00:00also now to go deeper into the analysis of what is at stake in the in this midterm elections for
00:05the u.s people for the rest of the world we are joined by adrian pine she is a phd
00:11in anthropology
00:13and also domestic political analyst adrian thank you very much for joining us in our studios here
00:19in caracas it's great to be here alejandra adrian we are less than 24 hours ahead of polls for
00:27polls to open nationwide in the u.s however early voting in the u.s has surpassed already 51
00:34million ballots exceeding even 2022 midterm election levels what does this say about u.s people
00:41engagement in this electoral process about the urgency that they are feeling in this midterm
00:46elections well i think your question hints at it the engagement is enormous and people really do
00:52feel an urgency because the united states is in crisis there's a lot of anger about the economic
00:59situation about all about the way that donald trump has has gone to war through executive order has
01:06basically ruled throughout his entire second term presidency through executive orders and not engaging
01:13the congress and also how he he and his department of justice have massively disenfranchised black and
01:20latino voters and so what we're seeing is more enthusiasm to vote uh really as um as a way to
01:29stand up to
01:30these sorts of policies also in that same idea trump is entering these midterm elections with his lowest
01:39popularity rate he's hitting like 31 percent of unpopularity actually to what extent this election
01:45could become a referendum could become a referendum on his administration well the midterms in general
01:51are referendums on the presidency even though the presidency is never voted on in the midterms and
01:57the fact that donald trump has the lowest polling numbers in modern polling history um as you mentioned
02:05at 30 31 percent really demonstrates that um that that you know that that people are angry that people
02:14are coming out they're more motivated than ever to come out and vote against him um in meaning vote
02:21against the republican party that he represents uh so so his uh his polling really has a big impact
02:29also i want us to go through one last minute controversy that is unfolding in one of the countries
02:35most closely watched senate races and that is michigan their democratic sionist haley stevens who
02:42lost the democratic primary to current candidate abdul el saeed has endorsed his republican opponent
02:49mike rogers of course this decision has triggered a major backlash within the michigan democratic party
02:54also has rising concerns about whether her loyalties are with the u.s people or with israel so how could
03:01these divisions impact tomorrow's closely contested election well it's hard to say but it truly is an
03:09astounding development chuck schumer said it was a betrayal of the democratic party and there's
03:15nobody more zionist than chuck schumer so um you know it's this is something that has really rocked the
03:21corporate democratic and zionist democratic establishment i don't think at this point that it is necessarily
03:28going to hurt uh abdul el saeed because mike rogers is you know truly the opposite of everything that haley
03:37stevens claimed to stand for you know women's rights abortion rights and he's a he's a full-on
03:44you know trump loyalist and so i think people um are really shocked at what she has done and uh
03:52and i
03:53don't think that democrats that might have supported her over abdul el saeed are necessarily going to vote
03:59for uh for his republican opponent as a result of this also let's put the scope on another important
04:07issue in this election the people will be voting on their newly redrawn congressional maps in several
04:13states following a process known as redistricting for viewers who may not be familiar with the term
04:20could you explain what redistricting is how it works and also why it matters for the balance of power in
04:27congress sure redistricting is something that happens uh generally every 10 years after the census in
04:34response to new census numbers because the representatives represent people based on population
04:40within the state they have to redraw the maps depending on where there is more or or less population
04:46compared on with the previous census and so this is something that that happens normally just to make
04:52sure that there is equal representation however redistributing redistricting midterm is not something
04:59that's common and what's what we've seen happening is is more specifically called gerrymandering that is
05:06to redistrict in order to ensure that the candidate um will consistently be elected from one party or
05:14another so if there is a community that is largely democratic for example most cities in the united states are
05:21largely democratic what gerrymandering will do is to cut the cities up into little slivers and then
05:26connect them with larger rural areas so that the vast majority of the district will be republican and
05:33that is what we have seen happening in uh in the past year of course there's been a response to
05:39that
05:40in states like california and other major majority democratic states where they too have gerrymandered
05:46to favor uh democratic uh to districts to so that um to push back against this gerrymandering but the
05:55result ultimately is that many communities are left without a chance at representation and precisely to
06:02go deeper into that final idea what are the main precisely main implications of this ruling for
06:07the political representation of racial and ethnic minorities and also how has the supreme court's approach
06:14to protected minority voting rights evolved well you know the civil rights act which came out of the
06:20civil rights movement in the 1960s was meant to ensure that there would not be discrimination against
06:27certain groups in particular african americans who have been historically excluded from from the vote
06:34but the recent uh the recent case um in the in april in the supreme court that was addressing the
06:41recent
06:41redistrictings um that they actually determined that it was perfectly legal to gerrymander if it's for
06:49partisan purposes in other words in order to ensure that republicans will always win a district and that
06:57the democrats won't be represented and not for racial purposes however the same supreme court has overturned
07:06uh two instances in uh in texas and south carolina if i'm if i'm not correct if i'm not mistaken
07:14in which trump appointed judiciars in those states had trump trump appointed courts had determined that
07:22there had been racism involved in the gerrymandering so the supreme court has chosen to ignore racism or not
07:29recognize racism and instead say well it's okay because it was just in order to make it republican or democrat
07:36in this in this case republican only actually a few a few moments ago we were speaking to a correspondent
07:42in miami florida and i want to put the scope as well in this state because there are important races
07:48that are taking place there and i want to mention particularly also that florida is one of those
07:53states that had had this process of redistricting but i want to actually speak about the candidacy of
07:59of the of the senate and that is angie nixon democrat angie nixon we're speaking about a
08:06progressive leader that is trying as well as putting up a fight against republican republicans in that
08:13state that is also a strength hold of republican party what does it mean her candidacy precisely in
08:21this moment for the state well i think angie nixon's candidacy is unique and more than even more than a
08:29threat to republicans it's a threat to the corporate logics of the democratic party because in the primary
08:34as we saw in many primaries including abdul al-sayed's primary the democratic national committee put all
08:41of its weight behind zionist centrist candidates and that is what happened in florida and they did not
08:48expect angie nixon to win she's also a black woman from the north of florida and a popular organizer and
08:55this really breaks the mold of who democrats think can win in florida and despite those obstacles she managed to
09:03win the primary despite massive outspending on on her opponent's side and she really she has an actual
09:11chance of winning in florida i wouldn't say it's a strong chance but um but the fact that she has
09:18managed
09:18to get that far really challenges um the the democrat party which which has stated again and again that it
09:27can't uh that it can't oppose the genocide in gaza that it can't stand up to corporations and um and
09:35so
09:35her candidacy is a real win for the idea that that populist uh campaigns that campaigns be based in
09:44economic and racial justice can actually win even in red states adrian thank you very much for joining us
09:51today and also i'm pleasure to announce as well that you are going to be inviting us during a special
09:57program that is going to be addressing every news every update and also all of everything that is
10:04at stake in this metallic elections tomorrow night so thank you very much once again for joining us
10:09looking forward to it thank you
