Impact2020: July 2, 2020
In this Tuesday edition of the Impact2020 briefing, President Trump says he’s “all for masks,” Vice President Pence offers aid in Arizona as it sees coronavirus cases spiking, and Never Trump groups target Trump and members of Congress in ad blitzes in battleground states four months before the presidential election.
On the Ground
A mask reversal?
After months of not wearing a face mask to press briefings and tours during the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump now appears to be supporting the use of face masks, report McClatchy’s Mike Stunson and Charles Duncan.
He told Fox Business on Wednesday, “I’m all for masks. I think masks are good.”
While recent polls have shown a partisan divide over wearing and mandating wearing masks, Stunson and Duncan note that the president’s comments follow the increasingly vocal support for wearing face masks from GOP leaders, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump in the same Fox Business interview “later said he liked the way he looked in the mask, but said he didn’t know if they should be made mandatory throughout the country.”
Wednesday, the United States reported a record number of new daily coronavirus infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has urged all Americans to wear face masks in public to reduce the spread of the virus.
Pence promises COVID support in AZ
Vice President Mike Pence was wearing a mask when he stepped off the plane for his visit to the battleground state of Arizona on Wednesday amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, reports Arizona Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Andrew Oxford.
And, “At a physically distanced public briefing after meeting with public health and hospital officials, Pence said he was instructing the acting Homeland Security secretary to provide another 500 medical personnel, after [Gov. Doug] Ducey’s request for extra help to combat the new coronavirus.”
Credit: Ross D. Franklin, AP
“Help is on the way and we’re going to spare no expense to provide the kind of reinforcements that you will need across the state” as the number of infections surge, Pence said. He also said that Arizona would receive remdesivir, the drug that helps some people with COVID-19 recover more quickly.
As polls show Trump losing support in the state, Sanchez and Oxford note that Pence’s trip “served to demonstrate the Trump administration’s sense of concern and support to Arizona amid a dramatic rise in cases and hospitalizations that followed Ducey’s earlier decision to reopen the state without aggressive mitigation measures.”
GOP vs. GOP
Several Republican groups are working to defeat Trump in North Carolina and some other presidential swing states, with one group spending $1 million on cable and digital ads slamming the president this week, reports Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill.
“Republican Voters Against Trump”, an offshoot of Defending Democracy Together, will run one ad during Saturday’s Salute to America event with Trump. An anti-Trump group called The Lincoln Project has also been advertising in North Carolina, notes Morrill.
Trump’s overall approval rating remains high among Republicans, but these groups hope to make him a one-term president. One group is even hosting an alternative event to the GOP national convention in Jacksonville with a gathering in Charlotte next month.
McClatchy’s Alex Roarty and David Catanese found that some ‘Never Trump’ Republicans won’t be satisfied with only defeating the president: they also want to flip control of the Senate. Republicans currently have a 3-seat majority in the Senate.
Steve Schmidt, a political strategist who works for The Lincoln Project, said every Republican except for Mitt Romney needed to be voted out of office. “ The analogy would be in the same way that fire purifies the forest, it needs to be burned to the ground and fundamentally repudiated,” said Schmidt.
The Lincoln Project has placed six-figure ad buys against Sens. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, Joni Ernst in Iowa, Thom Tillis in North Carolina and Martha McSally in Arizona. Jennifer Horn, who advises the Lincoln Project, explained the approach: “The only way to make sure that Trumpism doesn’t continue to rule the Republican Party for years to come is to make sure that we defeat not only the president, but those people who have enabled him.”
Roarty and Catanese write, however, “In Senate races expected to draw tens of millions of dollars in spending, the relatively small expenditures from the Lincoln Project are unlikely to persuade many voters on their own. And even with bigger budgets, it’s unclear if enough ‘Never Trump’ Republicans — a faction whose ranks are concentrated among former GOP officials and strategists who aren’t necessarily representative of the larger party — reside in these states to make a meaningful difference.”
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports that Rev. Raphael Warnock will report raising more than $2.85 million in his campaign to oust U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler in Georgia.
Riley Vetterkind of the Wisconsin State Journal reminds us that in Wisconsin “courts could act on a number of lawsuits seeking elections changes ahead of the November presidential election, adding to an uncertain landscape created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Canceled
The Kansas GOP has scrapped the July 15 debate after Kris Kobach, Bob Hamilton and Dave Lindstrom said they would boycott over format changes, reports Bryan Lowry for the Kansas City Star.
Record fundraising
Biden’s campaign outraised Trump’s campaign for the second month in a row -- $141 million to $131 million in June -- according to numbers released by both campaigns, reports NPR’s Brett Neely.
Coronavirus action
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued an informal ultimatum telling Oregonians to comply with new rules to wear masks in indoor public spaces, reports Brad Schmidt for the Oregonian/OregonLive.
California ordered 19 of its counties to shut down bars and indoor restaurant dining again as they saw an uptick in virus cases. The Sacramento Bee’s Sophia Bollag and Tony Bizjak have more.
Gov. Tom Wolf and State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine signed an executive order making face masks mandatory in all Pennsylvania public spaces, report Cynthia Fernandez and Hallie Lauer for Spotlight PA and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Despite pushback, a poll found that less than a quarter of North Carolina residents found the state’s COVID-19 restrictions “too restrictive.” Julian Shen-Berro has details in the News & Observer.
A lobbyist who met with at least one North Carolina legislator at the General Assembly has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, report Lucille Sherman, Danielle Battaglia and Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan for the News & Observer.
Florida State Rep. Shevrin Jones, who is running in a competitive race to replace Democratic Sen. Oscar Braynon, tested positive for coronavirus, reports the Miami Herald’s Samantha J. Gross.
After repeated calls from her challenger to reveal the size of the loans her family businesses received from the Paycheck Protection Program, Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler has disclosed the number, reports Bryan Lowry for the Kansas City Star.
Number of the Day
12%
The number of U.S. adults who said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the country in the latest Pew Research poll
For Planning Purposes
July 2
Biden hosts a national call with Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Biden delivers remarks on the economic crisis and jobs report
Pence travels to Florida
July 7
Delaware and New Jersey hold primaries
July 8
Biden holds virtual event for high school students with Karine Jean-Pierre
“The Nineties were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus…”
Vanilla Ice is pumped about getting to perform in Texas despite an executive order closing all bars and therefore shutting down most in-person concerts. Read all about it from Kevin Curtin in the Austin Chronicle.
We are out of the office tomorrow to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. We’ll see you back in your inbox on Monday.
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This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 11:12 AM.