DEMOCRATS EXPAND PATH TO MAJORITY. Nonpartisan analysts agree: Democrats have built strong operations in core battlegrounds, brought more states online, and expanded the overall map to widen the path to the majority. Here’s where things stand less than 200 days out from Election Day:
Read our full memo here.
ICYMI: NEW ANALYSIS ON DEMOCRATS’ SENATE “MOMENTUM.” New analysis in the past week from multiple outlets explains how Democrats’ strong momentum has put the majority increasingly in play and made Republicans “nervous.”
MCCONNELL TELLS STATES TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY – GOVERNORS SPEAK OUT WHILE GOP SENATORS HIDE. After the news came out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prefers to let cash-strapped states and local governments impacted by the coronavirus go “the bankruptcy route” instead of working across the aisle to provide desperately needed federal relief, governors on both sides of the aisle condemned the reckless comment that threatens essential services and the national economic recovery. What’s notable? Not a single vulnerable Republican incumbent has spoken out against McConnell’s position that states and cities should declare bankruptcy instead of receiving support from the federal government.
GOP SENATORS TAKE CREDIT FOR HOSPITAL & TESTING FUNDS THEY OPPOSED. Vulnerable Republican incumbents were caught — once again — bragging about relief measures that if the GOP had had their way, would have never existed. Senators Susan Collins, Steve Daines, Joni Ernst, Kelly Loeffler, David Perdue, John Cornyn, Lindsey Graham, Cory Gardner, Martha McSally, and Mitch McConnell are all trying to take credit for the relief for hospitals and investment in a national testing program. But the facts are clear: Democrats had to fight for fixes and more money for the small business loan program, as well as $75 billion for hospitals and health care workers, and $25 billion for testing needed to safely reopen the economy, while Republicans “resisted” funding these urgent needs.
26.5 MILLION UNEMPLOYED & STILL REPUBLICANS KEEP SPECIAL ENROLLMENT CLOSED. Jobless claims continue to spike, hitting 26.5 million over the last five weeks. Despite the record numbers of Americans out of work and millions losing their employer provided coverage in a public health crisis, Senate Republicans are still refusing to stand up to the Trump administration and its harmful decision to keep special enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace closed. And that’s not the only thing that hasn’t changed — this decision by Senate Republicans remains a “political loser”: new polling this week shows Trump’s net approval on the issue of health care has plummeted 14 points in the last month.
KANSAS GOP CHAIR ASKS REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES TO DROP OUT OF PRIMARY. Kansas is becoming another defensive liability for the GOP and this week the Kansas Republican Party Chair formally requested two of the GOP candidates in their messy primary drop out as the party’s fear about losing the seat grows. The fears are hardly surprising given another blockbuster fundraising quarter for Dr. Barbara Bollier and an April poll showing Bollier “in a dead heat” and leading by two points against GOP frontrunner Kris Kobach.
COLLINS CLAIMED MAINE GOT ITS PPE, MAINE NEWSPAPER FINDS THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. Senator Susan Collins tried to assert that personal protective equipment (PPE) was “allocated on a per-capita basis” after Maine leaders sounded the alarm that the state was only provided a fraction of the personal protective equipment they requested, but the Portland Press Herald found Collins’ claims false. This isn’t the first time Senator Collins has attempted to defend the administration with false logic. Earlier this month, Collins told the Bangor Daily News that she thought Trump “did a lot that was right in the beginning,” another false claim that has been disproven multiple times over.
Watch It Again – Senator Collins said “the president did a lot that was right in the beginning.” A lot right?
NEW AD IN NC: TILLIS APPLAUDS TRUMP’S “EVERY STEP.” The North Carolina Democratic Party released a new digital ad this week highlighting Senator Thom Tillis’s praise for the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, while North Carolina officials and medical workers are asking for more personal protective equipment (PPE). Senator Tillis maintains that the President “has taken every step he can” and “demonstrated decisive action” even though the level of PPE in North Carolina was “still dangerously low.” Read more about Senator Tillis’s failure to stand up for North Carolina’s medical workers here.
CORNYN ADMITS TEXANS WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS ARE MOST VULNERABLE TO COVID-19 — AFTER REPEATEDLY VOTING TO GUT THEIR PROTECTIONS. Senator John Cornyn tweeted this week that “9 of 10 patients” who died of COVID-19 “had an underlying medical condition” — omitting the fact that he has voted multiple times to to repeal and sabotage the Affordable Care Act and dismantle its core protections and benefits for people with pre-existing conditions. Senator Cornyn is also among the Senate Republicans who enabled the current lawsuit being heard by the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act and end protections for pre-existing conditions.
PERDUE: BANKS TAKING $10 BILLION IN FEES FROM SMALL BUSINESS “COST OF DOING BUSINESS.” Senator David Perdue defended his Wall Street allies in a recent interview with WABE’s Emma Hurt, saying “it’s the cost of doing business” when asked about the “more than $10 billion in fees” that big banks made from the small business relief fund. Even after admitting the frustration from small businesses who were shut out of the program, Senator Perdue still refused to hold big banks accountable for taking billions in fees from taxpayer relief funds. Read more here.
IN THE STATES
AL – Alabama Political Reporter: Jones asks Senate to aid furloughed, laid off workers
AZ – Arizona Daily Star (Tim Steller): Instead of blaming China, McSally should apply her Ebola principle
CO – Colorado Politics: Campaign finance, election reform groups endorse Hickenlooper in Colorado’s US Senate race
GA – The Daily Beast: Kelly Loeffler Tries to Turn Coronavirus Into a Political Asset
IA – Sioux City Journal: Top labor union endorses Greenfield in Iowa US Senate race
KY – Louisville Courier-Journal: Mitch McConnell takes a risk igniting firestorm with governors over COVID-19 aid
ME – Maine Beacon: Collins’ biggest billionaire backer is advising Trump on pandemic response
MI – Detroit News: Peters seeks probe of federal small business loan effort
MI – WDET: Sen. Gary Peters: Michigan’s Small Businesses Need More Help
MT – Montana Post: Steve Daines is Invested in the Ineffective Hydroxychloroquine He Is Touting
NC – NC Policy Watch: With first quarter fundraising surge, Cunningham outraises Tillis for the first time
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Lauren Passalacqua
Stewart Boss
Helen Kalla
Shea Necheles
Regina Anderson
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