Impact2020: September 18, 2020
In today’s Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s campaign events 150 miles apart in Minnesota as early voting kicks off, the first ballots that have been cast in Florida, and how Ivanka Trump is helping provide some much-needed cash for her father’s campaign.
On the Ground
Squaring off in Minnesota
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are hosting dueling campaign events in Minnesota today, the first day of early voting in the state, “setting up a high-stakes battle for support in a region that’s shifted toward Republicans in recent elections,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Patrick Condon and Briana Bierschbach report.
Biden’s first trip as the Democratic nominee to Minnesota takes him to Duluth, while Trump is set to travel 150 miles west to Bemidji.
“While Biden looks to reassert Democratic competitiveness beyond the Twin Cities and its suburbs, Trump is aiming to shore up his backing with the rural voters who have propelled his prospects in a state he narrowly lost four years ago,” Condon and Bierschbach write. “Politicos in the state couldn’t remember a time when both major-party presidential candidates visited Minnesota on the same day.”
While Trump has vowed to become the first Republican to carry Minnesota in a presidential race since 1972, three polls released in the last week show Biden leading by at least 9 points.
The president’s trip comes on the heels of a visit to another battleground state next door. During a rally at a central Wisconsin airport Thursday night, Trump contended that Biden “would send jobs overseas and turn the country’s streets over to criminals,” Patrick Marley, Haley BeMiller and Bill Glauber write for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“For 47 years, Joe Biden crushed the dreams of Wisconsin workers,” Trump told a largely maskless crowd in Mosinee.
Credit: Evan Vucci, AP
Meanwhile, Biden attended an outdoor town hall hosted by CNN just outside of his hometown of Scranton, Pa., where he railed against “Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, framed the 2020 election as a choice between Main Street and Wall Street, and highlighted in stark terms the differences between his upbringing and Trump’s,” Julia Terruso writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Who the hell thinks you need an Ivy League degree to be president?” Biden said. “Guys like me, the first in my family to go to college ... we are as good as anybody else. And guys like Trump, who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited, are the people I’ve always had a problem with.”
A ‘soft opening’ in Florida
The first votes of the 2020 presidential election in Florida are officially in. The Miami Herald’s David Smiley, Aaron Leibowitz and Mary Ellen Klas report that as of Thursday, “dozens of military families living away from home and Florida residents living overseas had already cast their ballots.”
Of the 81 ballots the Florida Division of Elections received, 42 were cast by Democrats, 29 by Republicans, nine by independents and one by a voter registered to a minority party.
“Most eyes will be on the release of more than 4.5 million domestic mail ballots to Florida voters next week,” the Herald writes. “But the distribution and return of overseas ballots acts as a soft opening to election season in Florida, a key battleground state that Trump likely must win this November. Most polls of Florida voters have found a tight race in the state.”
The Miami Herald’s Bianca Padró Ocasio joins McClatchy’s Kristin Roberts and Adam Wollner for a new episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast to break down how the 2020 presidential race is shaping up in the critical swing state of Florida. Download it on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Lending a hand
Ivanka Trump is giving her father’s cash-strapped re-election operation a boost, raising $7.5 million for the campaign this week at two events in Florida and Texas, McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers scoops.
All told, the president’s daughter has held four fundraisers since the beginning of August that have collectively brought in more than $14.5 million for the campaign. Chambers reports that she’s expected to headline at least one more fundraiser before the November election.
“Ivanka Trump’s fundraising appearances coincide with a cash crunch inside her father’s campaign,” Chambers writes. “The president’s campaign and the RNC said they raised a combined $210 million in August. … Biden and the Democratic National Committee reported a cumulative total of $364.5 million for the month.”
Ivanka Trump also held campaign events in Phoenix, Ariz., and Wilmington, N.C., this week, and plans to travel again next week, Chambers notes.
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
In three separate decisions, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court “extended the deadline for mail ballots to be returned, ruled that voters can use drop boxes to return them, and removed the Green Party’s presidential ticket from the ballot.” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Lai, Chris Brennan, Jonathan Tamari and Cynthia Fernandez explain how those ruling could give Biden a boost in the key swing state.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spoke to the Raleigh News & Observer’s Will Doran about why he was endorsing North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
Democrats ramped up their virtual campaign in North Carolina this week with events featuring Kamala Harris and Jill Biden as Trump plans to hold a rally in the state on Saturday, Brian Murphy reports for the Raleigh News & Observer.
Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to Arizona today will focus on veterans and Latino voters, the Arizona Republic’s Rachel Leingang reports.
Battle for Congress
It’s more than “salty tweets.” The Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morill breaks down the drama in North Carolina’s “ugliest” congressional race, set in the 11th district.
Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas will reimburse her campaign for a pair of 2018 clothing purchases after Republican challenger Amanda Adkins’ campaign raised legal issues, Bryan Lowry reports for the Kansas City Star.
Election disruption
Trump weighed in on a glitch that led to some Mecklenburg County, N.C., voters receiving two absentee ballots, which was met with a fiery response from a state official, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill reports.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s website issued a clarification stating that residents who have completed their felony sentences can still vote while paying their debts, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse writes.
Number of the Day
2
Biden leads Trump by two points, 47% to 45%, in Maine’s 2nd congressional district, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll. Unlike most states, the winner of each of Maine’s congressional districts receives an electoral vote regardless of the statewide result. Trump carried Maine’s 2nd district by 10 points in 2016, and the result there could prove critical in a close race in November.
The Wolverine State
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has launched an entire voting series called “Better Know A Ballot,” and the one on Michigan caught this X-Men fan’s eye immediately.
For Planning Purposes
Sept. 18
President Donald Trump visits Bemidji, Minn.
Joe Biden travels to Duluth, Minn.
Vice President Mike Pence travels to Phoenix, Ariz.
Sept. 19
Trump visits Fayetteville, N.C.
Sept. 20.
Pence travels to Gilford, N.H.
Sept. 21
Trump visits Vandalia, Ohio
Sept. 22
Trump visits Moon Township, Pa.
Sept. 24
Pence travels to Wisconsin and Minnesota
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This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 12:40 PM.