Impact2020: September 1, 2020
In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at President Trump’s trip to Wisconsin over the objections of local leaders, the high voter turnout in today’s Massachusetts primary, and why Mitch McConnell is pitching his seniority to voters.
On the Ground
Trump stumps in WI
After days of unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer, President Donald Trump is in Kenosha, Wis., today touring destroyed buildings and businesses and visiting an emergency operations center, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck reports.
“Trump’s visit comes after Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and the Kenosha mayor asked him to reconsider his plans,” and is taking place as the family of Jacob Blake held an event at the site where Blake was shot. Trump’s campaign and local Republican leaders said his “visit is needed,” and blamed Evers’ “lack of leadership during the unrest,” Beck writes.
Trump has also received backlash for his defense of 17-year-old Illinois resident Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of shooting three people and killing two of them during the third night of protests following Blake’s death. Trump said Rittenhouse would have died if he hadn’t used his rifle. Joe Biden criticized Trump ahead of his visit, calling him “unfit to be president” if he refused to condemn violence by Rittenhouse and others.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert provides some political context to Trump’s visit, which brings him “to one of the most politically mobilized and partisan states in America, where the working relationship between the parties is in shambles; where the Democratic governor called a special session of the Legislature on policing and GOP legislators ended it Monday less than 30 seconds after it began; where Republican voters last month approved of Trump’s handling of protests 68% to 19% and Democrats disapproved of it 96% to 1%.”
Gilbert also notes that Kenosha County had the closest result in the state in the 2016 presidential election.
High turnout in Massachusetts
It’s primary election day in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe’s Matt Stout sets the scene: “While polls open Tuesday to decide a swath of races, about 927,000 voters have already cast ballots, ... setting up possibly the busiest — and certainly, the most unusual — state party contest in three decades.”
Under the state’s new voting law, which for the first time allowed for universal mail voting and seven days of early voting, 827,000 Democrats and 96,000 Republicans had cast ballots as of Monday evening. In total, Secretary of State William Galvin said he’s expecting upwards of 1.3 million residents to vote in Democratic primaries and another 150,000 in GOP primaries.
“At that level, it would mark the highest raw number of ballots cast in a state primary since 1990, when more than 1.5 million people voted,” Stout reports. “The state, now with 4.66 million registered voters, has not seen turnout top 30 percent in a state primary since 1992.”
The marquee contest is the Democratic Senate primary between 74-year-old Sen. Ed Markey and 39-year-old Rep. Joe Kennedy, “a sharp-elbowed race imbued with generational, ideological, and even familial battle lines. … No Kennedy has ever lost a race in Massachusetts.”
McConnell touts seniority
With Democratic opponent Amy McGrath declining an invitation to a Farm Bureau forum, Mitch McConnell “had free reign to make his case about why he was better for Kentucky’s agricultural community,” the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Daniel Desrochers reports. It also gave him an opportunity to emphasize the political power he has amassed during his career in Washington.
Desrochers notes “McConnell is considered the favorite to win in November ... but his high-profile status as majority leader of the Senate has led to money pouring into the race to unseat him.”
McConnell said at the forum: “You’ve seen how much money my opponent has. “I’m the reason. I’m the lightning rod. ... Every lefty in America would like to see me lose.”
The length of McConnell’s tenure in office has been at the core of McGrath’s campaign. McConnell pointed out “that McGrath is backing … Biden, who’s been in Washington even longer,” though he maintained his “seniority is an asset, not a weakness in the Senate.”
He argued that McGrath’s first vote would be to make Chuck Schumer the majority leader of the Senate, “effectively handing political power from Kentucky over to New York,” Desrochers writes.
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s preparedness report says it’s ready for more than 3 million residents to cast their votes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Laura Schulte reports.
Democrats are suing Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, “arguing that he illegally acted in blocking county auditors from sending voters pre-filled ballot request forms,” Stephen Gruber-Miller reports for the Des Moines Register.
Kanye West will appear on the presidential ballot in Iowa after a state panel dismissed objections, the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel writes.
A federal judge ruled that absentee ballots in Georgia must be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and delivered up to three days afterward, Mark Niesse reports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Data dive
Trump erroneously claimed that murders have declined by 33% in Kansas City since the launch of Operation LeGend, a federal program meant to curb violent crime in cities, Katie Moore and Michael Wilner report for the Kansas City Star.
South Carolina residents “have already asked for more mail-in absentee ballots ahead of the November general election than they mailed in four years ago, setting themselves up to eclipse the state’s 2016 record for absentee voting by mail,” Maayan Schechter reports for The State.
Convention fallout
The official list of individuals and organizations who helped finance the Republican National Convention in Charlotte won’t be released until shortly before the election, but names of several companies and groups have already emerged, the Charlotte Observer’s Austin Weinstein reports.
Number of the Day
10
Biden leads Trump by 10 points, 52% to 42%, in Arizona, according to a new Morning Consult poll
It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?
South Carolina state Sen. Kevin Johnson’s video chat background stood out during a legislative hearing on Tuesday.
For Planning Purposes
Sept. 1
Massachusetts primary
President Donald Trump visits Kenosha, Wis.
Vice President Mike Pence visits Exeter, Pa.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris host virtual fundraisers
Jill Biden launches a “Back-to-School Tour” through eight battleground states. The events will be a mix of virtual and in-person.
Sept. 2
Trump visits Wilmington, N.C.
Jill Biden holds a virtual conversation in Guilford County, N.C. as part of her “Back to School” tour
Sept. 3
Pence travels to North Carolina
The Beyond the Bubble podcast team has a brand new episode. Download and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Sept. 7
Pence visits La Crosse, Wis.
Sept. 8
New Hampshire and Rhode Island primaries
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This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 1:34 PM.