Republicans are to nominate Trump for the US Presidential Election 2020 in Florida, following a row over coronavirus restrictions with the governor of North Carolina, where the event was originally scheduled. This is an official endorsement by the Republic Party for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign; however, it is just a mere formality, as the President has been very vocal about campaigning for his second term throughout his first term.
BREAKING | Donald Trump will accept the nomination of the Republican Party for a second term as president in Jacksonville, the RNC Chair announced Thursday night. https://t.co/uJHv3zWCQR
— News4JAX (@wjxt4) June 12, 2020
The most visible portions of the Republican National Convention, a traditional election-year gathering that is a staple of American political theater, will be moved to the city of Jacksonville, Republican Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced.
Republicans to nominate Trump: Florida a crucial state
“Not only does Florida hold a special place in President Trump’s heart as his home state, but it is crucial in the path to victory in 2020,” McDaniel said, adding that “we are thrilled to celebrate this momentous occasion in the great city of Jacksonville.”
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However “official business of the national convention,” will remain in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the convention was originally scheduled to take place from August 24 to 27. The Washington Post reported that this was due to previously signed contracts.
The change of location for the speeches and pageantry comes after North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper said he could not authorize the convention to go ahead as planned due to concerns about mass gatherings during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans to nominate Trump: North Carolina governor disallows event
“Because the current North Carolina COVID-19 restrictions would not allow for the celebration to occur in Charlotte and Governor Cooper would not work with the RNC to offer guidelines, the celebration of the nomination and the economic impact that goes with it must be moved to Jacksonville,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement.
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Trump berated Cooper’s statements on Twitter, and as recently as Wednesday told a roundtable that the governor “doesn’t want to give an inch and what he’s doing is losing hundreds of millions of dollars for his state.”
The RNC said the rescheduled events would take place at Jacksonville’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, but did not give a date.
US Presidential Election 2020: key battlegrounds
Due to the winner-take-all style of the Electoral College, candidates often campaign only in competitive states, which is why a select group of states frequently receives a majority of the advertisements and partisan media. The battlegrounds may change in certain election cycles, and may be reflected in overall polling, demographics, and the ideological appeal of the nominees.
Trump won the battleground states of Florida and North Carolina during the 2016 election, and both are tossups that could go to either candidate in this year’s November 3 election.
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In Florida, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is polling several percentage points ahead of Trump, with 48.2 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 44.8 percent, according to a poll average by Real Clear Politics.
If current trends from the 2012 and 2016 elections continue, the closest results in 2020 will occur in Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska’s second congressional district, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin constituting the “Big Four” most likely to decide the electoral college. Other potential swing states include Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia, all of which came within a 10 point margin of victory in the 2016 Election.
Foreign interference in US elections feared once again
Campaign staffs for both President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden have been targeted recently by foreign hackers, Google researchers said Thursday, highlighting persistent data security concerns ahead of the November US election.
The Economist's new US presidential forecast finds Joe Biden to be the favourite to win in November. Free to read https://t.co/USKLQ9L3up
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 11, 2020
A tweet from Google’s threat analysis chief Shane Huntley said the internet giant warned the Biden campaign about “phishing” efforts from China and the Trump campaign from Iran.
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“No sign of compromise. We sent users our govt attack warning and we referred to fed law enforcement,” Huntley wrote.
The incidents nonetheless highlight fears about a repeat of a devastating data breach in 2016 involving the campaign of Hillary Clinton and a wide-ranging influence operation which officials said was directed from Russia.
“This is a major disclosure of potential cyber-enabled influence operations, just as we saw in 2016,” Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab, said in a tweet.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk
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