2020 Elections

Variety reports: Hillary Clinton wants to get in front of listeners with her new podcast covering topics ranging from politics to the pandemic and from food to friendship, which is set to debut five weeks before the November U.S. election. The 24-episode “You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton,” produced by iHeartMedia, will premiere Sept. 29, available on the iHeartRadio …

Axios reports: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has raised over $16 million to help felons pay outstanding fines and fees to regain their voting rights in Florida. A 2018 state constitutional amendment in Florida allows for felons who have completed their sentences to regain their right to vote — so long as they’ve also paid back any outstanding fines, fees or restitution. …

The Des Moines Register reports: It’s a dead heat in Iowa as a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden locked in a tie just six weeks to Election Day. Forty-seven percent of likely voters say they would support Trump for president, and 47% say they would support Biden. Another 4% …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: A new poll conducted for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows the presidential race in Georgia could not be closer. The poll pegged Trump and Biden at 47% apiece, with an additional 1% of voters backing Libertarian Jo Jorgensen. Georgia’s twin U.S. Senate races are also competitive. U.S. Sen. David Perdue (47%) and Democrat Jon Ossoff (45%) are …

Law & Crime reports: A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled on Monday that absentee ballots postmarked as mailed on or before Nov. 3—namely, Election Day—shall be counted up to six days later. U.S. District Judge William Conley issued a series of election-related orders that favored the Democratic National Committee plaintiffs while allowing the Commissioners of the Wisconsin Election Commission and …

Reuters reports: A majority of Americans, including many Republicans, want the winner of the November presidential election to name a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released today. The national opinion poll, conducted Sept. 19-20 after Ginsburg’s death was announced, suggests that many Americans object to President Donald Trump’s plan, backed …

From the social justice nonprofit Truthout: As the Green Party fights in court to stay on the ballot in key swing states less than 50 days before the election, many veteran environmental activists and climate scientists are taking an unprecedented step — pleading to a constituency that has long been key to the party’s electoral efforts to eschew casting a …

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Postal Service must live up to its responsibilities to timely process election mail by treating it as a priority, a New York judge ordered on Monday, adding that the agency’s workers should be permitted to make extra deliveries and work overtime near the November presidential election. The written decision by U.S. District Judge Victor …

The Associated Press reports: It falls to Sen. Lindsey Graham, as committee chairman, to vet Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and manage the spectacle of televised hearings on the nomination. It’s one of the most volatile tasks in all of politics, more so now with a pandemic raging, a country on edge, and the ideological …

Just in from Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: Of 16 publicly-released polls of the race that have come out this year (as compiled by FiveThirtyEight’s database) from nonpartisan, Democratic, and Republican sources, Susan Collins has only led in a single one, a Republican internal poll conducted in mid-June. Collins led 45%-38% in that survey. A few others have shown Gideon up …

The New York Times reports: Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign said on Sunday that it entered September with $466 million in the bank together with the Democratic Party, providing Mr. Biden a vast financial advantage of about $141 million over President Trump heading into the intense final stretch of the campaign. The money edge is a complete reversal from this …

Axios reports: An estimated 2.5 million+ Americans have registered to vote on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, Facebook announced Monday. More than 733,000 Americans have registered to vote so far via Snapchat. Why it matters: The broad reach of social media platforms makes them uniquely effective at engaging voters — especially younger voters who may not know how to register to …

The Washington Post reports: The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue announced Sunday it has raised $100 million from small-dollar donors since news broke Friday night of Ginsburg’s death, in a sign Democrats are rapidly mobilizing ahead of a potential Supreme Court nomination battle. “Small-dollar donors have now given $100 million on ActBlue since 8 p.m. ET Friday, investing in candidates up …

CBS News reports: Joe Biden still has a small edge in Florida, but the contest has tightened since our last poll in July, from six points down to two now, amid an ebbing — if still sizable — concern about coronavirus, while President Trump has picked up a few more of the state’s remaining uncertain voters, rebuilt some of his …

ABC News reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden is set to speak in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday and address the vacancy created on the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an event that sent shockwaves through the political world and recast an already uncertain presidential race. After Ginsburg’s death on Friday, the Democratic presidential nominee, …

The Des Moines Register reports: Democrat Theresa Greenfield leads Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst by 3 percentage points in a Senate race that appears to be among the most competitive in the country. With just over six weeks to Election Day, the new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Greenfield leading 45% to 42% among likely voters. Another 3% say …

The Wall Street Journal reports: In a year dominated by a deadly virus, racial unrest and tumultuous news cycles, the presidential race remains remarkably stable, with former Vice President Joe Biden maintaining his lead over President Trump, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. Some 51% of registered voters nationally say they would vote for Mr. Biden if the …

The New York Times reports: Democratic donors gave more money online in the 9 p.m. hour Friday after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death was announced — $6.2 million — than in any other single hour since ActBlue, the donation-processing site, was started 16 years ago. Then donors broke the site’s record again in the 10 p.m. hour when donors gave …

Politico reports: All summer long, we’ve been warned: Yes, Joe Biden is ahead in the polls — but so was Hillary Clinton. There’s one key difference that’s often overlooked, though. Biden is much closer to the magic 50 percent mark — both nationally and in key Electoral College battleground states. That puts Trump in a significantly worse situation, needing to …

The New York Times reports: If Mark Kelly, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Arizona, unseats Senator Martha McSally, a Republican who was appointed to her seat and began serving last year, he could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30 — possibly in time to vote on a new Supreme Court nominee, elections experts said. Hypothetically, that would …