Midterms Ramp Up for Control of Congress

The unofficial start for the sprint to the midterm election is just eight weeks to go and voters in a handful of states are likely to determine which party controls one or both houses of Congress. In their short time back after a long August break, House lawmakers quickly passed a bill to prevent a government shutdown and quickly left town again for the long holiday weekend. President Trump is promising to campaign hard in the coming weeks to buck the trend of the party in power losing seats in the midterm. See if we can get everyone elected. Well, we're focused on winning the election and making the case to the American people. Democrats are counting on history and the president's low approval numbers. And let's say that could all be enough to hand them control of one or both houses of Congress. They plan to spend the next few weeks driving home costs of living issues, particularly the rise in fuel costs because of the war with Iran. To talk more about this, we are joined by David Schultz from Hamline University in Minnesota. David, thank you for joining us this morning. My pleasure. Happy Labor Day. Happy Labor Day to you as well. Thank you for joining us. Despite it being a holiday, I do want to ask you, David, and start with this. We mentioned a moment ago about the president's low approval rating. But what do you make of the upcoming season here? And are Republicans in these states really cozying up or distancing themselves from the president right now because of those low approval ratings? Well, you're hitting on exactly the issue here, is that we're probably down to no more than seven to 10 Senate seats, maybe 20 House seats that are going to determine control of both chambers. And in those swing districts, Trump is intensely unpopular. And so there's a dilemma here. On the one hand, Trump has a lot of money in his political action committee, is saying, I'm going to campaign for these camp candidates. But they're the ones, those are the districts that least want him at this point. So there's a dilemma there. And the Democrats are trying to play on this, because still, I think the Democrats' major message is that we're not Trump, run against Trump. And so that's what I'm looking at at this point, is how that plays out. I'm also looking at, and we can't forget the fact that, what, in many states within the next week or two, couple of weeks, early voting is going to start. And so you said at the beginning, we're two months out. We're like literally just, I'd say, a week or two away from early voting actually starting. Let me ask you about this. Candidates, some of them are trying to distance themselves from President Trump, but they don't want to wholesalely do that because they don't know the power he brings here. So how are candidates trying to signal to voters that they're independent from President Trump going into the midterm elections? In part, what they're doing is just not talking about Donald Trump. I think for a lot of the Republicans, they just don't want to mention his name, or they might be criticizing, without criticizing Donald Trump, some of his positions. The war is very unpopular. I call it the milk bread eggs issue, the affordability issue. We're talking about a lot of these issues, trying to, let's say, steal some of the rhetoric from the Democrats. So again, they're really sort of navigating a real razor's edge at this point. And it's not an easy one for them to be able to do, because you're right. History on the Democrats' side, but on the other hand, what the Democrats still don't have is a united party. As we've seen across the country, the division between the more progressive Democrats, the more centrist Democrats, is really making it difficult for them to really unite on a common message, too. One of the things we're also hearing is that despite controlling nearly a billion dollars in his political operation, President Trump's super back has hesitated to spend heavily on vulnerable races. Preferring to preserve those funds until party leaders spend down their own reserves here. What is the strategy with that? Well, that's a good question here, is that over the weekend, Trump said he might be willing to open up the chest a little bit here. People aren't clear on this one. I think he wants to have the threat of having this money to be able to still maintain, let's say, party discipline or control over the party. But unless he's willing to spend that money, then the Republicans are a significant financial advantage. But if he starts to spend that money, then the Democrats are going to say that this candidate who's running here is running at the behest of Trump money. It's a dilemma. It's a dilemma that they're facing. Interesting. I didn't think about it from that point of view, but that is interesting, to say the least. Even though he's sitting on a billion dollars that could help the campaign, how do you get that money without being tied to President Trump at this point with those low approval ratings? David Schultz from Hemline University in Minnesota. We appreciate your keen insight into the upcoming midterm elections now just starting in a few days from mail-in voting. We appreciate your time.