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NEWTON FALLS, Ohio — Anhour after Kamala Harris was an-nounced as Joseph R. Biden Jr.’srunning mate last week, DanMoore sat in his living roomwatching the Fox News coverageof her selection.

“I would’ve liked to see anyother candidate for a V.P. than Ka-mala Harris; what’s that onewoman’s name? Amy?” said Mr.Moore, a 60-year-old boiler opera-tor at a steel plant just over thestate line in Pennsylvania. “Hewas influenced to pick a Blackwoman. I don’t understand thereasoning behind Kamala Harrisother than, from what we’re hear-ing right now, is that she knowshow to debate.”

Before Donald J. Trump began

his first presidential campaign,Mr. Moore was a reliable Demo-crat who had twice voted forBarack Obama. Like legions ofwhite union workers, he found Mr.Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge toshake up Washington appealing.He plans to vote for him again inNovember.

Two hours away in Columbus,Ohio, Mr. Moore’s stepdaughter,Kelley Boorn, cheered Ms. Har-ris’s selection. A longtime Repub-lican who was once a vehementanti-abortion activist, she shiftedher views after a difficult preg-nancy. She went from being a one-issue voter and an enthusiasticbacker of John McCain in 2008, tositting out in 2012 to becoming an

In a Shifting Ohio, Two VotersShare a Family, but Not a Party

By REID J. EPSTEIN

Continued on Page A16

Just weeks after PresidentTrump’s administration agreed topull back federal officers fromdemonstrations in Portland, Ore.,where his attempt at a high-profilecrackdown backfired, the fate ofthe city’s protests now rests to alarge extent with an altogetherdifferent leader: A brand-new, 39-year-old district attorney whose

approach to enforcing the law is ascontested as the demonstrationsthemselves.

The new prosecutor, MikeSchmidt, took office Aug. 1 afterdefeating an experienced federalprosecutor by a 3-to-1 margin inMultnomah County, which in-cludes most of Portland. Even hiscritics say the breadth of his vic-tory gave him a mandate to re-shape prosecutions in Portland, acity of frequent protests, where

there is no clear end in sight todemonstrations against policebrutality that began after thekilling of George Floyd in Minne-apolis.

He has not been slow to shake

things up: Ten days after takingoffice, Mr. Schmidt effectively dis-missed charges against more thanhalf of about 600 people arrestedsince the protests began at theend of May.

His directive met with strongobjections from the Portland po-lice and Multnomah County sher-iff. But it was in keeping with hisprogressive campaign platform as

Portland’s New D.A. Lets Off 300 Protesters as the Police FumeBy RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

Continued on Page A13

A Tightrope on Speechand Enforcement

The Food and Drug Administra-tion on Sunday gave emergencyapproval for expanded use of anti-body-rich blood plasma to helphospitalized coronavirus patients,allowing President Trump, whohas been pressuring the agency tomove faster to address the pan-demic, to claim progress on theeve of the Republican convention.

Mr. Trump cited the approval,which had been held up by con-cerns among top government sci-entists about the data behind it, aswelcome news in fighting a dis-ease that has led to 176,000 deathsin the United States and left thenation lagging far behind mostothers in the effectiveness of itsresponse.

At a news briefing, he describedthe treatment as “a powerful ther-apy” made possible “by marshal-ing the full power of the federalgovernment.”

The decision will broaden use ofa treatment that has already beenadministered to more than 70,000patients. But the F.D.A. citedbenefits for only some patients.And, unlike a new drug, plasmacannot be manufactured in mil-lions of doses; its availability islimited by blood donations. Mr.Trump urged everyone who hasrecovered from the virus to do-nate plasma, saying there is a na-tionwide campaign to collect it.

Mr. Trump has portrayed hisdemands to cut red tape andspeed approval of treatments andvaccines as a necessary responseto a public health emergency.

