FLIPPABLE: Kathy Lewis for FL-SD20

Kathy Lewis grew up in Baltimore, Md., the daughter of a firefighter and a homemaker. During her childhood, Kathy lived through poverty and gun violence, but she never allowed that hardship to stop her from pursuing her dreams. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree. Then, she went on to a successful career helping others improve their lives.

Kathy, who started her career as a financial analyst. Now, she’s a writer and motivational speaker and a champion of self-advocacy. She has served on the boards of many non-profits and community organizations, including her local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa Bay and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Read more about Kathy’s leadership experience.

One of Kathy’s daughters was born with a disability. As a result, Kathy has spent more than 20 years advocating for her daughter and other families who have children with disabilities. When her daughter became eligible for Medicaid and other state benefits, the process of obtaining them proved difficult and disheartening. Kathy knows that thousands of Florida families go through this difficult process each year. Now with the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more families are experiencing it. Kathy wants to put an end to the dysfunction in our state agencies.

For Kathy, advocacy is not an abstract idea. It is about making sure the people she loves have the resources they deserve. Kathy is ready to bring that fight to Tallahassee because she knows that so many other families are hitting the same roadblocks she did. These are not partisan issues and they are not Republican or Democratic issues. They are family issues that affect the people in her community.

Kathy understands the needs of people in District 20. She will fight to make her district and the state of Florida a place where everyone can thrive.

Kathy and her husband, Bertram, have been married for 28 years. They and their two daughters have lived in Pasco County for 11 years.







https://www.kathyforflorida.com

Biden will not visit Kenosha on Monday

Joe Biden is not expected to visit Kenosha, Wis. on Monday, despite mounting pressure following Donald Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he planned to go there Tuesday.

Two sources with knowledge of the former vice president’s travel discussions say that while Biden is expected to travel, he will steer clear of the pivotal Midwestern battleground state on Monday. He is expected to address the rising tensions stemming from the unrest in Portland and Kenosha.

The thinking, according to these people, is that Trump’s trip to Kenosha could backfire on the president. The Biden campaign is ramping up its messaging that the unrest in the city and elsewhere is an outgrowth of the president's rhetoric that inflames racial tensions.

Trump announced a trip to Kenosha as he attempted to claim credit for calm on the streets of Kenosha after he made a call to bring in the National Guard.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/30/biden-not-visit-kenosha-monday-405468

Trump's still in trouble in first post-convention polling

(CNN)President Donald Trump wanted a large bounce coming out of the Republican National Convention, and early evidence is that he did not receive one. Trump may have gotten a small bump out of his convention, but he still clearly trails former Vice President Joe Biden.

If later polling data confirms this early evidence, a Trump victory hinges on him becoming the first incumbent in over 70 years to come from behind after trailing following the major party conventions.

The new ABC News/Ipsos poll is especially harsh for Trump. Although it did not poll the horse race, it did poll the candidates' favorability ratings.

Trump's favorable rating stood at 32% in an Ipsos' poll last week. Today, after the Republican National Convention, it stands at 31%.



https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/trump-biden-post-convention-polling/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Politics%29

Trump's favorability and perceptions of COVID-19 response stagnate post-convention

President Donald Trump's efforts to build his appeal and define his opponent at the Republican National Convention, using pageantry and the White House as the backdrop, had little apparent impact on the electorate's impressions of both him and former Vice President Joe Biden, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.

Trump's week of celebration did not improve his favorability, even among his own base, and the country still remains widely critical of his handling of the major crisis of his presidency: COVID-19.

Less than one-third (31%) of the country has a favorable view of the president in the days after he accepted the Republican nomination for the second time -- a stagnant reality for Trump. His favorability rating stood at 32% in the last poll, taken a week earlier, right after the Democratic National Convention.


https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-favorability-perceptions-covid-19-response-stagnate-post/story?id=72705268

'She couldn't even pronounce convalescent plasma': FDA ousts spokesperson after 2 weeks

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn on Friday ousted his top spokesperson after only two weeks on the job, a dramatic shake-up of the agency's communications strategy after FDA and its leader were engulfed by controversy related to the coronavirus response.

"Effective immediately, Emily Miller will no longer serve the FDA as the assistant commissioner for media affairs and will no longer be the official spokesperson for the Agency," Hahn wrote in an email to senior leaders that was shared with POLITICO. "I will appoint someone to an acting role in that position in the interim."

Hahn officially removed Miller, a fellow Trump appointee, from her post on Friday morning, ending a tenure that was marked by infighting and a damaging controversy this week over the FDA's emergency authorization of convalescent plasma as a Covid-19 treatment.

Colleagues said that Miller, with no prior medical or science experience, was a bad fit inside an agency rushing to fight a pandemic. "There was an inability to do anything inside the agency," said one health official. "She couldn't even pronounce convalescent plasma."



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/28/fda-top-spokesperson-leaves-404422

Extra Bonus Tweet of the Day

Texas Supreme Court Fires Judicial Assistant for Allegedly Misusing Her Position

The Texas Supreme Court terminated the employment of Amoriss Mallett, who was executive assistant to Justice Jeff Boyd, after concluding she misused her position to try to assist an El Paso municipal court judge, making it seem she was acting on the court's or Boyd's behalf, when she was not.


https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2020/08/08/texas-supreme-court-fires-judicial-assistant-for-allegedly-misusing-her-position/

TX-07: Lizzie Fletcher launches first TV ads in Houston congressional race

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher is out with her first television ad for her re-election campaign in Houston’s 7th Congressional District.

In the new ad that starts airing on TV this week, the Democrat touts her record of supporting energy sector jobs and “working with both parties” to get things done in Washington.

Republicans have made retaking the seat a top priority. Earlier this year, the Congressional Leadership Fund announced plans to spend at least $3 million to help Hunt win the district, which includes west Houston and the Energy Corridor.

Fletcher had a financial advantage over Hunt, according to the latest federal campaign finance reports. Fletcher entered July with $3.5 million in her campaign account. Hunt had just over $1 million.




https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Lizzie-Fletcher-launches-first-TV-ads-in-Houston-15497683.php

Republicans ask Texas Supreme Court to boot Libertarians off ballot

AUSTIN — About a week after Texas Democrats took several Green Party candidates to court and had them knocked off the ballot for failing to pay candidate filing fees, state and national Republicans are taking a similar case to the state's highest civil court.

The Third Court of Appeals ruled against three Green Party candidates, but in the case of the Libertarians, the court dismissed the case as moot, saying it was no longer timely because the Aug. 21 deadline to declare a candidate ineligible had passed. The Republicans’ petition was filed Aug. 21.

This latest lawsuit filed by the Republicans names 40 Libertarian candidates, including two candidates for Texas Supreme Court, three for Texas Senate, 10 for Texas House and 25 for Congress.

The high court doesn’t have much time to take action: Friday was the deadline for the Secretary of State to certify candidates for the ballot.

“It’s a last-ditch effort on their part,” said Libertarian Party of Texas Chair Whitney Bilyeu. “They’re clearly desperate to do everything they can to remove voter choice at the polls to continue to have a one-party state here in Texas.”

The Libertarians say their candidates chose not to pay the fee for various reasons: some were taking a personal stand against a law they believe to be unconstitutional, some filed with the Secretary of State during a window of time when a judge had temporarily blocked the law, and others simply did not have the funds.



https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Republicans-ask-Texas-Supreme-Court-to-boot-15522515.php

Bonus Tweet of the Day