Daily Archives: March 24, 2020

Elections in New Jersey are authorized under Article II of the New Jersey State Constitution, which establishes elections for the governor, the lieutenant governor, and members of the New Jersey Legislature. Elections are regulated under state law, Title 19. The office of the New Jersey Secretary of State has a Division of Elections that oversees the execution of elections under state law (This used to be the New Jersey Attorney General). In addition, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) is responsible for administering campaign financing and lobbying disclosure.

Historically, it has voted about half the time, nationally, for each of the two major parties since 1860.[1] Traditionally a swing state, It has voted Democratic in recent decades. The governorship has alternated between the two major parties since the election of Democrat Richard J. Hughes in 1961, with a succession of Republicans and Democrats serving as governor. The New Jersey Legislature has also switched hands over the years, and one house was evenly divided from 19992001, when the Democrats took control. Three of the last four gubernatorial elections have been close. New Jersey leans Democratic in national elections. The Congressional seats have been as evenly divided over the decades, with little change due to political trends in the state. New Jersey currently has a Democratic governor, Phil Murphy and recently elected their second lieutenant governor, Democrat Sheila Oliver.[2]

At the national level, the state favors the Democratic Party: Both of its Senators have been Democrats since 1982, and George H. W. Bush was the last Republican candidate for President to carry the state, in 1988. However, previous governor Chris Christie was a Republican serving from 2010 to 2018, as was Christine Todd Whitman, who served from 1994 to 2001.

New Jersey is split almost down the middle between the New York City and Philadelphia television markets, respectively the largest and fourth-largest markets in the nation. As a result, campaign budgets are among the largest in the country.

In 1776, the first Constitution of New Jersey was drafted. It was written during the Revolutionary War, and was created a basic framework for the state government. The constitution granted the right of suffrage to women and black men who met certain property requirements. The New Jersey Constitution of 1776[3] allowed "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money" to vote. This included blacks, spinsters, and widows; married women could not own property under the common law. The Constitution declared itself temporary, and it was to be void if there was reconciliation with Great Britain.[4][5] Both parties in elections mocked the other party for relying on "petticoat electors" and accused the other of allowing unqualified women to vote.

The second version of the New Jersey State Constitution was written in 1844. The constitution provided the right of suffrage only to white males, removing it from women and black men. Some of the important components of the second State Constitution include the separation of the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The new constitution also provided a bill of rights. The people had the right to directly elect the governor.

In national elections, the New Jersey has recently leaned towards the national Democratic Party.

For much of the second half of the 20th century, New Jersey was one of the most Republican states in the Northeast. It supported Republican presidential candidates in all but two elections from 1952 to 1988. It gave comfortable margins of victory to the Republican candidate in the close elections of 1948, 1968, and 1976. New Jersey was a crucial swing state in the elections of 1960, 1968, and 1992.

However, the brand of Republicanism in New Jersey has historically been a moderate one. As the national party tilted more to the right, the state's voters became more willing to support Democrats at the national level. This culminated in 1992, when Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state, becoming the first Democrat to win it since 1964. Since then, the only relatively close presidential race in New Jersey was in 2004, when Democrat John Kerry defeated George W. Bush in New Jersey by a margin of about seven percentage points. Clinton won it handily in 1996, and Al Gore won it almost as easily in 2000. In the 2008 and the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama carried the state by more than 15 percentage points. Hillary Clinton won it by over 14 points in 2016. Indeed, the 2004 election is the only election in recent years where the race hasn't been called for the Democrat soon after the polls closed. As a result, at the presidential level New Jersey is now considered part of the solid bloc of blue states in the Northeast.

The most recent victory by a Republican in a U.S. Senate race in the state was Clifford P. Case's reelection in 1972. Only Hawaii has had longer periods of exclusive Democratic victories in U.S. Senate races. The last Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey was Jeffrey Chiesa, who was appointed a U.S. Senator by Governor Chris Christie in 2013 after Democrat Frank Lautenberg died in office. Chiesa served four months in office and did not seek election in his own right.

