LAS VEGAS (AP) - President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in Nevada has returned to in-person campaigning after moving to an online-only operation for several months because of the coronavirus.
Campaign spokesman Keith Schipper told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that door-knocking and volunteer training sessions for the Republican’s campaign restarted on June 8.
Schipper said that the first weekend after resuming in-person campaigning, June 13 and 14, the campaign knocked on 9,000 doors and recruited 125 volunteers in Nevada. Trump lost the state in 2016 but it’s considered a swing state and is among several battlegrounds that the Trump reelection campaign is targeting.
Schipper said campaign staff and volunteers are required to wear masks and practice physical distancing at events, inside campaign offices or knocking on doors. Volunteers are also encouraged to make appointments before showing up at campaign offices, which are restricted to 50% capacity. Campaign staff are still encouraged to work remotely when possible.
Despite the precautions taken by his campaign on the ground, Trump himself has long resisted wearing a mask in public. In April, he said he would not be following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures were difficult to maintain.
He embraced masks this week, saying in an interview with Fox Business that he thinks he looks like the Lone Ranger in a mask and likes it. His comments comments came a day after Republican lawmakers suggested that he wear a mask in public to set a good example for Americans.
On the other side of the aisle, the Nevada campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says it does not want to put staff, volunteers or supports “in harm’s way,” with in-person campaigning.
Instead, Biden’s team said they are still running a virtual campaign in Nevada, holding phone banks and virtual meetings with Biden and surrogates and supporters.
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