Impact2020: June 29, 2020
In this Monday edition of the Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at how Democrats are trying to get ahead of a “nightmare” scenario before November, the DNC’s move to bring on a controversial firm founded by Michael Bloomberg, and Mike Pence’s battleground state message as coronavirus cases rise.
On the Ground
Election anxiety
McClatchy’s David Catanese writes that Joe Biden may be leading President Donald Trump in most polls, but “Democrats can’t shake this nightmare November scenario: ... chaos at the polls, layered by added confusion around the fast-changing voting laws that officials are adjusting for an ongoing pandemic.”
After what happened in primaries in states like Wisconsin and Georgia this spring, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon indicated they’re so concerned about voting this fall that they are debating running ads explicitly on voter education, Catanese reports.
Several Democratic-aligned and nonpartisan groups are already “raising awareness, lobbying state and county policymakers and instigating lawsuits to enhance voting access.” And the DNC began staffing its voter protection team back in April 2019 instead of in the fall of an election year, as they typically do. The party has dedicated voter protection directors to 19 states.
Reyna Walters-Morgan, the DNC’s director of voter protection, said the long lines and other dysfunction that appeared in some states’ primaries showed that mail-in ballots “can’t replace in person voting locations.”
Georgia, which is hosting a tight presidential contest and two U.S. Senate races, is of particular concern. But “the state’s July 21 runoff elections will be a key test to see if the problems are reduced,” Catanese notes.
Bloomberg’s power growing?
McClatchy’s Alex Roarty scoops that the DNC has hired the Michael Bloomberg-founded digital and technology firm Hawkfish for a “small data contract” for the final months of the 2020 campaign.
It’s a controversial move among some progressives, who worry about Bloomberg gaining influence in the party. The former New York City mayor and multi-billionaire Biden’s campaign directed $18 million from his defunct presidential campaign account earlier this year.
There are other concerns as well. Some Democratic strategists say the company, launched in 2019, isn’t not ready for the high-pressure environment of a presidential race. The Biden campaign had previously declined to hire the agency, though it is working hand-in-hand with the DNC for the general election
Masks on
Vice President Mike Pence continued his battleground state tour with a stop in Dallas on Sunday, promising that Texas would get the resources it needed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, the Dallas Morning News’ Gromer Jeffers Jr. reports.
Credit: Tony Gutierrez, AP
Pence met with Gov. Greg Abbott and urged Texans to wear masks and practice social distancing. But Jeffers notes, “Pence and Abbott didn’t say what measures would be taken if the positive test rate continues to rise, but suggested that Americans would have to learn to deal with the virus as the economy continues to reopen.”
Pence is slated to travel to Arizona and Florida this week to meet with their governors and other state health officials, but will no longer hold the campaign-related events he had planned as coronavirus cases spike, the Arizona Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez reports.
Trail Mix
Protest fallout
Both chambers of the Mississippi legislature voted over the weekend to take down the 1894 state flag, which features a Confederate battle emblem, and to ask the state’s voters to approve a new flag in November. GOP Gov. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill. Much more from the Biloxi Sun Herald’s Anita Lee and Lauren Walck on the historic move.
Battleground state watch
The Miami Herald’s David Smiley and Daniel Chiang look at how the Trump administration’s push to end the Affordable Care Act “is stirring campaign politics” in Florida, home to the most Obamacare consumers in the nation.
Andrew Carter digs into how face coverings became so divisive in North Carolina (and beyond) for the Raleigh News & Observer.
VP contender Kamala Harris warned of the “brutal fight” ahead during a virtual event with Jill Biden aimed at Wisconsin voters, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bill Glauber reports.
Election disruption
The Salt Lake Tribune’s Taylor Stevens outlines what to expect ahead of Utah’s all-mail primary on Tuesday.
Delaware Gov. John Carney is expected to sign a Senate-approved bill that would allow voters to request absentee ballots without an excuse for the rest of the year, Matt Bittle reports for Delaware State News.
Jonathan D. Salant of NJ Advance Media explains why New Jersey voters will see former Gov. Chris Christie and other familiar names on their ballots on July 7.
Number of the Day
61%
That’s how many Republicans believe Americans have seen the worst of COVID-19, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. By comparison, the survey also found that 23% of Democrats 40% of Americans overall believe the country has already suffered the worst of the pandemic.
For Planning Purposes
June 29
Biden hosts virtual fundraiser
June 30
Biden hosts virtual event with high schoolers and Symone Sanders
Biden hosts a Pride Celebration in Colorado with Gov. Jared Polis
Pence travels to Arizona
Utah holds primaries
July 2
Pence travels to Florida
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
The members of the Rolling Stones have had it with the Trump campaign using their songs at rallies.
LISTEN UP
On the latest episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast, our correspondents debate what Trump can do to rebound from his polling slump and whether Democrats should make a play for Iowa and Ohio. Download here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
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