Now on bbc news. It is 4 30am in the morning. Its hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk, im stephen sackur. The death toll from covid 19 in the us has risen beyond 70,000. It is expected to top 100,000 by the end of the month. At the same time, donald trump is doubling down on his calls for american states to ease the lockdown and get back to work. In this president ial election year, dealing with the pandemic has become the dominant political issue. My guest today is Jaime Harrison, a senior official in the Democratic Party who is running for the us senate in South Carolina. Has covid 19 changed americas Political Landscape . Jaime harrison, in South Carolina, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, stephen. It is good to see you again. Well, its great to have you back on this show. I wonder, as a politician who is running for the us senate in november, ijust wonder whether covid 19 and the pandemic feels like its changed everything in us politics right now . Stephen, youre right. It has changed everything. There is now a new normal as it relates to even campaigning. We were one of the very first Senate Campaigns that pulled down all of our Public Events and went virtual. So ever since the beginning of march, we have been doing virtual everything, from town halls to even our Community Service initiative. We have been raising funds for Community Organisations online in order to support the efforts that they are doing in the communities. Its different. It is very, very different and, for many us politicians, you know, we are so used to having these large gatherings, rallies. In the south, our fish fries and spaghetti dinners you know, its food and getting people together is very integral in terms of how we campaign, particularly in the south, but we are not able to do that right now and so, it is different. You paint a graphic picture of the way politics works in the deep south, but ijust wonder whether it is a real problem for you as a challenger, the underdog. Youre a democrat who is facing senator Lindsey Graham, who has held the South Carolina senate seat, or one of the two of them, for a long time and because you are not getting the exposure, because youre not able to do the rallies, doesnt it play into the hands of the incumbent . You know, i can see that there is an advantage for some incumbents in this race but i dont see that in my particular race, and thats because the frustration level with Lindsey Graham is so high in this state. There are a lot of people who are very agitated by the senator even in this age of talking about the coronavirus, he has put his foot in his mouth multiple times. Right now, hes demonising many of the folks here in South Carolina there are almost half a Million People who have claimed unemployment, so Lindsey Graham right now is fighting, he said, over his dead body will the us senate allow for an extension of the 600 benefit to those individuals. And thats making a lot of people agitated and upset and so, you know, for many incumbents versus challengers, the incumbent does have an advantage but we dont see that in our particular race. Ive been looking at a lot of polling across the us about peoples attitudes as this pandemic sweeps across the United States and there seems to be, in a sense, a real contradiction in peoples attitudes. On the one hand, a clear majority say that they believe their lives will return to normal within the next few months, but at the same time, a clear majority say that they believe america will never be the same again, that it will have long term consequences in terms of work, healthcare, education, travel, and even socialising as well. As a politician, what is your message to the people of South Carolina . That this is a watershed moment, that changes everything in america . Or simply that this needs managing so that america can go back to normal . You know, i think things will change in this country as a result of the coronavirus. It has exposed some of the disparities that have been here for generations, and now we are seeing how they can be how they are amplified and impacting all types of communities, notjust our poor communities or communities of colour or rural communities, but all of our communities. And so what it is going to mean is, we are going to need a whole new generation of political leaders in this country that will focus on making sure that if this type of situation happen again, that some of the difficulties that people are experiencing right now, are not the that is not what happens the next time around. You know, from the healthcare disparities to just the fact that here in South Carolina, prior to the coronavirus, a third of our state did not have access to broadband. So just think about that. This is 2020. It should be that, just like you have electricity lines going into your home, you should have broadband being piped into your home. Interesting that you say this is a time that calls for a new generation of political leaders. Of course, the truth is that your country is led by a 70 something and he is being challenged for the white house by another 70 something and isnt the reality that you have to face as a democrat in South Carolina that right now, for good or ill, President Donald Trump is dominating the political debate, he is sucking out all of the oxygen from the air when it comes to the United States and its response to coronavirus. And the democrats look as though, frankly, they dont really have much to say. I am not seeing that from our perspective. At this point, you take a look at the polling number right now and when folks are taking a look at the performance from the white house, its not very positive. And it is partly because what we are seeing is, instead of having leadership on all levels from the federal to the state to the local, all singing from the same hymn books you are seeing this discombobulated sense of strategy. And what the American People need right now is a steady hand. The American People need someone who, or a group of leaders, who will focus on doing what is in the best interest of the people of this great nation, and to do it singing from the same hymn book and so, we are not seeing that from the white house right now. I