After Kean won the biggest victory for a gubernatorial race in New Jersey in 1985, no Republican ever won 50 percent of the vote in a New Jersey election for three decades until Chris Christie was re-elected in 2013 with 60% of the vote. Christine Todd Whitman was elected governor with 49 percent of the vote in 1993 and with 47 percent in 1997.

On November 3, 2009, incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was unseated by Republican challenger Chris Christie. Christie's margin of victory was 49%-45%.[7] Four years later, Christie was reelected with 60 percent of the vote, becoming the first Republican to clear the 50 percent mark since 1985.

As New Jersey is split almost down the middle between the New York City and Philadelphia television markets, advertising budgets for statewide elections are among the most expensive in the country.

The state's Democratic strongholds include Mercer County around the cities of Trenton and Princeton; Essex and Hudson counties the state's two most urban counties, around the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City; as well as Camden County and New Brunswick/Middlesex County and most of the other urban communities just outside Philadelphia and New York City. The northeastern and southwestern counties, with over two million voters between them, have made it extremely difficult in recent years for a Republican presidential candidate to carry New Jersey. In 2004, for instance, Bush lost the state largely due to being completely shut out in those areas.

The state's more rural to suburban northwestern counties are Republican strongholds, especially mountainous Sussex County, Morris County, Hunterdon County and Warren County. Somerset, a more rural northwestern county, also leans Republican but can be competitive in national races. In the 2004 presidential election, Bush received about 52% in Somerset and 60% in Hunterdon, while in rural Republican Sussex County, Bush garnered 64% of the vote. Parts of rural to suburban northwestern Bergen and Passaic counties which are also mountainous, are also usually Republican.

The southeastern counties along the coast also favor Republicans, notably Ocean County, Monmouth County, and Cape May County. However, Atlantic County, which includes urban Atlantic City, has recently swung Democratic in national elections.

About half of the counties in New Jersey, are considered swing counties, though most lean toward one party, usually the Democrats. For example, Bergen County is solidly Republican in the wealthier and in some places rural and mountainous north and solidly Democratic in the more urbanized south. Due to the influence of the south, Bergen County has not gone Republican in a presidential election since 1992. The same is true of Passaic County which has a densely populated, heavily Hispanic Democratic south and a rural Republican north. Some other counties such as Salem County lean Republican because the urbanized areas in those counties are relatively small compared to those of the more heavily Democratic counties. Statistically, Atlantic County is the most representative county.

Unaffiliated is a status for registered voters in New Jersey. Those voters who do not specify a political party affiliation when they register to vote are listed as unaffiliated.[8] Affiliated voters may change their status to unaffiliated or to another political party if they wish, although any such change must be filed with the state 55 days before the primary election.[8] As of 2017, there were 2.4 million unaffiliated voters in New Jersey, more than members of any party in the state.[9]

New Jersey is a closed primary state.[10] This means that only voters who affiliate with a political party may vote in that party's candidate selection process (i.e., the primary election). However, unaffiliated voters may declare their party affiliation up to and including the day of the primary election.[8] Unaffiliated status does not affect participation in general elections.

Following each decennial census, the New Jersey Redistricting Commission forms to realign the districts. New Jersey currently has 12 House districts In the 116th Congress, eleven of New Jersey's seats are held by Democrats and one is held by a Republican.

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Elections in New Jersey - Wikipedia

In this image from video, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on the Senate floor on Saturday. Senate Television via AP hide caption

In this image from video, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on the Senate floor on Saturday.

Updated at 10:44 p.m. ET

After a tense day on the Senate floor that included leaders trading barbs over who is to blame for failing to advance a new coronavirus response bill, the top Senate Democrat says negotiations are continuing into the night in hopes of reaching a deal on a third wave of emergency funding that could go well past $1 trillion.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin four times Monday, with the most recent meeting occurring shortly after 8 p.m., a Schumer spokesman said.

"The Senate is going to adjourn shortly, but that doesn't mean that negotiations are slowing down one bit," Schumer said ahead of the Senate adjourning for the evening. "Secretary Mnuchin just left my office. We've had some very good discussions and in fact, the list of outstanding issues has narrowed significantly. We are going to work on into the night."

Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up yet another procedural vote to move forward on the legislation. Two previous attempts failed to advance the bill one on Sunday and again Monday when Democrats largely held together to try to force more changes to the bill. If there is an agreement the Senate could vote earlier.

McConnell has blamed Democrats for delaying progress on the bill even as Democrats continued to negotiate with White House officials.

McConnell called for the Senate to support a GOP-drafted bill that includes expanded unemployment insurance, aid for small businesses and loans for large corporations, among other proposals.

"The American people have had enough of this nonsense. They're wondering where we are. They're looking to us to solve this problem," McConnell said.

Democrats said the measure didn't go far enough for worker protections and too far for aid to major industries, and had insufficient oversight for the assistance fund based at the Treasury Department for impacted industries.

Late Monday, House Democrats introduced their counter proposal to the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stressed that any final proposal should protect worker pay and benefits and not CEO pay, stock buybacks or layoffs.

A House Democratic aide said the package was valued at $2.5 trillion and focused on boosting healthcare access, unemployment insurance, the healthcare industry and payments to workers, among other issues. Pelosi has not said whether the House would move forward with its proposal. The chamber could take up the Senate bill if more changes are made to it that satisfy Democrats' concerns.

President Trump said Monday evening that he hoped lawmakers would make a breakthrough.

"I think the Democrats want a deal and I think we want a deal. So it would be very foolish if they didn't make a deal. The American public is demanding a deal," he said.

While there is general consensus on key provisions of the package, including small-business loan guarantees and direct cash payments, Democrats want more conditions placed on funds to assist large corporations in order to ensure, for instance, that the money goes to protect workers' jobs and not stock buybacks to benefit shareholders.

Democrats are also asking for more money for hospitals and more generous unemployment benefits for laid-off workers proposals that, if included, would balloon the cost of the package even more.

Republicans criticized Democrats for "last-minute demands" that they see as not critical to the crisis at hand, such as new collective bargaining powers for unions, increased fuel emissions standards for airlines and expanded wind and solar tax credits.

McConnell argued that Democrats were turning the bill into a "left-wing episode of Supermarket Sweep."

Schumer told reporters early Monday morning that Democrats see this bill as their best opportunity to provide the most help. "This bill is going to affect this country and the lives of Americans not just for the next few days, but in the next few months and years so we have to make sure it is good," he said.

While tensions between McConnell and Schumer are high, Mnuchin has been an active participant in the negotiations, talking and meeting with Democrats all day Sunday and into the early Monday morning hours.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is going to introduce a counterproposal in the House on Monday afternoon. It's unclear whether Pelosi's move is a pressure tactic on the Senate to reach a deal or a firm commitment to move a House bill. Moving forward on competing legislation could delay negotiations considerably.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., previously announced that he would not reconvene lawmakers back in Washington until there was critical legislation to vote for in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

As more lawmakers test positive for the virus and even more self-quarantine because of possible exposure, Congress itself is racing a clock to pass a bill and likely recess for at least a few weeks. While some lawmakers continue to call for allowing remote voting in the House and Senate, both Pelosi and McConnell remain resistant to the idea, which has never been done before, would require votes to change the rules of both chambers and could face constitutional challenges.

In an afternoon speech, Pelosi encouraged the Senate to include ideas from the House Democrats' proposal, which is called the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act. It focuses on direct payments to Americans, paid leave for workers and child tax credits, among other efforts, she said.

"We urge the Senate to move closer to the values in the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act," she said. "We must be bold and forward looking in our thinking ... swift and evidence based in our actions, and we must be prayerful."

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Talks Continue Over Coronavirus Financial Deal As Democrats Demand Changes - NPR

That the parties are coming together at all on major legislation is, of itself, a remarkable turn from the intransigence that has defined Washington since Trump won election in 2016 and Democrats regained control of the House two years later. Joe Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator, described the current landscape in Washington as an extremely partisan time, ideologically divided time in our government worse than 2008 and 2009 by far, Im afraid.

