“Problems not solved.”

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A quick note before we begin today's show. We recorded
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this pod early Thursday morning as the horrific terrorist attack
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in Afghanistan was still unfolding, an attack that has left
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dozens injured and dead, including multiple American troops. So we
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weren't able to fully cover that story on today's pod,
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but we will be talking about it a lot more
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on Monday's episode. Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
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I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
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On today's show, Nancy Pelosi stops a centrist rebellion over
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the budget. In new change research, Crooked Media Poll of
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Virginia gives Democrats a small lead and a few warning
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signs for 2022. And California Senator Alex Padilla stops by
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the office to chat with Tommy and me about the
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California recall, voting rights, and more. But first, check out
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this week's hysteria where legendary TV comedy writer and good
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friend of the pod, Jen Statsky, joins Erin and Alyssa
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to discuss her hit HBO series, Hacks, one of my
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favorite shows over the last few years. New episodes of
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Hysteria drop every Thursday, so check it out. Also, if
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you are a registered voter in the state of California,
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listen up. Check your mail for a recall ballot. Fill
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it out. Return it by September 14th. If you don't
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want California controlled by a radical right-wing Republican, vote no
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on question one, Should Governor Newsom be recalled? And leave
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question two blank, according to the Newsom campaign. And please note,
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what we just said was not authorized by a candidate
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or a committee controlled by a candidate, Dan.
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So you have to say that?
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That is something that I've been told that I need
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to say, yeah. I do what people tell me. Anyway,
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visit votesaveamerica.com slash California to learn more. All right, let's
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get to the news. Is it possible to outmaneuver House
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi? This week, New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer
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and nine other centrist Democrats decided to fuck around and
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find out. After threatening for days to vote against Joe
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Biden's economic plan unless Pelosi first held a vote on
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the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the group that no labels nicknamed
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the Mod Squad caved, allowing the $ 3. 5 trillion budget resolution
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to pass with all 220 House Democrats out. What they
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got in return was a promise from Pelosi to put
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the infrastructure bill on the floor by September 27th, even
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though House progressives continue to say that they won't vote
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for that bill unless the full budget passes the Senate
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and comes to the House. Dan, did the problem solvers
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solve any problems here, or was this just a huge
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waste of everyone's time?
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The only problem that I think was solved here was
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Josh Gottheimer having too many friends, because now he has none.
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Yeah. Yeah, not a lot of House Democrats very happy
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with my former boss, Josh Gottheimer, I should let everyone know,
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when I was just a 22-year-old speechwriter on the Kerry campaign.
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He was the chief speechwriter.
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Back when you were a young problem solver, just learning.
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To solve problems.
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Yeah, apparently I didn't learn well enough. I didn't follow
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in Josh's footsteps, so I did not become a problem
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solver myself, unfortunately, but he was my boss. So yeah, well,
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I mean, the Chamber of Commerce, which unsurprisingly supported Gottheimer's Goobers,
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which is another name for them.
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Oh, pod title. I think I see it.
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They tweeted that the infrastructure bill has been, quote, successfully
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decoupled from the reconciliation bill. Is that true?
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No, they cannot be decoupled because the dynamics here are
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such that either both bills pass or neither bill passes, right?
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That is what is going to happen. Nothing changed throughout
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all of this drama that was just documented minute by
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minute by Capitol Hill reporters looking to not have vacation
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in August or something. But ultimately, they have the same
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amount of leverage they had before. Nothing has changed. They're
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now just– Nancy Pelosi has a deadline by which she
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needs to get the Senate bill to her. Everyone knows that.
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It's not a surprise. We're going to end up in
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the same place.
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If the.
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Let's say for some reason the budget bill does not
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pass the Senate by that time, then eight, nine, 10,
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30 House progressives will just do what Josh Gottheimer did
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and hold back on it, right?
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Like this is- Yeah, they'll vote against, like that's what
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she could put the, she can hold a vote on
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the infrastructure bill on September 27th. Doesn't mean it's going
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to pass if House progressives don't get what they want,
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which is a budget coming over from the Senate. Yes.
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In the long history of stupid pointless legislative fights, this
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one is very near the top. Never has so much
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energy been spent on something of so little consequence here.
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They want a minor kind of sort of change in
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a legislative procedure. And even in their grandest ambitions, if
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they had solved the problems to which they have dedicated themselves,
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what most would have happened is that the bipartisan infrastructure
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bill would have passed three weeks earlier than it otherwise
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would have. That's really what they were pushing for. It's absurd.
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Well, let's talk about why it happened and sort of
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the motivations that led to it. Five of these Democrats
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are in Biden districts that range from D plus seven
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to D plus 17. Only Jared Golden is sitting in
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a district that Trump won of all of them. And
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as you pointed out before, the other six Democrats in
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Trump districts that are in the House didn't join this group.
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So what do you think their motivation was for doing this?
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And like, what do you make of the fact that
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so many other moderates, including groups like the Third Way
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and the New Democratic Coalition, didn't join, uh, Godheimer's gang.
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I really cannot possibly divine any actual reason for these,
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this nine eventually became 10 members to engage in this
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pointless fight other than sort of polishing their centrist bona
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fides for the world to see, right? Like we're going
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to position ourselves directly between Nancy Pelosi and the Republicans.
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It's just like, it's all performance art. It has no
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substantive meeting. It doesn't even really help them politically. It,
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It probably helps some of them raise some money. But
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I think it's probably just attention and a desire for
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something involving leverage and really not a bunch of people
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playing checkers in a game of chess. But I think
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there's some broader dynamics here that are interesting. One, the
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fact that most people whose districts are most at risk
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did not join them says everything about this. There's a
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lot of when folks like us and other progressive groups
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were criticizing these members for what they were doing. It's like, oh, look,
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pod bros in California weighing in to say that, to
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tell the Democrats who have to win Trump districts how
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to do their jobs. No, the Democrats who have to
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win Trump districts get the fundamental truth that Democrats will
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either hang together or they will hang separately, right? And
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it is like, yeah, I totally get that defending a $ 3. 5
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trillion bill that's going to have a bunch of progressive
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stuff in it is going to be hard in Trump districts.
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But you know what's going to be a lot harder?
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If the whole party falls flat on its fucking face
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and passes nothing, right? Given a world of two options,
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success is the right thing to do here. And the
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Democrats who really need everything to go their way to
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win are not trying to get in the way of success.
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It's the Democrats who are– like Ed Case and Jim
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Costa and these others are not going to lose. They
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have no danger of losing, yet they're the ones causing
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the problem here.
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Yeah, we can't– divine their motivations. But there's certainly the
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fact that a bunch of Democrats sitting in Trump districts
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didn't join them certainly means that it wasn't entirely about
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the politics on the ground and their voters. We also
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know this because Data for Progress and Climate Power surveyed
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the districts of some of the members of this of
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Gottheimer's gang here. Two out of three voters in those
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districts view additional climate and clean energy investments as an
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important priority. More than 62% support Biden's Build Back Better proposal,
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which is outlined in the budget resolution. And voters would
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be less likely, less likely by a 13-point margin to
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vote for a candidate for Congress who opposes the Build
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Back Better agenda, a.k.a. the budget resolution. Those are some
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pretty good numbers for Biden and the plan in those
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districts of people who decided to try to tank it
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because they wanted to vote on the infrastructure bill first.
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You mean the people who want to call themselves Biden
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Democrats and then run on tanking the Biden agenda? Those people?
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Is that who you're talking about?
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Yeah, those people. Those people. What did you think of
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Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the DCCC, apparently calling
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the members of this group to warn them that they're
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putting the majority at risk, which they took as a
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fundraising threat?
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Just once again, the whole thing is so stupid, right?
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Like if you you're The difference in your ability to
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do the things you claim to care about when you
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run for Congress between being the majority and the minority
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is everything, right? You can do almost nothing in the
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minority other than vote no repeatedly. And so you have
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these members here who claim to care about all these things,
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infrastructure and roads and bridges and all of that, putting
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the majority at risk for no real reason. What I
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think is interesting about this and why it played out differently,
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because as you pointed out, the typically moderate groups backed
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the progressives and Pelosi on this play, not the moderates.
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And that is the opposite of how it used to go.
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I think it says a couple of things. The first
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is what you pointed out for the data for progress
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and climate power poll is this is a popular and
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not polarizing agenda. People like it. This is not the ACA,
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which is healthcare and therefore, by definition, personal and polarizing.
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It's not Bill Clinton's 1993 budget that had an energy
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tax in it that was devastating to Democrats in fossil
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fuel producing states. So it's popular. It also shows the
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power of Biden's moderate brand. The fact that it's Joe
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Biden's agenda– is a signal to voters, including voters who
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do not love Joe Biden, that this is something different
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than the radical socialist Democrats to hear about on Fox
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News or Bernie Sanders or AOC. And I think that's
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really interesting. It provides actually Biden a lot of leverage
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and sort of running room as we go forward to
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push a very progressive agenda because the fact that it's
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Joe Biden's, it gives it some brand equity with a
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set of voters that gives it these numbers in these
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moderate or vulnerable or purplish districts.
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I also think it says something about, you've talked about
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this a lot, the difference between being a moderate and
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being a centrist. Can you talk about that a little bit?
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Being a moderate means you have a set of ideological
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principles and policy preferences that are closer to the center.
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It could be, I support a public option, not Medicare
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for all. I support increasing the corporate tax rate X,
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but I don't support a wealth tax. It's just you
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have a set of moderate principles that guide your decision-making.
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And you're going to be for those whether they are
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the policy of the entire Democratic caucus or a part
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of the Democratic caucus. Centrism is not an ideology. It's
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an identity. What it means is that you position yourselves
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in somewhere a few steps closer to the center from
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where your party is, wherever your party is, whether that
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is a more centrist party of the 90s or the
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early 2000s or a much more progressive party. Moderates care
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about policy. Centrists care about performance. It is about demonstrating that.
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You are a centrist. They want to be seen as centrist.
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And moderates are just, it's what they believe in terms
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of policy.
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Here's an example I think helps make sense. Amy Klobuchar
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is a moderate. She ran for president as a moderate.
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She has a long history of being a moderate. Kyrsten
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Sinema is a centrist. Whatever, if she sees a progressive
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parade forming somewhere, she goes looking to rain on it.
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But Klobuchar, a longtime moderate, adjusts her positions based on
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the reality on the ground. She is for this bill.
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She has changed her position on the filibuster, but there
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are things she will not do. She's not moving based
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on where the polls around her move. I think it's
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a really, really important distinction because we want moderates in
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our party. We need moderates to win in a lot
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of districts around the country. just because of the political
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makeup of America and how many rural and exurban districts
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there are that have a lot of independent voters or
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Republican voters. But centrists are the ones who actually make
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the problem worse because they're running against the Democrats. You
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have Republicans running against the Democrats and centrists running against
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the Democrats, and that's how you lose.
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Yeah, that is exactly how you lose. Well, let's talk
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about what happens now because I have a feeling this
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isn't the last we've heard from the centrists. Over in
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the Senate, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema weighed in with
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statements of support for their House colleagues this week. Sinema
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even reiterated that she's not voting for a plan that
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costs $ 3. 5 trillion. Manchin has also said something similar. So
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how did Biden, Schumer and Pelosi land this plane? And
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do you think this week's events made their jobs harder,
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easier or no change?
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I don't think it made it harder. I think it
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just revealed how challenging this is, right? In a world
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with such narrow margins, we sort of always think about
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what does Joe Manchin care about? What does Kyrsten Sinema
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care about? But what this group of 10 members sort
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of proved is any person, any House member can go
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find five friends and become Joe Manchin for a day, right?
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They have the ability to block anything. I think it
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just revealed the difficulties that always exist in trying to
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pass a bill with– margins this narrow and such great
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ideological diversity within the caucus. So it's always going to
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be hard. I'm trying to think about how this plays out.
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And if there is going to be a bill, it's
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going to come from the Senate. And by definition, that
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bill will have the sign-off of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth
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Warren on the left and Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin
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on the right. That bill is going to come to
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the House. And what I– I sort of– is there
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really room to the right of Joe Manchin in a
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state that Trump won by nearly 40 points for– to
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try to say this– like I cannot support this bill,
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this progressive wild-eyed bill that Joe Manchin is for? That
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seems really hard, right?
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No. Yeah, no. I think it's– the action now moves
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to the Senate for sure. Right.
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And then on the left too, same thing. Is Bernie
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Sanders going to sign off on a bill? It's his committee.
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He's helping write it. Is he going to sign off
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on a bill that is too mushy middle for the
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Congressional Progressive Caucus or the squad? That seems unlikely to
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me too. So what we really have to do is
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figure out what is the one thing that those 50
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Senate Democrats can agree on. And then I think we
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should be in an okay place in the House. There
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was obviously– as this last week proved, there's always the
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capacity for some troublemakers, but the big work is going
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to happen in the Senate.
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We've been saying this throughout this whole process, but again,
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nothing goes anywhere unless Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders agree
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on it. In the House, you can say AOC and
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Josh Gottheimer have to agree. All these Democrats have to
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get together and agree on every detail of of this plan,
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which is why it is always unhelpful to make a
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big public stink over your problems with the bill like
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this gang of moderates or this gang of centrists did
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this week. Good catch, good catch. Yeah, no, I'm going
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with centrist. It's why it's a problem because like just
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do all this behind closed doors.
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Right.
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Like you're all going to have to agree on the
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same thing anyway. Fighting this out in public serves nobody
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except potentially the reputations of these centrists in their districts.