mean, many times, some of these conferences, the president will say one thing and his advisers will say another and so, we just need to focus on letting folks understand that things are going to get better. Theres going to be some hard times but things will get better and we will provide the type of leadership that they need. Just seems that the Democratic Party has a message right now, which is telling the us public that donald trump, in his constant messaging that America Needs to get back to work, needs to be open for business, your partys message seems to be that mr trump is obsessed with putting money over human life, with markets over medicine as one progressive wrote in the New York Times recently but that could backfire on you guys, because there is no doubt the American People who have seen unemployment in the last six weeks soar by some, what, 25 30 million newjobless, they want to get back to work. Well, i think we all want to get back to some sense of normalcy, and i think that is what you are hearing from our party as well, but we understand this the greatest asset, the thing that makes America Great is notjust, yes, we have great businesses and corporations, but the thing that makes this country great are our people. And we got to, first and foremost, make sure that we are investing in the greatest asset that we have, which are our people. And thats all of the people, notjust a select group or a select few. And so, thats what we are working on right now, making sure that we are doing things that are really in the best interest. Thats what i am working on on my campaign right now. I am making sure that the seniors are taken care of in this country or in South Carolina. I am making sure that the folks who are essential workers, these are people who are making barely minimum wage, that we take care of them as well. And so, thats the greatest asset because if we dont take care of our people. But, but, hang on, Jaime Harrison. Lets be specific about this. You know, South Carolina has a governor, a republican governor who wants to get stuff opened as quickly as possible. I believe he has announced that restaurants will soon be able to serve customers again, albeit out of doors, he then wants to open them up more widely. He wants to get retail going again, he wants to get people going back to work on a much larger scale. He says that its time. Are you saying to your people in South Carolina that he is wrong . I am saying that right now, the medical experts have not said this is good. When you look at South Carolina and the escalation of the coronavirus cases here, there has not been a decline in South Carolina, not at all. There has not been a day thats been less than the day before. And so that brings me great cause and caution. What you are seeing is, and what i mentioned earlier on, is that you are seeing that what was said on a state level is sometimes what is different on the local level. So many of the mayors, when the governor moved to open up our beaches, the mayors of that town said no youre not. You are not opening up our beaches because we dont want to see an increase in the coronavirus cases. With all of this debate about whether it is time and the dangers of opening up too soon, where isjoe biden . You know, he is yourfigurehead, he is the guy whos going to take your party through the november president ial election, and to quote one progressive lawyer and commentator in the nation magazine, elie mystal, he says joe biden has got to do better. If he wants to be a president , he has got to start acting like one. He goes on to say Elizabeth Warren has a more concrete and detailed plan for taking her dog on a walk thanjoe biden does for leading this country through the current tragedy. Whats going on . Listen, Vice President biden has been and every day that i see, he is always on television talking about what we need to do as a nation right now. He is bringing some calm to this storm that we are constantly in, and that is what we all have to do. That is what i am trying to do on my race. My grandma had a saying that, jaime, you control what you can control. And that means, you do what you can do within the power that you have to do it, and i think that is what the Vice President is doing. He is trying to be a sense of calm in this really great storm that we have. Im trying to be a sense of calm here in South Carolina. We are doing things on the ground to help people right now. You know, we have this programme called harrison helps, where we have helped 10,000 people. We fed folks, weve given them hygiene kits, we have done things on the ground to help people, so i constantly tell folks, go to my website jaimeharrison. Com, see what we are trying to do here to bring some calm here to South Carolina. Let me be blunt do you think race is part of this debate . In that we have seen that covid 19 has disproportionately hit the black, latino, the ethnic minority communities across the United States and in your state of South Carolina. Do you think that donald trump, in his desire to open up the country, get back to business all those phrases he uses is discounting those lives . Well, it is not about, i think, discounting lives, but the existing health disparities, the existing racial disparities, the existing economic disparities that were here prior to covid, are now again being amplified because of the situation that we are in. Many of the essential workers the people who are working at grocery stores, the people who are working in all of these jobs that we need to still operate the folks who occupy those jobs are, it tends to be minorities or lower income folks, and so, these folks are at the front lines. They dont have the opportunity to say that they can work from home because of the economic anxieties and disparities that they face. And so, right now what it is exposing is those disparities that we have in our society and that is what we have to work on. We have to work on here in South Carolina the lack of medicaid expansion. You know, republicans refused to expand medicaid, to give Health Insurance to workers in the state. As a result, that has amplified the problem that we have. Rural hospitals have closed in South Carolina. The covid have amplified that