But Sunday’s announcementcame a day after he repeated hisunfounded claim that the F.D.A.was deliberately holding up deci-sion-making until after the elec-tion, this time citing a “deepstate.” That accusation exacerbat-ed concerns among some govern-ment scientists, outside expertsand Democrats that the presi-dent’s political needs could under-mine the integrity of the regula-tory process, hurt public confi-dence in safety and introduce adifferent kind of public health risk.

No randomized trials of the sortresearchers consider most robusthave yet shown benefit from con-valescent plasma. But the F.D.A.said the data it had so far, includ-ing more than a dozen publishedstudies, showed that “it is reason-

STUNG BY TRUMP,F.D.A. AUTHORIZESPLASMA THERAPY

NO RANDOMIZED TRIALS

Agency Was Accused of‘Deep State’ Delay

Tied to Election

This article is by Sharon LaFra-niere, Sheri Fink, Katie Thomas andMaggie Haberman.

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — When Presi-dent Trump’s strategists mappedout their plans for the criticalweek leading to the RepublicanNational Convention that wouldnominate him for a second term,the schedule somehow did not in-clude a sensational arrest on aChinese billionaire’s yacht.

The last thing the presidentwanted to see as he kick-starts hiscampaign was the architect of hislast campaign hauled away inhandcuffs on charges of bilkinghis own supporters in a build-the-wall fund-raising scam. Yet therewas Stephen K. Bannon, the mas-termind of the 2016 election, withhis hair now long and scragglyand his face weathered, marchedinto court and called a crook.

That was only part of the presi-dent’s tough week or so. In recentdays, the Senate released a damn-ing bipartisan report on Russia’sefforts to help Mr. Trump win in2016. A government agency con-cluded that a member of the presi-dent’s cabinet is serving in vio-lation of the law. A court rejectedMr. Trump’s effort to keep his taxreturns secret. Unemploymentclaims ticked back up. And formerVice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.smoothly pulled off his own con-vention without the gaffes Mr.Trump had predicted.

If that were not enough, thepresident found his family dys-function playing out in public atthe same time he was presidingover a funeral for his youngerbrother at the White House. Tapessecretly made by his niece overthe past couple of years and pro-vided to The Washington Postcaptured the president’s own sis-ter saying that he “has no princi-ples, none,” railing about “his god-damned tweet and lying” and de-nouncing his “phoniness” and“cruelty.”

It was a week that in some waysencapsulated the volatile Trumppresidency and the baggage hebrings into the contest this fallwith Mr. Biden: a team at constant

As Woes Grow,President AimsTo Recast Story

Looking to Conventionfor a Campaign Lift

By PETER BAKER

The G.O.P. convention followsa tough week for the president.

ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A14

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

A party this month in Wuhan, China, the virus’s early epicenter. With local transmissions near zero, life feels more normal. Page A5.Buoyant at Last

WASHINGTON — With the2020 census into its final stage,more than one in three peoplehired as census takers have quitor failed to show up.

Many still on the job are goingdoor to door in areas that largelytrack places where there are ele-vated rates of coronavirus infec-tions, according to calculations bythe National Conference on Citi-zenship, Civis Analytics and TheNew York Times.

And with 38 million householdsstill uncounted, state and local of-ficials are raising growing con-cerns that many poor and minor-ity households will be left out ofthe count.

Wracked by pandemic and poli-tics and desperately short of time,the last stage of the national popu-lation count — a constitutionalmandate to tally everyone livingin the United States accurately —is unfolding in historic doubt.

Covid-19 and rising mistrust ofthe government on the part ofhard-to-reach groups like immi-grants and Latinos already hadmade this census challenging. Butanother issue has upended it: anorder last month to finish thecount a month early, guaranteeingthat population figures will be de-livered to the White House whilePresident Trump is still in office.