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But I don't even know if it does. Like, I
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don't know if if Josh Gottheimer or any of those
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centrists in the game go home, you know, and think, oh,
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this this actually gave me a boost this week. Maybe
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it does. Maybe they can run ads and be like,
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I took on Nancy Pelosi. I don't know if that works.
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Maybe.
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I think– does it get them some round of applause
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at their local Rotary Club meeting from some business leaders
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who think that we're spending too much money but also
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want a tax break? Maybe. There is a world of
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donors out there who– these are the people who are
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always yelling at Barack Obama about how he needs to
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kind of budget deal with Republicans who probably are more
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supportive of these members. But ultimately– nothing was gained and
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all that was lost was time.
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Yeah. So how do you think the broader political environment
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affects these negotiations? We've got Delta still surging. The economy
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is not where it should be. Everything that's happening in
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Afghanistan right now, how do you think that will affect
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the way Democrats approach these negotiations?
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It's how it could affect it and how it should
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affect it, right? Here's how it could affect it, which
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is we've already seen some diminution in Biden's approval rating.
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If that were to continue to go down, there was
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one poll that I imagine, slash hope is an outlier
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that had him in the low 40s the other day.
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But if that were to become sort of where his
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numbers are, you could see all of the sudden Democrats
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looking for the exits. It doesn't mean they won't pass anything,
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but the idea that we're all going to get on
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board with something nearing $ 3. 5 trillion filled with a bunch
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of big, bold, progressive jobs and family initiatives is may
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seem less appealing. Because right now, Biden, and to date,
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has been the most popular Democrat and most popular politician,
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active politician in the country. And so it seems like
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it made sense to follow him wherever he's going. If
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he becomes less popular, that always sort of weakens their
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ability to push their members. In reality... What should happen is,
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let's say that Biden's numbers do take a hit, it's
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a messy political environment for all the reasons you cited.
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That's actually an argument for doing more quicker in a
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more unified fashion than the opposite. It's like, oh, what's
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the best way to strengthen our political position heading into 2022,
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which is go pass a really popular bill, which poll
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after poll shows has bipartisan support and is popular in
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the places we need to win, and let's strengthen the
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our incumbent president whose approval rating is very closely correlated
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with what our performance is likely to be in the
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congressional elections. That's what the mentality should be. Now, have
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Democrats always been closely familiar with their own political self-interest?
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Not always, but I think Schumer gets that. I think
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Pelosi gets that. I think probably the way this played
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out over the last week shows the vast majority of
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Democrats get that. But obviously, anyone can be a skunk
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at the garden party here.
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Yeah.
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I mean, there's only two choices here, right? There is–
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pass the infrastructure bill, pass the build back better plan.
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That's the budget or not. And not is a huge
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political failure that has now, you know, joined a bunch
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of other bad political developments to make it a really
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crappy political environment. Or it's to, it's to stand together
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and pass something, knowing that it could be, you know,
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somewhat risky and that people in the Republicans are going
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to attack it. And they're going to frame it as
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some like big spending, you know, package that blah, blah,
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all the shit that they're going to do. There's risk
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to it, but also know that, you know, voters will
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appreciate that you have done something to make the economy
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better and to improve their lives. On that note, I do.
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One thing I noticed this week is in all the
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reporting on this and the way everyone's talking about it,
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you hear Talk about a budget. You talk about resolution.
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Talk about a reconciliation bill. You hear the number 3.5 trillion.
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Right.
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And we are not talking nearly enough about what is
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in this budget, which is exactly what people like, according
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to all these polls. Right. Like we need to start
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talking about what's in this budget. We've got to boil
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it down to simple language. You know, it's about eliminating
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tax cuts for the 1%. so we can cut taxes
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for the middle class, create jobs, make education and healthcare
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more affordable, fight climate change. Whatever it is, we've got
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to get a message here and continue to talk about it.
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Reporters are not going to do this for us. They're
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going to continue to talk about it in shorthand because
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that's just what they do. But Democrats really need to
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talk more about how this budget and how this Build
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Back Better plan is going to improve people's lives because
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if that gets lost, it's going to be much easier
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to oppose it, I think.
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I have written about some rules for how to do this.
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I have violated all all of them in this conversation
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because it's very hard.
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You know, I do too. It's hard.
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It's very hard to do the analysis of this. Like
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saying the Build Back Better plan seems weird to say,
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even though it makes a lot more sense to regular
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people than budget reconciliation, but how are you distinguishing that?
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And the one that I think is really important, and
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it's hard to have this conversation about the legislative machinations
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without using this word or using this term, but we
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have to stop talking about the price tag. Not because
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the price tag is bad. This poll, the Data for
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Progress poll, very explicitly put the price tag in there
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to test it, right? Because it's cheating to not put
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it in there because you know Republicans and the media
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will use it. But this is something our friend Anat
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Shankarasario used to say, which is only Democrats try to
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sell a product by advertising the price tag, right? Talk
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about the product, not the price tag. What's in there?
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What are we trying to do and get away from
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all of this like legislative mumbo jumbo that we just
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talked about for 40 minutes.
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Yeah. So for all the Democratic infighting, Tuesday wasn't just
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a poop in the punch bowl news. Thank you, Dan,
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for that extremely niche joke.
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Can I just, I would just like to say that
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I write the outline very early on Wednesday mornings, sometimes
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to entertain myself, John, since I, I put Easter eggs
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in to see if you read the outline before our
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producers start doing the very good research for it. I
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would note that you did not read it in advance
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this time, and I had to point this joke out
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to you.
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You were very excited to point that out to me
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last night. You texted me, is that joke going to
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be still in there? And it wasn't going to be,
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but now, now because you asked for it, I wanted
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to make sure everyone know that you wrote that.
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Yeah, it's a very niche joke because I'm guessing that
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a large portion of our audience doesn't know what Punchbowl
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News is.
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That is also true. That's why I said it's so niche. Anyway,
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Tuesday was also the day the House passed the John
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Lewis Voting Rights Act on a party line vote. Legislation
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which would restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act by requiring
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jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination around voting to
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receive approval from the Justice Department before changing voting laws.
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Of course, no Republicans in Congress support this bill except
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for Senator Lisa Murkowski. So in order for it to pass,
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Senate Democrats need to reform the filibuster. So as usual,
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we are back at square one. Nothing new on the
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politics here. You know, we had every Republican vote against
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it in the House. But on the substance of the bill,
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Slate's Mark Joseph Stern wrote a piece where he called
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this legislation court reform and said it's the clearest indication
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yet that House Democrats are getting serious about reigning in
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an out-of-control Supreme Court. Why is that?
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Unlike the For the People Act, this bill is specifically
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designed to address a series of recent-ish court decisions affecting
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voting rights. And it's born in the recognition that In
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every situation where the Roberts Court, dating back nearly a decade,
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has the opportunity to vote in a way that curbs
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voting rights, they vote to curb voting rights. And so
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the three decisions here that it addresses are Shelby County v. Holder,
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which goes back to 2013, which was when they essentially
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eliminated the preclearance function, which required states with a history
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of race-based voter suppression to get new election laws cleared
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by the Justice Department first. Their reasoning was basically that
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racism was over, which turns out that was not correct.
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No, they missed the mark there. Yes.
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The second one was Brnovich v. DNC, which just came
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down earlier this summer, which it basically shifted the burden
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in deciding whether a law violated voting rights by giving
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the state a wide berth to put in place restrictions
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and to cancel votes. And the third one is something
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we call the Purcell case, which is from 2006, but
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also made it much harder to challenge voting rights cases
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in federal courts. And so it seriously thinks it challenges
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all of that, puts– re-puts in place the preclearance function,
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puts in some guidelines, and is trying to draw some
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lines around the court to prevent them from doing what
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they've been doing for a decade. It's critically important. It
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is not going to solve a lot of our current
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problems and would not have a huge effect on a
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lot of the laws that have been passed since 2020.
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But it absolutely has to be done. People have been
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trying to do parts of this since 2013. And there
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has been, other than Lisa Murkowski, no Republican support to
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do so. And the problem has only gotten exponentially worse
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since then.
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I do wonder if these added court reform provisions in
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this bill that the House put in there if Manchin
481
00:25:39.029 --> 00:25:41.230
and Sinema and those types will embrace them. It seems
482
00:25:41.289 --> 00:25:45.190
like so far they are, and they're working on compromise
483
00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.859
legislation to introduce in the Senate as well. Everyone will hear,
484
00:25:49.220 --> 00:25:53.960
we recorded our interview with Senator Padilla yesterday, but he
485
00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:57.119
gave somewhat hopeful indications that there are conversations they're having
486
00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:00.559
in the Senate with Manchin about compromise legislation that can
487
00:26:00.579 --> 00:26:04.480
get everyone on board. And then hopefully they believe that
488
00:26:04.529 --> 00:26:08.500
they can tweak the rules is what he says. um, to,
489
00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:11.450
to ultimately pass this. Don't know what that means exactly.
490
00:26:11.569 --> 00:26:14.569
Don't know if that's too hopeful, but, um, you know,
491
00:26:15.170 --> 00:26:17.009
what else can we do? But, uh, but hope that,
492
00:26:17.130 --> 00:26:19.490
that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema will come through in
493
00:26:19.509 --> 00:26:22.869
the end, except scream into the void. I mean, that
494
00:26:22.910 --> 00:26:24.210
is where the other option.
495
00:26:24.049 --> 00:26:25.539
It's worked great so far. So I don't know why
496
00:26:25.579 --> 00:26:28.680
we would stop. I just, I think there's one thing
497
00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:31.279
that's worth putting a finer point on because it's speaks
498
00:26:31.339 --> 00:26:33.119
to the state of the Republican party today is, um,
499
00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:36.960
When in 2006, the last time the Voting Rights Act
500
00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:40.410
was extended, it passed the Senate 98 to nothing and
501
00:26:40.450 --> 00:26:45.509
the House 390 to 30, 30 something, I think. And
502
00:26:45.549 --> 00:26:47.450
so this is how far the Republican Party has come
503
00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:49.970
in 15 years, where it is the official position of
504
00:26:49.990 --> 00:26:53.019
the party that expanding voting rights or even not even
505
00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:57.289
just expanding voting rights. Allowing voting rights to exist as
506
00:26:57.349 --> 00:27:00.750
they did since the 60s is an anathema to the party.
507
00:27:01.029 --> 00:27:03.849
And you saw a lot of these. Just when you
508
00:27:03.890 --> 00:27:06.630
go back, like flash forward, let's say we survive, right?
509
00:27:06.670 --> 00:27:08.910
And you flash forward like 50 years and you look
510
00:27:08.950 --> 00:27:12.910
back and like read in a history book that every
511
00:27:12.970 --> 00:27:16.250
single Republican voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
512
00:27:17.210 --> 00:27:17.390
Yeah.
513
00:27:17.630 --> 00:27:17.789
Right?
514
00:27:17.809 --> 00:27:19.569
You're either going to look back and say, man, that
515
00:27:19.609 --> 00:27:22.529
was a weird fucking time or, oh, that's how we
516
00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:24.430
ended up living in Gitmo, right? Those are the two
517
00:27:24.450 --> 00:27:25.450
ways you think about it.
518
00:27:27.130 --> 00:27:28.710
Yeah, I mean, it's so funny. I mean, I'm glad
519
00:27:28.730 --> 00:27:31.180
you put a fine point on it. I think we've
520
00:27:31.220 --> 00:27:34.079
become so used to the turn that the Republican Party
521
00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:37.579
has taken and how extreme they've become that it just
522
00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:41.680
did not surprise me at all. Everything that's happened in
523
00:27:41.700 --> 00:27:44.829
the last four, five, six years tells you that, of course,
524
00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:46.849
there was no chance that any of them were going
525
00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:51.630
to support even the most moderate reforms to protect the
526
00:27:51.690 --> 00:27:53.190
right to vote.
527
00:27:53.269 --> 00:27:57.230
In 2013, after the Shelby decision came down, Republicans pretended
528
00:27:57.309 --> 00:27:59.109
like they were going to work on a solution for years.
529
00:27:59.130 --> 00:28:01.690
So even back– even just less than 10 years ago,
530
00:28:01.730 --> 00:28:05.430
they felt an obligation to pretend to care about voting rights.
531
00:28:05.490 --> 00:28:09.329
Now it's just like fuck that and just vote against
532
00:28:09.349 --> 00:28:11.289
it with pride. Send out fundraising emails about how they
533
00:28:11.309 --> 00:28:13.940
voted against it with pride. It's just– we're in a–
534
00:28:14.470 --> 00:28:15.690
it's a very precarious position.
535
00:28:16.549 --> 00:28:20.779
Half the party thinks that the people who attacked the
536
00:28:20.819 --> 00:28:25.160
Capitol on January 6th were patriots. So that's where we are.
537
00:28:35.369 --> 00:28:35.609
All right.
538
00:28:35.650 --> 00:28:37.769
So we've been talking a lot about the California recall.
