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00:00When it comes to messaging and Democrats who are on the campaign trail as we speak with a Congress that
00:05is not in Washington,
00:07is this an ad that's already been written for you by the president?
00:11Well, certainly. I mean, of course, we've already started playing it.
00:15We've already been pushing it out all throughout the country,
00:17because what a remarkable statement from a president of the United States to suggest that the only thing the federal
00:24government should be focused in on is, of course,
00:26fighting wars of choice around the world at an enormous expense, at the expense of hardworking Americans right now who
00:34are who are really struggling based on this disastrous economic policy
00:38that Donald Trump has pushed over the course of this last year, which is making it harder for people to
00:44already afford their lives.
00:45And this war now, of course, making it even more difficult.
00:48Look, the reality is, is he's made it very clear what his values are.
00:52And these are choices, of course.
00:54And he's decided to pick fights around the world and again to make it clear that people who, you know,
01:03need child care in this country,
01:05people who are concerned about the rising costs of groceries and the lack of affordable housing
01:10and the fact that they can barely afford their utility costs or are fill up their gas.
01:17You know, the reality is, is right now people are struggling and Donald Trump is ignoring their cries for help.
01:24But when it comes to the midterms, what is the priority for Democrats?
01:28Are you going to try to wrap this all into one?
01:30I mean, the president ran on affordability.
01:32Gas prices are going up.
01:33How are Democrats planning to capitalize and message on that?
01:37Because sometimes the messaging is is not your party's forte, but there is a lot there to do.
01:43How are you how are you going to make this happen for your party?
01:45Well, listen, I would say if you look at the last year, we have had tremendous success.
01:50We've won over 90 percent of the elections on the ballot, historic overperformance, which is about 14 percentage points on
01:57average, which is an all time high.
01:59And the through line is on that is that all of our candidates focused almost exclusively on affordability, making sure
02:06that we address the anxiety of this nation right now,
02:10which is really around the economy.
02:12Many Americans are falling behind and no one feels like this economy is working for them right now.
02:18And so as we go into these last 214 days left until the midterm election, we're going to focus on
02:24three really important things.
02:25One is, of course, affordability.
02:27How do we make sure that you can afford to get to work?
02:30How do we make sure that you actually have a job to go to?
02:34How do we make sure that you can afford your rent or your mortgage or putting groceries on the table,
02:39as I mentioned earlier?
02:40Second, we're going to focus on the emergent health care crisis in this country based on the big, ugly bill
02:45and the fact that they're going to take away so much revenue from health care systems in this country.
02:52Three hundred hospitals, hospitals are going to close a quarter.
02:55Nursing homes are going to close.
02:56Health care premiums are rising on almost every American right now.
03:00Health care is an emergent crisis in this country.
03:02And the last thing we're going to focus on is fixing this corrupt and rigged system that only benefits the
03:07wealthy, the well-connected and the powerful at the expense of everyone else in this country.
03:12And so that's what Democrats are focused on.
03:14We're going to focus on delivering real solutions to what's vexing the American people right now and not focus just
03:21on fighting wars of choice around the world that are costing the average American household is paying $400 more a
03:28month to litigate this war in Iran.
03:30And it's $400 a month they don't have based on this disastrous economy that Donald Trump has pushed.
03:36With a gallon of gas at $4.10 today on average, according to AAA.
03:41Ken, we want to talk to you about resources.
03:43We had a conversation just last week on Bloomberg with Congresswoman Susan DelBene, who chairs the DCCC.
03:48They're targeting Trump plus 11, plus 13 seats in some districts, making this a much wider effort.
03:56I realize you have history on your side.
03:58You might even have the message on your side.
04:00But how about money?
04:01The RNC has a nearly 7 to 1 money advantage over the DNC right now.
04:06You pulled in $10.3 million in February.
04:09The RNC, $18.5 million.
04:11Do you have the money, the resources to pursue that many seats?
04:15Well, absolutely.
04:17And in combination with the DCCC, the DS, and our other partners, of course we do.
04:21And look, you know, we don't need to out-raise the Republicans.
04:24We just need to raise enough money to be in the ring so we can compete and fight.
04:28And I'll give you an example on that.
04:29In Texas, we flipped a state Senate seat there.
04:32It was a plus 17% Trump district.
04:35Our candidate won by 14 percentage points, meaning it was a 31-point swing.
04:39And the Republican opponent there raised $2.5 million to our candidates, $380,000.
04:46Again, we don't need to out-raise the Republicans.
04:48We just need to have enough money to compete.
04:50And look, last year we raised a record amount of money.
04:53For a first-year chair of the Democratic National Committee, we raised a record amount of money.
04:59And what was fueling that was the grassroots dollars.
05:01You know, the small donors averaging $51.
05:05You know, that was what was fueling our effort.
05:07And we raised a record amount, which allowed us to win a record amount of races.
05:11Of course, we've got wind at our back.
05:13We've got momentum.
05:14And as you mentioned, we've got a message that's resonated.
05:16And we'll have the resources to make sure that we can compete.
05:20And as you mentioned, because of this historic overperformance, we've been able to expand out the map.
05:25We can now, any Republican who sits in a 14% or less district in this country is now targeted
05:31by the Democratic Party because they are vulnerable.
05:34And that's 50 Republicans who sit in those seats are now on our target list.
05:38We've got a great path to the U.S. House.
05:40And as crazy as it sounds, there's an equal chance of us winning the U.S. Senate back as well.
05:45And almost every time I have a Democrat on or talk to a Democrat, I ask them two questions.
05:49Who is the leader of the Democratic Party?
05:51And if you actually take back the House and or the Senate, is there anything you can actually do to
05:57stop the legislative agenda of a president who seems not to care whether he has congressional approval for most of
06:02the things he does?