Still, Republicans and Democrats are coming together to get things done, he said, adding that if it works which I hope and believe it will, if they do enough quickly enough maybe there wont be a dominant counter-reaction among Democrats or Republicans left or right.

Yet already, the pandemic has emboldened Democrats calls for more comprehensive health care and employee benefits, with the crisis laying bare not only shortcomings within the nations health care system, but the precariousness of Americans financial condition. Retirement accounts have been ravaged and unemployment claims are soaring.

David Pepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said the pandemic has exposed just that the current state of affairs just leaves so many Americans living right on the edge of disaster, and wed heard these studies for years.

This just bears this out, he said. It tells you what an unstable status quo were living in to start That is something that might reframe politics for a long time.

Progressive Democrats, anticipating a recession and high rates of unemployment, are preparing to use the coronavirus pandemic to draw their party to the left on economic policy, attempting to broaden support for a Green New Deal as a way to spur employment while decarbonizing the economy. And they are watching party leaders closely in negotiations for the rescue package and demanding constraints on corporations that receive federal aid, as well as guarantees for the working class.

Charles Chamberlain, chairman of the liberal political action committee Democracy for America, said Were in a moment right now where obviously one of the long-term impacts of the coronavirus is likely to be a complete restructure of our economy.

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'Extraordinary change': How coronavirus is rewiring the Republican and Democratic parties - POLITICO

Democrats and Treasury say they are close to a compromise on $2 trillion economic package.

The Senates top Democrat and the treasury secretary said on Monday night they were close to a deal on a nearly $2 trillion economic stabilization package to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement came hours after Democrats voted for the second time to block action until they secured more worker protections and restrictions on bailed-out companies.

We expect to have an agreement in the morning, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, told reporters just before midnight, as he wrapped up a final meeting with Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary. There are still a few little differences, he said.

Mr. Mnuchin said the two sides were very close to a compromise, though both sides cautioned there was no final agreement and the negotiations remained fluid. The two men called President Trump just before they broke for the night.

Mr. Schumer said the presidents response had been very positive, despite a tweet just minutes before in which Mr. Trump accused Democrats, led by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of sabotaging the package and wanting the virus to win.

The apparent progress came after Mr. Mnuchin and Mr. Schumer spent hours haggling behind closed doors. Among other areas of contention, Democrats had demanded restrictions and oversight requirements over a proposed $500 billion fund that would be used to bail out distressed companies.

Democrats voted against moving forward with the plan Monday afternoon, sending markets plummeting. But after more discussion, late Monday night Mr. Schumer said he was hopeful that both sides could now come together quickly, with a vote possible by Tuesday evening.

Public transit to start up again in Wuhan within 24 hours as concerns simmer about silent spreader cases.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global outbreak started, said on Tuesday that public transportation would resume within 24 hours and residents would be allowed to leave the city beginning April 8 as infections appeared to be dwindling after a weekslong lockdown.

Even as local infections across China appeared to approach zero, the Wuhan government on Tuesday said a doctor who was working in a local hospital tested positive, adding to evidence that Hubei Province, of which Wuhan is the capital, has not beaten the virus.

In Wuhan, authorities continue to turn up cases of people with the virus but without symptoms, fueling growing fears among the Chinese public that the government has failed to disclose or discover a much larger number of infections than the 81,171 cases that have been reported.

In China, officials only count patients with both symptoms and a positive test in its official tally of confirmed cases. The World Health Organization says that all people who test positive are confirmed to be infected regardless of whether they show symptoms.

Chinas approach to counting raises questions about how many people with the virus are circulating freel. Even if these individuals do not become sick themselves, there is evidence that asymptomatic people can infect others.

The number of silent carriers people who are infected but show delayed or no symptoms could be as high as one-third of those who test positive, the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper, reported on Sunday, citing classified Chinese government data.

After social media accounts circulated over the weekend that China was suppressing the numbers by failing to acknowledge these silent carriers, authorities in Wuhan said a patient in the city had tested positive despite not having symptoms.

