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BANGOR, Maine — Senator Su-san Collins of Maine seemed tohave a challenge on her hands.

A Republican running for re-election in a difficult year for herparty, Ms. Collins was opposed bya well-funded Democrat with a po-litical base in vote-rich SouthernMaine who was hoping to capital-ize on the unpopularity of the Re-publican in the White House. Butin that 2008 race, even as theG.O.P. presidential nominee lostMaine by 17 percentage points,Ms. Collins won re-election byover 20 points, carrying everycounty in the state.

That was then.Twelve years after what Ms.

Collins thought was the most diffi-cult re-election of her career, she isfacing eerily similar circum-stances — but this time she’s inthe fight of her political life. And itis what has changed since 2008 inMaine, the Republican Party andpolitics broadly that could end hercareer.

The four-term senator has

Collins in PerilAs Maine LosesPolitical Center

By JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page A19

POVALIKHINO, Russia —With election day looming, Niko-lai Loktev was in a panic: Themayor of a tiny village of loghouses, wood-burning stoves and

rutted dirt roads300 miles east ofMoscow, he wasrunning for re-

election unopposed.In a Western democracy, this

would not necessarily set offalarms; it might even be wel-comed. But in Russia, whereelections are rigged and theruling United Russia party virtu-ally always wins, the bedrockpolitical principle is to create theillusion of democratic choice.

For that, Mr. Loktev needed anopponent.

But it was proving difficult tofind one in the village. He hadalready asked a number of Pova-likhino’s residents, including hisassistant at city hall and a mem-ber of the Communist Party whohad run and lost in elections in2011, but both declined.

When he finally found who hethought was a willing patsy inthe person of one Marina Udgod-skaya, who cleans City Hall, hethought his troubles were over.

But then she won.Nobody was more surprised

than Ms. Udgodskaya, who didnot campaign and who said shehad agreed to run in the electionlast month only to help her boss.

“He just needed somebody

else, anybody at all, so the elec-tion could take place,” Ms. Ud-godskaya said.

At first, she said, she was“worried and confused” whenthe results rolled in, but she isnow quite clearly warming to the

idea of the mayoralty. “Youshouldn’t expect anything in anelection,” she said.

She agreed to be sworn in,more than doubling her salary to29,000 rubles, or about $380 a

She Used to Clean a Russian Town’s City Hall. Now She Runs It.By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Marina Udgodskaya did not campaign in the mayoral race in Povalikhino, Russia. She won anyway.EMILE DUCKE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A11

RUSSIADISPATCH

The United States is in themidst of one of the most severesurges of the coronavirus to date,with more new cases reportedacross the country on Friday thanon any other single day since thepandemic began.

Since the start of October, therise in cases has been steady andinexorable, with no plateau insight. By Friday evening, morethan 82,000 cases had been re-ported nationwide, breaking a sin-gle-day record set on July 16 bymore than 3,000 cases.

By that measure, Friday wasthe worst day of the pandemic,and health experts warned of afurther surge as cold weather setsin. The number of people hospital-ized with Covid-19 has already ris-en 40 percent in the past month.Deaths have remained relativelyflat but are often a lagging indica-tor.

The latest outbreaks, trackedby The New York Times using re-ports from state and local healthdepartments, are scattered acrossthe country, in states like Illinoisand Rhode Island, which are expe-riencing a second upswing, and in

places like Montana and SouthDakota, which are still enduring afirst flood of cases.

Thirteen states have addedmore new confirmed coronaviruscases in the past week than in anyother seven-day stretch. As of Fri-day, six states had set or tiedweekly records for new deaths.Wisconsin had its deadliest day ofthe pandemic on Wednesday, with47 total deaths announced.

The geography of the pandemichas constantly changed since thecoronavirus reached the UnitedStates last winter. Outbreaksstruck the Northeast in thespring, the Sun Belt in the sum-mer and now the states of the Mid-west and the West, which hold the10 counties in the country with themost recent cases per capita.

“It’s been rise after rise afterrise, week after week,” said Dr.Tom Inglesby, director of the Cen-ter for Health Security at theJohns Hopkins Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health. “Nothing hasbeen added to the mix that’s goingto make things slow down.”

