US midterms: "Keeping our fingers crossed" (Leila Meresman)

What's been particularly interesting is the notion of we feel we have some very, very strong candidates, and we are seeing our candidates starting to win. So certainly the big win in North Carolina where we flipped the state, keeping our fingers crossed for what I hope you will announce over the next couple of minutes, some other big wins. So really the fact that we have fielded some strong candidates, that we've stayed very focused on our messaging of affordability has been really important for us. And I think overall, just being able to see some of the results, early results of what the work we've put in coming to fruition. I put this question to Doug a little while ago, our international affairs commentator. Now, if Democrats win the House and not the Senate, how much could they do to put roadblocks in the way of what Donald Trump wants to do in these last two years? It's the beginning of the question. But I believe what you're asking is if that we win one and not the other. And I think that already the fact that we are showing the House, which is where legislation begins, it's a very, very important win for the Democrats because we can begin to look at a House of Representatives that's actually doing its job and putting together legislation and putting together bills. Admittedly, it's going to be an uphill battle if we only have one side, but hopefully, and again, I'm being very optimistic at this moment, we will be able to win control of both the House and the Senate, in which case we will have a much more clear path to putting forward bills and programs that take us in a much better direction than we've been going. Can you put forward bills and programs and at the same time look at impeaching Donald Trump and launching investigations? Can all of this be done at once? You know, the notion of impeachment has been brought up in several discussions. I think we have learned from past efforts that this can be a very high demand activity in terms of taking away times from our elected officials to work on these. Whereas I think what we are really looking to do in these next two years is move forward with the things that will improve affordability, things that will improve health care, access to health care, things that will improve the lives of Americans. What about members of Trump's cabinet being impeached? I'm thinking specifically of the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. Again, there's been quite a bit of discussion about this, and I think that there's two minds, if you will, because while we want to look back and start to really correct some of the errors, more importantly, it's about moving forward. So I'm not saying impeachment is off the table. It's just a question of where do we allocate our resources? Where do our legislators, where do our elected officials allocate their resources? And I believe our strong preference is to allocate our resources to improving the lives of the Americans. Let me just talk about the Supreme Court. You know, if one of the justices decides to retire in the next two years, Trump, and Trump decides, you know, of course, to nominate a replacement, is there any chance a democratically controlled Senate holds hearings if they do take the Senate? Or do they follow the precedent set by Mitch McConnell and wait for the next president to come into office? Very interesting question, and it's a very real possibility, I would imagine. I think a precedent has been set, so I think there is an opportunity if Democrats take control of the Senate to manage through future nominations, and particularly in the next two years. And what about this issue of presidential powers? You know, some Democrats are already crafting legislation to scale back the president's emergency powers. For example, you know, he's used, he declared an emergency as a rationale to issue tariffs even, even to remodel the White House. Do you see that effort going anywhere? You know, I find it very unfortunate that we have to legislate against an elected official, but I think if we need to put stopgaps in place, and if we need to make sure that there are the right controls, then perhaps this is something that we need to look at in terms of managing presidential power. There have been such advantages taken, I think, by this current administration, and has enriched itself financially, and that can't continue. I just want to ask you one more question here. You know, if this holds that the Democrats take control of the House, Hakeem Jeffries would become the first Black Speaker of the House. What kind of speaker would he be, do you think? I think he's going to be an excellent speaker. And I think you've probably read and seen some of what he's already talked about in terms of the first 100 days and even the first 100 hours. So he's already thinking very proactively about how we move forward And take advantage of. The fact that it's now time to get the work of the government done. So I think he's going to be an excellent speaker. I think he's going to bring forth some really important legislation, things that I think both sides of the aisle can agree on, affordability, health care access, ending this ridiculous war that is costing the American people so much money and lives. So I think he is really going to have a plan in place and be able to act very quickly. Okay. If you could just hold on for us, Leila Masterman, spokesperson for Democrats abroad in France. We may come back to you here in a bit. Thank Doug, I want to talk to you about this race in Texas. I think we're on the verge of a call here in Texas. This is really a race that has captured the national attention. you Why so much focus on Texas? very Because it's one of the biggest states in the country. It's a state that has, for the past more than three decades, not elected a Democrat, much. hasn't elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994, so over 30 years. I don't believe it's done Senate since 1988, and I was saying earlier, you have to go back to Jimmy Carter in 1976 to have a president winning in that state, I believe. But it would be a massive flip. It has caused Texas, it's been the place that Democrats have gone to die, basically. It's caused them massive heartaches time and again. 2018, Beto O'Rourke was seen as a good prospect. For the Democrats in Texas, it didn't happen. They always seem to fall on their own sword a little bit, but also come up against ruby red Texas and just the bedrock reality of Texas demographics. But those demographics have shifted in no small part because of, I suspect, the Hispanic demographic shifting away from Trump. In large numbers, especially across the southern parts of Texas, across the Rio Grande Valley and all of that, and that that demographic shift has contributed to the to making Texas to putting it more firmly in the column of possibility for Democrats, which is why at this hour, at least, yeah, Tallarico is is riding high. Um, in, in the, in the, in the polls, um, can't call him yet. He has not been, uh, I'm being told that they've called it for Tallarico. Oh, we're calling it. We're going by Associated Press tonight. So you're being told that Associated Press is, that is massive. That is a weekend. Breaking news. Texas goes to the Democrats for the first time in any statewide office in over 30 years and 32 years and goes to a senator for the first time since 1988, 38 years ago. That will be one of the biggest headlines of the night. Texas is obviously one of the massive red states that the Democrats needed to flip in order to prospectively seize control of the Senate. They're still not there with having a majority in the Senate. But getting Texas is a giant, giant step towards that goal, towards that finish line of getting the majority control in the upper house of the U.S. Congress. It can't be understated how big that is. And remember, James Tallarico was also fighting up until recently a funding disadvantage because remember that his opponent, the scandal-plagued Attorney General, Ken Paxton, despite all he had I think a hundred million or, or, or more, uh, thrown into his campaign by mega donors, including, uh, Elon Musk. So what we were talking about before is it's, it's remarkable. Tallarico's performance and, and, and, and cause he faced, you know, in the beginning, at least a real uphill battle, uh, in a state where he had a disadvantage in terms of both money, um, and in terms of just the, the Democrat, the, the demographic, demographic traditions in that state. Um, so yeah. Big headline here tonight, indeed calling it then for James Tallarico, massive. I will note that, you know, he also emphasized his religious roots, his religiosity, which obviously also helped to instill trust in voters and instill a largely conservative state where that matters a lot to have a candidate with faith and a candidate who also is able to communicate and speak. To the needs of common people, which James Tallarico did time and again on the campaign trail. So, yeah, a giant headline tonight. Can't overstate the importance of that.