The Wuhan health commission also stated that infected patients with no symptoms still need to be isolated for 14 days and that a small number may progress to confirmed cases.

Last week, China reported no new local infections for the first time since the outbreak began three months ago. But it is now struggling with imported cases, which continue to rise.

But for many public health experts, these developments add to doubts that the virus will be fully eradicated in China in the near term.

New York City has about a third of the nations confirmed coronavirus cases, making it the new epicenter of the outbreak in the United States.

Nearly 1 in 1,000 people in the New York metropolitan area have contracted the virus, five times the rate of the rest of the country, Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White Houses coronavirus response coordinator, said on Monday.

The New York metro area is experiencing a virus attack rate of nearly one in a thousand, or five times that of other areas Dr. Birx said. In epidemiology, the attack rate is the percentage of a population that has a disease.

New Yorks population density may help explain why the attack rate is so high.

New York is far more crowded than any other major city in the United States. It has 28,000 residents per square mile, while San Francisco, the next most jammed city, has 17,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

All of those people, in such a small space, appear to have helped the virus spread rapidly through packed subway trains, busy playgrounds and hivelike apartment buildings, forming ever-widening circles of infections. The city now has more coronavirus cases per capita than even Italy.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York will issue an order requiring hospitals to increase capacity by at least 50 percent, he said on Monday. New York State saw a one-day increase of nearly 5,000 cases, putting the total at 21,689 as of Monday night.

After days of criticizing the Trump administration for not doing enough to help the city, Mr. de Blasio said he had a very substantial conversation with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday night about getting additional supplies, medical personnel and financial support.

President Trump hints at a short shutdown: Im not looking at months.

President Trump, in a nearly two-hour coronavirus briefing, hinted on Monday that the economic shutdown meant to halt the spread of the virus across the country would not be extended.

America will again and soon be open for business, the president said, without providing a timeline for when he believes normal economic activity could resume. He later added, Im not looking at months, I can tell you right now.

If it were up to the doctors, theyd say lets shut down the entire world, Mr. Trump said. This could create a much bigger problem than the problem that you started out with.

Mr. Trump also suggested that he would soon re-evaluate the federal guidance urging social distancing. More states moved on Monday to impose their own sweeping stay-at-home orders, which will soon cover more than 158 million Americans in 16 states.

Washington, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Oregon became the latest states to announce sweeping directives to keep more people home in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

Mr. Trump sent mixed signals from the White House podium, agreeing at one point with his surgeon general and saying, Its going to be bad, then suggesting that the response to the virus may have been overblown.

This is going away, Mr. Trump said, citing jobs, anxiety and depression and suicide as arguments for restoring the U.S. economy.

He compared deaths from the novel coronavirus so far to deaths from other causes influenza and car accidents suggesting that the scale of those preventable deaths means economic restrictions may not be appropriate to prevent the spread of the virus.

While it is true that those causes of death outnumber deaths from the virus to date, projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that deaths from Covid-19 could range from 200,000 to 1.7 million people. Estimates from other scientists place the potential deaths in a range from several hundred thousand to several million deaths, substantially more than annual deaths from car accidents and flu combined.

Britain is placed under a virtual lockdown.

Facing a growing storm of criticism about his laissez-faire response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday that he would place Britain under a virtual lockdown, closing all nonessential shops, banning meetings of more than two people, and requiring people to stay in their homes, except for trips for food or medicine.

People who flout the new restrictions, the prime minister said, will be fined by the police.

The steps, which Mr. Johnson outlined in a televised address to the nation, bring him into alignment with European leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who have all but quarantined their countries in a desperate bid to slow the outbreak.

No prime minister wants to enact measures like this, an ashen-faced Mr. Johnson said. I know the damage that this disruption is doing and will do to peoples lives, to their businesses and to their jobs.

But while these were the most draconian restrictions placed on the British people since World War II, Mr. Johnson is still leaving a bit of breathing room.

The prime minister said people also could leave their houses for exercise, either alone or with family members, and he did not close parks in London.

The number of confirmed cases in Britain rose to 6,650 on Monday, up from 5,683 a day earlier, while the death toll jumped by 54, to 335. British officials believe that those numbers are about to balloon.