06:04Well, let me answer the first thing.
06:06You know, look, there's many leaders of the Democratic Party.
06:09I happen to be one of them.
06:10I'm the chair.
06:11Isn't that part of the problem?
06:12Yeah.
06:12But no, look, this is always the problem for either party when they're out of power.
06:16Right. The reality is, is that, you know, the president and the party in power has a much bigger megaphone.
06:22That's just always the case.
06:23And so we've got great governors out there.
06:26We've got great mayors out there.
06:28We've got wonderful members of Congress.
06:30So there are many leaders.
06:31And of course, we're a big tent party.
06:33That means we've got lots of different ideas out there.
06:35Right. And as we come into this presidential race in 28 and we get a nominee, of course, then, you
06:41know, it will start to come into focus with the leader of the Democratic Party is.
06:45But until that time, right, we have many leaders who are delivering for the American people who are actually standing
06:50up.
06:51I've been very proud of watching what our governors have done during this last year to actually deliver on promises
06:57that they've made to the American people.
06:59I've been proud of watching our mayors use the power they have to protect communities in this country from this
07:04administration.
07:05I've been really proud of our members of Congress using their platforms to actually speak out and hold this president
07:11accountable.
07:11And so, look, there are a lot of leaders of the Democratic Party.
07:15And, you know, look, I get that question a lot.
07:17I'm very proud of the fact that we have so many great leaders in this party who are standing up,
07:21delivering on the promises they made to the American people and actually fighting to make a difference in their lives.
07:26And on the second piece, you know, look, I think when we win back control of the Congress and hopefully
07:32the Senate, our job is to pass legislation, to actually stand up and do what we said we were going
07:37to do.
07:37And, you know, put it on Donald Trump's desk and, you know, make him make a choice if he's going
07:42to actually sign legislation that's going to bring down the costs for American people and actually help create jobs and
07:50actually restore health care access in this country and help families that are struggling with child care and finding jobs.
07:57At the end of the day, if we do those things and the president still refuses to sign them, the
08:03Republicans will have no chance of winning in 2028.
08:06So what we're going to do is we're going to focus on doing our jobs and delivering on the promises
08:10that we made to the American people.
08:12It will be up to the president to decide whether or not he wants to join Democrats at that point.
08:15When we consider what primary voters are looking for here in this midterm cycle, there was fascinating research out recently
08:22from the group Third Way, of course, famously moderate, according to some dangerously moderate, depending on the progressive you might
08:30be speaking with.
08:31They talked about what primary voters lives are like, what primary voters are looking for.
08:36And it came down to basically a question or an argument of pragmatism versus progressivism.
08:43Seventy five percent of Democratic self-identified Democratic primary voters said they prefer pragmatism to twenty five percent progressivism.
08:53Is that going to be an important theme to follow in this campaign cycle?
08:58Well, look, I mean, I don't like to put a label on any of this.
09:02I do agree that what Americans want right now is results.
09:06They're sick and tired of watching parties, politicians from both parties say one thing and then get into office and
09:13do another.
09:14They want people to stand up and fight for them and deliver.
09:17And, you know, it's it's one of the challenges both for the Republican Party and it has been for the
09:22Democratic Party.
09:23But what I think you're seeing right now, which is why Donald Trump's numbers are so low and the Republican
09:28Party is in jeopardy right now,
09:30of losing both chambers of Congress and has been losing throughout the country right now is you have one party
09:36that's actually delivering.
09:38Look at what Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Sherrill did on day one after they were elected governor.
09:44Look at what other Democratic elected officials are doing throughout the country to stand up and deliver on those promises.
09:49And the Republicans continue to ignore the pleas of this country to focus on the issues that matter most to
09:55the Americans.
09:56And so, look, I think at the end of the day, you know, you can call it pragmatism or you
10:01can just, you know, call it, look, delivering on your promises.
10:04You know, one of my first bosses said that you should never separate the life you lead from the words
10:08you speak.
10:09And it's critical right now because most Americans are just sick and tired of politics as usual.
10:14They want someone who's going to stand up, be their champion and help them actually get ahead, not just get
10:19by.
10:20All right. On that note, Americans are sick and tired of politics.
10:24They are frustrated with Congress members in both parties and they have a new accountability buddy making its presence known.
10:31And that is TMZ, the site we usually think of as gossip.
10:35We spoke to Harvey Levin of that site about why they are now going after members of Congress who are
10:41seen on vacation while the government is shut down.
10:43We're going to play some sound for you.
10:44When you look at what we're doing with these photographs and videos, it's really the big thing we're doing.
10:50Because what we're doing is we're showing how the public feels about them.
10:55And I think they've lost that big view of it and started looking at it, you know, the blame game,
11:01that the Republicans didn't vote on this or the Democrats didn't do that.
11:04And they're not stepping back and looking at Congress as a whole.
11:10We've only got about 30 seconds here, but I'm curious what your reaction to this is, because it does tap
11:15into a broader spectrum of the American public really annoyed that Congress is not doing what they sent them there
11:21to do.
11:21Yeah, I've always said sunlight is the best disinfectant.
11:26You know, it's important for folks to hold elected officials and leaders in Congress and throughout the country accountable.
11:34And, you know, during a time when government shut down and you see, you know, politicians taking vacations, politicians, you
11:41know, not doing their job while people are suffering, of course, people are going to be frustrated.
11:45And so, again, this should be a wake up call to every politician in each party to make sure that
11:50in times of crisis like this in this country, it requires people to stand up, do their job and deliver
11:55for the American people.
11:56And again, Democrats are doing that.
11:58Republicans are sitting on their asses while people are suffering in this country.
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