What to Watch
September 21, 2020
Election Day 2020 is just 43 days away, and here is your update on the stories and trends to watch this week. Let us have your feedback at [email protected].
Top News from the Weekend:
The Passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the first night of Rosh Hashana evoked two responses: the desire to honor her service to the country and her personal merits, and the determination that a new justice be nominated and confirmed quickly, to return the Court to its full strength.
The Republican Jewish Coalition tweeted out this response to the news of Ginsburg’s passing:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer and a great patriot. We, along with all Americans, mourn her passing. May her memory be a blessing.
President Donald Trump first learned of her passing from a reporter, after he’d been on stage at a rally in Minnesota. He responded, “She was an amazing woman who led an amazing life.” His public statement a short while later paid tribute to Ginsburg’s “brilliant mind” and said she “demonstrated that one can disagree without being disagreeable toward one’s colleagues or different points of view.”
Read respectful remembrances of Ginsburg by conservative commentators here and here.
The clash over whether President Trump can or should nominate someone before the election to fill Ginsburg’s seat on the Court has already begun. In short: He can; he should; and he will.
We’ll be discussing this topic more in the coming weeks, but to set the stage for what is to come, we encourage you to read Dan McLaughlin's excellent analysis of the law, the norms, and the historical precedents supporting a Supreme Court nomination under circumstances like these. His article, “History is on the Side of Republicans Filling a Supreme Court Vacancy in 2020,” was published by National Review Online back in early August.
RJC Releases New Ads Supporting Susan Collins
Last week, the Republican Jewish Coalition released three digital ads in support of Senator Susan Collins of Maine, in addition to the ad released the week before. The RJC has increased the buy for this set of ads to $450,000 total.
The first ad in this series for Susan Collins was targeted at women voters. Former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) spoke about Collins’ commitment to issues women care about, like jobs, health care, and the environment.
The new ads target moderate swing voters in Maine. They show respected, moderate Republican governors, Larry Hogan (R-MD) and Charlie Baker (R-MA), supporting Collins’ reelection.
You can see the ads here:
Lieberman
Hogan
Baker
Ad with all three together
The endorsement of Senator Collins by Governors Hogan and Baker in the RJC’s ads was reported by The Hill and the Boston Globe, which ran a second story on the controversy that Baker’s participation has raised in deep blue Massachusetts.
RJC in the News
The New York Times reports on the message for voters in President Donald Trump’s successful Mideast policies:
…[H]owever much Mr. Trump might value his diplomacy for its potential to reshape the region, his campaign also sees a potent political message that may not be top of mind for most voters but could move a handful of the right ones in the right places.
…“This is an important event, not just because of the substance but because of the symbolism as well,” said Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “This shows that the president is indeed a peacemaker, he is a statesman, he has done something which successive administrations before him have been unable to do — and on a grand and historic level.”
“I think that shows to people who may not be necessarily tuned in to foreign policy that he’s got the leadership and judgment to act on a vision and have success,” Mr. Brooks added.
Recommended Reading
Be Part of the RJC Action!
RJC volunteers made 16,936 Jewish voter contacts last week! We are reaching out to potential Jewish voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia, key battleground states of the 2020 election cycle.
Join us this week on Tuesday, September 22, and Thursday, September 24, to continue our Jewish voter contact calls. Every call makes a difference!
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