Unlike the Postal Service, an-other fundamental American in-stitution suddenly under siegeand where problems have un-leashed a furious public backlash,the census is racing toward a fi-nale largely out of sight. But manyexperts are increasingly con-vinced that a public reckoningover a deeply flawed count may be

Census FacingSevere DoubtsOver Accuracy

By MICHAEL WINES

Continued on Page A6

JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

Marris Mielnick preparing the Antieau Gallery in New Orleans for back-to-back storms. Page A13.Louisiana Braces for Rare One-Two Punch

He jokes about running a dicta-torship. He makes his generals sa-lute his teenage son, who shareshis penchant for dressing in mili-tary uniforms. He commands abrutal security service that makespeople disappear. And whenCovid-19 arrived, he told his peo-ple to play hockey, drive tractorsand not worry about it.

Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, theembattled ruler of Belarus and themost enduring leader in the for-mer Soviet Union, heads a regimethat is less a one-party state than aone-person state. In 26 years aspresident, he has turned Belarusinto a strategically important andreliably authoritarian buffer be-

tween Russia and NATO-memberdemocracies like Poland.

Clinging to power amid massprotests this month, Mr. Luka-shenko, the former director of aSoviet collective pig farm, mightseem like a relic of an era theworld had forgotten, or barely no-ticed. But years before Vladimir V.Putin took power, vowing to“clean up” Russia, Mr. Lukashen-ko made similar promises to hiscountry, and blazed the trail Mr.

Putin would follow: an obscurefigure on an unlikely, meteoricrise to personal rule.

Since a disputed election onAug. 9, however, the biggest dem-onstrations in the country’s his-tory have tested whether Mr. Lu-kashenko’s iron-fisted suppres-sion of dissent can keep him inpower after he claimed a landslidevictory that is widely seen as fic-tion. As many as 100,000 pro-testers poured into central Minsk,the capital, on Sunday — a power-ful show of defiance in a countrywith only 9.5 million people.

Mr. Lukashenko sent his owndefiant message, flying by heli-copter to his presidential palaceand walking off to a thank a squadof riot police officers with an auto-

Defiance in Belarus Tests Limits of 26-Year RuleBy ANDREW HIGGINS

Continued on Page A11

‘Last Remaining TrueDictatorship in theHeart of Europe’

Northern California wineries have lostvaluable grapes, and revenue, in theblaze and smoke of wildfires. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-17, 20

California’s Familiar Threat

After a series of missteps, Mayor G.T.Bynum loses ground with many ofTulsa’s Black residents. PAGE A17

A Mayor on the DefensiveA hearing begins Monday for the manwho killed 51 people at two mosques inNew Zealand last year. PAGE A10

INTERNATIONAL A9-11

Christchurch Sentencing

Moscow dismisses skepticism as West-ern sour grapes. But Russian doctorsalso have concerns. PAGE A7

News of Vaccine Falls Flat

Over several days this summer, TheNew York Times tallied the face-cover-ing status of over 7,000 people at 14spots across New York City. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8

Masks and the City

Bayern Munich, an old power, overcamea new-money rival in the ChampionsLeague final. On Soccer. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-5

Champion of Champions

As politics and medicine clash, a lack oftransparency surrounds universities’calls on whether to play this fall. PAGE D1

College Football’s Mixed Signals

A historic run of government borrowinghas not led to the end of the world, thetraditional warning of deficit hawks. Infact, many say there’s room for the U.S.to take on more debt. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Over the (Red) Line

So-called special purpose acquisitioncompanies are helping manufacturersof electric vehicles raise capital, andspeeding up their journey to a listing onthe stock market. PAGE B1

Power Brokers

Nicholas Kristof PAGE A18

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

Black artists in Portland, Ore., arespeaking out on injustice. Above, “SolarPower,” by Christine Miller, KareemBlair and Danielle McCoy. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Race, Art and Protests

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,795 © 2020 The New York Times Company MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020 Printed in Chicago $3.00

Mostly sunny. Partly cloudy north.Afternoon thunderstorms east.Very warm and humid. Highs upper80s to middle 90s. Humid tonight.Weather map appears on Page D8.

National Edition