Axios: “House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is privately encouraging voting by mail and warned President Trump the party could be ‘screwed’ by his fight against mail-in voting. The big picture: ‘We could lose based on that,’ McCarthy (R-Calif.) told me at a diner in Salt Lake City last week, during a campaign swing that began in the Pacific Northwest. McCarthy said the party can’t afford for Republicans to sit home, afraid of getting COVID-19, while Democrats flood the field with mail-in ballots. McCarthy is particularly worried about deterring senior citizens.”
“McCarthy said he’s spent hours telling Trump that this preoccupation will hurt the president’s own re-election, as well as Republicans running for Congress. ‘I tried to show him … you know who is most afraid of COVID? Seniors. And if they’re not going to go vote, period, we’re screwed,’ McCarthy told me. The other side: Trump trashes mail voting in part because he sees the messaging as good cover if he loses to Joe Biden in November, sources close to the president’s re-election campaign tell Axios.”