539
00:28:38.089 --> 00:28:40.680
The other big 2021 race is the gubernatorial race in
540
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:44.599
Virginia between former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe and Republican private
541
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:48.859
equity executive Glenn Youngkin. In 2020, Joe Biden won Virginia
542
00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.789
by 10 points, 54 to 44. In 2017, Ralph Northam
543
00:28:52.809 --> 00:28:54.630
won the governorship by nine points, 54 to 45. In
544
00:28:56.109 --> 00:28:59.069
And in our latest Polar Coaster survey with Change Research,
545
00:28:59.470 --> 00:29:03.309
we find McAuliffe leading by six points, 49 to 43,
546
00:29:03.309 --> 00:29:07.549
with 3% supporting a third party candidate named Princess Blanding
547
00:29:08.069 --> 00:29:12.519
and another 5% undecided. What's keeping the race close? McAuliffe
548
00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:16.619
is significantly underperforming Biden by nine points among young voters
549
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.039
and 16 points among Hispanic voters. His voters are also
550
00:29:21.099 --> 00:29:23.529
paying less attention to the race and are less motivated
551
00:29:23.619 --> 00:29:26.490
to vote than Youngkin's voters. All right, we got a
552
00:29:26.509 --> 00:29:28.230
lot more to dig into here, but I'll stop there
553
00:29:28.250 --> 00:29:31.539
for now. Dan, what, if any, implications does this race
554
00:29:31.579 --> 00:29:34.500
have beyond Virginia? Why are we paying so much attention
555
00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:37.289
to this? And what was your first reaction to these
556
00:29:37.309 --> 00:29:40.269
top line results? Keeping in mind all the usual caveats
557
00:29:40.289 --> 00:29:43.369
that it's just one poll and polls can sometimes miss
558
00:29:43.410 --> 00:29:43.809
the mark.
559
00:29:43.990 --> 00:29:45.970
I mean, every once in a while that happens.
560
00:29:46.710 --> 00:29:48.359
Every once in a while. Yeah, you got to watch
561
00:29:48.380 --> 00:29:48.690
out for that.
562
00:29:48.890 --> 00:29:51.119
I mean, my first reaction when seeing the top line
563
00:29:51.130 --> 00:29:54.980
number was relief, right? Six points is still a significant lead.
564
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:57.539
When you look at this, McAuliffe's at 49% and has
565
00:29:57.559 --> 00:30:01.430
room to grow. Because he's at 49 and underperforming. He's
566
00:30:01.450 --> 00:30:04.240
getting less of Biden's voters than Youngkin is getting of
567
00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:08.640
Trump's voters. So he is well positioned. What is happening
568
00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:11.819
underneath is concerning. And the reason we care is we
569
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.559
care about the people of Virginia. We want them to
570
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:17.569
have a good governor, not a Trumpy private equity executive,
571
00:30:17.869 --> 00:30:22.309
which is a real tongue twister. But it also– Rich guy.
572
00:30:23.150 --> 00:30:28.180
He is a very, very rich guy. Yeah. he, but it,
573
00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:30.619
it sets the political narrative for the year. If Republicans
574
00:30:30.700 --> 00:30:33.259
win the state that has been moving steadily in democratic
575
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:37.660
direction since 2008, it would, you know, give a huge
576
00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:40.789
boost in momentum and fundraising to them. You could see
577
00:30:40.890 --> 00:30:43.329
if we are not, I mean, I hope it's not
578
00:30:43.349 --> 00:30:46.750
the case, but if you're not through passing the elements
579
00:30:46.789 --> 00:30:50.869
of the Biden economic agenda, like, like the, we talked
580
00:30:50.890 --> 00:30:52.339
about with the poll numbers, it could bring that to
581
00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:55.599
a screeching halt. Um, On one level, you can look
582
00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.119
at these– the enthusiastic numbers of Virginia and say, you
583
00:30:58.140 --> 00:31:01.150
know what? I don't blame Virginia voters for being fucking tired.
584
00:31:01.750 --> 00:31:04.630
Their election schedule is stupid. They have to do– think
585
00:31:04.650 --> 00:31:05.309
about it this way, right?
586
00:31:05.450 --> 00:31:07.490
They– 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Yeah, no.
587
00:31:07.589 --> 00:31:13.599
It's like you can't have a presidential battleground state, a
588
00:31:13.730 --> 00:31:16.720
state filled with competitive house races necessary to keep or
589
00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:20.119
take the majority and then have a governorship on one
590
00:31:20.140 --> 00:31:21.519
year and then two years later put most of your
591
00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:25.400
state legislature up there. Like it's just– it's exhausting. But–
592
00:31:25.900 --> 00:31:27.769
and we've talked about this as it relates to California.
593
00:31:27.789 --> 00:31:29.509
When you look at the polling in California, you see
594
00:31:29.549 --> 00:31:34.309
a similar level lack of Democratic enthusiasm there. If you
595
00:31:34.329 --> 00:31:37.710
talk anecdotally to a lot of different sort of grassroots
596
00:31:37.769 --> 00:31:42.049
activist groups, it's not that Democrats are not excited because
597
00:31:42.069 --> 00:31:46.650
there are still a lot of people volunteering and donating.
598
00:31:46.829 --> 00:31:48.970
But it's not at the sort of level that it
599
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:49.509
was from 2017 to 2021.
600
00:31:49.490 --> 00:31:49.579
Yeah.
601
00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:55.220
And that is concerning. And that made me like, yes,
602
00:31:55.269 --> 00:31:57.029
we could probably win a state like Virginia with a
603
00:31:57.069 --> 00:32:00.789
candidate like Terry McAuliffe, who was incredibly well-known and well-liked
604
00:32:00.829 --> 00:32:03.089
in that state. But what happens when you get to
605
00:32:03.450 --> 00:32:08.029
Pennsylvania Senate race, Wisconsin Senate race, Arizona, Georgia, some of
606
00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:11.490
these closer House races? If there's an enthusiasm gap like
607
00:32:11.529 --> 00:32:14.539
this one going into those election days, we will lose.
608
00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:17.619
We will lose the House and the Senate. That's pure math.
609
00:32:18.470 --> 00:32:21.269
Yeah. No, people need to people need to start paying
610
00:32:21.309 --> 00:32:24.210
attention a little bit more. I don't know how many
611
00:32:24.230 --> 00:32:26.430
times to say, you know, it's like you hear some
612
00:32:26.450 --> 00:32:28.410
of these warnings and you're like, oh, it sounds so
613
00:32:28.549 --> 00:32:31.650
it sounds so gloomy and dismal. It's not to make
614
00:32:31.710 --> 00:32:34.880
everything gloomy and dismal. It's to say that, like, our
615
00:32:34.950 --> 00:32:37.960
destiny is in our hands here. Right. And if you
616
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.059
go out and you get people fired up that, you know,
617
00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:42.039
and you get them engaged, you get them registered to
618
00:32:42.059 --> 00:32:43.200
vote and we do what we did in 18, do
619
00:32:43.220 --> 00:32:46.579
it in 20. Like these elections are ours for the taking.
620
00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:49.119
But if all we do is say, you know, I'm
621
00:32:49.140 --> 00:32:51.460
pretty tired and checked out. I got to take a
622
00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:55.359
break now. Then we're going to get really close results
623
00:32:55.519 --> 00:32:58.039
in blue states and lose a bunch of purple and
624
00:32:58.059 --> 00:33:00.259
red states. That's basically what we're facing.
625
00:33:00.500 --> 00:33:04.420
I mean, the one sort of maybe counterpart of this,
626
00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:06.059
it is like we'll want to check back in on
627
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:10.900
this post Labor Day. Like this has been a shitty summer, right?
628
00:33:10.940 --> 00:33:14.009
It is August, which is already usually a time of
629
00:33:14.690 --> 00:33:18.289
some measure of disengagement. There's obviously a lot happening around
630
00:33:18.329 --> 00:33:20.609
the world, as you just talked about. It's definitely like
631
00:33:20.630 --> 00:33:23.670
we're dealing with Delta and all these other things. There's
632
00:33:23.730 --> 00:33:26.630
more than enough time to get this problem fixed for
633
00:33:27.329 --> 00:33:27.869
the midterms.
634
00:33:28.529 --> 00:33:31.460
Yeah, look, so digging into the poll, right? We talked
635
00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:36.150
about some of the good news. Youngkin has outspent McAuliffe $ 16. 9
636
00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:39.960
million to $ 11. 3 million so far. He's still losing by six.
637
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.430
His favorability is 37% favorable, 40% unfavorable. So those aren't
638
00:33:44.470 --> 00:33:47.640
great numbers for Youngkin. It's not like that the race
639
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.400
is close because people love him. Um, of the 5% undecided,
640
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:54.309
nearly half are registered Democrats, a group that Youngkin is
641
00:33:54.349 --> 00:33:57.970
losing by 94 to one. Um, Trump is 20 points
642
00:33:58.009 --> 00:34:00.990
underwater in the state of Virginia right now in this poll.
643
00:34:01.450 --> 00:34:04.769
And 54% of voters found a message tying Youngkin to Trump,
644
00:34:05.190 --> 00:34:08.429
a persuasive reason to oppose him. So that's some, that's
645
00:34:08.449 --> 00:34:10.329
some good news too. And then now we should talk
646
00:34:10.349 --> 00:34:13.889
about sort of the issue environment, right? Which is obviously it's, uh,
647
00:34:14.579 --> 00:34:16.320
specific to Virginia in this poll, but I think you
648
00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:20.389
can extrapolate about sort of the larger issue environment nationally
649
00:34:20.730 --> 00:34:22.750
from some of the stuff that we're seeing here. Voters
650
00:34:22.769 --> 00:34:24.969
think McAuliffe would handle almost every issue better than Young
651
00:34:24.989 --> 00:34:29.130
can by significant margins, including climate change, income inequality, education, abortion,
652
00:34:29.170 --> 00:34:33.119
and housing. Voters also agree with McAuliffe's positions on vaccine
653
00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:35.739
and mask requirements. They approve them by 60%. So it's
654
00:34:35.780 --> 00:34:41.389
not like There's, you know, Youngkin's position on a lot
655
00:34:41.429 --> 00:34:44.489
of issues aren't what's driving a lot of the race here.
656
00:34:45.349 --> 00:34:49.110
Although we can see now back back to the challenging news.
657
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:49.360
Yes.
658
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.320
It's called bad news. It's called challenging. A lot of
659
00:34:53.340 --> 00:34:57.639
the Republican messages are breaking through to voters. So 79
660
00:34:57.639 --> 00:35:02.400
percent of all Virginians, including 68 percent of Democrats, consider
661
00:35:02.460 --> 00:35:04.820
violent crime to be a threat to Virginia. That's in
662
00:35:04.860 --> 00:35:08.269
the poll. Over 90 percent of Youngkin voters believe that
663
00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:12.610
critical race theory, illegal immigration, voter fraud and socialism pose
664
00:35:12.670 --> 00:35:17.570
significant threats to Virginia. Also, more than half of undecided
665
00:35:17.630 --> 00:35:19.820
voters and the third of Biden voters who are not
666
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:23.360
yet supporting McAuliffe think that critical race theory is at
667
00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:27.619
least a medium sized threat. What's your take on on
668
00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.400
sort of where where the issue environment is right now?
669
00:35:31.260 --> 00:35:34.659
It speaks to the power of the right-wing media ecosystem.
670
00:35:35.139 --> 00:35:38.780
Crime is a real issue that affects people's lives. I
671
00:35:38.820 --> 00:35:42.030
think the numbers in here suggest that the Republican focus
672
00:35:42.210 --> 00:35:48.550
on crime has given it a disproportionate role in the election, but.
673
00:35:48.829 --> 00:35:50.230
We should- I would also say, by the way, that
674
00:35:50.610 --> 00:35:53.199
it is, just before I forget, it's a Republican focus
675
00:35:53.260 --> 00:35:55.639
on crime and a Republican media focus on crime. Crime
676
00:35:55.679 --> 00:36:00.119
is also something that local media- Even nonpartisan local media
677
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:02.820
and just all media tends to focus on when there
678
00:36:02.860 --> 00:36:06.599
is crime, it gets reported, it makes headlines. And so
679
00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:09.699
even if you look at overall crime rates and they're
680
00:36:09.719 --> 00:36:11.900
not that much different and all this kind of, you know,
681
00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.340
you look at all that, it's when crime happens, when
682
00:36:15.380 --> 00:36:18.239
violent crime happens, it gets reported and people see it
683
00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:19.139
and they start worrying.
684
00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:20.820
And it leads the news.
685
00:36:21.530 --> 00:36:21.710
Right.
686
00:36:21.789 --> 00:36:26.000
And it's very, very rarely in.
687
00:36:25.960 --> 00:36:28.239
The context of how often it happens, right? Or what
688
00:36:28.260 --> 00:36:32.519
the circumstances are. But so as your point, crime is real.
689
00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:36.019
Critical race theory and the rise of socialism are fake.
690
00:36:36.900 --> 00:36:40.289
Those are made, that is a- Entirely generated by the
691
00:36:40.369 --> 00:36:41.309
Republican media machine.
692
00:36:41.349 --> 00:36:41.489
Yes.
693
00:36:41.570 --> 00:36:42.949
It is not a thing that's happening. We had a
694
00:36:43.030 --> 00:36:45.710
great conversation about this a few weeks ago or a
695
00:36:45.710 --> 00:36:47.949
month or so ago with Jelani Cobb on critical race theory.
