The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign staffs up

The Hill’s Campaign Report: 

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: Biden campaign staffs up

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has gone on a hiring spree amid concerns from some Democrats who have been worried that the campaign has been slow to staff up on the digital side and in key battleground states.

Digital campaigning has, of course, taken on new importance because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Biden campaign is playing catch up, in some regards, because no one expected the campaigns to be running almost completely online when the shutdowns began about six week ago.

Rob Flaherty, the digital director for the Biden campaign, announced these three new hires over the weekend:

– Caitlin Mitchell, the chief mobilization officer for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign, will scale up Biden’s digital operations.

– Andrew Gauthier, a veteran of Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) presidential campaign and former BuzzFeed video chief, will oversee new content.

– Robyn Kanner, who worked on former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-Texas) unsuccessful presidential campaign, will design a new website for the campaign, among other visual brand operations.

Flaherty says the digital team will double in size in the coming weeks.

Democrats have acknowledged that they have a long way to go to match President Trump’s digital campaign. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has described their digital efforts as the “Death Star.”

But Democrats are hopeful the new round of hires will start to turn things around and will help Biden avoid embarrassing rollouts, such as last Thursday’s glitch-prone virtual rally in Florida.

The campaign is also growing in the battleground states.

– Jenn Ridder, the former campaign manager for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s (D) presidential bid, will be battleground states director.

– Molly Ritner, who led Biden’s Super Tuesday efforts during the primary, will be the campaign’s deputy states director.

– Saloni Multani, a partner at a venture capital firm in California, will act as chief financial officer under Manu Varghese, the campaign’s chief operating officer.

– Deanna Nesburg, the former treasurer for Harris’s presidential campaign, will be a senior adviser for financial operations.

 

READ MORE:

Biden campaign goes on hiring spree, by Jonathan Easley.

Tara Read’s attorney asks Biden to authorize search of his Senate papers, by Rebecca Klar.

Biden: Trump testing promise a ‘baldfaced’ lie, by Zack Budryk.

Newsom endorses Biden for President, by Marty Johnson.

 

FROM THE TRAIL:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) said Monday that it is “very, very unlikely” that he will ever run for president again. Jonathan reports. The Sanders and Biden campaigns are working together to form policy groups, Sanders on Monday also explained why he’s not getting involved in Biden’s search for a vice president.

One name has been noticeably absent from Joe Biden’s string of endorsements in recent weeks: former President Clinton. Amie Parnes takes a look at why.

More than 50 liberal groups signed a letter that will be sent to Biden on Monday asking that he support measures aimed at “prioritizing diplomacy” over the “militarism” they say has been a feature of U.S. foreign policy in both parties. Jonathan reports.

 

PERSPECTIVES:

Quentin James: Protecting the black vote from suppression.

Norman Sherman: The case for Klobuchar as VP.

Gabriel Debenedetti: Biden plans an FDR-sized presidency.

 

FROM CONGRESS & THE STATES:

Democrat Christy Smith and Republican Mike Garcia will face off in the special election to represent California’s 25th congressional district on Tuesday, and Democrats are concerned that the seat they flipped less than two years ago may be in jeopardy. The seat was most recently held by former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who resigned last fall amid a House ethics probe into an inappropriate relationship between her and one of her staffers.

Republican John James, a rising star who is running in Michigan’s closely watched Senate race, underlined areas of disagreement he had with Trump, bucking a common trend among Republican down-ballot candidates who have sought to embrace the White House. Tal Axelrod reports.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

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

May 12:

Nebraska primaries

 

May 19:

Oregon primaries

 

May 22:

Hawaii Democratic primary

 

June 2:

Delaware primaries

District of Columbia primaries

Indiana primaries

Maryland primaries

Montana primaries

New Mexico primaries

Pennsylvania primaries

Rhode Island primaries

South Dakota primaries

 

June 9:

Georgia primaries

West Virginia primaries

 

June 23:

Kentucky primaries

 

July 7:

New Jersey primaries

 

July 11:

Louisiana

 

July 14:

Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff

 

August 11:

Connecticut primary

 

August 17-20:

Democratic National Convention

 

August 24-27:

Republican National Convention

 

One hopeful thing

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) mother, Matilda, made a special appearance at one of his daily coronavirus briefings on Sunday, marking Mother’s Day with her son, who she has not been able to spend time with in person due to the pandemic.

“Happy Mother’s Day to you, Mom. I miss you. I love you so, so much. I wish I could be with you but I can’t be, but I can’t be because I love you,” the governor said to his mother, who appeared via video.

“I miss you, too. A lot. And your beautiful daughters,” she responded.

In addition to being joined by his mother, Cuomo was joined by his daughters Cara and Mariah over video, as well as his other daughter Michaela in person.

And you may have witnessed the friendly competition between the governor and his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Well, the friendly rivalry continued on Sunday, with the governor telling his mom “I know I am your favorite deep down inside, but you don’t want to say it.”

We’ll see you tomorrow for the latest campaign news and updates!