anna M. Tinsley writes.
Number of the Day
77%
That’s how many black and Hispanic Americans who said they put a higher priority on stopping the spread of the coronavirus than restarting the economy, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. By comparison, 49% of whites said stopping the spread was a higher priority.
For planning purposes
June 1
Biden holds a virtual roundtable with mayors and attends a virtual fundraiser.
June 2
Primaries in Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Washington, D.C.
June 3
The Biden campaign holds a call with Elizabeth Warren
June 6
Virgin Islands holds its Democratic caucus
Biden to address Texas Democratic Party convention
June 9
Georgia and West Virginia hold primaries
June 23
Kentucky and New York hold primaries
‘It’s everybody’s city’
The News & Observer’s Ashad Hajela recorded a man wearing a priest’s collar trying to calm a counter-protester. The counter-protester had been shouting at protesters near the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh.
LISTEN UP
Get the latest episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast. Download it on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts.
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 June 1, 2020 at 1:08 PM.