Impact2020: September 11, 2020
In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at how Donald Trump and Joe Biden are marking 9/11, some of the dubious claims the president made at a rally in Michigan, and Kamala Harris’ first trip as a VP candidate to Florida.
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On the Ground
Putting politics (mostly) aside
President Donald Trump, Joe Biden and their running mates took a brief break from the 2020 campaign today to mark the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Trump delivered remarks at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., this morning. He paid tribute to those aboard the flight who helped bring down the hijacked airplane before it could reach its intended target, the Tribune-Democrat’s Chip Minemyer writes. Trump told a crowd of a few hundred people: “The 40 of Flight 93 did the most American of things. They took a vote, and then they acted. … With their last act on this earth, they saved our capital.”
Biden also visited the Flight 93 Memorial for a private event after attending a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York. Vice President Mike Pence was also there, and the two briefly spoke and elbow-bumped each other near the memorial.
Credit: John Minchillo, AP
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris stayed close to the nation’s capital, taking part in a ceremony in Fairfax, Va., WAMU’s Alana Wise and Bryan Naylor report. She brought a message of unity in her remarks: “What our attackers failed to understand was that the darkness they hope would envelop us on 9/11 instead summoned our most radiant and defined human instincts — the instinct to care for one another, to transcend our divisions and see ourselves as fellow citizens. The instinct to unite.”
The Tribune-Democrat’s David Hurst reports that Gordon Felt, whose brother was among those who died aboard Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, “praised the fact political leaders have set aside politics.”
“We don’t go as family members or politicians,” Felt said. “We go there as citizens and people who love freedom.”
Trump’s pitch to auto workers
Trump’s trip to Pennsylvania today came a day after he held his first campaign rally of the year in Michigan, another state that was critical to his 2016 victory where he is currently trailing in the polls.
Here’s the dispatch from the Detroit Free Press’ Dave Boucher and Todd Spangler: “Trump made wildly inaccurate claims at a rally outside Saginaw on Thursday night, suggesting he has revitalized auto manufacturing in the state when it actually lost jobs even before coronavirus hit in March.”
Trump said during a speech at MBS International Airport in Freeland: “We brought you a lot of car plants, we brought you a lot ... and we’re going to bring you a lot more.”
But Boucher and Spangler write that “only one new major assembly facility … has been announced during Trump’s term, while General Motors underwent a divisive 40-day strike last year and announced the idling of four U.S. plants, including two in Michigan. … Trump also said that after speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, officials announced ‘five new car companies are coming to Michigan,’ but there has been no such announcement that the Free Press is aware of.”
And Trump also “said no new assembly plants had been built in the state in more than 40 years but at least two new GM plants have opened since 1999.”
Boucher and Spangler note that more than 5,000 supporters attended the rally. “While campaign volunteers passed out masks and hand sanitizer, most attendees did not wear facial coverings and ignored social distancing guidelines,” they write.
Florida focus
With polls showing the race tightening in Florida, Kamala Harris “sought out a diverse group of voters who haven’t seen the Democratic ticket in the state for nearly a year” in Miami, David Smiley, Alex Daugherty and Erin Doherty report for the Miami Herald.
Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, met with Black voters, college students, and Jewish and Hispanic voters during a six-hour trip across Miami-Dade County. While Trump is receiving support from white, male and Cuban voters in the swing state, the Herald team writes that “a winning formula is more complicated” for Biden and Harris, who are seeking to bring “together an array of communities with different priorities and viewpoints.”
To that end, Harris made an unannounced stop in Doral, home to Miami’s largest concentration of Venezuelans. Then she went to Miami Gardens, Florida’s largest majority-Black city. Her husband, who is Jewish, held a meeting in Aventura with rabbis and Jewish politicians.
Democratic state Sen. Annette Taddeo, who is Colombian-American, called the trip “a great step” noting that it was important for Harris to visit Doral, “a longtime stomping ground for Republicans and a frequent source of attention from the Trump campaign,” the Herald writes.
After drawing criticism for its Hispanic voter outreach, the Biden campaign has ramped up its efforts in recent weeks. Biden is set to travel to Florida himself on Tuesday.
Tune In
The latest episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble delves into 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
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
The Wisconsin Supreme Court told election officials “that absentee ballots should not be mailed for now so the justices can determine whether they should include the Green Party’s presidential ticket,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Patrick Marley reports.
Trump’s campaign joined a legal fight in Ohio, “seeking to prevent a push for multiple drop boxes for absentee ballots in counties across the state,” John Caniglia reports for Cleveland.com.
A federal appeals court ruled that Texas is not required to extend mail voting to all eligible voters to avoid age discrimination, the Dallas Morning News’ James Barragán writes.
Ivanka Trump visited the North Carolina State Farmers Market to tout a U.S. Department of Agriculture program meant to provide hungry families with food boxes during the pandemic, Adam Wagner reports for the Raleigh News & Observer.
Battle for Congress
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham reportedly encouraged Trump to speak with Woodward for the interview that led to coronavirus revelations this week, The State’s Joseph Bustos writes.
Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly apologized “for an offensive comment he made two years ago while joking about the physiological changes his twin brother experienced after spending a year in space,” Yvonne Wingett Sanchez reports for the Arizona Republic.
Number of the Day
50
A new set of polling from AARP finds that voters age 50 and over across 11 key battleground states “are divided in their support” between Biden and Trump. Dive into all the numbers here.
“You’re the coach!”
Trevor Noah played to the sports analogy Trump used in defending his coronavirus downplaying comments to Woodward.
For Planning Purposes
Sept. 12
Kamala Harris holds a virtual event in Arizona with Latino business owners
Sept. 14
Vice President Mike Pence visits Janesville, Wis., and Bozeman, Mont.
Sept. 15
Joe Biden travels to Florida
Pence travels to Zanesville, Ohio
Sept. 18.
Trump visits Bemidji, Minn., and Mosinee, Wis.
Biden travels to Minnesota
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 12:54 PM.