Campaigns in the time of cholera

March 8, 2020 11:24 AM

I am looking for insight into how Covid-19 might affect the campaigns and political success or not in the United States this year (such as the effects if people are less likely to go to political events or knock on doors or open their doors, etc.). Do you know of any media on this topic?
posted by NotLost to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Mod note: please note: in the interests of not having this become another COVID-19 chat thread, try to limit your answers to resources and first person knowledge, not general speculation. Other COVID-19 threads on MeFi and MetaTalk
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:35 AM on March 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

As a consultant who works on local races I am particularly concerned about school board races. It is common for charter school advocates to outspend their opponents, the teachers unions, by a lot, but for that spending to be blunted by the volunteer power that come from teachers. I am speculating here, but I know teachers to be caring and community-focused by their nature so they seem likely to participate in social distancing and other things recommended by public health folks.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 2:26 PM on March 8, 2020

Best answer: Sanders held an event attended by 17,000 in Tacoma, Washington, on President’s Day, which was the “big rally” for the state. No events beyond that were planned, though [Carin] Chase [Senator Sanders’s state director for Washington] says she’s not ruling out another visit from the senator. In the meantime, the campaign will focus on online and TV ads, and phone banking. They’re discouraging large gatherings, or even groups when volunteers go out to canvass for Bernie, and they are monitoring the situation closely, and working in tandem with the King County Department of Public Health, which represents Seattle. (Don’t lick the envelopes! How Washington is preparing its primary for the coronavirus outbreak, Fast Company, March 6, 2020)

Coronavirus May Disrupt the 2020 Election. We Need a Plan (Wired, February 24, 2020) [Wired draws upon Michael T. Morley's Election Emergencies: Voting in the Wake of Natural Disasters and Terrorist Attacks (Emory Law Journal, Volume 67, issue 3, 2018)]
How 2020 presidential campaigns and convention planners are handling potential coronavirus outbreaks (Vox, March 6, 2020)
Ten More States Have Primaries in March. Here's How Coronavirus Could Affect Voter Turnout (Time, March 6, 2020)
Our Elections Are Not Immune Where’s the plan to ensure that the coronavirus doesn’t upend the 2020 elections? (The Nation, March 7, 2020)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:56 PM on March 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, that is very helpful.
posted by NotLost at 7:07 PM on March 9, 2020

NotLost, if you haven't seen this yet: The Biden and Sanders campaigns close offices and tell staff to work from home (NYT, March 12, 2020)

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential campaign told staff members to work from home, closed all its offices to the public and said it would begin holding smaller events and virtual fund-raisers, according to an internal campaign memo released Thursday.

Mr. Biden’s main rival in the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, took similar precautions. Mr. Sanders’s campaign said that it had asked all staff members to work from home and that it would no longer hold large events or door-to-door canvasses, focusing on digital outreach instead.

Mr. Biden — who has a famously tactile campaigning style — acknowledged in a speech on Thursday the need for “radical changes in our personal behaviors” that could affect “deeply ingrained behavior like handshakes and hugs.”

Mr. Biden’s campaign said Wednesday events in Chicago and Miami would be transformed into “virtual events” before next Tuesday’s primaries in Illinois, Florida and several other large, delegate-rich states.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:06 PM on March 12, 2020