696
00:36:49.210 --> 00:36:52.739
Socialism is not rising. It's all bullshit. It is just
697
00:36:52.889 --> 00:36:57.039
a Republican narrative, right-wing media narrative that is permeating to
698
00:36:57.179 --> 00:37:00.099
large swaths of the public. And one of the interesting
699
00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:04.429
things in this poll was that change actually separated out
700
00:37:04.449 --> 00:37:08.469
the Republicans who self-identify as consuming right-wing media. That could
701
00:37:08.489 --> 00:37:11.429
be Fox. It could be Newsmax, something like that. And
702
00:37:11.449 --> 00:37:16.719
the Republicans who self-identify as only consuming mainstream media, local news, newspapers, etc.,
703
00:37:18.369 --> 00:37:21.849
Over 90% of the Republicans who consume right-wing media think
704
00:37:21.889 --> 00:37:26.150
critical race theory is a significant or major threat. But
705
00:37:27.230 --> 00:37:32.809
more than 80% of the non-right-wing media-consuming Republicans also feel
706
00:37:32.829 --> 00:37:35.010
that way. And so this is not– and I think
707
00:37:35.030 --> 00:37:36.969
this is just such an important thing for us as
708
00:37:37.030 --> 00:37:42.309
Democrats and political analysts to recognize is these things spread
709
00:37:42.409 --> 00:37:45.670
far beyond the very small audience of people who watch
710
00:37:45.690 --> 00:37:48.670
Tucker Carlson every night. It is everywhere. And we have
711
00:37:48.690 --> 00:37:50.349
to find ways to deal with it. We have to
712
00:37:50.369 --> 00:37:52.309
recognize it's in the issue environment. We have to respond
713
00:37:52.329 --> 00:37:55.420
to it. We have to deal with it. And I
714
00:37:55.460 --> 00:37:59.000
think that it is a warning sign and it's going
715
00:37:59.059 --> 00:38:04.099
to be a bigger problem in a more nationalized political
716
00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:06.260
environment in 2022.
717
00:38:06.260 --> 00:38:08.590
So one question about how to deal with it. We
718
00:38:08.650 --> 00:38:12.510
actually tested out two messages about critical race theory that
719
00:38:12.530 --> 00:38:15.960
Democrats could possibly use. One is about how Republicans want
720
00:38:15.980 --> 00:38:18.420
to ban our schools from teaching our children about difficult
721
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.469
issues like slavery or racism, but denying the uglier parts
722
00:38:21.489 --> 00:38:23.650
of our history denies the heroism of everyone who fought
723
00:38:23.670 --> 00:38:26.969
to right those wrongs. Another message we tested is Republicans
724
00:38:27.010 --> 00:38:29.250
want the federal government to decide what's being taught in
725
00:38:29.269 --> 00:38:31.929
local schools, but teachers should have the freedom to teach
726
00:38:32.130 --> 00:38:35.719
all of American history without Congress dictating lesson plans. That
727
00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:40.550
one did much better with voters, uh, from all parties,
728
00:38:40.909 --> 00:38:43.980
which is interesting. It's the idea that Republican politicians in
729
00:38:44.019 --> 00:38:45.639
Washington are going to get in the way of what
730
00:38:45.659 --> 00:38:48.139
teachers want to teach your kids. Although it is interesting
731
00:38:48.300 --> 00:38:51.300
and somewhat sad, I would argue that the one that
732
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:54.840
didn't actually mention critical race theory or race in general
733
00:38:54.940 --> 00:38:56.900
was the one that did better than, than the, uh,
734
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.639
the one. And I mean, it's not surprising because it
735
00:38:58.659 --> 00:39:01.519
did better with Republicans and independents, but it does show
736
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:04.420
that there is some opening for Democrats to respond to
737
00:39:04.460 --> 00:39:05.679
these attacks on critical race theory.
738
00:39:06.099 --> 00:39:06.760
Yeah, absolutely.
739
00:39:08.199 --> 00:39:14.760
Um, We also tested sort of messages about Youngkin and McAuliffe.
740
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:18.630
The most persuasive positive messages for McAuliffe were talking about
741
00:39:18.650 --> 00:39:22.650
his plans, helping small businesses, raising the minimum wage, providing
742
00:39:22.690 --> 00:39:26.989
childcare and paid leave. The most persuasive negative message about
743
00:39:27.090 --> 00:39:32.059
Youngkin was at Carlisle, he was a private equity executive
744
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:34.960
at the Carlisle Group. At Carlisle, Youngkin outsourced and laid
745
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:37.420
off employees. As governor, he'll take care of himself and
746
00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:41.900
wealthy friends at your expense. Boy, isn't that deja vu
747
00:39:41.960 --> 00:39:44.469
to a guy named Mitt Romney that we ran against
748
00:39:44.510 --> 00:39:46.889
in 2012. It was basically the most powerful message against
749
00:39:46.929 --> 00:39:49.170
Mitt Romney that we had all that we tested in
750
00:39:49.190 --> 00:39:51.829
the Obama campaign. And it's amazing that this many years later,
751
00:39:51.909 --> 00:39:54.449
it's still the most effective message against Youngkin. And we
752
00:39:54.550 --> 00:39:58.659
also tested messages about his closeness to Trump. The fact that, um,
753
00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:01.679
He had appeared at a rally with one of the
754
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:05.150
insurrectionists on January 6th that he's going to Trumpify Virginia.
755
00:40:05.449 --> 00:40:07.269
And by the way, those messages were effective, so I
756
00:40:07.269 --> 00:40:09.630
don't want to dismiss the effectiveness of the Trump messages.
757
00:40:10.110 --> 00:40:13.550
But he's a rich guy who outsources jobs and was
758
00:40:13.570 --> 00:40:17.320
a wealthy private equity executive is just a few points
759
00:40:17.719 --> 00:40:19.900
better than those messages and the most effective ones. What
760
00:40:20.039 --> 00:40:21.980
did you think of that? And is there anything, what
761
00:40:22.019 --> 00:40:23.460
did you think of that? And then is there anything
762
00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:25.519
to learn from that that we can sort of extrapolate
763
00:40:25.539 --> 00:40:28.429
to the larger national political environment today? as Democrats think
764
00:40:28.489 --> 00:40:29.909
about the midterms?
765
00:40:31.070 --> 00:40:34.789
We have to relearn this lesson every single time, which
766
00:40:34.929 --> 00:40:40.190
is the difference between Mitt Romney's 2012 loss and Donald
767
00:40:40.210 --> 00:40:45.159
Trump's 2016 win, other than Jim Comey's gigantic ego and
768
00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:52.929
some Russian shenanigans, is turnout among working-class Republican white voters
769
00:40:53.130 --> 00:40:56.190
in rural areas. That is the difference. There are some
770
00:40:56.250 --> 00:40:59.269
shifting from Obama to Trump, and then some shifting from
771
00:40:59.329 --> 00:41:03.590
non-voter to voter. It's because there is a schism to
772
00:41:03.630 --> 00:41:09.070
be drawn in the Republican Party between their corporatist, plutocratic, tax-cut-loving,
773
00:41:09.150 --> 00:41:13.630
Medicare-cutting agenda and their working-class populist base. We saw that
774
00:41:13.670 --> 00:41:15.369
work in 2012. We saw that work in 2018 with
775
00:41:15.389 --> 00:41:20.420
a lot of races. It was part of the Biden message,
776
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:24.239
the Main Street, Wall Street situation, and it should work here.
777
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.739
And obviously, maybe a broader lesson to Republicans, and I'll
778
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:31.429
regret this if Youngkin comes back and wins, but is rich,
779
00:41:32.179 --> 00:41:36.510
politically maladroit private equity executives is maybe not who you
780
00:41:36.530 --> 00:41:39.329
want to go hand your party nomination to, just in general?
781
00:41:39.670 --> 00:41:42.170
And look, we should draw a distinction between him and Trump,
782
00:41:42.190 --> 00:41:44.010
because some people are probably thinking, well, wasn't Trump a
783
00:41:44.030 --> 00:41:47.340
rich guy? Yes, but Trump worked pretty hard to make
784
00:41:47.380 --> 00:41:52.059
sure that his identity was not a rich guy. Yes. Yes.
785
00:41:52.179 --> 00:41:54.559
I mean, he had all the policies of a rich guy,
786
00:41:54.579 --> 00:41:58.780
but he also ran, he was able to like, this
787
00:41:58.840 --> 00:42:01.920
is a seven pod series about how I use nativism.
788
00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:02.920
As a proxy for populism.
789
00:42:04.110 --> 00:42:04.280
Right.
790
00:42:04.340 --> 00:42:07.510
But he was a, you know, he, he was able to,
791
00:42:08.030 --> 00:42:10.829
to have an identity that was different than Mitt Romney
792
00:42:10.969 --> 00:42:14.769
or Glenn Trumpkin as the McAuliffe came in, which I
793
00:42:14.789 --> 00:42:18.360
have to say, That hurts my ears every time I
794
00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:20.070
hear them say it or I receive an email from
795
00:42:20.090 --> 00:42:23.130
the McAuliffe campaign with it. But I do understand why
796
00:42:23.170 --> 00:42:25.469
they're doing it in the poll. Yeah, I do. It
797
00:42:25.489 --> 00:42:27.969
makes sense. The other thing about Trump that's interesting is
798
00:42:28.190 --> 00:42:30.909
he is a net negative with the broader electorate, and
799
00:42:30.949 --> 00:42:35.400
he's not even really a net positive with even young voters.
800
00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:37.920
Only 8% of young voters say Trump's support is a
801
00:42:38.039 --> 00:42:40.940
major reason why they're supporting him. That's interesting. Virginia is
802
00:42:40.980 --> 00:42:46.880
a very anti-Trump state. Just demographically, it is. But it's
803
00:42:46.900 --> 00:42:49.280
something to watch going forward that we saw a little
804
00:42:49.300 --> 00:42:50.820
bit of this in some of these special elections that
805
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:57.389
maybe we're overstating Trump's impact within the Republican Party. When
806
00:42:57.429 --> 00:42:59.429
I look at this, I see a couple of things
807
00:42:59.510 --> 00:43:01.949
that I think Democrats need to focus on. One is
808
00:43:01.989 --> 00:43:05.570
get people reengaged and fired up. And part of that,
809
00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:10.199
I think, is finding messages about the Republicans that raise
810
00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:13.400
the stakes of the election. We won Virginia in 2017,
811
00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:17.739
the House in 2018, the presidency in 2020 because Democrats voted, organized,
812
00:43:17.780 --> 00:43:21.840
and donated as if the civilization depended on it. And
813
00:43:21.860 --> 00:43:23.929
it may not feel that way right now with Democrats
814
00:43:23.949 --> 00:43:26.269
in control of everything. And we need to– and once again,
815
00:43:28.070 --> 00:43:30.309
it does again, right? We've talked about it before, but
816
00:43:30.349 --> 00:43:34.840
the consequences of losing either House or Congress is devastating.
817
00:43:34.880 --> 00:43:37.079
And people have to understand what that means. And so
818
00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:43.059
we need to find our– truthful, non-racist, non-offensive, non-bigoted, non-Nativist
819
00:43:43.139 --> 00:43:48.210
versions of some of these Republican issues like critical race
820
00:43:48.230 --> 00:43:49.949
theory and socialism that get people fired up. Because you
821
00:43:49.969 --> 00:43:52.789
can sort of understand why Republicans are more fired up
822
00:43:52.809 --> 00:43:56.449
than Democrats because we're talking about what we're putting on
823
00:43:56.489 --> 00:43:58.630
your kitchen table and Republicans are saying that the civilization
824
00:43:58.650 --> 00:44:01.489
outside your house is burning down. Obviously, they're going to
825
00:44:01.530 --> 00:44:04.110
be more fired up over that because they create this
826
00:44:04.170 --> 00:44:07.650
apocalyptic political environment. And we were able to do that
827
00:44:07.670 --> 00:44:10.809
because Trump was such a dangerous manifestation of that.
828
00:44:11.809 --> 00:44:14.889
Well, that isn't that the challenge of a message that
829
00:44:15.369 --> 00:44:18.070
Republicans are rich assholes who are going to help their
830
00:44:18.110 --> 00:44:21.019
rich friends, right? We know that if you pull that message,
831
00:44:21.079 --> 00:44:23.659
it ends up being the most effective message. And you
832
00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:25.880
can say Democrats are fighting hard for the middle class.
833
00:44:25.900 --> 00:44:28.139
Look at all Joe Biden's economic plans, right? Like, you know,
834
00:44:28.179 --> 00:44:31.300
that polls really well. It is hard to make that
835
00:44:32.139 --> 00:44:36.559
message feel as urgent as and to raise the stakes
836
00:44:36.659 --> 00:44:40.210
with that message as some of the Republican messages are.
837
00:44:40.769 --> 00:44:43.329
And so then if you're a Democrat, you think, okay, well,
838
00:44:43.349 --> 00:44:46.630
the messages that really raise the stakes are about the
839
00:44:46.690 --> 00:44:51.889
very real Republican threats to democracy itself, or the idea
840
00:44:51.949 --> 00:44:54.739
that if Republicans are in charge, like the planet is
841
00:44:55.019 --> 00:44:57.300
fucked because we're not going to do anything about climate change, right?
842
00:44:57.320 --> 00:45:00.420
So like, then you sort of gravitate towards those messages.
843
00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:03.650
And then the other problem you have is, the media
844
00:45:03.690 --> 00:45:08.380
narratives don't necessarily cooperate well with the economic messages, right?
845
00:45:08.420 --> 00:45:14.239
Because the media doesn't necessarily focus on economic inequality, economic
846
00:45:14.280 --> 00:45:18.059
populism in a way that Democrats might want them to, right?
847
00:45:18.099 --> 00:45:21.500
The media narrative is unpredictable and it's all over the place.
848
00:45:21.659 --> 00:45:23.519
And so it is hard to find a message that
849
00:45:23.539 --> 00:45:26.860
sort of marries up with the media environment, which is
850
00:45:26.920 --> 00:45:30.039
how a lot of voters just consume information about the world.