Facebook has re-emerged as a news hub.

Before the coronavirus, Facebook could feel at times like the virtual equivalent of a sleepy bingo parlor an outmoded gathering place populated mainly by retirees looking for conversation and cheap fun.

Now, stuck inside their homes and isolated from their families and friends, millions of Americans are rediscovering the social networks virtues. That has lifted usage of Facebook features like messaging and video calls to record levels and powered a surge in traffic for publishers of virus-related news.

As of Thursday, more than half the articles being consumed on Facebook in the United States were related to the coronavirus, according to an internal report obtained by The New York Times. Overall U.S. traffic from Facebook to other websites also increased by more than 50 percent last week from the week before, almost entirely owing to intense interest in the virus, the report said.

A bed shortage looms in California as testing continues to lag.

Gov. Gavin Newsom estimates that California will be short about 17,000 hospital beds, although the state is frantically trying to source thousands more of them. And the pace of testing remains stubbornly slow in California.

New York State, with half the population of California, has conducted twice as many tests for the virus. As of Monday, New York has tested 78,289 people, including 33,000 in New York City. California had conducted 26,400 tests by Sunday, the most recent data available.

Officials in California have rushed to reopen hospitals that had been shuttered, buy motels to house the states more than 150,000 homeless people and retrofit college dormitories to serve as hospital wards.

Mr. Newsom said the state was also chartering flights to China to procure protective equipment and expressed concern for smaller states that might not have the same purchasing power. He has called up the National Guard to work at food banks, and President Trump ordered a Navy hospital ship, with a thousand beds, to sail to the Port of Los Angeles within a week.

A new front in the political fight over abortion has been sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas and Ohio have included abortions among the nonessential surgeries and medical procedures that they are requiring to be delayed, saying they are trying to preserve precious protective equipment for health care workers and to make space for a potential flood of coronavirus patients.

But abortion-rights activists said that abortions should be counted as essential and that people could not wait for the procedure until the pandemic was over.

On Monday, Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, clarified that the postponement of surgeries and medical procedures announced by the governor over the weekend included any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.

Failure to do so, he said, could result in penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time. It was not immediately clear if that included medication abortion, which involves providers administering pills in the earlier stages of pregnancy.

The move followed a similar action by health authorities in Ohio last week and has prompted a legal scramble by abortion rights groups to preserve access. Activists accused state leaders of using the coronavirus crisis to advance an existing agenda to restrict abortions.

Reporting and research were contributed by Jason Gutierrez, Sui-Lee Wee, Nick Fandos, Sabrina Tavernise, Thomas Fuller, Tim Arango and Jo Becker

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Coronavirus Live Updates: Democrats and Treasury Say They Are Close to Deal on $2 Trillion Package - The New York Times

Thats how you diversify the economy here. Its going to be mineral-based, said Bob Vlaisavljevich, mayor of nearby Eveleth. If copper is down, youve got three other minerals. Thats where you get those dips, not the peaks and valleys where people are losing their homes, moving away. As far as diversification, thats how its going to be.

Twin Metals said the 100-acre site wont pose the environmental risk that people fear. The company insists its method of processing the mine waste wont jeopardize the surrounding lakes and waterway. Proponents point to an underground nickel-copper mine in operation on Michigans Upper Peninsula as a model for the industry in northern Minnesota.

Environmentalists insist otherwise. They say the nickel-copper mining process, no matter how technologically advanced, will risk leaching sulfuric acid, heavy metals and sulfates into the surrounding watershed. A statewide poll released last month showed that a majority of Minnesotans opposed the project near Ely.

Our communities have built our way of life around the wilderness. This poll makes clear that the majority of Minnesotans stand with us in protecting our nations greatest canoe country wilderness, said Becky Rom, national chairwoman of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.

Nonetheless, the Twin Metals project, still in the planning and permitting phase, is estimated to directly employ 700 people and create 1,400 spinoff jobs for the area. And it isnt the only nickel-copper project in the area. A mining company called PolyMet has gotten all of its permits for a similar mine in nearby Hoyt Lakes, but the project is tied up in complex litigation.

