Impact2020: June 22, 2020
In your Impact2020 briefing for Monday, June 22, we take a look at the return of in-person campaigning ahead of primaries in Kentucky and Kansas, a new revelation in an old case against a congressman, and Tulsa’s “minor scratches” following President Trump’s rally.
On the Ground
Last-minute campaigning
A day before the primary, Lexington Herald-Leader’s Daniel Desrochers shows us how Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Kentucky are trying to balance safety during the COVID-19 pandemic with their final campaign pushes.
Of the three major candidates, state Rep. Charles Booker is the only one “holding a somewhat traditional closing tour — complete with a campaign bus and stops in all regions of the state.”
Strict guidelines remain in place during the state’s reopening, including requiring masks in public and restricting gatherings to 10 people or less. One Booker rally drew around 50 people but his campaign “posted a photo of another event in Bowling Green and said 200 people showed up. State guidelines say groups of 50 people are not allowed to gather until after June 29,” Desrochers writes.
Credit: Daniel Desrochers, Lexington Herald-Leader
Booker said that his campaign is taking precautions, such as making sure rally attendees are wearing masks and sanitizing, but also made his case that the moment was too urgent to not travel statewide. “We’re dealing with a time that is unprecedented. And folks are fired up, they’re in the streets anyway, they need leadership that is in the streets with them and not just preaching at them,” stated Booker.
Internal polls show Booker down around 10 percentage points to fellow Democrat Amy McGrath, who has long been the frontrunner in the race to take on Mitch McConnell in November.
In Kansas, Republican candidates are also making up for lost time in the 1st congressional district, the 63-county Republican stronghold that spans the western and central parts of the state, Matthew Kelly reports for the Kansas City Star.
In-person meet-ups are back on after a statewide shutdown made it difficult for voters to get the kind of personal attention from congressional hopefuls in the district that they have come to expect. Recently, 15 people attended a campaign event at a coffee shop to meet Finney County Commissioner Bill Clifford and real estate broker Tracey Mann, Kelly reported.
And it’s important for the candidates, too, not only for this race but possibly for the next. Kelly notes, “the stakes are high because the Big First has become an important stepping stone for politicians with their eyes on a higher office.”
A record revealed
As the Senate primary in Kansas hits its final stretch, a 2008 incident involving Rep. Roger Marshall has resurfaced. Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry explore in the Kansas City Star how Marshall was convicted of reckless driving after hitting a man with his truck, but the charge was later removed and replaced with a lesser charge at the request of prosecutors.
One of them was Assistant Barton County Attorney Carey Fleske, who was also the son of Marshall’s business partner and neighbor. Fleske, now a defense attorney in Overland Park, said that his father’s connection didn’t influence the case, but questions still remain why the county moved to change the charges.
“Marshall’s campaign has offered little explanation for the reduction in charges or the candidate’s ties to the prosecutor. The campaign also refused a request by The Star to release an affidavit in the criminal case that would likely contain a law enforcement narrative of the incident,” write Shorman and Lowry.
GOP Senate candidate Kris Kobach has also called on Marshall to release the probable cause affidavit, saying “there were great irregularities in how this case was handled, all in an apparent effort to conceal from the public what Roger Marshall did,” Lowry reports.
Checking in on Tulsa
Following President Donald Trump’s weekend rally, the Tulsa World’s Randy Krehbiel writes that “it appears Tulsa made it through what could have been a difficult few days with only a few minor scratches.”
The violence that some people were anticipating didn’t happen. “There was no rioting or looting. By all accounts, the damage consisted of some shouting and maybe a little chest bumping, a couple of macings and fewer than 10 arrests, mostly for obstructing traffic,” reports Krehbiel.
For the most part, supporters and protesters showed restraint. The bigger concern now appears to be whether there could be a COVID-19 spike in connection to events from this weekend, where some people wore masks and others did not.
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
The Arizona Republic’s Ronald J. Hansen reports that Joe Biden has named two key staff members for the state. “Andrew Piatt, who served as campaign manager in Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s successful 2018 run, will be the campaign’s senior advisor. Jessica Mejía, who was the state director in California for the Biden campaign during the … primary, will now serve as state director in Arizona.”
Trump will head to Wisconsin Thursday to visit Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Haley BeMiller reports.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ordered three Confederate monuments removed from the state Capitol grounds after protesters pulled down two bronze statues of soldiers, Virginia Bridges, Josh Shaffer, Will Doran and Anna Johnson report for the Raleigh News & Observer.
The Ohio Republican Party central committee voted to censure former chairman Matt Borges for founding a super PAC supporting Biden’s campaign, Cleveland.com’s Seth A. Richardson reports.
Veepstakes
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is one of a handful of potential picks undergoing vetting from Biden’s campaign, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Stephen Deere and Greg Bluestein report.
Election disruption
Clark County, Nevada election officials are recommending that all voters be sent mail-in ballots for the general election, the Nevada Independent’s Kristyn Leonard reports.
The Pennsylvania NAACP sued the state, “demanding an overhaul of the electoral system before November because … the system in place for the June 2 primary was not equally accessible and disenfranchised black and Hispanic voters,” Jonathan Lai reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Number of the Day
85%
That’s how many Democrats called economic conditions “poor,” compared to the 65% of Republicans who describe them as “good,” according to a new national AP-NORC poll.
For Planning Purposes
June 22
Biden holds virtual fundraisers
June 23
Kentucky and New York hold primaries
Pence travels to Wisconsin to participate in a school choice roundtable and speak at a Faith In America event
June 25
Trump visits Marinette, Wis.
June 28
Pence travels to Dallas to visit First Baptist Church and participate in the Celebrate Freedom Rally
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
You almost got it...
Workers struggled to remove the obelisk from a large Confederate monument on the North Carolina State Capitol grounds in Raleigh, N.C. Credit: Ethan Hyman, The News & Observer
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This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 12:36 PM.