Impact2020: June 25, 2020
Welcome to this Friday eve Impact2020 briefing. Donald Trump and Joe Biden are taking different approaches to their latest battleground state visits. While the presidential candidates hold more events, Democrats are debating whether knocking on doors should make a comeback. Oh, and the party made some sweeping changes to their upcoming convention in Milwaukee. Let’s take a closer look:
On the Ground
Battling in the battleground states
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both visiting battleground states today as a new round of polling this week has shown the former vice president’s lead growing (more on that in Number of the Day).
Two days after Vice President Mike Pence stopped by the state, Trump is traveling to Wisconsin for events in Green Bay and Marinette. “A White House spokesperson said the president will discuss a new $5.5 billion U.S. Navy contract awarded to Marinette Marine to build ten ships,” Matt Smith reports for WISN. Trump will also record a town hall in Green Bay with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that will air later in the evening. Each of the attendees are required to wear face masks and have their temperatures checked, prior to the event.
Haley BeMiller of the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports that Green Bay Democratic Mayor Eric Genrich warned Trump in an open letter ahead of the event: “We don’t tolerate intolerance or willful ignorance, and we won’t endorse or ignore divisive and bigoted rhetoric.” He encouraged the president to listen to all community members, including “those who have been left out of your vision for America.”
Meanwhile, Biden is heading to Lancaster, Pa., “where he meets with families who have benefited from the Affordable Care Act and deliver remarks on his plan to make quality, affordable health care available to every American,” reports WGAL’s Barbara Barr. “Biden has been campaigning differently,” Barr notes, “opting for small group gatherings instead of public rallies because of health concerns with the coronavirus.”
The timing of Biden’s talk in Lancaster appears to be strategic: The Trump administration is expected to file a brief with the Supreme Court Thursday asking it to overturn ACA.
The door-to-door dilemma
The pressure may be on to return to more traditional campaigning, but some Democrats are debating whether it’s a good idea to restart door-to-door voter canvassing.
McClatchy’s Alex Roarty takes a look at how liberal groups are trying to gain ground in battleground states while mitigating health risks during a pandemic.
Officials with Working America, a political organizing arm of the AFL-CIO, and the Progressive Turnout Project, “say they are taking significant steps to make sure the effort, which traditionally involves sending a volunteer to the home of a prospective voter and having a face-to-face conversation with them about the upcoming election, doesn’t spread the coronavirus,” reports Roarty.
Working America is testing in Michigan before expanding to other locations, while Progressive Turnout Project sent their crews to doorsteps in Colorado this past weekend and hopes to expand to seven more states this weekend.
But Biden’s campaign has no immediate plans to go back to door-knocking. Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said that “in a COVID reality and a global pandemic it is not the gold standard.”
The DNC downsizes
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Mary Spicuzza and Bill Glauber have the details on the sweeping changes made to the Democratic National Convention in August. After consulting with public health officials, organizers “told state delegations not to travel to Milwaukee, moved the convention from Fiserv Forum to the nearby Wisconsin Center and added satellite events around the country.”
Additionally, the welcome reception and party for volunteers is canceled, and delegates will cast votes remotely, meaning the event that was originally supposed to have 50,000 attendees will be much smaller and mostly virtual.
One part of the convention is expected to stay the same. Spicuzza and Glauber report that Democrats insisted that Biden “will still formally accept the nomination in Milwaukee.”
Trail Mix
Election disruption
Democrat Jamaal Bowman claimed victory over Rep. Eliot Engel the New York 16th congressional district primary, but not all votes have been counted yet. More here from Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News.
With 33% of the expected vote in, Charles Booker holds a narrow lead of 43.5% to 40% over Amy McGrath in Kentucky’s Democratic Senate primary. See the latest results here from the Lexington Herald-Leader.
An effort to expand absentee voting ahead of the November general election failed in the South Carolina House, but lawmakers may take another crack at it when they return in mid-September, The State’s Maayan Schecter reports.
Battle for Congress
Three Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate primary in Kansas — Kris Kobach, Roger Marshall and Dave Lindstrom — talked COVID-19, health care and masks in a spirited debate covered by the Wichita Eagle’s Jason Tidd.
Another candidate, Bob Hamilton, was invited but did not attend the debate. He did, however, take time for an interview with the Wichita Eagle’s Jonathan Shorman, in which he said that calls to defund the police are the “craziest talk I’ve ever heard of.”
A judge has ruled that Rep. Devin Nunes of California can’t sue Twitter over statements from a fake Internet cow. You know the one. Kate Irby has more for the Fresno Bee.
Battleground state watch
Biden’s campaign announced three new staff hires in North Carolina, Brian Murphy reports for the Raleigh News & Observer.
You are now required to wear a face covering in North Carolina, with a few exceptions, to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, reports the team at the News & Observer.
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican super PAC, released a new ad in the swing states of Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan that take “aim at the president’s ability to lead in moments of national tragedy,” the Columbus Dispatch’s Anna Staver reports.
Number of the Day
6
Biden is leading Trump in the six core battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — according to the latest New York Times/Siena College polling.
TODAY
Download the latest episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts.
And, please join me in welcoming the relaunch of the Sacramento Bee’s California Nation podcast.
You’ll find politics, opinion, and, in the future, election coverage as part of the conversation.
For Planning Purposes
June 25
Trump visits Marinette, Wis.
Pence travels to Ohio
Biden visits Lancaster, Pa.
June 26
Jill Biden holds a virtual event on the Affordable Care Act with Sen. Kamala Harris and Wisconsin state Rep. Robyn Vining in Milwaukee
June 28
Pence travels to Dallas
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
Bolton sings Bolton
That time I heard the Bolton book get the Michael Bolton treatment? I remember “The Room Where It Happened.”
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This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 1:22 PM.