Impact2020: June 2, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Tuesday, June 2. President Trump threatens to deploy military forces to deal with violence during protests after calling many state leaders “weak.” And as voting happens in eight states and D.C., we examine whether an ex-Florida police chief could be a good match for Joe Biden and why Republicans are starting to look outside Charlotte for their convention.
On the Ground
Rising on the shortlist
Thanks to a resume that includes high-profile roles in law enforcement and Congress, Florida Rep. Val Demings is rising on Joe Biden’s vice presidential shortlist.
But as the Miami Herald’s Alex Daugherty writes, those same credentials “may turn out to be a mixed bag amid the national outcry against police brutality and a flawed criminal justice system.”
Demings, who was Orlando’s first black woman police chief and had a central role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, has been outspoken in the national media following George Floyd’s death. That has also led to a reexamination of her police record.
The blips on her record include a 2015 investigation that found her department had doubled the use of force arrests of similarly sized police departments during her time as chief. But some, including a civil rights attorney who sued the department and won, say she’s well suited for the vice presidency.
“With [the case] I disagreed with her, but if you’re going to have an adversary you’re going to want somebody that listens to you,” said Orlando attorney Mark NeJame. “I think there’s probably few people in the country better suited or situated for the job.”
A stalemate
GOP officials and North Carolina’s Democratic governor don’t appear to be any closer to reaching an agreement over how to hold the Republican National Convention ahead of a self-imposed Wednesday deadline.
The Charlotte Observer’s Brian Murphy and Jim Morrill report that Gov. Roy Cooper rejected the GOP’s request for a full-scale convention in Charlotte in late August, telling officials that face coverings and social distancing are “a necessity.”
“As much as we want the conditions surrounding COVID-19 to be favorable enough for you to hold the convention you describe in late August, it is very unlikely,” Cooper wrote RNC officials. “Neither public health officials nor I will risk the health and safety of North Carolinians by providing the guarantees you seek.”
In response, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said she still hoped the convention would take place in Charlotte, but said the party would begin visiting other cities that have expressed interest in hosting the event.
Trump takes action
Trump ordered the creation of a military “central command center” to deploy federal assets to local governments responding to protests over Floyd’s death, McClatchy’s Tara Copp and Michael Wilner report.
Active duty forces under federal control are prohibited from engaging in law enforcement on U.S. soil unless the president invokes the rarely used Insurrection Act. Yesterday, Trump suggested he would invoke the act if local and state governments did not dispatch additional National Guard forces on their own to “dominate” the violent protesters. But the act requires that states request military assistance.
In a call between the president and governors Monday, Trump criticized the governors for not using the National Guardsmen in greater numbers, calling some state leaders “weak.”
Meanwhile, Biden didn’t mince words about Trump during a speech in Philadelphia after a third night of protests there. “We have to be vigilant about the violence that’s being done by this incumbent president to our economy and to the pursuit of justice,” he said.
Trump is “more interested in power than in principle,” said Biden. And he called Trump’s visit to St. John’s Church, damaged during protests in Washington, D.C., not more than a photo opportunity.
“The president held up the Bible at St. John’s Church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it,” stated Biden.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Rob Tornoe has more on Biden’s remarks.
Trail Mix
Election disruption
In Montana’s first all-mail election, a record number of voters have already cast ballots ahead of today’s primary, the Billings Gazette’s Larry Mayer reports.
Some Pennsylvania voters get an extra week to submit their mail-in and absentee ballots after an order by Gov. Tom Wolf. Julian Routh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the story.
Only the results of votes cast in-person will be reported tonight in Maryland, reports Emily Opilo for the Baltimore Sun.
Kansas’s attorney general has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a law championed by former Secretary of State and U.S. Senate candidate Kris Kobach requiring the state’s residents to prove their citizenship when registering to vote, Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry report for the Kansas City Star.
Battle for Congress
Two Republicans decided to join the Kansas primary races in the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts at the last minute, Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry report for the Kansas City Star.
Social distancing was in effect as the three major Democratic candidates hoping to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell participated in a debate in a Kentucky TV studio. Lexington Herald-Leader’s Daniel Desrochers has details.
Number of the Day
54%
The number of U.S. adults who say they are supportive of the protests against police killings of black people sparked by the death of George Floyd, according to a new Morning Consult Poll.
The survey found that the protests were supported by 69% of Democrats, 49% of independents and 39% of Republicans.
For planning purposes
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 addresses the Texas Democratic Party convention
June 9
Georgia and West Virginia hold primaries
June 23
Kentucky and New York hold primaries
The (Mc)Master of Guitar?
Credit: West Florence High School via The State
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster was a one-man concert for high school seniors at their graduation.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 12:43 PM.