Trumps steel tariffs and protective trade policies have left a region long dependent on mining here wanting even more. The president imposed a 25 percent tariff on most imported steel in 2018, but most people dont highlight the policy as the saving grace Trump touts it to be. While steel prices initially shot up, theyve settled back down as the U.S. steel industry continues to undergo a somewhat painful transformation.

Theres sure no boom up here, Gary Skalko said. After nine terms as mayor of the town of Mountain Iron the self-described hippie and former school teacher is standing down. Hes a strong supporter of the mining industry, but he senses a change in culture.

Im a pro-choice guy. Im still worried about losing my First Amendment rights, not my Second Amendment rights. I felt [Trump] should have been convicted for what he did, he said. Why would I represent people who dont have the same values? Theres so much hatred on both sides.

Preserving our way of life has become a rallying cry in the region. Rep. Pete Stauber, a former Duluth police officer who once played professional hockey, flipped the state's 8th Congressional District to red in 2018. He used the phrase in his campaign.

Stauber is not running a political campaign, hes running a cultural campaign, and its invincible as far as Im concerned, said Aaron Brown, a fifth generation Iron Ranger who teaches at Hibbing Community College and writes commentary on local issues.

It all comes down to a cultural balance that remains undecided and almost a sense of inferiority that comes from an up and down economy, he said.

Presidents have come and gone. Clinton and Bush and Obama and now Trump, said Brown. Very different policies but this place hasnt changed that much, and I think theres something about the hollowing out of the industrialization of this area that we feel that we no longer have any control over our self-destiny and I think that just feeds into our politics.

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Minnesota on the edge: Ive voted Democrat my whole life. Its getting tougher. - POLITICO

Aaron E. Carroll and Ashish Jha: This is how we can beat the coronavirus

The disparity between the parties was underscored Thursday afternoon when Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, issued rapid-fire orders closing down all non-essential businesses, first in the city and then in the entire state, a jurisdiction of 39.5 million people.

This divergence reflects not only ideological but also geographic realities. So far, the greatest clusters of the disease, and the most aggressive responses to it, have indeed been centered in a few large, Democratic-leaning metropolitan areas, including Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Boston. At Thursdays White House press briefing, Deborah Birx, the administrations response coordinator, said half of the nations cases so far are located in just 10 counties. The outbreaks eventual political effects may vary significantly depending on how extensively it spreads beyond these initial beachheads.

If the virus never becomes pervasive beyond big cities, that could reinforce the sense among many Republican voters and office-holders that the threat has been overstated. It could also fuel the kind of xenophobia that Trump and other GOP leaders, such as Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have encouraged by labeling the disease the Chinese virus or the Wuhan virus.

Theres a long history of conservatives demonizing the cities as sources of disease to threaten the pure heartland, says Geoffrey Kabaservice, the director of political studies at the libertarian Niskanen Center and the author of Rule and Ruin, a history of the modern Republican Party. Thats an old theme. So that could be how it goes down.

David Frum: No empathy, only anger

Conversely, the charge that Trump failed to move quickly enough may cut more deeply if the burden of the disease is heavily felt in the smaller communities where his support is deepest. Most medical experts believe that, eventually, the outbreak will reach all corners of the country, including the mostly Republican-leaning small towns and rural areas that are now less visibly affected.

Theres no reason to think that smaller communities will be protected from it, Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told me. It may take longer for it to get there, but as long as there are people coming and going the virus will eventually find its way to rural communities as well.

Still, some experts believe that, throughout the outbreak, the greatest effects will remain localized in large urban centers. The bottom line is, every epidemic is local, and the social networks and the physical infrastructure in any specific geographic area will determine the spread of the epidemic, Jeffrey D. Klausner, a professor of medicine and public health at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told me. Particularly, respiratory viruses are dependent on close social networks and are going to spread much more efficiently in crowded, densely populated urban areas.

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Red and Blue America Arent Experiencing the Same Pandemic - The Atlantic