2020 Elections

The Detroit Free Press reports: When U.S. Rep. Justin Amash ended his exploratory bid for the presidency, Libertarian activists held out hope he would run for re-election to his seat in the U.S. House, where he is the first and only Libertarian to serve in Congress. It seems they are about to be disappointed. A top Amash aide reiterated this …

Axios reports: President Trump demoted campaign manager Brad Parscale and replaced him with his deputy, hours after a brutal new round of polls showed Trump losing five of six swing states — and sinking into a double-digit hole nationally. Trump’s announcement — on Facebook, in the midst of a Twitter outage — shows that he knows he’s losing. It’s obvious …

The Associated Press reports: Rap superstar Kanye West has qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline. But confusion remains over whether he’s actually running. West filed the necessary paperwork and paid the $35,000 filing Wednesday afternoon, which was the deadline for a spot on the state’s Nov. 3 …

Mediaite reports: During a MSNBC segment on the grim state of polling for President Donald Trump, conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt offered his own highly skeptical assessment of the bad news confronting the president in one key swing state — and his reasoning for this disbelief was downright Palinesque. “On this ‘shy Tory,’ that’s a term we invented when [former UK …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over President Trump reached double-digits this month as Mr. Trump’s approval rating declined amid widespread disagreement with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Less than four months before the election, 51% said they would vote for Mr. Biden if the …

Will the Trump cult demand another apology? Former Vice President Joe Biden has widened his lead over President Trump to 15 points in a new national Quinnipiac University poll. The poll released Wednesday shows Biden garnering 52 percent of the vote to Trump’s 37 percent. That’s the widest lead for Biden recorded by a Quinnipiac survey to date. A similar …

The Washington Post reports: The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights advocacy organization, is opposing Sen. Susan Collins’s reelection bid in Maine and endorsing her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon. It’s the first time that the HRC has opposed Collins, a key Republican vote on LGBTQ rights, for reelection. The endorsement comes a day after Gideon, speaker of the …

Pittsburgh’s CBS News affiliate reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a 13-point lead over President Donald Trump among all registered voters in Pennsylvania, that’s according to a new poll just released from Monmouth University. In age groups, it’s advantage Biden among voters under 50 and voters age 65 and older. President Trump holds the advantage among voters between the …

The Washington Post reports: They stood center stage before a cheering crowd of thousands five years ago, shaking hands in a half embrace that seemed to cement a political and ideological bond that would serve as the foundation for Donald Trump’s presidency. “Donald, welcome to my hometown, Mobile, Alabama,” then-Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) said, donning a white “Make America Great Again” …

Mediaite reports: On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, host Trevor Noah brought up recent stories about mail-in voting irregularities that were caught, and which benefited Republicans, and asked “Is there a part of you that is worried that Donald Trump would be able to use any of those stories to try and undermine the entire election?” Clinton replied “Well, I …

The Texas Tribune reports: Joe Biden is launching his first general-election TV ads in Texas as a growing number of polls show a close presidential race here. As part of a four-state ad buy that Biden’s campaign is announcing Tuesday, the presumptive Democratic nominee is going up with a 60-second spot in Texas that addresses the increasingly dire coronavirus situation …

The Hill reports: Retired astronaut Mark Kelly (D) holds a 9-point lead over Sen. Martha McSally (R) in Arizona, a state critical to Democrats’ hopes of reclaiming control of the U.S. Senate. Kelly leads McSally by a 52 percent to 43 percent margin, according to a new survey conducted by the Phoenix-based firm OH Predictive Insights. Kelly leads by 27 …

As those of us on the Trump campaign’s email list know, their money begs have increasingly threatening over the last few weeks. And there’s now a backlash: President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign is coming under fire over campaign fundraising emails which some supporters are calling “gross” and “scary.” Most of the emails — which typically claimed to be from …

The Hill reports: President Trump has an edge over presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Missouri, but there are signs that his support there may be slipping, according to a Saint Louis University-YouGov poll released on Monday. The poll shows Trump garnering 50 percent of the vote in Missouri, putting him 7 points ahead of Biden. Among virtually every …

The Associated Press reports: The Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump’s campaign say they have now hired 1,500 field staffers, aiming to convert their financial advantage over Democrats into votes in November. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said the staff and volunteers are looking to use the RNC’s vast data trove and voter scores to reach a dwindling swath of …

Politico reports: Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee prepared a slideshow for Senate chiefs of staff full of bleak numbers about the party’s failure to compete with Democrats on digital fundraising. For anyone not getting the message, the final slide hammered home the possible end result: a freight train bearing down on a man standing on the tracks. The …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden has built a five-point lead over President Donald Trump in Texas as unease over Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic mounts, a new Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll has found. Biden had 46% support to Trump’s 41%. If the general election were held today, the outcome could …

Via press release from the Justice Department: Thomas Cooper, a mail carrier in Pendleton County, has admitted to attempted election fraud, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced. Cooper, age 47, of Dry Fork, West Virginia, pled guilty to one count of “Attempt to Defraud the Residents of West Virginia of a Fair Election” and one count of “Injury to the Mail.” …

Bloomberg News reports: Facebook Inc. is considering imposing a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the U.S. election in November, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. The potential ban is still only being discussed and hasn’t yet been finalized, said the people, who asked not to be named talking about …

Politico reports: The Service Employees International Union, which represents 2 million workers in health care, property services and the public sector, announced Thursday that it will throw its grassroots organizing power behind presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign. How does this change the race? By winning SEIU’s endorsement, Biden can tap into a network of tens …