Notable Quote of the Day

“The [Sanders] campaign made three fateful, incorrect assumptions. The one that fell apart the fastest: that Sanders's landslide losses with black voters would not be repeated, because he finally had time to introduce himself and because Biden, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris would be competing for their support. Booker and Harris did not make it to South Carolina, the first primary dominated by black voters, and Sanders never made inroads beyond the younger black voters who he'd won in 2016. Five years after chastising Democrats for not ‘engaging’ in Mississippi, he would cancel his one 2020 rally in the state to campaign in Michigan.”

– David Weigel, The Washington Post

Democrats

• Joe Biden published two new healthcare and student loan debt policy proposals in a Medium post on Thursday. The first would lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. The second would “forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities for debt-holders earning up to $125,000, with appropriate phase-outs to avoid a cliff.”

• Biden called for the CDC and other agencies to release data on the income and race, in addition to age, of individuals affected by COVID-19. He said in a Medium post, “The challenge for us as leaders is ensuring support gets to those who need it immediately, and doing the necessary work to rip out the structural racism that creates these inequalities wherever we find it.”

• Eight progressive organizations, including Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, and NextGen Action, signed an open letter advising Biden on how he could appeal to young, progressive voters on climate change, gun violence prevention, immigration, healthcare, criminal justice, and other issues. The groups also requested that he appoint elected officials to his transition team that endorsed Sens. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

• Win the West released a digital ad targeting Donald Trump on his response to the coronavirus pandemic. It contrasts his statements with immunologist Anthony Fauci.

Republicans

• The Republican National Committee is airing a seven-figure ad campaign from April 13 through May 4 praising Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. One clip features two Democratic governors—Gavin Newsom (Calif.) and Andrew Cuomo (N.Y.)—saying Trump was responsive.

• The Trump campaign is renting its email list through the vendor Excelsior Strategies. Pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, is one of the groups paying for the list. The campaign said it was paying fair market value.

• Trump communications manager Tim Murtaugh spoke with Daily Caller about the four ways the campaign has changed its strategy in response to coronavirus.

Flashback: April 10, 2016

For the first time since November 2015, Donald Trump did not participate in a single Sunday morning interview on television.