For many, the soaring numbersbrought back ragged memories ofwhat it was like in mid-July, whenthe virus was raging through the

New Peak for U.S. Cases:Over 82,000 in Single Day

13 States Endure Their Worst Week Yet —Warnings of a Cold-Weather Surge

This article is by Campbell Rob-ertson, Edgar Sandoval, LucyTompkins and Simon Romero.

Continued on Page A7

Belgium postponedall nonessential hospitalwork as coronaviruspatients doubled.

More than a fifth of intensivecare beds in Spain areoccupied by Covid-19 patients.

About one in 10 medical workers are infected or quarantined in parts of the Czech Republic, where the hospitalization rate is higher than Britain at its peak.

100 200 400 800

Cases per 100,000 in the past 14 days

An abrupt surge of seriously ill Covid-19 patients is threatening hospitals across Europe. People in France, Italy, Poland and Spain are now more likely to be hospitalized with the virus than those in the United States. Page A6.

Europe’s Second Wave

Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; New York Times database ALLISON MCCANN AND LAUREN LEATHERBY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

SPAIN

FRANCE

U.K.

PORTUGAL

ITALY

GERMANY

NORWAY

SWEDEN

POLAND

BELARUS

UKRAINE

ROMANIA

GREECE

SERBIA

FINLAND

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

HUNGARY

BULGARIA

CROATIA

IRELAND

AUSTRIA

NETHERLANDS

CZECH REP.

BELGIUM

SLOVAKIA

RUSSIA

TURKEY

DENMARK

WASHINGTON — Joseph R.Biden Jr.’s pledge Thursday nightto “transition away from the oil in-dustry” to address global warm-ing put the topic of climate changeon center stage for the finalstretch of a campaign year inwhich the issue has played alarger role than ever.

Mr. Biden’s statement in theclosing moments of Thursday’sdebate gave President Trumpwhat his campaign saw as anenormous opportunity to blunt hisopponent’s appeal to working-class voters. Mr. Biden’s cam-paign tried to downplay it, sayinghe was merely stating that hewould phase out longstanding taxsubsidies for the oil industry.

But transitioning away fromfossil fuels is the inevitable endgame of Mr. Biden’s promise toend net carbon pollution by 2050.That policy has energized someyoung voters and helped unite theDemocrats’ left and moderatewings, but has always carriedrisks for Mr. Biden.

“Last night, Joe Biden issued acrystal-clear threat to 19 millionAmericans with his promise toeliminate the oil industry. Noamount of spin or cleanup from Bi-den or his team can rectify this er-ror,” Steve Guest, a RepublicanNational Committee spokesman,said Friday morning.

In no political year has climatechange been as dominant an issueas in 2020.

Both presidential debatesdelved into the matter in depth forthe first time in history. Mr. Bidencampaigned hard on promises toreduce planet-warming emis-sions, proposing a $2 trillion pro-gram to promote clean energy,construct 500,000 electric vehiclecharging stations and build 1.5million new energy-efficienthomes.

President Trump has workedsporadically to moderate his long-time climate denial by promotingtree-planting as an environmentalsolution, even as he has main-tained his avid support for the coaland oil industries, taken steps toroll back climate regulation imple-

After Debate,Climate Takes

Center StageBy LISA FRIEDMAN

Continued on Page A13

In President Trump’s telling, heis a committed philanthropist withstrong ties to many charities. “Ifyou don’t give back, you’re neverever going to be fulfilled in life,” hewrote in “Trump 101: The Way toSuccess,” published at the heightof his “Apprentice” fame.

And according to his taxrecords, he has given back at least$130 million since 2005, his secondyear as a reality TV star.

But the long-hidden taxrecords, obtained by The NewYork Times, show that Mr. Trumpdid not have to reach into his wal-let for most of that giving. Thevast bulk of his charitable tax de-ductions, $119.3 million worth,came from simply agreeing not todevelop land — in several cases,after he had shelved developmentplans.

Three of the agreements in-volved what are known as conser-vation easements — a maneuver,popular among wealthy Ameri-cans, that typically allows a land-owner to keep a property’s titleand receive a tax deduction equalto its appraised value. In thefourth land deal, Mr. Trump donat-ed property for a state park.

