Coronavirus and the Two Congresses

Paul Kane at The Washington Post:

Strategists in both parties are just waiting for incumbents or challengers to do something that seems impolitic. The National Republican Congressional Committee jumped on comments by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) on a video town hall in which he boasted how his district produced all of the disinfectant Lysol and suggested withholding it from Kentucky to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to act on House-passed legislation.

“I thought about using that with, like, Mitch McConnell. Like, hey, you know, we’re going to hold up the Lysol to Kentucky until you pass our election-security bill,” he said, quickly calling it a “fantasy.”

But Democrats pounced when supporters of Nicole Malliotakis, running in one of the most competitive races against freshman Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.), posted a social media picture of the Republican state assemblywoman before a trunk filled with sanitizer and medical products as if she were delivering them to health-care workers.

Malliotakis’s image actually was photoshopped into that post, as Democrats highlighted that Rose, who earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his Army service in Afghanistan, is currently serving with the National Guard helping construct a hospital on Staten Island.

Many freshmen described their first year in Congress as learning three new jobs at once — how to be a legislator in the Capitol, how to run constituent services and how to campaign as an incumbent.

[Joe] Cunningham [R-SC] and [Ben] McAdams [D-UT], in interviews last week discussing their recoveries from contracting covid-19, both said their jobs are now almost all constituent services. During his quarantine, Cunningham worked with the State Department to get 11 constituents home from Peru.

After eight days in a Salt Lake City hospital, McAdams believes that his reelection now depends largely upon how much he can help his constituents through this crisis.

“That’s the best thing I can do to get reelected,” he said.

In Maine, the '16 Counties Coalition' is running a $600K ad campaign on TV in Bangor & Portland & on digital aimed at tying Susan Collins to McConnell using Zoom & FaceTime testimonials.
Here it is: #TuesdayThoughts https://t.co/KQzPTWrZmI

— Mona (@Monaheart1229) April 14, 2020

Ugly poll for Susan Collins in Maine:

37% approval/52% disapproval.

She was at 42% in the same poll in the fall.

Trump's approval in Maine in this poll: 36%.https://t.co/l1XUoIicNJ

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) April 13, 2020