851
00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:33.760
for Democrats if they're using a lot of these economic messages.
852
00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:36.340
I'm thinking out loud here, but that's what I think
853
00:45:36.400 --> 00:45:39.280
we've never really figured out and what's really challenging for Democrats.
854
00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:43.719
That's right. Because you need not just media coverage, but
855
00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:47.010
media coverage that breaks through. And you need content that
856
00:45:48.150 --> 00:45:51.510
gets engagement in social media and therefore a show to
857
00:45:51.530 --> 00:45:55.119
more people. And you know, I've talked to a lot
858
00:45:55.139 --> 00:45:57.059
to several progressive groups. We've been testing a lot of
859
00:45:57.099 --> 00:45:58.940
things and the economic message is hard. I mean, we
860
00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:00.900
see it sometimes in our own content when we write,
861
00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:05.349
write and talk about infrastructure, right? It's not exactly like
862
00:46:05.949 --> 00:46:09.769
people don't care, firing it off. Um, but there are
863
00:46:09.849 --> 00:46:12.570
like in this poll, I think there are three things
864
00:46:12.590 --> 00:46:14.849
that I think are worthy of further exploration than one
865
00:46:15.250 --> 00:46:18.260
sort of way to think about polling going forward. The
866
00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:23.340
three things are, um, 90% of McCullough voters see climate
867
00:46:23.380 --> 00:46:28.239
change and white supremacy as significant threats facing Virginia.
868
00:46:28.360 --> 00:46:28.539
Yeah.
869
00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:31.940
That's something to think about, about how we message that.
870
00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:34.360
And there's obviously nuance to how you do it, but
871
00:46:34.380 --> 00:46:37.489
the politics of climate have shifted that I think it
872
00:46:37.570 --> 00:46:40.989
can become, and it can tie into that plutocratic message
873
00:46:41.210 --> 00:46:44.409
because of who you're fighting for there. The other one
874
00:46:44.630 --> 00:46:46.750
is vaccine and mask mandates. I've been doing a whole
875
00:46:46.769 --> 00:46:50.230
bunch of research on this for a forthcoming message box,
876
00:46:50.289 --> 00:46:52.670
but I'm becoming more and more convinced that Democrats should
877
00:46:52.710 --> 00:46:57.309
run aggressively on vaccine mandates. And McAuliffe has started doing that.
878
00:46:57.329 --> 00:47:00.869
And Youngkin felt so sort of on the defensive about
879
00:47:00.909 --> 00:47:02.329
it that he had to put out an ad where
880
00:47:02.349 --> 00:47:07.329
he was kind of sort of maybe encouraging Virginians to
881
00:47:07.349 --> 00:47:09.409
get the vaccine. But he was too afraid of upsetting
882
00:47:10.010 --> 00:47:12.179
the MAGA base to really do it. And it sort
883
00:47:12.199 --> 00:47:14.420
of puts Republicans in a really impossible position. And that's
884
00:47:14.440 --> 00:47:17.070
kind of what you want to do. And then in general,
885
00:47:17.090 --> 00:47:19.110
I think one thing we have to think about as
886
00:47:19.150 --> 00:47:22.309
a broader political community when it comes to polling is
887
00:47:22.909 --> 00:47:28.289
looking as much at motivation as support, right? Yes, we
888
00:47:28.329 --> 00:47:31.070
see this all like people love this bill. People love
889
00:47:31.130 --> 00:47:33.489
the Biff. Are people really going to get fired up
890
00:47:33.530 --> 00:47:33.750
and vote?
891
00:47:33.769 --> 00:47:35.389
Is that going to get them off their couch? Yeah.
892
00:47:35.409 --> 00:47:36.719
Is the Biff going to get them off their couch?
893
00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:37.429
That's the question.
894
00:47:38.340 --> 00:47:40.119
I'm going to venture no on that.
895
00:47:40.139 --> 00:47:44.079
Yeah, no kidding. No, that is, I think we have
896
00:47:44.320 --> 00:47:47.260
laid out what the challenge is here. and there are
897
00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:49.360
a lot of opportunities, but like, and also we've laid
898
00:47:49.380 --> 00:47:51.260
out the fact that, I mean, a lot of these
899
00:47:51.420 --> 00:47:54.250
we've presented as choices, but I think Democrats are going
900
00:47:54.269 --> 00:47:56.730
to have to do sort of both all of the above, right?
901
00:47:56.789 --> 00:47:58.909
Like there are, you're going to have to get people
902
00:47:58.969 --> 00:48:01.610
out by talking about the giant stakes in this election.
903
00:48:01.929 --> 00:48:04.929
You also have to realize that there are independent voters,
904
00:48:05.010 --> 00:48:09.519
swing voters, voters who aren't engaged in every election, who
905
00:48:09.559 --> 00:48:11.940
don't vote in every election that are going to care
906
00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:15.260
more about some of these economic issues and making sure
907
00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:17.800
that the Democrats have actually done something to improve their lives.
908
00:48:18.159 --> 00:48:19.519
And you're going to have to figure out a way
909
00:48:19.539 --> 00:48:22.820
to message all of the above, I think, right? And
910
00:48:23.400 --> 00:48:25.460
it's not satisfying because a message is supposed to be
911
00:48:25.559 --> 00:48:27.760
like succinct and simple and stuff like that. But I
912
00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:30.219
think in this environment, you need to find a way
913
00:48:30.260 --> 00:48:33.039
to communicate like all of these messages to different groups
914
00:48:33.059 --> 00:48:33.440
of voters.
915
00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:36.110
That's right. I mean, to think about it, to sort
916
00:48:36.139 --> 00:48:39.289
of put a fine point on the challenge, and like
917
00:48:39.309 --> 00:48:41.409
this is in this, you'll see this in this polling
918
00:48:41.429 --> 00:48:44.000
in Virginia, which is You need a bunch of younger,
919
00:48:45.420 --> 00:48:49.829
by definition, more progressive voters who were potentially tuned out
920
00:48:49.869 --> 00:48:53.789
before 2016, tuned in in the Trump era, and maybe
921
00:48:54.190 --> 00:48:58.489
tuning out. And you need a bunch of suburban Mitt
922
00:48:58.610 --> 00:49:03.150
Romney voting Republicans who turned against their party to vote
923
00:49:03.190 --> 00:49:06.650
for maybe Hillary Clinton, but definitely Joe Biden. in because
924
00:49:06.690 --> 00:49:08.670
of trump to keep them in the fold so you
925
00:49:08.690 --> 00:49:10.920
have to get these people on the left more engaged
926
00:49:10.940 --> 00:49:13.940
these people in the center from defaulting back to their
927
00:49:13.949 --> 00:49:15.389
natural home.
928
00:49:16.289 --> 00:49:20.170
Need them both. Okay. We'll end there for now. When
929
00:49:20.210 --> 00:49:23.659
we come back, Tommy and I talk to California Senator
930
00:49:23.860 --> 00:49:35.880
Alex Padilla. Joining us now is the junior senator from California,
931
00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.960
our Senator Alex Padilla. Senator, welcome to Pod Save America.
932
00:49:39.019 --> 00:49:39.920
Thank you guys for having me.
933
00:49:40.150 --> 00:49:41.650
Thank you for coming in. It's amazing to have you
934
00:49:41.670 --> 00:49:44.829
in studio. We would love to just jump right into
935
00:49:44.849 --> 00:49:48.860
the recall because we're here in California. I think the
936
00:49:48.909 --> 00:49:51.159
East Coast forgets about us and all the things that
937
00:49:51.179 --> 00:49:54.000
are happening in the state from wildfires to elections that
938
00:49:54.019 --> 00:49:55.960
will determine the fate of tens of millions of people.
939
00:49:56.019 --> 00:49:56.920
But I digress, John.
940
00:49:56.940 --> 00:49:57.119
Sorry.
941
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:02.420
The people I know who work for and around Governor Newsom,
942
00:50:03.039 --> 00:50:05.789
his staff, They went from, I think, being kind of
943
00:50:06.050 --> 00:50:08.550
annoyed by the recall effort because it was an expensive
944
00:50:08.610 --> 00:50:14.449
distraction to seemingly being now concerned about whether Governor Newsom
945
00:50:14.530 --> 00:50:15.800
could be recalled.
946
00:50:15.820 --> 00:50:17.579
There's some recent polling that shows it's tightening.
947
00:50:18.219 --> 00:50:20.380
Why do you think that's happening and what do you
948
00:50:20.420 --> 00:50:21.440
think people can do about it?
949
00:50:21.460 --> 00:50:22.139
What do they need to know?
950
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.039
Look, I think part of why it's happening is a
951
00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:29.400
recognition that we're living in some very unique times, right?
952
00:50:29.420 --> 00:50:32.010
This isn't a normal year. It's We're in the middle
953
00:50:32.030 --> 00:50:35.010
of a global health pandemic. People worried about just staying alive.
954
00:50:35.610 --> 00:50:38.130
Number one, we're also at a time like my wife
955
00:50:38.190 --> 00:50:39.769
and I just started sending our kids back to school
956
00:50:39.789 --> 00:50:43.150
last week. Thank God, right? In person, but with masks
957
00:50:43.210 --> 00:50:45.719
and hourly sanitizer. So there's just a lot going on
958
00:50:45.739 --> 00:50:48.239
in your mind to, to make you anxious and to
959
00:50:48.320 --> 00:50:52.579
process through all that, uh, an election at an odd time.
960
00:50:52.639 --> 00:50:54.460
Like what's this recall thing. It's only happened a few
961
00:50:54.500 --> 00:50:57.420
times in the course of history, uh, but it is critical, right?
962
00:50:57.480 --> 00:51:01.010
It is critical. Uh, so, uh, uh, Can't rest on
963
00:51:01.070 --> 00:51:04.380
our laurels. Yes, there's more Democrats registered in California than Republicans,
964
00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:08.500
but it doesn't mean anything if people don't vote. Happy
965
00:51:08.539 --> 00:51:10.099
to see a lot of the reforms I put in
966
00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:13.530
place when I was Secretary of State continue to be exercised.
967
00:51:13.610 --> 00:51:16.610
Send every registered voter a ballot in the mail automatically, right?
968
00:51:16.630 --> 00:51:17.329
Let's make it easy.
969
00:51:17.449 --> 00:51:18.070
Thank you for that.
970
00:51:18.150 --> 00:51:18.889
I'm very lazy.
971
00:51:18.909 --> 00:51:19.769
I'm incredibly lazy.
972
00:51:19.789 --> 00:51:20.969
I like doing it in other states.
973
00:51:20.989 --> 00:51:21.769
That was great.
974
00:51:21.949 --> 00:51:25.329
And no easier way to vote than by mail. Mail
975
00:51:25.369 --> 00:51:27.090
it back in. You don't even have to worry about
976
00:51:27.139 --> 00:51:30.099
a stamp, right? Postage is covered. If you want to
977
00:51:30.119 --> 00:51:32.099
vote in person, you can vote early. You can vote
978
00:51:32.119 --> 00:51:34.059
the day of. You can vote at any vote center
979
00:51:34.099 --> 00:51:36.880
in your county. Like there are literally no excuses, folks.
980
00:51:36.900 --> 00:51:38.840
But when it comes to the recall, here's how I
981
00:51:38.900 --> 00:51:41.480
see it. Not just I do think the governor is
982
00:51:41.500 --> 00:51:45.159
doing a good job. This wasn't the first recall attempt
983
00:51:45.239 --> 00:51:45.530
at him.
984
00:51:45.570 --> 00:51:46.300
There was multiple.
985
00:51:46.320 --> 00:51:48.630
This is the one that finally qualified because there was
986
00:51:48.710 --> 00:51:52.869
a frustration about COVID. And have forbid we had a
987
00:51:52.929 --> 00:51:56.090
governor that listened to the public health experts and the
988
00:51:56.130 --> 00:51:58.630
scientists and And said, hey, folks, I want to keep
989
00:51:58.670 --> 00:52:00.670
the people of California alive. We're going to need to
990
00:52:00.710 --> 00:52:03.110
quarantine for a bit. And when we go out, we're
991
00:52:03.130 --> 00:52:05.269
going to need to wear masks. And, yes, socially distance
992
00:52:05.309 --> 00:52:07.969
and use hand sanitizer. If only that was the case
993
00:52:08.030 --> 00:52:10.789
in Texas and Florida and some other places, maybe the
994
00:52:10.829 --> 00:52:15.570
nation wouldn't be where we are today. So if you
995
00:52:15.590 --> 00:52:18.679
want a governor that cares about literally your life. vote
996
00:52:18.739 --> 00:52:22.119
no on the recall. And make sure you vote. The
997
00:52:22.139 --> 00:52:23.619
other thing I'll add, because I know you guys are
998
00:52:23.639 --> 00:52:30.199
a sophisticated bunch, is a national perspective. You see this
999
00:52:30.250 --> 00:52:33.489
BS of an audit in Arizona? That would never fly here.
1000
00:52:33.650 --> 00:52:36.110
I know the state and local elections officials in California.
1001
00:52:36.369 --> 00:52:39.369
We stand by the integrity of our elections. You see
1002
00:52:39.429 --> 00:52:43.309
the voter suppression tactics in Texas and Georgia, other places?
1003
00:52:43.809 --> 00:52:47.300
That would never fly. The California legislature knows better. And
1004
00:52:47.380 --> 00:52:50.760
so if you're a Trump Republican eager to grab power
1005
00:52:50.820 --> 00:52:53.389
somehow in California, you can't win on a regular election.
