Impact2020: June 16, 2020
In your Impact2020 briefing for Tuesday, June 16, we take a look at Mike Pence’s trip to Iowa as a new poll shows a tight presidential race there, Charlotte’s efforts to resolve contractual liabilities as the Republican National Convention leaves, and LGBTQ advocates’ hopes that state lawmakers will move to expand protections after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.
On the Ground
Back in Iowa
Five weeks after he last visited the state, Vice President Mike Pence is visiting Iowa today to meet with Gov. Kim Reynolds and tour Winnebago Industries, the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel reports.
Credit: Evan Vucci, AP
Pence’s trip comes just as a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows President Donald Trump leading Joe Biden by just 1 point in the state, 44% to 43%. Trump carried Iowa by 9 points in 2016. The poll also found that 45% of the state’s voters approved of the job Trump is doing as president, compared to 52% who disapproved.
Pfannenstiel writes that the results follow a recent trend that shows “an increasingly unstable electoral map” for Trump with “states like Iowa that were expected to be safe territory for him after clear wins in 2016 now appear to be battlegrounds in 2020.”
“I think it’s obviously nothing that Joe Biden should take for granted, because he’s not leading,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer. “But if the election were held today, Biden has a far better shot than anybody thought.”
Charlotte deals with convention fallout
The CEO of Charlotte’s host committee said the GOP’s decision to its national convention to Jacksonville, Fla., has left the committee with “tens of millions” in contractual liabilities, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill reports.
“I’ve got contracts that are a couple inches thick of what people promised to do and they’ve breached them,” CEO John Lassiter told the Observer. As the Charlotte committee and city officials talk to donors, vendors and other parties about the contracts, one thing is clear, says Lassiter: “Their money will not go to Jacksonville. We will not be sending any money or services to Jacksonville. We’re done spending money on this convention.”
After two years of planning, the committee had raised $50 million. Lassiter said some money has been spent, and the committee is contractually obligated to pay more, reports Morrill. And, the committee has paid “at least partial deposits on dozens of venues.”
Only the first day of Aug. 24-27 convention will be in Charlotte.
States get ready to tackle Supreme Court decision
Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision’s that forbids employers from firing workers because they are gay or transgender, the Miami Herald’s Kirby Wilson and Samantha J. Gross explore whether the ruling will make it more or less likely that the Florida Legislature will vote on the Competitive Workforce Act. The bill, introduced in 2009, would prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community in Florida when it comes to employment, housing and public accommodations.
While the Supreme Court ruling settled the employment portion, it didn’t address the other part, and some LGBTQ advocates hope the court’s ruling will prompt swift legislative action to expand protections, Wilson and Gross report.
The legislation has never made it to the governor’s office, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has not said whether he would support such a bill. When asked if he would, a spokeswoman for DeSantis said federal law would be respected in Florida.
Anti-discrimination bills haven’t advanced for years in Kansas and Missouri either, Jonathan Shorman and Crystal Thomas report for the Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star. In fact, they “have languished in the Missouri Legislature for 22 years. Proposals in the Kansas Legislature have also failed to gain traction, despite fervent advocacy from the state’s first openly LGBTQ lawmakers.”
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly had reimposed an executive order that had extended anti-discrimination protections to state employees as one of her first acts in office in January 2019 and has signaled she supports a statewide anti-discrimination law. “But the Republican-controlled Legislature didn’t advance a bill co-sponsored by dozens of lawmakers and championed by Reps. Susan Ruiz and Brandon Woodard, Democrats who are the first two openly LGBTQ lawmakers in the state.”
Kentucky was also one of 27 states that did not have statewide protections for employment, housing or public accommodations before Monday’s ruling, Daniel Desrochers reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He writes there was a “collective sigh of relief among many in Kentucky’s LGBTQ community” following the decision, but that “it was also met with a renewed desire to push for a statewide Fairness Law.”
“Even with Monday’s ruling, many people in Kentucky may still be refused public accommodation and housing on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Desrochers notes. While 10 local governments have passed fairness ordinances in the last two years, but “around 70 percent of Kentuckians live in areas without discrimination protections.”
Trail Mix
Election disruption
Republican Nick Freitas missed a deadline to file campaign paperwork for the second straight year for Virginia’s 7th district. Bob Good, who won the 5th district GOP nomination, also missed a deadline to file a form to qualify for the November ballot, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Justin Mattingly reports.
Georgia voters will now have more time — three business days — to fix signature discrepancies on their absentee ballots after they’re notified of issues, reports Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse.
Battle for Congress
Hillary Clinton is supporting New York Rep. Eliot Engel in his reelection bid, making it her first congressional primary endorsement this election cycle, the New York Daily News’ Chris Sommerfeldt reports.
U.S. Senate candidate and former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper apologized for six-year-old comments that resurfaced in which he compares politicians to slaves being whipped to row “an ancient slave ship,” Nicholas Riccardi reports for the AP.
The organizer of a Republican expo in Dodge City, Kansas is defending the choice to feature a speaker who once compared Islam to cancer at an event that will also feature Senate candidates Kris Kobach and Roger Marshall, Bryan Lowry reports for the Kansas City Star.
Battleground state watch
A second poll from EPIC-MRA shows Biden leading Trump by a 16-point margin in Michigan, Todd Spangler reports for the Detroit Free Press.
Number of the Day
$80.8 million
That’s how much Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and a joint fundraising committee say they raised in May, their best month yet.
For Planning Purposes
June 16
Biden participates in the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund’s virtual event
Pence visits Iowa
June 17
Biden visits Pennsylvania to deliver remarks on the U.S. reopening
June 20
Trump holds a rally in Tulsa, Okla.
May fundraising reports are due to the Federal Election Commission
June 23
Kentucky and New York hold primaries
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
July 11
Louisiana primary
Ramp-gate?
Seth Meyers isn’t buying Trump’s excuses for why he had some trouble walking down the ramp at West Point.
Download the latest episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast to hear the team debate whether Trump can rebound from his recent dip in the polls on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts.
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This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 12:33 PM.