A fresh Joe Biden ad, "New Start," signals an effort by his campaign to make unity a central theme, underscoring a new passage in his stump speech that says he won't be a president just for Democrats but for all Americans.
What he's saying: The ad — which began Friday night, and is a follow-up to "Fresh Start" — draws from a Biden speech earlier in the week in Manitowoc, Wisconsin:
President Trump is preparing to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, a favorite of both the social conservative base and Republican elected officials, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republican sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Barrett would push the already conservative court further and harder to the right, for decades to come, on the most important issues in American politics — from abortion to the limits of presidential power. If confirmed, she would give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the high court.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency on Friday in preparation for a far-right rally in Portland that's expected to draw thousands of attendees this Saturday, the Statesman Journal reports.
Why it matters: Far-right protests in Portland have recently provoked counter-demonstrations, spurring clashes and violent street brawls. One man was fatally shot in August when skirmishes between the groups erupted in the city.
A bipartisan group of female lawmakers flanked the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket as she was carried down the Capitol steps today after lying in state in Sanctuary Hall.
What they're saying: Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt eulogized Ginsburg as a lawyer who "won equality for women and men — not in one swift victory but brick by brick, case by case, through meticulous careful lawyering."
Eric Trump told supporters at a Las Vegas campaign stop on Thursday that he believes his father would concede the presidential election if "he got blown out of the water" by Joe Biden, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Where it stands: After refusing to say on Wednesday whether he would commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump told Fox News radio on Thursday he would accept election results if the Supreme Court ruled that Biden won.
President Trump unveiled what he calls the "Black Economic Empowerment — Platinum Plan," at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, promising to secure more lending for Black-owned businesses if elected for a second term.
Why it matters: With national polls showing the president lagging behind Joe Biden with Black voters, Trump's plan also includes a proposal to make Juneteenth — the commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S. — a federal holiday.
Driving the news: After a ceremony in National Statuary Hall, Ginsburg's casket was carried down the building's steps — flanked by a group of bipartisan female lawmakers for a final farewell.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Friday the state will completely reopen its economy, allowing restaurants to operate at full capacity and barring localities from ordering businesses to close.
House Democrats are set to introduce a bill next week that would impose 18-year term limits on future Supreme Court justices, allowing a president to nominate two justices during each term in office.
The big picture: The bill, sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), seeks to depoliticize the process of placing new justices on the court — a fight that has taken on new light after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and his wife, Pamela, both tested positive for coronavirus, his office announced on Friday.
The state of play: The Northams were tested after one of their staff "who works closely within the couple's living quarters" tested positive. The governor is asymptomatic, while his wife is "experiencing mild symptoms." They plan to isolate at home for 10 days.
Former President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed 111 Democratic candidates running for office in November, including 29 in House races and seven in Senate races.
The state of play: Obama has so far endorsed 229 candidates in state and federal races across 34 states this year after issuing a first wave of endorsements in August.
If Democrats win the Senate and White House, ending the filibuster would lower the huge hurdles before climate legislation. But there could be other knock-on effects.
The intrigue: Big climate legislation would hardly be a guarantee, given resistance among Democrats from fossil fuel-producing states, according to a wide-ranging election look-ahead note from ClearView Energy Partners.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows dismissed FBI Director Chris Wray's testimony that the U.S. has never historically seen evidence of widespread voter fraud, including by mail, during an appearance on "CBS This Morning" on Friday.
Why it matters: Meadows' statement highlights the Trump administration's strategy to sow doubt in November's election results by challenging the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, which are expected to skew heavily in Democrats' favor.
A program supporting Americans who are typically ineligible for unemployment benefits will expire at the end of the year, with millions still relying on it as the labor market sputters.
Why it matters: The result could be catastrophic for the economic recovery that Wall Street fears is already fragile.
President Trump issued an executive order on Thursday pledging to protect Americans with preexisting conditions — which is not only toothless but also is only necessary if a Trump-backed lawsuit successfully dismantles the Affordable Care Act.
Why it matters: The presidential election is a month and a half away, and Republicans learned the hard way in 2018 that threatening the ACA's preexisting conditions protections is politically perilous.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ordered state officials last week to throw out mail-in ballots submitted without a required inner "secrecy" envelope in November's election, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The state of play: The decision went under the radar alongside the simultaneous decision to extend the time that mail-in ballots could be counted, but Philadelphia's top elections official warned state legislators this week that throwing out so-called "naked ballots" could bring "electoral chaos" to the state and cause "tens of thousands of votes" to be thrown out — potentially tipping the presidential election.
Democratic lawyers are preparing to challenge any effort by President Trump to swap electors chosen by voters with electors selected by Republican-controlled legislatures. One state of particular concern: Pennsylvania, where the GOP controls the state house.
Why it matters: Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, together with a widely circulated article in The Atlantic about how bad the worst-case scenarios could get, is drawing new attention to the brutal fights that could jeopardize a final outcome.
A federal judge ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration could not end the 2020 census a month early.
Why it matters: The decision states that an early end — on Sept. 30, instead of Oct. 31 — would likely produce inaccuracies and thus impact political representation and government funding around the country.
In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, Democrats are compiling lists of Black women they want Joe Biden to consider for the bench if he's elected — with an eye toward people from outside the traditional legal establishment.
Why it matters: Supreme Court appointments are one of the most consequential parts of any president's legacy, and a President Biden would need to find picks who could try to wrangle liberal victories from a solid conservative majority.
President Trump outlined his ambitions for health care policy in a North Carolina speech Thursday, promising "the highest standard of care anywhere in the world," before signing an executive order guaranteeing protections for pre-existing conditions and then pledging to ban surprise medical bills.
Reality check: The only reason that pre-existing conditions protections, which are guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act, are at risk is because a Trump-backed lawsuit against the law is pending before the Supreme Court. Trump's executive order offers few details, and executive orders in and of themselves don't change policy. The order "simply declares it's national policy to protect coverage of people with preexisting conditions," Politico writes.
