The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden marks 4th anniversary of Pulse nightclub shooting

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail. 

 

LEADING THE DAY: 

Former Vice President Joe Biden released a statement marking the fourth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. 

“Sadly, all these years later, terrorism, mass shootings, and hate crimes continue to rip apart our American communities,” Biden said in a statement on Friday.

“Our places of worship have been attacked, Hispanics have been targeted in places like El Paso, the death toll from mass shootings continues to mount, and LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender women of color, are disproportionately targeted by violence.” 

The statement also marks Pride Month and Gun Violence Prevention Month, two issues that Democrats have embraced as a part of their platform. Earlier this week, Biden’s campaign launched a get out the vote initiative geared toward LGBTQ voters. The initiative, dubbed Out for Biden, is aimed at turning out America’s LGBTQ vote in November. 

The LGBTQ voting bloc showed its strength on Super Tuesday, with roughly 10 percent of voters in the primaries identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Roughly 9 million LGBTQ adults are registered to vote for the 2020 general election, according to figures from the University of California, Los Angeles. However, organizing and voter turnout efforts during Pride Month face a very unique obstacle this year. 

The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reported earlier this month that instead of using Pride parades and in-person events to mobilize voters this month, campaigns and LGBTQ groups have instead had to rely on digital organizing and fundraising. 

“Pride Month is typically an excellent opportunity for our candidates to get before LGBTQ voters in their community. Not having these pride events certainly makes it more difficult, although a lot of these events will be replaced with digital pride events,” Elliot Imse, senior director of communications at the LGBTQ Victory Fund, told Gangitano. 

Gangitano reports that despite these difficulties, political organizers remain optimistic that they can still energize the LGBTQ base, citing the momentum from former 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who was the first openly gay presidential candidate from a major political party in the U.S. 

“Him being the first openly LGBTQ person running for the Democratic ticket certainly brought out more LGBTQ people both in terms of their excitement about the 2020 election and their investment both from a financial perspective and their time perspective,” Imse told Gangitano. 

— Julia Manchester 

READ MORE: 

McGrath outraises McConnell in leadup to primary by: The Hill’s Tal Axelrod

Progressive vets compare Confederate officers to terrorists in new ad on Army bases by: The Hill’s Kaelan Deese

Progressive challenger outraises Engel in months leading up to runoff by: Tal Axelrod

FROM THE TRAIL:

Biden hit Senate Republicans on Friday for not passing House Democrats’ $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill. “It passed through the House. Get state and local governments the funding they need to keep millions of people on the job. Because, here’s the — they’re so damn stupid, darn stupid. If you don’t have people on the job dealing with controlling the virus, then it’s just going to get worse,” Biden said. The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports.

Biden’s campaign released a memo on Friday predicting that President Trump will face “significant headwinds” in the general election due to his administration’s handling of the economy. The memo, released by Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Beddingfield and senior adviser Anita Dunn, points out that no party has held the White House with over 8 percent unemployment and net job losses since World War II. Julia Manchester reports.

Former staffers from the 2016 and 2020 presidential cycles are joining together to launch iVoteFACTS under the iVote Civic Education Fund in an effort to boost voter turnout and education initiative ahead of November amid voter suppression concerns.

The former staffers include former political director for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) campaign Rebecca Pearcey, former campaign manager for Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) presidential run Addisu Demissie, and former deputy campaign manager for Pete Buttigieg’s campaign Hari Sevugan. Additionally, the initiative will be led by a number of 2016 campaign alumni, including former communications director for Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign Tim Miller and Hillary Clinton’s former chief administration officer, Charlie Baker. Julia reports.

The Biden campaign will not use the ad and tech company Hawkfish ahead of November, according to a new report from Axios. That report comes after the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that a number of tech experts and progressives within the party voiced opposition to using the company, which was founded by former 2020 contender Michael Bloomberg, in Biden’s presidential bid. Critics are opposed to its use because of its ties to Bloomberg and his record in his ill-fated campaign. Julia has more.

Trump is calling on the Republican National Committee (RNC) to pass an updated platform after the party’s executive committee moved this week to keep its 2016 platform through 2024. Max Greenwood reports.

The RNC, meanwhile, has announced it will move its main events, including Trump’s acceptance speech as the party’s nominee, out of Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla. Brett Samuels reports.

PERSPECTIVES:

Harry Enten: Biden is doing worse than Hillary Clinton among Hispanic voters.

Osita Nwanevu: The disappearing backlash to Black Lives Matter.

CONGRESS & STATES:

The Republican Senate runoff in Alabama is heating up between former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville. Sessions, who has challenged Tuberville to a series of debates, has attacked Tuberville’s policies and defended his own decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe in 2017 while he served at attorney general. Tuberville, in turn, has said Sessions betrayed President Trump in recusing himself from the Russia probe. Tal Axelrod reports.

Georgia Rep. David Scott won his state’s Democratic primary, passing the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a runoff on Thursday. Scott is set to square off against Republican Becky Hites in November. Tal reports.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

(Keep in mind these dates could change because of the outbreak.)

 

June 23:

Kentucky primaries

 

June 30:

Colorado primaries

Oklahoma primaries

Utah primaries

 

July 7:

New Jersey primaries

Delaware primary

 

July 11:

Louisiana

 

July 14:

Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff

 

Aug. 11:

Connecticut primary

 

Aug. 17-20:

Democratic National Convention

 

Aug. 24-27:

Republican National Convention

 

Sept. 1:

Massachusetts primaries

 

Sept. 8:

New Hampshire primaries

Rhode Island primaries

 

Sept. 15:

Delaware primaries

 

Sept. 29:

First presidential debate

 

Oct. 7:

Vice presidential debate

 

Oct. 15:

Second presidential debate

 

Oct. 22:

Third presidential debate