1006
00:52:54.030 --> 00:52:56.150
Maybe you roll the dice and try this recall. That's
1007
00:52:56.170 --> 00:52:56.929
really what's going on.
1008
00:52:57.530 --> 00:53:00.269
A lot of recent polls have shown a surprising level
1009
00:53:00.289 --> 00:53:03.550
of support for the recall among Latino voters. Why do
1010
00:53:03.570 --> 00:53:04.110
you think that is?
1011
00:53:04.289 --> 00:53:08.309
Yeah. Well, I don't think it's firm. Having worked in
1012
00:53:08.429 --> 00:53:11.949
electoral politics for a couple of decades now, I've seen
1013
00:53:12.010 --> 00:53:16.340
the trend too often, frankly, but Latino voters are just
1014
00:53:16.380 --> 00:53:18.179
kind of a little bit later, start paying attention a
1015
00:53:18.179 --> 00:53:20.679
little bit later, start doing our homework and a little
1016
00:53:20.699 --> 00:53:23.389
bit later to get around to making our plan to vote.
1017
00:53:23.469 --> 00:53:27.309
But we do and in increasing numbers. And so, frankly,
1018
00:53:27.329 --> 00:53:30.090
that's what the campaign is for. You know, we weren't
1019
00:53:30.150 --> 00:53:33.329
issued ballots the day that recall qualified. The date was set.
1020
00:53:33.590 --> 00:53:36.210
And now the election is happening. The ballots are flying.
1021
00:53:36.630 --> 00:53:38.889
You see the ads on the air, both English and Spanish,
1022
00:53:39.730 --> 00:53:42.750
thankful and bilingual, trying to do my part. And I
1023
00:53:42.809 --> 00:53:46.090
think as Latinos do get the message of what's at stake, right,
1024
00:53:46.469 --> 00:53:49.309
we have a governor who cares about immigrants, for example,
1025
00:53:49.409 --> 00:53:51.550
and is investing in the immigrant community. Or we can
1026
00:53:51.590 --> 00:53:54.380
go backwards with one of these other folks that are
1027
00:53:54.500 --> 00:53:57.139
on the ballot if the recall were to pass. You know,
1028
00:53:57.159 --> 00:53:59.800
we have a governor who cares about climate and the
1029
00:53:59.840 --> 00:54:02.179
future of our planet. We have a governor who's investing
1030
00:54:02.219 --> 00:54:04.619
more in education, access to health care, all the stuff
1031
00:54:04.659 --> 00:54:08.639
that Latino families, every family, frankly, really cares about. Do
1032
00:54:08.659 --> 00:54:10.340
you want to keep going in this direction or do
1033
00:54:10.360 --> 00:54:11.360
you want to go backwards?
1034
00:54:12.070 --> 00:54:13.869
You think the Newsom campaign is doing enough to reach
1035
00:54:13.909 --> 00:54:15.690
out to Latino communities? Because I saw a bunch of
1036
00:54:15.809 --> 00:54:19.050
Democratic strategists, Latino organizers that are sounding the alarm about this.
1037
00:54:19.110 --> 00:54:20.750
Are they wrong to be that worried?
1038
00:54:21.449 --> 00:54:22.889
No, I think they're both right. I do think the
1039
00:54:22.929 --> 00:54:27.159
Newsom campaign is doing a lot more than I've seen
1040
00:54:27.179 --> 00:54:30.360
in typical statewide campaigns over the course of the decades
1041
00:54:30.380 --> 00:54:33.380
that I've been involved. But there's always more to do.
1042
00:54:34.300 --> 00:54:38.590
You know, there's no substitute for grassroots campaigns. You count Facebook, Twitter,
1043
00:54:38.619 --> 00:54:42.429
your way, you know, to victory here. It means organizing
1044
00:54:42.449 --> 00:54:46.030
in communities. And if 2020 was any indicator, right, important
1045
00:54:46.090 --> 00:54:49.889
statewide races, house races, legislative races, we had the census
1046
00:54:49.929 --> 00:54:53.940
in 2020 with the limitations because of COVID, right? Going
1047
00:54:53.960 --> 00:54:55.940
door to door is not the same these days. Are
1048
00:54:55.960 --> 00:54:57.900
we willing to shake somebody's hand is not the same
1049
00:54:57.940 --> 00:55:00.960
these days. But we've got to do that outreach, particularly
1050
00:55:01.119 --> 00:55:02.059
in Latino communities.
1051
00:55:02.800 --> 00:55:03.280
So I have some.
1052
00:55:04.820 --> 00:55:07.360
Petulant liberal friends here in California.
1053
00:55:08.059 --> 00:55:11.900
They're progressive, but they're annoyed at Gavin for various reasons.
1054
00:55:11.920 --> 00:55:14.659
They're frustrated by all the things that we all had
1055
00:55:14.699 --> 00:55:17.809
to go through because of COVID. And they're thinking about
1056
00:55:17.849 --> 00:55:21.469
sitting this election out. And their argument goes something like, look,
1057
00:55:21.530 --> 00:55:24.570
even if someone right wing and crazy like Larry Elder
1058
00:55:24.590 --> 00:55:28.269
gets elected, what damage can he really do? There's a
1059
00:55:28.289 --> 00:55:31.860
veto proof majority in the state legislature, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
1060
00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:36.630
Can you explain to these big-brained liberals what damage could
1061
00:55:36.670 --> 00:55:39.550
actually be done if we had a Republican governor over
1062
00:55:39.590 --> 00:55:40.750
the next year and a half or whatever?
1063
00:55:40.989 --> 00:55:44.690
Well, let's explain by analogy, right? Let's, you know, from
1064
00:55:44.690 --> 00:55:48.239
2018 to 2020, well, hey, Democrats took back the House.
1065
00:55:48.510 --> 00:55:50.940
Nancy Pelosi was in many ways a backstop to a
1066
00:55:50.980 --> 00:55:53.699
lot of what Republicans are trying to accomplish, not just
1067
00:55:53.719 --> 00:55:58.559
Republican senators, but Trump, right? So did it matter who
1068
00:55:58.579 --> 00:56:02.369
the president was? Of course it did. Who's appointing judges
1069
00:56:02.429 --> 00:56:08.349
to the bench? Who's appointing cabinet secretaries? Who's appointing heads
1070
00:56:08.429 --> 00:56:12.550
of different key departments and agencies? Even if it's for
1071
00:56:12.710 --> 00:56:18.150
a year of elder, God help us. Imagine that at
1072
00:56:18.170 --> 00:56:21.340
the state level. And let me remind us, California is
1073
00:56:21.360 --> 00:56:23.659
the most populous state in the nation, the most diverse
1074
00:56:23.699 --> 00:56:28.199
state in the nation, the fifth largest economy in the world.
1075
00:56:28.599 --> 00:56:30.699
large economy of any state in the nation. So yes,
1076
00:56:31.179 --> 00:56:33.949
even for an interim time period, there's damage that can
1077
00:56:33.989 --> 00:56:35.630
be done. That's what's at risk. That's why we need
1078
00:56:35.650 --> 00:56:36.510
to vote no on the recall.
1079
00:56:37.289 --> 00:56:39.369
The other thing you do here is that, you know,
1080
00:56:40.730 --> 00:56:43.650
the stakes could involve your colleague, Senator Feinstein. Like, I
1081
00:56:43.690 --> 00:56:45.550
know this is a delicate subject, but there's been some
1082
00:56:45.590 --> 00:56:49.030
reporting where, you know, the New Yorker Politico have reported
1083
00:56:49.170 --> 00:56:51.639
out suggestions from colleagues that she might be, you know,
1084
00:56:51.699 --> 00:56:54.900
having some memory loss, some cognitive decline. There's a question
1085
00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:57.030
of whether if Newsom is recalled, you get a Republican
1086
00:56:57.050 --> 00:57:01.409
in her place, Feinstein retires early, that Republican governor could
1087
00:57:01.449 --> 00:57:04.969
name her replacement. Given that concern, have you heard any
1088
00:57:05.030 --> 00:57:09.250
talk of or recommendations that she maybe retire early and
1089
00:57:09.289 --> 00:57:11.710
eliminate that risk? Is that something people are thinking about?
1090
00:57:13.150 --> 00:57:15.929
Maybe I've kind of heard it in the political gossip columns,
1091
00:57:16.050 --> 00:57:19.550
but not in reality. That's nothing that we've talked about
1092
00:57:19.570 --> 00:57:21.650
in the Senate or with the governor, but I get
1093
00:57:22.170 --> 00:57:24.909
where it's sort of a, coming from. And so let
1094
00:57:24.929 --> 00:57:28.309
that be the biggest reminder of why we need to
1095
00:57:28.369 --> 00:57:32.429
keep Governor Newsom in that seat. Look, it doesn't have
1096
00:57:32.469 --> 00:57:35.849
to be Feinstein. My wife reminds me every day when
1097
00:57:35.869 --> 00:57:38.139
I'm in Washington, we're on the phone, she says, please,
1098
00:57:38.260 --> 00:57:41.679
please look both ways before crossing the street. But heaven
1099
00:57:41.739 --> 00:57:46.340
forbid I get sideswiped and we're now in a 50-49
1100
00:57:46.519 --> 00:57:51.190
Republican majority in the Senate. So that's The times that
1101
00:57:51.210 --> 00:57:51.639
we're living in.
1102
00:57:51.670 --> 00:57:52.969
Well, now I'm anxious about two things.
1103
00:57:53.409 --> 00:57:56.380
God. There's 50 things to be anxious about.
1104
00:57:56.420 --> 00:58:00.380
Last time I said that, my phone blew up. Just DoorDash, man.
1105
00:58:00.420 --> 00:58:01.119
Just DoorDash.
1106
00:58:01.159 --> 00:58:02.500
Can we get you a driver maybe?
1107
00:58:02.719 --> 00:58:04.570
So, I mean, I want to ask you this because
1108
00:58:04.590 --> 00:58:06.789
you were Secretary of State. Like the recall will cost
1109
00:58:07.010 --> 00:58:09.670
hundreds of millions of dollars for the state, right? It's
1110
00:58:09.750 --> 00:58:12.650
the number of signatures required to trigger a recall is
1111
00:58:12.750 --> 00:58:14.909
relatively small. It's pretty easy to get on the ballot.
1112
00:58:15.389 --> 00:58:17.409
Someone could end up winning with a very small percentage
1113
00:58:17.449 --> 00:58:18.929
of votes. Do you think it's time for the state
1114
00:58:18.949 --> 00:58:22.639
of California to repeal or at least reform the recall process?
1115
00:58:23.030 --> 00:58:25.900
Oh, I absolutely expect a lot of conversation. There are
1116
00:58:25.920 --> 00:58:28.599
probably some proposals once the recall is over, right? You
1117
00:58:28.619 --> 00:58:29.980
don't want to debate the rules when you're in the
1118
00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:32.440
middle of the game. But once the recall is over,
1119
00:58:32.519 --> 00:58:34.699
win or lose, and God, I pray that the recall
1120
00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:37.840
is defeated, they're going to revisit that question. And frankly,
1121
00:58:37.900 --> 00:58:40.730
it comes up every election cycle. California is known for
1122
00:58:40.750 --> 00:58:44.030
our initiative process, how many propositions are in every ballot,
1123
00:58:44.400 --> 00:58:46.320
Is it too easy to qualify a measure? Is it
1124
00:58:46.360 --> 00:58:50.119
too hard to qualify a measure? You bring the threshold down, then, oh,
1125
00:58:50.440 --> 00:58:52.639
you're going to crowd the ballot. It's too easy to qualify.
1126
00:58:52.699 --> 00:58:54.590
But you raise it too high, then all of a
1127
00:58:54.639 --> 00:58:58.650
sudden it's no longer citizen democracy. People go back to
1128
00:58:58.690 --> 00:59:02.650
the progressive movement and the reforms of the 1920s. So
1129
00:59:03.110 --> 00:59:06.150
I think it's important, healthy debate, especially as they're maybe
1130
00:59:06.190 --> 00:59:09.030
changing the rules of how you gather signatures. You know,
1131
00:59:09.070 --> 00:59:11.139
once upon a time it was, you know, door to door,
1132
00:59:11.199 --> 00:59:13.440
standing in front of the grocery store, there's been a
1133
00:59:13.460 --> 00:59:16.679
push to let people submit their signatures electronically. So if
1134
00:59:16.719 --> 00:59:18.739
you can all do it by email blast pretty soon,
1135
00:59:18.820 --> 00:59:21.900
then yes, is the threshold too high or too low?
1136
00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:24.989
So It's a complex conversation, but let's get past the
1137
00:59:25.010 --> 00:59:25.530
recall first.
1138
00:59:25.809 --> 00:59:28.969
Yeah. So turning to your current day job in Washington,
1139
00:59:29.010 --> 00:59:31.289
you're in the middle of budget negotiations right now. You've
1140
00:59:31.309 --> 00:59:36.420
been an outspoken advocate on fighting climate change. What climate
1141
00:59:36.460 --> 00:59:40.039
policy do you want to see in the reconciliation bill
1142
00:59:40.079 --> 00:59:41.900
that you would say is a win?
1143
00:59:42.960 --> 00:59:48.119
Well, we've made some progress already. And to just set
1144
00:59:48.179 --> 00:59:53.500
the stage, before I was a Appointed to the Senate
1145
00:59:53.679 --> 00:59:56.780
before I served six years as California Secretary of State.
