CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Grappling for votes — and the spotlight — as Democrats hold their national convention, President Donald Trump targeted voters in key states and constituencies Tuesday and promised a pardon for Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement.
Trump headed for Arizona, one of the top 2020 battleground states, to press his case against his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, painting him as radically left and out of the political mainstream.
With his second trip in two days, Trump was hoping to mitigate a convention polling bump for his rival and to shore up support less than 80 days from Election Day by contrasting his position with Biden’s on immigration, one of the most important issues to his political base. He was also trying to stanch an erosion in support among female voters with a symbolic nod on the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
In recent weeks, Trump has been trying to build support within the pivotal female voter constituency and has stepped up his events aimed at women. His campaign has launched a “women for Trump” bus tour, and the president has embraced a “law and order” message with renewed vigor.
The president worked in a last-minute stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a briefing about damage from the derecho last week that has left thousands without power and caused catastrophic damage across the battleground state. Many there have expressed outrage that their plight has not received more national attention.
The storm, which packed 100 mph winds and similar power to an inland hurricane, swept across the Midwest last week, blowing over trees, flipping vehicles and causing widespread damage.
“We’ve come through for you, and we will always come through for Iowa,” Trump said, as the city’s mayor urged him to consider enhanced federal disaster funding for people there.
Trump aimed to highlight his immigration agenda in Yuma, Arizona, and receive an update on construction of his southern border wall, making his second trip to the city in less than a month. It was an effort to highlight his work to deliver on a key 2016 campaign pledge.
Before leaving, Trump held a White House event to announce the pardon of Anthony, convicted of voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote. But he quickly pivoted to the upcoming election and the issue of voting by mail.
“Win, lose or draw, we have to get it right,” Trump said of the November vote count, leveling a fresh offensive against mail-in voting.
“You can’t have millions and millions of ballots sent all over the place, sent to people that are dead, sent to dogs, cats, sent everywhere,” Trump said.
In fact, voter fraud has proved exceedingly rare. The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections.
Only nine states have plans for “universal” mail-in voting, in which ballots are sent automatically to registered voters. Five of those states relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person.
Trump’s pardon announcement came on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which ensured women the right to vote. The amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Congress passed it in 1919, and the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.
Anthony was arrested for voting in Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action.
“She felt the trial was the greatest miscarriage of justice because she had not had an opportunity to have a jury of her peers, and the jury didn’t get to vote,” according to Deborah L. Hughes, president and CEO of The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester, where Anthony died in 1906.
“So to pardon her is to validate the trial, and she would not buy that idea at all,” Hughes said.
Hughes said the question to ask on the anniversary is how she would want to be honored.
“She would be the first to say if any president wanted to honor her, the best way to do that is to make sure there is no voter suppression anywhere in the United States,” Hughes said.
Before leaving Washington, the president laced into former first lady Michelle Obama — one of the most popular figures in American politics — for her convention speech in which she said Trump was “in over his head” and urged voters to turn out en masse to remove the “wrong president for our country.”
Trump responded at a White House event, saying it was Mrs. Obama who was in “over her head” and calling her remarks “divisive.”
Preparations for Trump’s own acceptance speech next week were underway at the White House. The South Lawn was filled with scaffolding and equipment that would be needed for what would appear to be a rather large stage.
As was the case Monday in Minneapolis and Wisconsin, Trump’s schedule on Tuesday did not show him venturing beyond the airport in Iowa or Arizona — a reflection of the new realities of campaigning in the midst of a pandemic. Instead, Trump has been delivering speeches that have had the feel of small outdoor rallies in airport hangars, often flouting recommendations against large gatherings and mask-wearing.
Trump is set to travel to Pennsylvania on Thursday, visiting an important battleground — and the state of Biden’s birth — ahead of his opponent’s acceptance speech.