particular situation and so, that means once we get out of this, we need to address those problems that are underlying in this pandemic that we are facing right now. One other element of Donald Trumps messaging that you and the Democratic Party are going to have to figure out how to deal with is his now constant attacks on china. He began by calling it the wuhan and the chinese virus, and right now he is saying that there has to be a way in which china pays for what he describes as the chinese failure to control the pandemic. Now, i wonder how you democrats are going to deal with that . Im noticing a lot of candidates across the United States on the republican side are now talking of making china pay. The public, according to the polls, now take a very negative view of chinas role. So what are you and your party going to say . Right now, i think, the people that i talk to, the Small Business owners here in South Carolina, the folks that are working in some of our hospitals they still do not have ppes instead of talking about china, they want to hear from our leaders right now, how are you going to make sure that we have the materials that we need in order to protect ourselves, our families and our communities . And so that should be our focus right now. You know, this tit and tat back and forth between china and the United States you can do that after the coronavirus has passed us. Lets focus on the fact that people are suffering right now. Folks do not have jobs. Some people still do not have the payments from the carers act that the white house, and senate and house promised them that they would get. Focus on the people of South Carolina and the people across this country. Use all the other political stuff with china when we have the bandwidth in order to focus with that. We do not have the patience right now to address that in our state. Lets consider whether you have been reading us politics right over the last couple of years, cause im very mindful that a couple of years ago you spoke to me and you said this, what donald trump is doing to the Republican Party is killing that party in the long term. He is splintering it, hes almost like a secret weapon for the Democratic Party. Here we are, two years on, the polls show that donald trump still has an incredibly loyal core support admittedly the polls also show that he may be five points behind biden in the president ial race right now but everybody says that, in the key battleground states, it is too close to call. Donald trump is much more durable, is he not, then you have ever expected . Just remember, i also reminded you that the democrats were going to take the house back that election cycle and they did. Make another. | am going to put my nostradamus cap on Jaime Harrison is going to win the Us Senate Race against Donald Trumps good friend, Lindsey Graham, this cycle as well. Listen, in the end of the day, what the American People are looking for is real, true and tested leadership, someone who is not going to demonise the American People, but is going to be there to protect them, to fight for them, and to push for them, theirfamilies and their communities, and that is what democrats, that is whatjoe biden, that is what i am trying to do right now on this race, each and every day. Now, the republicans have their own battles that they have to deal with, and i will let them deal with that, but i think what we can control is the message that we put out, the policies that we put forward, and making our case to the American People that, under our leadership, things will get better, that you do not have to worry about crazy tweets at night, that you can focus on and we can focus on the issues that you are dealing with on a day to day basis, not harking back to the past but look to the future of where this country and where my state is going, and that is what we are focused on right now. I want to talk about your state because it is interesting to look at whether you as a democrat can make a breakthrough in the south, but before we do that, just one more question on the horse race for the white house. How comfortable are you supporting joe biden you have come out in strong support of him when you, over the years, have been a man who has defended womens rights, has spoken out very strongly on feminist issues, and you now find thatjoe biden is facing accusations from tara reade that, way back in the early 1990s, he sexually assaulted her, in the us congress building. It is very hard for some democrats not to take seriously the painful words coming from a woman who feels she was abused byjoe biden. Listen, i believe we should always listen to women, and we should thoroughly review all of these allegations that come up and i believe that is what is happening in this case. The media has thoroughly reviewed the washington post, the New York Times these claims, and there is nothing that i have read in the news thus far or have seen from those reports and assessments that i have heard that has shaken my confidence in Vice President biden. And so im going to always keep an open mind, im always going to listen, to hear these allegations, and to see the review of those claims, to see the validity of those claims and, again, i have not seen anything that i have read thus far that has shaken my confidence. You said youre going to be nostradamus and youre going to predict your own victory in november, in South Carolina, but the polls suggest youre not going to win. Lindsey graham has a lead of you, just as donald trump still has a lead overjoe biden, in South Carolina, according to the polls. Isnt the truth that, in the south, the Democratic Party still has a fundamental problem and it certainly is not making inroads amongst the working class, the poorer white people that you would need to draw into your coalition if you were to win in South Carolina . Oh, that is that is not that is a bunch of falseness there. Listen, in the end of the day, the poll that is the most valuable poll is the poll that takes place in november, when all the people go to the polls and actually cast their ballots. What were seeing here in South Carolina is the emergence of what i call a new south, a new south that is bold, that is inclusive, that is diverse. The coalition that were building you know, i am running against a guy who has been in washington, dc, for well over 20 years, right. I am a newcomer, im just a poor kid that grew up in orangeburg, South Carolina, that grew up on welfare and food stamps. Last quarter i out raised Lindsey Graham. I raised 7. 