Impact2020: July 29, 2020
In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we have a dramatic follow-up story on a liberal group’s controversial door-knocking program, the details on the Trump team’s decision to stop airing ads in a critical battleground state, and a look at the familiar names on the list of speakers at a counter-convention in Charlotte.
On the Ground
‘A really scary thing’
McClatchy’s Alex Roarty has a deep dive on the Progressive Turnout Project, one of the few Democratic-aligned groups that resumed door-to-door campaigning amid the pandemic.
Top officials with the liberal group insisted the voter canvassing program was safe, but Roarty spoke with 10 current or former employees who said they had raised concerns for weeks that they were being put in harm’s way. Eight Progressive Turnout Project employees have tested positive for coronavirus, including five who participated in door-knocking operation.
One staffer who was door-knocking in Iowa, Maddy Lewis, described how a woman, who wasn’t wearing a mask and did not try to distance herself, revealed her husband was sick with COVID-19 inside the home. Though she later tested negative for the disease, Lewis said, “It was still a really scary thing,” and quit the group this week.
Roarty reports that the group forged ahead with its door-to-door outreach in a dozen states for nearly a month after relaunching earlier this summer, “insisting that personal communication with voters was an essential element of defeating President Donald Trump and flipping the U.S. Senate from GOP control.” On Tuesday, Progressive Turnout Project executive director, Alex Morgan, emailed staffers that the canvassing effort would be suspended.
But Morgan did not rule out resuming the program before November. “Hopefully we can reach a point where we are able to resume our program, depending on the conditions in locations we’re working on,” Morgan said in an interview with McClatchy.
The group’s struggles has “underscored the difficulty any campaign or political organization will face trying to run their own canvassing operation, pitted between a traditionally integral tactic to reach voters and the health and safety of everyone involved,” Roarty writes.
Falling off the map?
Trump’s campaign and its allied super PAC are currently not running TV or radio ads in Michigan, “a possible indication that the key Upper Midwestern battleground is beginning to fall out of reach,” David Catanese reports for McClatchy. The campaign stopped running ads in the state last week, while the super PAC has been dark since early July.
Trump has not led in a single public poll of Michigan all year, Catanese notes. “The numbers are dismal,” said one GOP pollster familiar with internal data tracking the state. “Hard to see how it remains competitive.”
An adviser to the super PAC, however, insisted that Michigan “remained winnable and encouraged the Trump campaign to invest there.” And a Trump aide noted the campaign has reserved time in Michigan for the general election homestretch.
Biden, however, is not taking his foot off the gas in Michigan. “Whereas the Biden campaign doubled its total advertising in Michigan from June to July, Trump reduced its allocation there by more than half the amount over the same period,” Catanese writes.
A counter-RNC
As we try to keep up with what’s happening at the official Republican National Convention, there are some new developments with a counter-convention happening in Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill reports that the list of speakers at the Convention on Founding Principles in late August, organized by Republicans and conservatives disaffected with Trump, includes former FBI director Jim Comey and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
Credit: Charles Krupa, AP
Republican Bob Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice, said that the event will be anchored in Charlotte, though COVID-19 restrictions may make it mostly virtual, like the Democratic and Republican conventions.
As for the GOP convention, Trump had indicated Monday that he would deliver his acceptance speech in Charlotte. But at a press conference Tuesday, he said he would speak on Aug. 27, but declined to say where, Brian Murphy reports for the Charlotte Observer. “We’ll be announcing it soon,” Trump said. “Anybody have any ideas?”
Meanwhile, Cooper said his administration has not heard from anyone about a Trump visit. “He’s welcome to come,” Cooper said. “But nothing has changed about our resolve to keep health and safety first. We have not heard anything from the administration or the RNC about this.”
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
Trump is heading to West Texas today, hoping to focus on the oil industry and raise campaign cash, but as the Houston Chronicle’s Jeremy Wallace notes, “he’s also touching down in a region hit hard by COVID-19.”
Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited a North Carolina private school that recently reopened with in-person learning today, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, Zachery Eanes and Will Doran report for the Raleigh News & Observer.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Lai, Julia Terruso and Chris Brennan break down the latest voter registration numbers in Pennsylvania: “Since the 2016 primary election, Republicans have added about 165,000 net voters, while Democrats added only about 30,000. Democrats still maintain a 800,000-voter edge over Republicans. But that’s down from 936,000 in 2016, when Trump still won the state by less than 1%.
And in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse reports that the number of registered voters is “approaching all-time highs, with over 7.4 million people signed up as the state’s primary election runoff approaches.”
Michigan election clerks are urging voters who haven’t yet mailed out their absentee ballots for next Tuesday’s primary to drop them off in person, Zahra Ahmad writes for MLive.com.
“At least 100 law enforcement agencies have withdrawn agreements to send personnel to next month’s Democratic National Convention, some of them citing orders to Milwaukee’s police chief to cease the use of tear gas and pepper spray during demonstrations,” Bill Glauber, Ashley Luthern, Mary Spicuzza and Alison Dirr report for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A new lawsuit in North Carolina claims that blind and visually impaired voters will face discrimination and difficult choices in the 2020 election unless the state improves its options for voting by mail, the Raleigh News & Observer’s Will Doran reports.
Battle for Congress
Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert, who shunned masks, tested positive for coronavirus, Mike Stunson reports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell set off a “Twitter war of words” when she compared the actions of federal agents in Portland to violent crackdowns in Venezuela, Alex Daugherty reports for the Miami Herald.
COVID action
Officials from the White House and Defense Department say it’s unlikely the military will be involved in distributing a coronavirus vaccine across the country, which runs contrary to Trump’s claim the U.S. military has an elaborate plan, McClatchy’s Michael Wilner and Tara Copp report.
Kate Irby takes a closer look in the Sacramento Bee at how Congress could help the medical labs that can’t keep up with demand for coronavirus tests in California.
Number of the Day
58%
A new CBS News survey found that most Americans (58%) view professional athletes kneeling during the national anthem an acceptable form of protest, while 42% find it unacceptable.
On his notepad
Associated Press photographer Andy Harnik’s photo of Biden’s notes in Delaware on Tuesday drew attention for what was scribbled under Kamala Harris’ name: “Do not hold grudges” and “Great respect for her.”
For Planning Purposes
July 29
Trump visits Texas
Pence visits North Carolina
Jill Biden hosts a virtual campaign event
Stacey Abrams holds a virtual Biden campaign roundtable in Michigan
July 30
Pence travels to Pennsylvania
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July 31
Trump holds a fundraiser in Tampa
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Wisconsin state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa host a virtual Biden campaign roundtable
Cory Booker hosts a virtual Biden campaign roundtable in Philadelphia
August 1
Trump holds a fundraiser in Miami
August 4
Primaries in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington
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This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 1:30 PM.