The Stakes 2020: Our lives now and texting with Rep. Grace Meng

THE LEDE

Joe Biden handily won several states on Tuesday night, but those primaries felt entirely beside the point, as my colleague Matt Berman wrote. Biden will in all likelihood be the Democratic presidential nominee, but at this moment, when we don’t even know when the next primaries will take place, it feels like the campaign happened a lifetime ago as it’s now completely frozen. As Berman aptly put it: “It’s a particularly unsettling sensation for those of us who have been covering this election and for the people working within it. It’s a feeling of running in sleet as fast as you possibly can while your family is shouting at you for your attention, and then suddenly hitting a wall and everything going silent.”

The world is completely different, and we’re all adapting the best we can. I hope you are doing well wherever you are. <3

Some programming notes:

For the time being, I’ll be focusing a lot more on what’s happening in government in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and my hope is that I’ll be doing more text interviews with members of Congress, governors, state lawmakers, and people involved in the response. As you can tell, I also won’t be publishing on a strict time/day. Who do you want to hear from? Email me: kate.nocera@buzzfeed.com.

Some programming notes, part two:

The journalists at BuzzFeed News — on every single team throughout our now entirely virtual newsroom — are working night and day to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. Seriously, check it out. It’s so damn impressive. To help keep this news free, become a member and sign up for our newsletter, Outbreak Today.

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Texting with Rep. Grace Meng

I was able to text with Grace Meng on Thursday morning, as she worked from her home in Queens. Meng represents a really diverse part of New York City, with a large Asian American population, that includes Flushing, Forest Hills, and Kew Gardens. She’s the first Asian American to be elected to Congress from New York and has been extremely vocal about calling out some of her Republican colleagues and Trump for calling the virus the “Chinese virus.” She and I spoke about her confrontation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, battling disinformation around the coronavirus, and whether members should be able to stay home.

HERE ARE SOME RELEVANT STORIES WE’VE WRITTEN THIS WEEK

(Yes, I’m aware this segment used to be called “On the Trail With BuzzFeed News,” but you know the rest.)

There’s an emerging feeling on Capitol Hill that they should not be gathering in person. Paul McLeod wrote about a proposed Senate resolution to allow remote voting during national emergencies, and Kadia Goba has the story on the members of Congress asking Nancy Pelosi to let them vote on legislation remotely.

Things got very confusing in Ohio, Henry Gomez reports, the night before the primary was supposed to take place (it ultimately didn’t happen), showing how chaotic decisions about voting are while there’s a global pandemic happening.

Emma Loop looked at the millions of dollars in federal contracts the government is handing out in response to the coronavirus.

Shortly after Congress passed a major coronavirus aid package Wednesday night, two members of Congress announced they had tested positive for COVID-19, Addy Baird reports.

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