1146
00:59:56.840 --> 00:59:59.280
I served in the State Senate. And for six of
1147
00:59:59.300 --> 01:00:01.900
my eight years there, I chaired the Committee on Energy, Utility,
1148
01:00:01.920 --> 01:00:06.260
and Communications. So front row, seated at the table with
1149
01:00:06.300 --> 01:00:09.139
a gavel in hand on renewable energy policy, a lot
1150
01:00:09.159 --> 01:00:11.769
of the climate policy, which I think is a hell
1151
01:00:11.789 --> 01:00:15.750
of a foundation for national policy. We talk about increasing
1152
01:00:15.789 --> 01:00:20.219
renewables or clean technology and innovation policy. even in the
1153
01:00:20.260 --> 01:00:24.179
transportation sector, not just the electrical grid. These aren't just
1154
01:00:24.460 --> 01:00:26.300
ideas that we think are good and we'll cross our
1155
01:00:26.340 --> 01:00:30.320
fingers and hope they work. California has demonstrated that it works.
1156
01:00:30.380 --> 01:00:33.349
It is doable and you can make a difference. And
1157
01:00:33.489 --> 01:00:36.070
so I get to bring that knowledge and that perspective
1158
01:00:36.090 --> 01:00:39.809
and experience to the Senate as we're advancing this. So
1159
01:00:40.570 --> 01:00:44.559
pushing the envelope on renewable energy mandates, not just in
1160
01:00:44.599 --> 01:00:47.239
California and states we choose, but for the entire nation.
1161
01:00:47.880 --> 01:00:48.300
That's one.
1162
01:00:48.579 --> 01:00:49.920
Part and parcel with that, by the way, is a
1163
01:00:49.960 --> 01:00:53.500
whole lot of worker retraining, right? It's one of the
1164
01:00:53.539 --> 01:00:56.449
heartaches for colleagues from West Virginia, for example.
1165
01:00:56.489 --> 01:00:57.340
Just thinking out loud.
1166
01:00:57.360 --> 01:01:00.489
Just to throw some names out there. It's not about, okay,
1167
01:01:00.530 --> 01:01:02.170
coal miners are going to lose their jobs. It's how
1168
01:01:02.190 --> 01:01:04.690
do we retrain them into a sector of the future?
1169
01:01:05.289 --> 01:01:09.610
Equally good paying, equally good benefits, but in a way
1170
01:01:09.650 --> 01:01:14.349
that respects the planet in a better way. So that's one.
1171
01:01:14.389 --> 01:01:16.269
And I have a story, actually, of my first One
1172
01:01:16.289 --> 01:01:20.289
of my first bipartisan bills was with Senator Cornyn from Texas.
1173
01:01:20.690 --> 01:01:24.150
Never let a crisis go to waste, right? So remember
1174
01:01:24.170 --> 01:01:26.570
the ice storms in Texas a few months back? So
1175
01:01:26.590 --> 01:01:28.940
I approached him and I said, look, you're dealing with
1176
01:01:29.159 --> 01:01:31.059
grid issues because of these ice storms. It's only a
1177
01:01:31.059 --> 01:01:34.039
matter of time before California deals with grid issues because
1178
01:01:34.079 --> 01:01:36.880
of wildfires. There's got to be a way we partner,
1179
01:01:36.940 --> 01:01:39.840
bring federal resources to bear. Let's modernize the electrical grid,
1180
01:01:40.530 --> 01:01:44.769
not just for reliability purposes, but for resiliency purposes. Imagine
1181
01:01:45.010 --> 01:01:47.730
if we made the grid more efficient. We can reduce emissions,
1182
01:01:48.130 --> 01:01:51.360
improve air quality. And I got the stop right there sign.
1183
01:01:52.380 --> 01:01:54.719
As long as we don't put climate change in the label,
1184
01:01:55.039 --> 01:01:56.239
like we can do this.
1185
01:01:56.579 --> 01:01:57.699
God, hey, whatever it takes.
1186
01:01:57.719 --> 01:01:58.960
But hey, you know what?
1187
01:01:58.980 --> 01:01:59.300
We did.
1188
01:01:59.900 --> 01:02:01.969
We got the language right. The policy is good. So
1189
01:02:02.030 --> 01:02:04.849
good that it got swept into the bipartisan infrastructure package.
1190
01:02:05.170 --> 01:02:08.010
They multiplied the money that we're asking for times five
1191
01:02:08.050 --> 01:02:10.329
and it just got passed by the Senate. So there
1192
01:02:10.389 --> 01:02:11.650
is hope. There is hope.
1193
01:02:11.730 --> 01:02:14.039
Did you have to Zoom in Ted Cruz from Cancun
1194
01:02:14.059 --> 01:02:17.340
for these negotiations or is he left out? He's not
1195
01:02:17.360 --> 01:02:18.679
part of it.
1196
01:02:18.980 --> 01:02:22.320
I can either confirm or deny. But here's another great example.
1197
01:02:22.340 --> 01:02:25.429
And this one is very much on life experience for me.
1198
01:02:27.030 --> 01:02:32.199
You know, this idea of zero emission school buses. Once again,
1199
01:02:32.239 --> 01:02:36.300
California demonstrating it's not an idea. Maybe sometime in the future,
1200
01:02:36.340 --> 01:02:40.460
technology exists. There's electric school buses en route to Oakland Unified,
1201
01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:43.519
Los Angeles Unified, many other school districts that are beginning
1202
01:02:43.539 --> 01:02:47.019
the transition. I was one of those kids that rode
1203
01:02:47.059 --> 01:02:50.519
a school bus, and I still remember the smell of
1204
01:02:50.559 --> 01:02:53.579
that diesel exhaust. It didn't smell good. I'm sure it
1205
01:02:53.599 --> 01:02:57.420
wasn't good for me in hindsight. And imagine the federal
1206
01:02:57.460 --> 01:03:00.400
government partnering with school districts to retire diesel school buses.
1207
01:03:00.969 --> 01:03:02.920
which represent more than 90% of the bus suites in
1208
01:03:02.940 --> 01:03:07.840
the nation, and replace them with clean technology. Better for
1209
01:03:07.860 --> 01:03:09.880
the air, better for our kids' lungs, and better for
1210
01:03:09.900 --> 01:03:13.079
their academic performance because healthier kids learn better. And so
1211
01:03:13.119 --> 01:03:17.599
that is another key strategy in the infrastructure negotiations.
1212
01:03:17.699 --> 01:03:19.949
It does seem like a renewable energy standard would be
1213
01:03:19.969 --> 01:03:22.789
the most impactful policy that you could include in the bill.
1214
01:03:22.949 --> 01:03:25.269
Do you think that you'll be able to get support
1215
01:03:25.349 --> 01:03:29.500
for that from all 50 senators, including... say senators from
1216
01:03:29.519 --> 01:03:30.039
West Virginia?
1217
01:03:30.059 --> 01:03:32.360
I do think so. I do think so. Again, being
1218
01:03:32.380 --> 01:03:37.059
thoughtful about not just the technology piece and issues like intermittency, right?
1219
01:03:37.099 --> 01:03:39.099
This is now the engineer geek and me coming out.
1220
01:03:39.460 --> 01:03:41.320
You know, what happens when the sun's not shining? Yeah,
1221
01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:43.340
solar doesn't work as well. Or what happens when the
1222
01:03:43.389 --> 01:03:45.630
wind's not blowing? You know, what about those wind turbines?
1223
01:03:45.690 --> 01:03:49.269
So you got to have a mixed portfolio. You got to,
1224
01:03:49.289 --> 01:03:52.989
you know, account for, engineer for intermittency, things like that,
1225
01:03:53.150 --> 01:03:56.130
and address the workforce issues. But I do think there's
1226
01:03:56.170 --> 01:03:57.969
a number of states that have made progress where we
1227
01:03:58.010 --> 01:04:00.590
have a lot of a experience and data to work
1228
01:04:00.630 --> 01:04:00.829
off of.
1229
01:04:01.969 --> 01:04:05.469
Senator, a lot of progressives are pretty worried and concerned
1230
01:04:05.489 --> 01:04:08.820
about the lack of progress on legislation like the For
1231
01:04:08.840 --> 01:04:11.739
the People Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement
1232
01:04:11.820 --> 01:04:13.900
Act that would help fight back against these state by
1233
01:04:13.960 --> 01:04:17.659
state voter suppression or voter subversion laws. You know, I
1234
01:04:17.699 --> 01:04:20.619
go to your Twitter account. I see you constantly calling
1235
01:04:20.699 --> 01:04:23.440
for the Senate to pass these bills. You have an
1236
01:04:23.480 --> 01:04:26.820
interesting combination of sort of normal title case and all
1237
01:04:26.900 --> 01:04:28.980
caps usage that we should get into later.
1238
01:04:29.360 --> 01:04:30.519
But if only I can bold.
1239
01:04:30.980 --> 01:04:33.980
Yeah, you're trying to all caps this thing over the
1240
01:04:34.019 --> 01:04:36.679
finish line, which I love. But has the Senate made
1241
01:04:36.699 --> 01:04:40.150
any progress on crafting a narrower bill that might be
1242
01:04:40.210 --> 01:04:44.190
able to get more support? Or is there any progress
1243
01:04:44.230 --> 01:04:47.170
on getting Manchin or Sinema to potentially drop their opposition
1244
01:04:47.230 --> 01:04:48.349
to the filibuster reform?
1245
01:04:48.750 --> 01:04:52.420
Yeah. So look, I'm an eternal optimist, right? If you're
1246
01:04:52.440 --> 01:04:54.300
not an optimist, you guys have been on the inside.
1247
01:04:54.619 --> 01:04:56.929
You're in the wrong business. There's always got to be
1248
01:04:57.010 --> 01:04:58.690
a way. It's not always easy, but there's got to
1249
01:04:58.710 --> 01:05:00.670
be a way. And there's got to be a way
1250
01:05:00.769 --> 01:05:04.429
on voting rights. As President Johnson said, once upon a time,
1251
01:05:04.489 --> 01:05:09.409
it's the rights that preserve all other rights. And another
1252
01:05:09.449 --> 01:05:12.760
example of my prior experience, in this case, Secretary of
1253
01:05:12.780 --> 01:05:17.719
State days, being so meaningful and timely in the Senate.
1254
01:05:17.739 --> 01:05:21.460
So The first time the For the People Act was
1255
01:05:21.800 --> 01:05:23.059
going to be up for a vote in the Senate,
1256
01:05:23.639 --> 01:05:26.239
there was an op-ed by Joe Manchin saying he was
1257
01:05:26.300 --> 01:05:30.619
against it. We ultimately ended getting his vote. All 50
1258
01:05:30.619 --> 01:05:33.539
Democrats went up on it. Every single Republican wouldn't vote
1259
01:05:33.559 --> 01:05:36.139
to begin debate or discussion on it. But how do
1260
01:05:36.159 --> 01:05:39.539
we get there? Fun fact, there's only a couple of
1261
01:05:39.659 --> 01:05:42.519
former state secretaries of state serving in the United States Senate.
1262
01:05:43.400 --> 01:05:43.780
I'm one.
1263
01:05:44.199 --> 01:05:46.739
Joe Manchin's another one. So we had a chance to
1264
01:05:46.840 --> 01:05:50.869
literally sit and his office underneath the Capitol, go through
1265
01:05:50.889 --> 01:05:54.110
the bill section by section, line by line, like, you know,
1266
01:05:54.329 --> 01:05:56.630
what's the most important pieces here? This is how it works.
1267
01:05:56.650 --> 01:06:00.849
This is how it works together. Chuck Schumer put together
1268
01:06:00.889 --> 01:06:04.309
a committee that includes Manchin, myself, Senator Warnock, Senator Klobuchar,
1269
01:06:04.329 --> 01:06:07.280
a couple of others to try to create a pared
1270
01:06:07.300 --> 01:06:11.159
down version of the For the People Act, the voting
1271
01:06:11.219 --> 01:06:13.320
rights bill that we will probably take up soon after
1272
01:06:13.380 --> 01:06:16.929
we reconvene after this August recess. So Start paying attention
1273
01:06:16.949 --> 01:06:19.650
soon after September 13th. I think there's going to be
1274
01:06:19.670 --> 01:06:22.969
something to be excited about, to push for, and will
1275
01:06:22.989 --> 01:06:25.610
be the final, final test, I think. Republicans are going
1276
01:06:25.630 --> 01:06:26.469
to be willing to play ball.
1277
01:06:27.070 --> 01:06:29.309
I'm not holding my breath.
1278
01:06:29.610 --> 01:06:31.329
Or we're going to make the case as to why
1279
01:06:31.349 --> 01:06:33.730
we need to tweak the rules at least for this,
1280
01:06:33.909 --> 01:06:36.309
because the 2022 elections will be here before you know it.
1281
01:06:36.550 --> 01:06:39.110
This is the first hopeful election. news I've heard about.
1282
01:06:39.130 --> 01:06:41.590
Yeah, I'll settle for a tweak. We started off with
1283
01:06:41.610 --> 01:06:44.090
kill the filibuster. A tweak is fine if we're going
1284
01:06:44.110 --> 01:06:44.989
to get voting rights passed.
1285
01:06:45.010 --> 01:06:47.349
You're building suspense of something to look forward to.
1286
01:06:47.369 --> 01:06:50.679
This is great. Great news that you guys are including
1287
01:06:50.719 --> 01:06:54.139
immigration reform in the reconciliation bill or intend to. If
1288
01:06:54.219 --> 01:06:59.340
the parliamentarian decides that that's not germane to include immigration reform,
1289
01:06:59.719 --> 01:07:03.710
do you think that your predecessor, Vice President Kamala Harris,
1290
01:07:03.829 --> 01:07:05.389
should overrule the parliamentarian?