35 million to his 5. 6 million. I hear you but look at all of the names that we have seen who have been regarded as the bright new hopes of the Democratic Party in the south in recent years im thinking of stacey abrahams, in georgia, andrew gillum, beto orourke, in texas all of these names, they all have one thing in common, they ended up losing. And youre probably going to end up losing too. Well, stephen, i do not think so, my friend, as again, as i told you the dems were going to win the house, were going to win the senate and i am going to win also. And part of that is, we are seeing a changing of the guard here in South Carolina. Just this past week, this past week, Dick Wilkerson, who is the head of michelin north america, the Largest Corporation in South Carolina, this is a guy who has worked with Lindsey Graham and worked with me he supported Lindsey Graham, he was on Lindsey Grahams finance, co chair of Lindsey Grahams finance committee when he ran for president. Dick wilkerson came out and supported me in this race. That is huge and its sort of ill give you the equivalent, think of mount olympus, that is what michelin is here in South Carolina, and Dick Wilkerson was zeus it is having zeus come on your side and saying, you know what, jaime, you are going to win this race, and that is why we know were going to do it. Well, zeus is kind of a cool guy to have on your side but, rather more important is having all the Bernie Sanders supporters on your side, at least, maybe not so much in South Carolina, but certainly across the country. The Democratic Party is not going to take back the white house unless all of those leftists and progressives within the Democratic Party meet common cause Withjoe Biden and people like you, a well known centrist, but the progressives look at the biden agenda right now, they see very little, to quote some of them, that is different, frankly, from donald trump. Why are the sanders people coming over to you in november . This is what ive been telling folks across South Carolina, and the message that ive relayed to Vice President biden, in the end of the day, this is not about democrats versus republicans, its not about progressive versus conservative, it is about what is right versus what is wrong. There is a lot wrong that is going on right now in the United States, theres a lot that is wrong going on right now here, in South Carolina. If we as a party and as leaders of this party can focus on the right things, we will see that we will attract, not only democrats but progressives, independents, and even some moderate republicans on board. We have already seen that in this race and you will see more of that as we get closer to november. Jaime harrison, we have run out of time. I thank you very much for being on hardtalk. We will revisit this after the november election. Thanks very much forjoining us. It was good to see you, stephen, take care. Hello there. Well, we may well be heading towards the middle part of may, but im sure yesterday felt more like winter for some. Take sennybridge in wales for example, with a temperature to start the day at 4. 7. It was the coldest may night for 25 years in wales. Further north, the wintery fun didnt stop there because in shetland we had some snow falling, and down south, relatively, in orkney, we had a bit of snow covering the grassy surfaces as well with that colder air arriving behind this cold front. Now, as we go through the next few hours, that is pushing southwards. Its weakening all the while, but its still going to be enough just enough to knock down the temperatures a few degrees across eastern parts of england. So it is going to feel a little bit cooler as we head into wednesday. As i say, though, the front itself is going to disintegrate, so any rain will tend to die away over the next few hours. And in many ways, its a reversal of fortunes compared with last night. England and wales, quite a lot of places frost free. Scotland, a sharp frost developing here. So, wednesday, a cold start to the day. Scotland, Northern England with some sunshine, a few showers across northern and eastern areas. And after a cloudy start across wales, parts of the midlands, east anglia, southern england, that cloud will probably tend to break up with some spells of sunshine coming through. And as for the wind, may sunshine is quite strong, so it probably will feel ok. But underneath those cloudier moments, and particularly where its breezy with the onshore winds, it will feel quite chilly. Now for thursday, weve got the winds turning more to a north westerly direction, not the warmest of directions, but it will be bringing some slightly less cold air in across scotland and northern ireland, with temperatures popping back up to around 12 14 degrees or so. It will be cloudy, therell be some patches of rain at times across the north west. Bright skies further south. And then for friday, again, weve got another weak weather front working into the north west of scotland, bringing a few patches of rain here. Otherwise, its a dry picture with cloud thinning and breaking at times to give some sunny spells. Temperatures rising, highs of 17 degrees in both london and cardiff. Now, into the weekend, our area of High Pressure thats been influencing the weather for a few days now begins to slip its way a little bit further southward whilst weakening. And that will allow these atlantic fronts to move in across Northern Areas of the uk. So, it will turn quite cloudy across northern parts, with the threat of some rain scotland, maybe northern ireland, too. England and wales, largely dry and bright and a bit milder for most as well. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Im tim willcox. Workers in england can go to work again from today, but not in the rest of the uk. France is also easing restrictions on its lockdown, despite the rising toll from the virus. 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