Impact2020: June 3, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Wednesday, June 3. It happened: President Donald Trump said he’s moving the Republican National Convention and he’s blaming North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for it. A controversial Iowa congressman loses his GOP primary as a surge in mail voting causes election reporting delays elsewhere. And how good are Kamala Harris’ chances of becoming Joe Biden’s running mate? Let’s take a look...
On the Ground
Three-headed crisis reshapes Biden-Trump race
McClatchy’s Alex Roarty reports how the “three-headed crisis” of “a public health pandemic, a struggling economy and protests over police violence” is reshaping the 2020 presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump with Election Day five months away.
Few White House candidates have been forced to deal with such a historic set of challenges, say veterans of past presidential campaigns. Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Democrat John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, said, “This is up there with World War II and the Civil War in terms of the extent of the crisis and how deeply it is affecting the nation and the world.”
Still, it’s difficult to predict how Biden and Trump will ultimately be seen by voters amid these crises, according to some seasoned strategists.
“What was alarmist and bellicose war-mongering about Winston Churchill became desperately needed,” said Stuart Stevens, the former chief strategist for 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is now advising a group working against Trump. “What was radical about [Margaret] Thatcher, the idea that we’d privatize these government-held industries, became a positive for her.”
It’s likely that the election will still “largely hinge on the public’s views about Trump, but those perceptions now will be filtered through his response to the pandemic and the resulting economic catastrophe,” writes Roarty. But “concerns over police violence and racial inequality are likely to test both Trump and Biden in ways different than the pandemic” and make old concerns about both nominees’ histories on criminal justice “newly relevant.”
Bye, Charlotte?
Trump tweeted Tuesday night that he is moving the Republican National Convention from Charlotte because North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper could not guarantee a full-scale event at the end of the summer amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as Brian Murphy notes for the Charlotte Observer, this may not be a done deal:
“Trump has been known to change course at times and to use maximum pressure to get his way, so threatening to ‘seek another state’ could be a negotiating tactic.”
Plus, some parts of the convention could still take place in the city. “An RNC spokesman said in a statement that the public portion of the convention — the primetime speeches from key party figures, including the presidential and vice presidential nominees — will move, but other aspects could remain in Charlotte,” Murphy writes.
After nearly two years of planning and preparation, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill and Tim Funk break down the winners and losers from Trump’s decision.
Cooper continues to get “broad support to his measured response to the pandemic” in polls and “at least in the eyes of Democratic voters, he stood up to the president by standing on principle and for public health.” But he doesn’t get out of the situation easily, they note: “he’ll be blasted by Republicans — and maybe some business owners — for ‘losing’ the convention and costing the state millions in lost business,” Morrill and Funk report.
No matter how you look at it, the convention organizers lose out. “They worked for almost two years, moving to Charlotte and taking leave from their old jobs … Now they have to pack up and try to pull off the same thing in another city in less than three months.”
The Tennessean’s Natalie Allison and Duane W. Gang report that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says that GOP organizers will tour Nashville tomorrow to see if it is a possible match for the relocation of its convention.
Meanwhile, Florida Republicans are wondering if potential host cities such as Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville are still in contention,
David Smiley reports for the Miami Herald. The state would be able to host the convention if given the chance, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally.
Harris fits the ‘dream narrative’ but would she give Biden a boost?
As speculation continues to grow about Biden’s vice presidential shortlist, the Sacramento Bee’s David Lightman takes a look at the question: Should he pick Kamala Harris?
“On paper, she’s all … Biden could want. Three successful statewide campaigns. A U.S. senator from the nation’s biggest state. African-American. Indian-American. The third woman ever to run on a major national ticket,” Lightman notes.
And Joel Goldstein, a vice presidential expert and law professor emeritus at St. Louis University, said, “she fits the American dream narrative.”
But, with Biden all but certain to win the blue state of California, he may not really need a boost from Harris there. Furthermore, “her record as a San Francisco prosecutor and California attorney general have raised questions about whether she was tough enough on rogue law enforcement officers.”
While Harris has been vocal about her sympathy for the peaceful protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the biggest unknown remains whether black voters will be enthusiastic enough to vote if she joins the Democratic ticket.
Trail Mix
Election disruption
Rep. Steve King of Iowa lost his GOP primary race, “delivering an end to the two decades of controversy he brought to his heavily conservative district,” writes Stephen Gruber-Miller for the Des Moines Register. State Sen. Randy Feenstra will be the GOP nominee in the state’s 4th congressional district after winning nearly 46% of the vote.
Meanwhile, Iowa set a new primary election turnout record Tuesday, with upwards of 487,000 ballots cast, more than 410,000 of which were absentee, the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel reports.
More than 1.8 million voters applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot in Pennsylvania in the debut of the state’s new vote-by-mail law, Mark Scolforo and Marc Levy report for the Allentown Morning Call.
More than 42,400 people voted in person in Maryland on Tuesday even though elections officials had encouraged people to vote-by-mail. The Baltimore Sun has a full recap of the state’s elections.
Battleground state watch
George Floyd’s family attorney says that Joe Biden will attend the funeral in Houston next week, the Houston Chronicle’s Benjamin Wermund reports.
Governor watch
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signaled that she would sign new GOP-led legislation to restrict her emergency powers if it passes, report Jonathan Shorman and Dion Lefler for the Wichita Eagle.
Number of the Day
57%
The number of Americans who said police are more likely to use excessive force on blacks than whites, according to a Monmouth University poll. That number is up from 34% in 2016.
For planning purposes
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
“If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care”
Credit: Kurt Semder, News12 The Bronx
News12 was rolling when New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who is facing his most competitive Democratic primary race in decades, was caught on a hot mic asking Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. for a turn to speak at a news conference. Read more here.
TOMORROW
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This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 1:07 PM.