REPUBLICANS “PRAISE” TRUMP’S CATASTROPHIC PANDEMIC RESPONSE. Amid Trump’s disastrously inadequate response to the coronavirus, vulnerable Republican incumbents and candidates are on the record – again – praising President Trump. The effusive praise follows multiple attempts from Republicans to control the narrative about the catastrophic pandemic response.
Take a look at what some of the vulnerable Republican incumbents and candidates have said.
NEW POLL: ERNST’S LEAD “EVAPORATES,” APPROVAL UNDERWATER. A new public poll released this week showed Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s lead evaporating against Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield, and her approval has sunk to 37%. This devastating new poll comes after a report revealed that Ernst possibly broke the law by concealing the names of her campaign staffers — the second potential violation of campaign finance laws for the Iowa senator this cycle after the AP reported that her campaign was illegally coordinating with a dark money group set up by her former aides to support her re-election. Ernst has also spent months downplaying the coronavirus crisis, even saying recently that Iowa has “fared pretty well.”
DAINES “ABRUPTLY” CHANGES TONE ON CHINA. A report from The Daily Beast detailed how Senator Steve Daines has “abruptly” flip-flopped from years as a “China cheerleader” to now running ads that have “closely mirrored talking points” from the NRSC’s April memo urging its candidates, “don’t defend Trump…attack China.” Daines’s attempt to rewrite his record comes as polling this week shows Governor Steve Bullock leading in a general election match-up.
UNEMPLOYMENT RISES AGAIN, BUT REPUBLICANS STILL KEEPING SPECIAL ENROLLMENT CLOSED. Over 30 millions Americans have filed unemployment claims in the past 6 weeks, a figure that represents 1 in 5 American workers. Even as record numbers of Americans are out of work and losing their employer based health coverage, Senate Republicans are refusing to hold the Trump administration accountable for their decision to keep the special enrollment period closed — making it harder for the newly unemployed to get health care in the middle of a public health crisis.
VIDEO – TRUMP MAKES CLEAR: REPUBLICANS “WANT TO TERMINATE HEALTH CARE.” Here’s what Trump said in the Oval Office this week as he doubled down on the GOP lawsuit to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act: “We want to terminate health care… under Obamacare, ‘cause it’s bad.” Every vulnerable Republican on the ballot in November is going to be held accountable for enabling this irresponsible lawsuit to spike health care costs and dismantle protections for pre-existing conditions in the middle of a pandemic.
GOP CONTINUES LAWSUIT TO END PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS PROTECTIONS. Not a single Senate Republican has taken any meaningful action to stop their party’s lawsuit from plowing forward, putting protections for pre-existing conditions coverage and other benefits at risk of being overturned. Even in a public health crisis, when the coronavirus would qualify as a pre-existing condition — and therefore a barrier to obtaining health insurance, if not for the Affordable Care Act — isn’t stopping Republicans from fighting to tear down the health care law and the protections it provides.
GOP-BACKED JUDICIAL NOMINEE “STILL UNHAPPY” COURTS UPHELD ACA. According to a new report this week from CNN, Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked federal judge and political acolyte Justin Walker is “still unhappy” about the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act and coverage protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. Judge Walker was confirmed by every Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate last year despite his lack of experience, and McConnell is now already attempting to jam him through for a lifetime appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals despite the ongoing pandemic.
VULNERABLE SENATORS FUNDRAISE WITH DISGRACED CANDIDATE KNOWN FOR “RACISM, MISOGYNY.” A group of vulnerable Republican incumbents, including Senators Martha McSally, Steve Daines, Joni Ernst, Cory Gardner, and Thom Tillis, face a new liability – a joint fundraising committee with a toxic Senate candidate who has “a long and well-documented history of racist and misogynistic comments.” Disgraced former Congressman Jason Lewis is running for Senate in Minnesota.
DAINES, MCSALLY FUNDRAISER BEHIND PPE SCANDAL. A former GOP fundraiser who has been paid nearly half a million dollars by both Senators Steve Daines and Martha McSally is at the center of a PPE scandal that is now under investigation by states and the Department of Justice.
3 YEARS AGO >> MCSALLY: “LET’S GET THIS F*CKING THING DONE.” This week marked three years since unelected Senator Martha McSally infamously stood up in a House GOP conference meeting on repealing the ACA and told her wavering colleagues, “let’s get this f*cking thing done.” The anniversary of McSally’s vote coincided with yet another attempt to mislead voters about her toxic record of repeatedly voting to gut pre-existing conditions coverage and other health care benefits, after she was caught featuring a former staffer in a new ad that does not disclose the individual was paid nearly $400,000 for work in her Congressional office and on her political campaigns.
MCSALLY’S ROUGH WEEK DIDN’T STOP THERE. All in all, another terrible week for Arizona’s unelected Senator:
LOEFFLER ADVANTAGES “DISAPPEARING” AS CONFLICTS GROW. This week started with the New York Times publishing a bombshell report that unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler took a “lucrative parting gift” compensation package from her former employer as she left for the Senate, forcing Loeffler to resign from the subcommittee that made her “an overseer of the overseers of the company that made her rich.” Ethics experts had raised alarms for months over Loeffler’s “utterly irresponsible” and “super swampy” conflicts of interest. And now, Loeffler STILL faces ethical problems by staying on the Senate Agriculture Committee that still has oversight of her business interests. Loeffler also continued to lose prominent Republican supporters to Trump ally Congressman Doug Collins.
Catch up on everything that went wrong for Republicans in Georgia this week:
#FLIPTHESENATE MOMENTUM CONTINUES. We take nothing for granted, but it was another good week for efforts to end Mitch McConnell’s majority in November. Read up on the latest developments and analysis of how the Senate map continues to move in Democrats’ direction:
IN THE STATES
AL – Alabama Political Reporter: Jones reintroduces bill to stop unsolicited “live check” loans
AZ – KGUN: Senate candidate Mark Kelly volunteers with mobile meals to help those in need
CO – KRDO: Former Gov. John Hickenlooper discusses state’s response to COVID-19
CO – Colorado Politics: New Colorado poll shows Hickenlooper widening double-digit lead over Gardner
CO – Colorado Times Recorder: Gardner Praises COVID-Tainted Meatpacking Plant, Without Acknowledging It Broke Promise to Test Workers
IA – Cedar Rapids Gazette: Greenfield: Iowa needs a senator who understands tough times
ME – POLITICO Magazine: The Women of Maine vs. Susan Collins
MI – WPBN: Sen. Peters request PFAS cleanup at former Air Force base to be sped up
MT – Bozeman Daily Chronicle: MSU poll: Bullock leads Daines in Senate race
MT – KECI: Bullock announces $10M available for child care facilities
NH – WMUR: As Chipotle’s general counsel, Messner challenged some CDC reporting of foodborne illness outbreaks
NC – FOX 46: FOX 46 sits down with Senate candidate Cal Cunningham
SC – The Hill: Graham’s embrace of Trump fuels competitive fight in South Carolina
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Lauren Passalacqua
Stewart Boss
Helen Kalla
Shea Necheles
Regina Anderson
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