How do Democrats running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky balance safety, final push?
If it hadn’t been for the masks, hadn’t been for the large tent covering the rows of picnic tables, hadn’t been for the space people were leaving each other as they listened to Rep. Charles Booker, D-Louisville, speak, the rally behind Sig Luscher Wednesday would have looked like a normal campaign event.
“We’re gonna win,” Booker said into the microphone, mask tucked under his chin, as he got the crowd chanting it over and over again. “We already won.”
There is less than a week until Kentucky’s June 23 primary election. In normal times, this is when campaigns make their final push. When they rent buses and hold rallies across the state, trying to whip up support before voters head to the polls. But these are not normal times.
On the day of Booker’s rally, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 170 new cases of COVID-19 and six coronavirus-related deaths
While the COVID-19 pandemic has receded somewhat from public consciousness as the state has slowly begun to reopen, there are still strict guidelines in place. People are supposed to wear masks in public, they’re supposed to stay six feet apart and — crucially for campaigns — they’re not supposed to gather in groups larger than 10 people.
Out of the three candidates leading in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, Booker, 35, is the only one holding a somewhat traditional closing tour — complete with a campaign bus and stops in all regions of the state. Former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath, 45, and Lincoln County farmer Mike Broihier, 58, are both attending events but haven’t yet launched statewide tours in the way Booker has.
“Amy has a high-risk mother and has to be very careful about being out so she can still visit her and make sure she can still be with her grandkids,” said Terry Sebastian, McGrath’s spokesman. “The campaign has followed COVID-19 guidelines from medical experts and the governor’s office from the beginning of this pandemic. Any events we do will adhere to those guidelines.”
McGrath said that her campaign will not do any traditional canvassing, where people go from door-to-door asking for support, and that she’s been trying to hold teleconference town halls. She is planning on attending a Juneteenth celebration in Somerset Friday night.
Broihier’s campaign says they will not be organizing any in person rallies.
“He’ll probably skip shaking hands, but he did serve enough time in Japan to try bowing instead,” said Greg Nasif, Broihier’s communications director.
For Booker, the political calculations for a final push look different. He’s caught momentum over the past few weeks, turning media attention and endorsements into a constituency that has rapidly eaten into McGrath’s frontrunner status. He’s younger — only .137 percent of the people who have contracted COVID-19 in their 30s have died — but is also a diabetic, which can sometimes lead to complications with virus.
But even with that momentum, internal polls show Booker down around 10 percentage points, requiring a last minute push before Election Day.
In Frankfort the Booker event drew around 50 people. The campaign posted a photo of another event in Bowling Green and said 200 people showed up. State guidelines say groups of 50 people are not allowed to gather until after June 29, but Beshear’s administration has issued advice on how to hold those types of events safely.
“We’re trying to make sure we do them outside,” Booker said Wednesday. “And that’s why we’re advising people beforehand that if you have health issues that you consider not attending. And if you come, make sure you wear a mask, make sure you’re sanitizing. We’re trying to keep folks safe. But we do realize that we’re dealing with a time that is unprecedented. And folks are fired up, they’re in the streets anyway, they need leadership that is in the streets with them and not just preaching at them.”
His campaign has also put up events calling for people to canvass, with the description of the event saying “Knock doors to Get Out the Vote for Charles Booker for US Senate!” Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, has advised against people going door to door.
Booker stressed that he’s mostly shown up at events that were happening anyway, saying the moment was too urgent to not travel statewide.
“We’re trying to stay safe, but there’s a reality that we’re dealing with a global pandemic now, but for a lot of communities, we’ve been dealing with a pandemic of structural racism and inequity,” Booker said. “And if we go home our door can be kicked in and we can be killed in our bed. So we don’t have the luxury of just staying home and waiting.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 2:46 PM.
