Ahead of Saturday’s rally, the campaign sent out a disclaimer to register, stipulating that attendees “understand and expressly acknowledge that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present” and that “in attending the event, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19, and waive, release, and discharge Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.”
The same disclaimer was listed ahead of Trump’s rally in Oklahoma last month, where several of the president’s own staffers tested positive for coronavirus. “I don’t know how much it is about New Hampshire as [it is] about getting something up on Fox that looks better than Tulsa,” Scala said.
But concerns about the president’s visit have already started to reach voters in Maine, where some business owners and residents have expressed worry that a large gathering in the neighboring state could lead to an uptick in cases up North.
“It’s clear from our conversations that people are pissed off,” Will Mantell, a spokesperson for the Progressive Turnout Project, told The Daily Beast about Trump broadly. “They’re primed and they’re ready,” he said. “Voters in Maine and New Hampshire are motivated to get Donald Trump out of office.”
The Progressive Turnout Project is attempting to convert “inconsistent Democrats”—those who may not always turn out to vote or may not have voted Democratic in the past–to become active Democratic voters in the 2020 election, having knocked on 9,000 doors in Maine and 2,200 in New Hampshire. And it’s just one of several groups also focused on youth voters. NextGen America, a progressive super PAC founded by Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer, is focusing on voter registration in 11 states, including New Hampshire and Maine, which already has one of the highest voter registration rates in the country.
