Impact2020: September 2, 2020

In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at how Donald Trump and Joe Biden are adjusting their travel plans with less than nine weeks to go before the election, what a Kennedy loss in Massachusetts means, and why a GOP-leaning group is backing a House Democrat in a contested race.

On the Ground

‘A very fine line’

With President Donald Trump ramping up his travel schedule in the homestretch of the 2020 race, Joe Biden’s campaign has decided their candidate should start hitting the road more often as well. But they are wrestling with exactly what that will look like.

McClatchy’s David Catanese reports that Biden’s top aides “are still debating how often he should be visiting key battleground states, what types of events he can hold safely, and whether there’s a tangible political benefit to placing him around voters — or if doing so might look irresponsible amid an ongoing pandemic.” With Trump’s response to the COVID-19 crisis at the center of Biden’s argument against him, advisers are proceeding with caution.

“It’s just a very fine line. … Do you start to do roundtables? Do you ever do a dispersed packed event? That’s difficult,” said one top Biden adviser, who was granted anonymity to discuss campaign strategy. “It could be seen as a risk. Perception is a lot of this. The debate going on internally is trying to weigh the cost-benefit of what getting out there gets us. Does it help us to positively drive a message or does it distract?”

Credit: Carolyn Kaster, AP

Biden made his first public appearance outside of his home state of Delaware since late July on Monday in Pittsburgh, where he delivered a speech without an audience to push back against Trump’s recent “law and order” attacks.

Democrats largely saw the trip as a success not only because Biden tried to pin the “current spate of violence and property damage in cities across the country on Trump,” but also because it catered to “one of the most politically important media markets,” Catanese writes. The campaign also turned part of Biden’s speech into a new TV ad, which is airing on 9 battleground states.

The Democratic nominee received a briefing from education leaders in Wilmington, Del., this afternoon, and the campaign announced today that he and Jill Biden will travel to Kenosha, Wis., on Thursday.

Trump’s travel

The Biden campaign’s announcement comes one day after Trump visited Kenosha, “hailing law enforcement for quelling disturbances but offering little to those seeking justice for Jacob Blake,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck and Bill Glauber report.

During his stop, Trump said “Kenosha has been ravaged by anti-police and anti-American riots” and that the federal government can help other communities facing civil unrest. But Beck and Glauber write that Trump “did not want to address what sparked protests that gave way to the destruction, refusing to answer whether he believed systemic racism was a problem in the United States. Instead, he suggested some police forces are being unfairly criticized for simply ‘choking.’”

Trump pledged to send $42 million to Wisconsin to help rebuild, including $4 million for Kenosha businesses that experienced damage.

Today, Trump visits another battleground state, North Carolina, where some voters will be able to send in their ballots as early as next week, Brian Murphy notes for the Raleigh News & Observer.

Trump is designating Wilmington, N.C., as a “World War II Heritage City” on the 75th anniversary of the end of the war. It marks his 12th appearance in the state as president. Vice President Mike Pence and Eric Trump will also travel to the state this week.

Biden told a local TV station that he plans to visit North Carolina too: “I’ll be there. I promise you. I’m coming.”

A Kennedy loses in MA

Tuesday’s Massachusetts elections resulted in a first for the state: a Kennedy defeat.

The Boston Globe’s Liz Goodwin puts Rep. Joe Kennedy’s loss to Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic Senate primary in the historical context of a “powerhouse political family” that “has dominated races in Massachusetts for decades, notching more than 30 primary and general election wins and zero losses since John F. Kennedy won a seat in Congress in 1946.”

Goodwin writes that the result “raises questions about whether the Kennedys — who captivated the nation for the better part of a century with their promise and tragedy, and who adopted the enduring myth of Camelot — have seen their dynasty’s end.”

But this still may not be the last we see of the Kennedys. Boston.com’s Nik DeCosta-Klipa reports that Joe Kennedy said he’d run for office again in a “heartbeat.”

Trail Mix

Battleground state watch

• Vice President Mike Pence declared northeast Pennsylvania, a critical region in the battleground state, as “Trump country” during a visit on Tuesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Andrew Seidman and Jonathan Tamari report.

• Latino political leaders say the Biden campaign has been slow to reach out to voters in their community in key states like Arizona, Daniel Gonzalez reports for the Arizona Republic.

Battle for Congress

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Kansas Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, “a sign that the GOP-friendly business group expects Democrats to maintain their majority” in the House, Bryan Lowry reports for the Kansas City Star.

• Democrat Jaime Harrison’s South Carolina Senate campaign raised $10.6 million in August, more than what GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham collected during the entire second quarter of this year, The State’s Joseph Bustos reports.

Governor watch

• The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “sent a letter last week to the nation’s governors with an urgent request. The Trump administration wanted them to do everything in their power to eliminate hurdles for vaccine distribution sites to be fully operational by Nov. 1,” just two days before the election. McClatchy’s Michael Wilner has more.

• National Democrats will spend more than $5 million over the next five weeks on TV ads in Missouri to boost Democrat Nicole Galloway against Republican Gov. Mike Parson, Bryan Lowry and Jonathan Shorman scoop for the Kansas City Star.

Number of the Day

41%

That’s how many active duty troops said they plan to vote for Biden, compared to 37% for Trump, according to a new Military Times poll. In 2016, a similar Military Times survey showed Trump held an advantage of 40% to 20% over Hillary Clinton.

“They just would like to be able to say goodbye”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got emotional during a roundtable discussion about rescinding the ban on visitors at long-term care facilities.

For Planning Purposes

Sept. 2

President Donald Trump visits Wilmington, N.C.

Joe Biden visits Wilmington, Del.

Jill Biden holds a virtual conversation in Guilford County, N.C. as part of her “Back to School” tour

Sept. 3

Joe and Jill Biden visit Kenosha, Wis.

Trump travels to Latrobe, Pa.

Vice President Mike Pence visits 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 2, 2020 at 12:51 PM.