July 24, 2020: Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the Jacksonville portion of the Republican National Convention was canceled. Spending in the 2020 presidential election cycle has passed the $1 billion mark.

Notable Quote of the Day

“Anxious Democrats are already fretting about nightmare scenarios in which Trump uses emergency powers to cancel the election, calls in the military to ‘oversee’ voting, or even refuses to vacate the White House. But conversations with more than a dozen campaign strategists, security officials and election administrators make clear that the most likely picture this fall is something less theatrical, and every bit as destabilizing. November 3, even if it proceeds as scheduled, is likely to bring bureaucratic snafus and foreseeable chaos unfolding on a hundred different fronts at once, in a thousand voting precincts—all of which will leave the U.S. with its most uncertain, disputed result in a lifetime.

People often deploy the ‘perfect storm’ metaphor incorrectly, using it to describe a surprise collision of events that catches its victims off guard. But that’s not how perfect storms really work: In Sebastian Junger’s book about a deadly Atlantic Ocean gale that popularized the term, the storm was a well-foreseen event, with serious warnings, that people saw coming and chose instead to ignore—until it was too late, and the waves overwhelmed them. That’s how this election is starting to look to experts.”

– Garrett M. Graff, journalist and historian

Election Updates

• Joe Biden added four new senior staff in Pennsylvania, including Larry Hailsham Jr. as state political director and Michael Feldman as state communications director
• MeidasTouch, a Democratic super PAC, is expanding its ad campaign in Texas with a six-figure ad buy in the Houston and Dallas markets. The campaign focuses on Donald Trump’s responses to the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, a 2017 white supremacist rally, and John McCain.
• Trump announced on Thursday that the Jacksonville portion of the Republican National Convention was canceled in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “I looked at my team and I said the timing for this event is not right. It’s just not right,” Trump said. The party will still conduct official business on the first day in Charlotte.
• Spending in the 2020 presidential election cycle has passed the $1 billion mark, with Trump and his affiliated party committees spending over $900 million since 2017 and Biden crossing $165 million since he entered the race.
• Howie Hawkins’ running mate, Angela Walker, is traveling to Milwaukee on Saturday to help gather petition signatures for the Wisconsin ballot.
• Jo Jorgensen is holding a rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Saturday. Spike Cohen, her running mate, will hold a march for police accountability in Columbus, Ohio.

What We’re Reading

• McClatchy DC: Inside Bidenworld: No Trump-like drama, but simmering friction below the surface
• Politico: 8 Big Reasons Election Day 2020 Could Be a Disaster
• USA Today: 100 days: What can shake things up in the election home stretch? Here are 5 possibilities

Flashback: July 24, 2016

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would resign after leaked emails suggested party officials favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

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