Impact2020: June 10, 2020
In your Impact2020 briefing for Wednesday, June 10, we look at the very latest in the Republican National Convention relocation saga, yesterday’s chaotic primaries and where Utahns stand on Donald Trump vs. Mitt Romney.
On the Ground
Hello, Florida?
After some reports that Republican officials had decided to move the celebratory portion of their national convention from Charlotte, N.C., GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel has weighed in to say Jackson, Fla. is the front-runner to host the event, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill and Tim Funk report.
“These reports are definitely premature,” McDaniel told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “We are going to keep our convention of, the business of the convention in Charlotte. That is for sure. It’s going to be smaller and scaled down.”
Credit: David T. Foster III, The Charlotte Observer, file
The news that the convention would be moving received backlash from the convention’s host committee who called the move “a clear violation of contracts with the city and other local groups,” Morrill and Funk write.
City leaders also released a statement admonishing “the RNC’s apparent unilateral decision to relocate a substantial portion of the convention to Jacksonville” and called for “an immediate discussion with the RNC” and partners.
Wherever the convention lands it is still scheduled to start Aug. 24.
Voting issues permeate primaries
A handful of states held primaries yesterday, and once again, we saw voters waiting in hours-long lines to cast their ballots.
In Georgia, “poll workers couldn’t get voting machines to work. Precincts opened late. Social-distancing requirements created long lines. Some voters gave up and went home,” Mark Niesse reports for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Still, more than 1.2 million Georgians cast early ballots mostly by mail. And we know that in the state’s marquee U.S. Senate race, Democrat Jon Ossoff “had a double-digit edge in the race to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, and results through early Wednesday showed him hovering just below the majority-vote mark he needs to avoid an August runoff,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein writes.
South Carolina voters also experienced long lines, a shortage of poll workers, and ballot and voting machine issues. The State’s Greg Hadley reports, “at Kilbourne Park Baptist Church, the precinct manager started issuing handwritten ballots after discovering around noon that some races were missing for some ballots.”
Precinct manager Rusty DePass said he decided to start issuing the handwritten ballots to address the problem without consulting with Richland County Election Commission because “they’re so incompetent.” The commission will manually count those ballots.
But election officials also had another issue: the voting machines for ward 13 were “screwed up” because they wouldn’t let people vote in the Republican congressional race, said DePass. And when he tried to replace them with a new machine, that machine also had a problem that they couldn’t fix.
Even with all the issues at the polls, South Carolina Republicans still managed to determine a nominee in one of the country’s most hotly contested House races. In the state’s 1st congressional district, GOP state Rep. Nancy Mace defeated three challengers and will face Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in November, Maayan Schechter reports for The State.
Sparring over China
The candidates for U.S. Senate in North Carolina are sparring over holding China accountable for the coronavirus pandemic.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has backed President Donald Trump’s view blaming China’s government for the deaths and economic hardship from the virus with his own 18-point plan “to hold China accountable.” But his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham has called Tillis’ plan “election-year chest-thumping” and dismissed some points as “bumper stickers,” Brian Murphy reports for the Raleigh News & Observer.
Cunningham said in an interview: “This is once again Thom Tillis trying to have it both ways and save the campaign. Mitch McConnell told him to put this plan out and that’s exactly what he’s doing. My question is, When is Thom Tillis going to follow the advice not to defend Donald Trump? That was in the memo, too.”
Recent polls show Tillis and Cunningham in a statistical tie in a race that could determine which party controls the Senate chamber in January.
Trail Mix
Election results
A Boise election that ended in a tie will be resolved with a coin toss, the Idaho Statesman’s Hayley Harding reports.
Lindsay Graham sailed through the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, and will square off against Democratric challenger Jaime Harrison in November, The State’s Joseph Bustos reports.
36-year-old Baltimore City Council president Brandon Todd won the Democratic mayoral primary, eking out a narrow victory over former Mayor Sheila Dixon, Talia Richman and Emily Opilo report for the Baltimore Sun.
Battleground state watch
Trump plans to discuss economic, health and justice disparities during his trip to Dallas on Thursday and to announce a plan for “holistic revitalization and recovery”, the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Anna M. Tinsley reports.
At least one member of the Bush family plans to vote for Trump: Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. More from Drew Jones in the Texas Tribune.
Battle for Congress
In the Sacramento Bee, David Lightman explains why California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock is making the rare move of siding with liberal Democrats on legislation.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley wants a civil rights investigation on state restrictions of religious services during the pandemic, alleging that states have created a double standard by allowing protests, Bryan Lowry reports for the Kansas City Star.
Veepstakes
A new Morning Consult poll found that 46% of Democratic voters say it’s important for Joe Biden to pick a person of color as his vice president. That’s up from 36% in April, notes McClatchy’s Mike Stunson.
Number of the Day
68
That’s the percentage of Utah voters who approve of the job Trump is doing as president, according to a new Salt Lake Tribune/Suffolk University poll. By comparison, 43% approved of the job Mitt Romney is doing as senator.
For Planning Purposes
June 10
Biden holds a virtual finance event and then attends a virtual NAACP town hall on systemic racism
June 11
Trump holds private fundraiser and a round table in Dallas
June 23
Kentucky and New York hold primaries
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
“Many of us are feeling as if this was intentional”
A South Carolina voter ran out of gas for the car as she waited HOURS to vote on Tuesday. And it gave her a lot of time to think about why she was in that situation. Hear from her here.
TOMORROW
A new episode of our political podcast, Beyond the Bubble, will be available on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts.
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