Are California politicians still campaigning during coronavirus? They are – and here’s how
While many congressional campaigns saw donations drop during the coronavirus pandemic, Fresno Democrat Phil Arballo had one of his best fundraising weeks since he launched his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Devin Nunes.
Arballo capitalized on Nunes’ TV appearances in which the Republican congressman questioned decisions to keep schools closed because of the coronavirus outbreak and seemed to encourage people to go to pubs against the advice of public health officials.
Arballo said those comments, which were widely covered by news organizations and discussed on social media, drove about $190,000 in contributions to his campaign in the last two weeks of March.
“When he goes on television like that, and makes those statements, it’s not hard to light a fire under our supporters,” Arballo said.
The contributions gave Arballo’s campaign a rare fundraising win in a period where congressional candidates all over the country are unsure of how to court voters.
Underdog candidates like Arballo have been trying to get in front of voters by volunteering in their communities, staying in touch with supporters by phone and hosting online fundraisers to keep their campaigns moving forward.
It’s risky, they know, because many people are worried about their own safety and jobs.
“It’s a fluid situation,” said former Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, who is trying to return to Congress by challenging Rep. TJ Cox, D-Fresno. “You don’t want to worry as much with the campaign right now.”
“I’m not looking for opportunity, we’re looking for ways to be helpful,” Valadao added.
Social distance through April
President Trump signaled the federal government’s guidance recommending social distancing will continue at least through April, and health experts have said they don’t know how long the pandemic will last.
For candidates, the November election is coming quickly.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — fundraising arms of Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives — sent out memos early in the crisis guiding candidates on how to handle campaigning.
The memos, obtained by McClatchy, both have similar messages — turn to phone and virtual events rather than in-person ones, use public messaging to be a leader during the coronavirus crisis and don’t stop fundraising, though be mindful of soliciting money during a hard time.
“Be aware of the backdrop from which you are running your campaign. This is a global epidemic and people are fearful,” the NRCC said in its memo, sent on March 14.
Kelly Dietrich, the founder of the National Democratic Training Committee said the most common concern he’s heard from candidates is whether they should be campaigning at all. He always tells them “100 percent, absolutely, yes.”
But it’s taken some time for some candidates to adjust.
Valadao, for example, said he hasn’t sent out a single fundraising email since the coronavirus pandemic started. The only tweet on his page since the World Health Organization declared the pandemic is one encouraging people to donate blood to the Red Cross.
Valadao previously represented one of the seven California Republican-held congressional districts that Democrats flipped in 2018. This year, Republicans are trying to reclaim several of them, while Democrats want to hold to their gains in what were traditionally GOP districts.
Telephone town halls
Cox’s campaign is checking in on supporters and directing them to resources at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cox has had increased participation on telephone town halls, and after one that ran an hour long in mid-March Cox’s staff were up responding to constituents’ questions personally until midnight.
In other races, candidates are emphasizing charitable work.
Democrat Brynne Kennedy, who is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, is collecting a few thousand hospital masks and is redistributing them to hospitals in the district Monday and Tuesday. She’s also convened telephone town halls, welcoming doctors and other experts to handle constituent questions.
Todd Stenhouse, a spokesman for her campaign, said Kennedy received a steady flow of donations in recent weeks from donors who saw McClintock vote against an early version of the $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package President Donald Trump signed. McClintock later voted for the final bill, although he expressed reservations about it.
“There are some people who then said the stakes for having someone who cares about the community are too high. So I wouldn’t say we got a flood of donations in during that, but that might’ve stemmed some of our drop off,” Stenhouse said.
Republican Ted Howze, a former Turlock city councilman trying to flip a Democratic-held seat in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, mobilized his campaign early to help vulnerable populations. He’s giving away food and delivering it to homes of the disabled and the elderly.
“We want to make sure we get food in the hands of anyone who needs it,” Howze said on a Facebook Live broadcasting one of those efforts, including a phone number to call if anyone needed additional help with deliveries.
Howze has referred to the economic stimulus bill as a “pork filled special interest bill that your children’s, children’s, grandchildren will be paying off loans for over the next hundred years.”
His opponent, Democratic Rep. Josh Harder, meanwhile, has raised money for the United Way. Harder has held virtual town halls updating people on the crisis and introduced bills relevant to coronavirus, such as tax breaks for small businesses that provide sick leave for COVID-19. He voted for and touted his approval of the stimulus bill.
“It used to be some people on telephone town halls, now tens of thousands of people call in and want their questions answered,” Harder of Turlock said.
Arballo, the Fresno Democrat challenging Nunes, recently hired two new campaign staff members and has been working on new ways to connect with voters.
Nunes did not respond to a request for comment. Nunes, R-Tulare, has made several media appearances on Fox News and Fresno’s KMJ Radio.
“Constituents that don’t listen to KMJ or watch Fox News in this district are looking for a leader, for someone to tell them everything will be OK, and we don’t have that right now,” Arballo said. “We’ve had meetings saying: What can we do to let them know we’re all in this together and we’re here to help?”
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)