our embeds share their stories

With less than 24 hours to go until Election Day in America, we asked our campaign embeds to share one thing that stood out to them in the final days of campaigning.

Here’s what they said:

Donald Judd, embed with Donald Trump’s campaign:

“In the final month of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump took every opportunity to minimize the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the nation, even as he contracted the very virus he sought to downplay. 

And that’s how, on a humid Monday, I found myself on an airplane tarmac, almost a week and a half after the President revealed he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus, I found myself on a packed-to-the-gills airport tarmac, surrounded by supporters of the President. There was no effort to enforce social distancing, and masks were handed out, but few members of the audience opted to wear them. 

 Even as cases steadily increased, reaching global record-setting levels, it struck home that even as this White House was experiencing its own coronavirus outbreak (and it would subsequently experience another before Election Day), even as its strategy of “testing frequently over masks or distancing protocol” failed, even as cases steadily rose across the country, the President continued to tell supporters he was now immune, that the country was rounding the turn on a virus, that a vaccine was on its way before Election Day, in spite of what medical experts said.

The President’s own Coronavirus case served as a microcosm of the campaign’s attitude towards the pandemic writ large, and through the campaign’s strategy minimizing it, obfuscating around it, relying on misinformation about it, and ultimately ignoring it, it offered a glimpse into how we got where we are today, nearly eight months after the US reported its first coronavirus case.”

Sarah Mucha, embed with Joe Biden’s campaign:

“Having covered Joe Biden’s campaign from the beginning, I’ve seen every high and low: from the former vice president’s fourth-place finish in Iowa to his sweeping victory in South Carolina that set him on the path to the Democratic nomination.

I attended events in New Hampshire where he struggled to get an audience of more than 100 people, and I’ve seen him campaign alongside his former boss and top surrogate, Barack Obama, as the Democratic nominee.Throughout those highs and lows of the campaign, however, Biden’s message has stayed consistent.

He’s painted himself as the antithesis to Donald Trump, attempting to strike a stark contrast on leadership with the current President. That attempt to illustrate the difference between himself and Trump has only grown stronger as the nation faces several crises, including the coronavirus pandemic, and Biden puts the responsibility squarely on the President’s shoulders.

In the final months of the campaign, that contrast has manifested itself in the way the candidates have chosen to campaign amid the pandemic. In lieu of holding many, big in-person rallies, Biden has opted to hold fewer, ‘Covid-safe’ events, including some drive-in style rallies.”