The New York attorney generalis investigating whether the ap-praisals on two of Mr. Trump’seasement donations were improp-erly inflated to win larger taxbreaks, according to court filings.

Mr. Trump’s pronouncements ofphilanthropic largess have been

broadly discredited by reporting,most notably in The WashingtonPost, that found he had exaggerat-ed, or simply never made, an ar-ray of claimed contributions. Hisown charitable foundation shutdown in 2018 amid allegations ofself-dealing to benefit Mr. Trump,his businesses and his campaign.

But the tax data examined byThe Times lends new authorityand far greater precision to thosefindings. The records, encompass-ing his reported philanthropic ac-tivity through 2017, reveal not onlyits exact dimensions; they showthat much of his charity has comewhen he was under duress — fac-ing damage to his reputation orbig tax bills in years of high in-come.

Of the $7.5 million in businessand personal cash contributionsreported to the Internal RevenueService since 2005, more than 40

Tax Records Contradict Trump Claims of CharityThis article is by Susanne Craig,

Russ Buettner and Mike McIntire.

Continued on Page A18

Big Bulk of Donations inForm of Land Deals,Netting Write-Offs As the first coronavirus vac-

cines arrive in the coming year,government researchers will facea monumental challenge: moni-toring the health of hundreds ofmillions of Americans to ensurethe vaccines do not cause harm.

Purely by chance, thousands ofvaccinated people will have heartattacks, strokes and other ill-nesses shortly after the injections.Sorting out whether the vaccineshad anything to do with their ail-ments will be a thorny problem,requiring a vast, coordinated ef-fort by state and federal agencies,hospitals, drug makers and insur-ers to discern patterns in a flood of

data. Findings will need to beclearly communicated to a dis-trustful public swamped with dis-information.

For now, Operation WarpSpeed, created by the Trump ad-ministration to spearhead devel-opment of coronavirus vaccinesand treatments, is focused on get-ting vaccines through clinical tri-als in record time and manufac-turing them quickly.

The next job will be to monitorthe safety of vaccines once they’rein widespread use. But the admin-istration last year quietly dis-banded the office with the exper-

Who’ll Be in Charge of Safety?Looming Worry on a Vaccine

By CARL ZIMMER

Continued on Page A5

TRIALS RESUME Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca restarted theirlate-stage vaccine trials after pausing over safety. PAGE A6

A squalid tent camp on the Mexicanborder is the result of PresidentTrump’s limits on asylum. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-21

Refugee Camp at U.S. DoorstepAbigail DeVille’s Madison Square Parksculpture, “Light of Freedom,” conjuresa long line of freedom fighters. PAGE C6

ARTS C1-6

Liberty’s Torch Reimagined

Myss Keta, an Italian rapper, was longdistinguished by masks she wore tohide her identity. Now, everyone lookslike her. The Saturday Profile. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A8-11

It Was Her Look. Now Look.Uber, Lyft and DoorDash are among thecompanies that have spent nearly $200million to support a California proposi-tion that could save them from a newlabor law they say is too costly. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Gig Giants in Big Ballot Fight

Israel and Sudan have opened economicties as a path toward normalized rela-tions, President Trump said. PAGE A9

Another Deal With Israel

A memo told federal officials, such asthose in OSHA, to hold back on newsreleases about findings of violations,saying they can linger unfairly online ifcitations are overturned. PAGE B1

Quieting Labor Enforcement

After a horrific summer of blazes in theWest, Colorado fights an out-of-controlinferno as ski season nears. PAGE A20

Everlasting Fire Season

Jamelle Bouie PAGE A22

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23On HBO’s “How to With John Wilson,”the filmmaker offers an anthropologicaltake on fellow New Yorkers. PAGE C1

Those Absurd UrbanitesThe pandemic has toned down thisyear’s clinching celebrations. But theremay soon be one big party. PAGE B7

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-9

Baseball’s Dry 2020 Playoffs

THIS WEEKEND

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,856 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2020

Today, variable clouds after morn-ing fog, high 69. Tonight, partlycloudy, cooler, low 43. Tomorrow,clouds and sunshine, breezy, cooler,high 54. Weather map, Page B12.

$3.00