Impact2020: September 10, 2020
In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at Donald Trump’s latest pitch to Black Americans, dueling stops from the candidates in battleground Michigan, and how North Carolina’s Tom Tillis got dragged into a controversy surrounding the U.S. postmaster general.
On the Ground
Trump’s pitch to Black Americans
President Donald Trump “is centering his pitch to Black Americans for a second term on the expansion of opportunity zones, a program intended to fight poverty that his administration is touting as having brought $75 billion in private investment to distressed communities,” McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers reports.
The program “targets low-income areas for development with a guarantee of tax breaks for investors and a promise of improved economic conditions for residents.” But critics are calling for greater transparency and accountability on who benefits from the land development, and Democratic lawmakers have proposed changes to the program.
Chambers writes that “Trump has used executive authority to direct additional federal resources to opportunity zones, but he has yet to present a plan that backs up a campaign promise to expand them if he’s reelected.”
More than 8,700 areas have been designated as opportunity zones since 2018. To create more, “Congress would have to rewrite the law to give governors the authority to select additional low-income areas for special treatment than what is currently allowed,” Chambers notes. But it’s unlikely to get Democratic support without the inclusion of proposed reforms.
Still, GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who proposed the opportunity zone program, said he’s had productive conversations with colleagues on the other side of the aisle. “There are a number of Democrats that are very interested in expanding the number of zones,” he said. “Part of the price we would have to pay to get that may be changing the requirements for zones.”
Dueling in Michigan
Joe Biden made his first stop as the Democratic presidential nominee in Michigan on Wednesday, saying that the state’s workers “are no better off four years after … Trump promised to restore the state’s manufacturing and auto industries,” Malachi Barrett writes for MLive.com.
At an event for roughly one dozen socially-distant attendees in a parking lot behind a local UAW headquarters in Warren, Biden said: “President Trump has broken just about every promise he’s ever made to the American worker and he’s failed our economy and our country.”
Later in the day, Biden spoke to a group of steelworkers in Detroit, where he said that Trump is letting the country go to “hell in a hand basket economically,” Craig Mauger reports for the Detroit News.
Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to hold a rally at an airport in Freeland, Mich., this evening, Isis Simpson-Mersha reports for MLive.com. The event is taking place in Saginaw County, where four years ago Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to carry it since 1984.
MBS International Airport manager James Canders said he’s anticipating upwards of 5,000 people will attend the rally.
DeJoy’s down-ballot effect
A government watchdog group in North Carolina is calling for a criminal investigation into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following allegations that he “violated state election law by urging employees to make political contributions that he would then cover with bonuses,” Dan Kane and Brian Murphy write for the Raleigh News & Observer.
The complaint from Common Cause NC against DeJoy, “a top Republican fundraiser from Greensboro, pointed to state laws against giving in the name of another and exceeding campaign donation limits. Common Cause NC also said DeJoy may have violated state law prohibiting corporations from donating to campaigns by using company funds to reimburse employees who made contributions.”
Credit: Tom Williams, Pool via AP
Kane and Murphy write that “the campaigns of Pat McCrory, who won one term as governor, and Thom Tillis, who won a U.S. Senate seat in 2014, were among the biggest beneficiaries” of the contributions from employees at companies run by DeJoy.
Cal Cunningham, Tillis’ 2020 Democratic challenger, said the GOP senator should return the donations. Tillis said during a radio show appearance Wednesday, “Make no mistake about it, there is going to be a witch hunt.” He added, “I’m perfectly fine, like the president said, with doing an investigation. I think it’s the best way to clear Louis DeJoy’s name and then we can focus on the issue.”
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
Kamala Harris is hosting a “community conversation ... to discuss the challenges facing the African American community” in Miami-Dade County today, five days before Biden makes his first visit to Florida since becoming the Democratic nominee, the Miami Herald’s David Smiley reports. Harris also made an announced stop in Doral, home to Miami’s largest concentration of Venezuelans, Smiley and Alex Daugherty write for the Herald.
Speaking of Harris: that video you may have seen of her laughing as images of rioting flash in the background? It’s not what it appears to be. David Lightman has another fact check for the Sacramento Bee.
Vice President Mike Pence “pulled out some of the campaign’s greatest hits” including labeling Trump “a defender of law and order,” during his trip to Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Julian Routh reports.
While speaking about Kyle Rittenhouse, who was charged with homicide in the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of a third during unrest in Kenosha, Wis., Donald Trump Jr. said: “We all do stupid things at 17.” Sophie Carson has more for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Election disruption
More than 2 million Michigan voters have already submitted absentee ballot requests for the general election, setting a record for the most requests for any election in state history, Dave Boucher reports for the Detroit Free Press.
And in Ohio, more than 1 million voters have requested absentee ballots for the fall, which is already nearing 2016 totals, Andrew J. Tobias writes for Cleveland.com.
While vote-by-mail elections tend to increase turnout in California, a new study found that “young voters, Latinos and Asian Americans may require special outreach to ensure they have a chance to cast ballots,” Kim Bojórquez writes for the Sacramento Bee.
SCOTUS watch
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he has “no interest” in being on the Supreme Court after Trump added him to the list of potential nominees, Jonathan Shorman reports for the Wichita Eagle.
Tune In
McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast team has a new episode coming out later today breaking down whether Bob Woodward’s explosive new book will have any bearing on Trump’s re-election chances and Biden’s lingering problem with Hispanic voters in Florida. Download and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Number of the Day
4
Biden leads Trump by 4 points, 47% to 43%, among likely voters in Wisconsin, according to a new Marquette University Law School poll.
No Converses?
Credit: Pedro Portal, Miami Herald
Kamala Harris stepped off the plane in Miami in wedges instead of the footwear that went viral a few days ago — and didn’t respond to shouted questions about the Bob Woodward book.
For Planning Purposes
Sept. 10
President Donald Trump visits Freeland, Mich.
Kamala Harris visits Miami
Joe Biden holds a virtual fundraiser
Sept. 11
Joe Biden and Trump visit Pennsylvania
Vice President Mike Pence visits New York
Sept. 15
Joe Biden travels to Florida
Pence travels to Zanesville, Ohio
Sept. 18
Joe Biden travels to Minnesota
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This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 1:11 PM.