1291
01:07:05.409 --> 01:07:09.639
I don't know if I We'll have to come to
1292
01:07:09.679 --> 01:07:12.780
that because we're pretty hopeful. And a big part of
1293
01:07:12.840 --> 01:07:16.360
our case to the parliament here and is pointing out precedent.
1294
01:07:16.570 --> 01:07:21.269
In 2005, Republicans were in the majority in the United
1295
01:07:21.329 --> 01:07:25.349
States Senate, and they tweaked immigration law using the budget
1296
01:07:25.389 --> 01:07:29.530
reconciliation process. Had more to do with different categories of
1297
01:07:29.550 --> 01:07:33.719
visas and numbers and whatnot. But there is precedent for this.
1298
01:07:34.050 --> 01:07:35.869
Although no one challenged it then. That was the only
1299
01:07:35.889 --> 01:07:37.989
thing I heard about that. And then no one challenged
1300
01:07:38.010 --> 01:07:39.750
the rule because the Republicans were for it. So I
1301
01:07:39.789 --> 01:07:41.250
wonder if they'll try to challenge it this time.
1302
01:07:41.269 --> 01:07:43.909
But hey, it wasn't just whether Democrats or Republicans or
1303
01:07:44.090 --> 01:07:47.690
anybody challenged, the parliamentarian- Said okay. Said okay at the time.
1304
01:07:47.750 --> 01:07:50.179
And so we're hoping that's going to be sufficient enough
1305
01:07:50.239 --> 01:07:54.159
and that we craft the proposals appropriately enough. This isn't
1306
01:07:54.199 --> 01:07:56.360
standard procedure. This is budget reconciliation.
1307
01:07:56.400 --> 01:07:57.780
But hey, you know, I.
1308
01:07:58.119 --> 01:08:01.159
I hope folks go to my website and find the
1309
01:08:01.579 --> 01:08:03.179
speech I made on the floor of the Senate making
1310
01:08:03.219 --> 01:08:07.900
the case on immigration reform as part of budget reconciliation
1311
01:08:08.019 --> 01:08:11.110
out of recognition for the economic impact that immigrants make
1312
01:08:11.320 --> 01:08:14.250
each and every day. We talked earlier about California being
1313
01:08:14.269 --> 01:08:16.510
the most populous state in the nation, home to more
1314
01:08:16.569 --> 01:08:18.609
immigrants than any state in the nation, and with the
1315
01:08:18.649 --> 01:08:20.930
largest economy of any state in the nation. That's not
1316
01:08:20.949 --> 01:08:26.590
a coincidence. The contributions of immigrants to the economy as
1317
01:08:26.989 --> 01:08:31.060
workforce As consumers, as entrepreneurs, of course it has a
1318
01:08:31.119 --> 01:08:35.329
federal budgetary impact. Uh, and if we can score that, uh,
1319
01:08:35.409 --> 01:08:38.250
make the argument, bounce the numbers, let's get this done.
1320
01:08:38.270 --> 01:08:41.149
Let's do right by the millions and millions of immigrants
1321
01:08:41.170 --> 01:08:42.050
that have been here for years.
1322
01:08:42.289 --> 01:08:42.850
Do you know that?
1323
01:08:43.010 --> 01:08:48.439
Here's another fun fact. Adult undocumented immigrants have been in
1324
01:08:48.479 --> 01:08:54.140
the United States on average, 18 years, 18 years of
1325
01:08:54.199 --> 01:08:58.670
work and paying taxes, raising families. very different population than
1326
01:08:58.689 --> 01:09:02.880
young or unaccompanied minors seeking asylum on the southern border.
1327
01:09:03.359 --> 01:09:05.979
And so let's not conflate the two. I know Republicans
1328
01:09:06.020 --> 01:09:07.779
like to point to the border as an excuse to
1329
01:09:07.840 --> 01:09:10.590
not make progress on immigration. You know, let's do right
1330
01:09:10.600 --> 01:09:13.630
by dreamers, by farm workers, by essential workers, and so
1331
01:09:13.670 --> 01:09:13.989
many more.
1332
01:09:14.510 --> 01:09:17.609
So the two of us way back when worked for
1333
01:09:18.510 --> 01:09:22.850
Senator Barack Obama, when he was a new senator, like
1334
01:09:23.029 --> 01:09:27.829
98th in seniority, right? He liked the job, but eventually
1335
01:09:27.909 --> 01:09:30.609
decided he was going to, he got a little tired
1336
01:09:30.649 --> 01:09:32.840
of the Senate, wanted to find another job. How are
1337
01:09:32.850 --> 01:09:35.159
you liking the Senate so far as a brand new senator?
1338
01:09:35.579 --> 01:09:36.930
I'm loving the Senate. Are you loving it?
1339
01:09:36.939 --> 01:09:37.060
Really?
1340
01:09:37.100 --> 01:09:38.060
I'm trying to catch my breath.
1341
01:09:38.079 --> 01:09:39.579
I know you can't say that you hate it, but
1342
01:09:39.600 --> 01:09:40.960
does it frustrate you at all?
1343
01:09:41.460 --> 01:09:42.699
Wink if you hate it.
1344
01:09:44.100 --> 01:09:46.199
In all sincerity, like I've been in public service for
1345
01:09:46.239 --> 01:09:48.949
many years, my city council days, When I was elected
1346
01:09:48.970 --> 01:09:50.449
to the state senate, people would ask me, what do
1347
01:09:50.470 --> 01:09:53.109
you like better, city government or the legislature? I liked
1348
01:09:53.130 --> 01:09:55.229
them both. It was hard to pick between the two.
1349
01:09:55.850 --> 01:09:59.579
I was elected secretary of state. Even my closest friends
1350
01:09:59.640 --> 01:10:03.520
in 2014 said, really? Voter registration? That's so boring. The
1351
01:10:03.520 --> 01:10:04.340
2016 happened.
1352
01:10:04.479 --> 01:10:05.619
A little more exciting, yeah.
1353
01:10:05.960 --> 01:10:08.060
But that was a good gig. They're all just different.
1354
01:10:08.579 --> 01:10:09.579
Now I have a clear answer.
1355
01:10:09.680 --> 01:10:10.199
Yes, the U.S.
1356
01:10:10.220 --> 01:10:12.789
Senate is the favorite job that I've had in elected office.
1357
01:10:13.189 --> 01:10:14.970
I mean, think of the issues that we deal with.
1358
01:10:15.300 --> 01:10:19.000
You know, we're talking infrastructure, COVID response, immigration reform, access
1359
01:10:19.020 --> 01:10:23.770
to health care, wildfires in California. I mean, it's huge.
1360
01:10:24.100 --> 01:10:27.909
It's also a unique time. We talked earlier about making
1361
01:10:27.949 --> 01:10:32.270
this transition. in the wake of the deadly January 6th insurrection,
1362
01:10:32.590 --> 01:10:35.449
that's not the typical way that it's done during a
1363
01:10:35.529 --> 01:10:37.869
once in a century global health pandemic, right? There's a
1364
01:10:37.970 --> 01:10:40.109
lot going on. It's a lot to reflect on during
1365
01:10:40.130 --> 01:10:43.550
these cross country flights, but I'm enjoying it. I've been
1366
01:10:43.569 --> 01:10:46.680
blessed with a good staff, a lot of Californians, especially
1367
01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:49.420
resumes came my way when the appointment was announced. I
1368
01:10:49.779 --> 01:10:52.420
think we've hit the ground running in part because of
1369
01:10:52.760 --> 01:10:54.460
the experience over the years and a lot of great
1370
01:10:54.479 --> 01:10:58.550
relationships that we've developed, uh, over time. So, uh, hoping
1371
01:10:58.569 --> 01:11:00.590
to earn a full six-year term next year and settle
1372
01:11:00.670 --> 01:11:01.750
in for a longer haul.
1373
01:11:02.569 --> 01:11:05.170
Is it annoying that you represent like 40 million people
1374
01:11:05.250 --> 01:11:07.670
and you walk around in like Rhode Island's trying to
1375
01:11:07.689 --> 01:11:10.729
throw its weight around? You're like, you're not, that's not
1376
01:11:10.770 --> 01:11:13.760
a state. You're like, I'm automatic voter registration registered more
1377
01:11:14.100 --> 01:11:16.420
Californians than you have in your entire state.
1378
01:11:16.439 --> 01:11:18.380
I think my favorite line is, we have schools bigger
1379
01:11:18.420 --> 01:11:22.319
than that. You know, a little bit when you're counting,
1380
01:11:22.359 --> 01:11:24.800
you notice, look, between, you know, Two senators per state,
1381
01:11:24.819 --> 01:11:28.439
is that fair? The filibuster rule, electoral college, all those
1382
01:11:28.500 --> 01:11:31.840
reasons why states with larger populations should be frustrated, have
1383
01:11:31.859 --> 01:11:33.979
a chip on our shoulder, maybe one on each shoulder.
1384
01:11:34.979 --> 01:11:38.399
But then I'll get sage wisdom from colleagues like Cory Booker,
1385
01:11:39.050 --> 01:11:42.510
who says, man, you're from California. You maybe just got here,
1386
01:11:42.560 --> 01:11:44.050
but you got to walk in with some swagger. You're
1387
01:11:44.060 --> 01:11:48.270
from California. So if a few other senators are thinking
1388
01:11:48.289 --> 01:11:50.229
that way, we'll use that to our advantage.
1389
01:11:50.270 --> 01:11:53.489
Cory Booker is like quoting King, quoting Gandhi, quoting somebody else.
1390
01:11:54.189 --> 01:11:57.670
This is a dumb question, maybe. So Senator Manchin gets
1391
01:11:57.689 --> 01:12:00.350
all this coverage and love for living on a houseboat.
1392
01:12:01.369 --> 01:12:03.529
It's kind of over the top, we think. Have you
1393
01:12:03.590 --> 01:12:07.869
considered some sort of, like, kooky living situation, like an
1394
01:12:08.029 --> 01:12:11.250
RV or something that, like, might kind of draw the
1395
01:12:11.270 --> 01:12:12.510
media's attention away from him?
1396
01:12:12.529 --> 01:12:13.729
Repeat with the houseboat, yeah.
1397
01:12:14.010 --> 01:12:16.890
All right. So at the risk of TMI, if you
1398
01:12:16.949 --> 01:12:19.670
ask me, would I personally consider it? Yeah. I'm trying
1399
01:12:19.689 --> 01:12:21.010
to save it for my kid's college.
1400
01:12:21.050 --> 01:12:21.170
Yep.
1401
01:12:22.069 --> 01:12:23.750
But if you ask my wife, she was the first
1402
01:12:23.789 --> 01:12:25.409
one to put her foot down. You are not going
1403
01:12:25.430 --> 01:12:27.960
to be doing that. Even if it's a small apartment,
1404
01:12:27.979 --> 01:12:29.199
you're getting yourself an apartment.
1405
01:12:29.239 --> 01:12:32.119
You're not like living with Durbin and Schumer in some
1406
01:12:32.300 --> 01:12:35.079
small little apartment or whoever lives in that apartment. No, no, no.
1407
01:12:35.100 --> 01:12:38.279
Small studio apartment, 10-minute walk to the office. I got
1408
01:12:38.319 --> 01:12:40.500
a bed, a chair, and a coffee machine.
1409
01:12:41.180 --> 01:12:44.550
That's all you need. That's all I need. Remember, early
1410
01:12:44.569 --> 01:12:46.189
in 2006, John and I both worked in the Senate.
1411
01:12:46.310 --> 01:12:48.210
And I think Obama wrote about this in the book eventually.
1412
01:12:48.270 --> 01:12:50.409
But he got his place. He got like the bare
1413
01:12:50.430 --> 01:12:53.750
minimum stuff in the apartment. And he forgot a shower curtain.
1414
01:12:54.310 --> 01:12:55.930
So he was like trying to get ready in the morning,
1415
01:12:55.949 --> 01:12:58.770
just blasting water all over the bathroom in some like
1416
01:12:58.810 --> 01:12:59.890
crappy place he lived.
1417
01:13:00.029 --> 01:13:01.750
It was a little too much of a college vibe there.
1418
01:13:01.770 --> 01:13:03.489
It was very college-y. But I'm glad you got yourself
1419
01:13:03.550 --> 01:13:05.810
a place. And a hot spot. And a hot spot.
1420
01:13:05.850 --> 01:13:08.310
Senator Padilla, thank you so much for coming on the pod.
1421
01:13:08.329 --> 01:13:09.289
Please come back anytime.
1422
01:13:09.569 --> 01:13:10.210
Hey, this is home.
1423
01:13:10.630 --> 01:13:17.569
Absolutely. Absolutely. Take care. Thanks to Senator Padilla for joining
1424
01:13:17.630 --> 01:13:19.930
us today. Hope you all have a great weekend and
1425
01:13:19.949 --> 01:13:20.750
we'll talk to you next week.
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Bye everyone.
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Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive
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producer is Michael Martinez. Our senior producer is Flavia Casas.
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Our associate producers are Jazzy Marine and Olivia Martinez. It's
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mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Kyle Seglin is our
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sound engineer. Thanks to Tanya Somenator, Katie Long, Roman Papadimitriou,
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Caroline Rustin, and Justine Howe for production support. And to
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our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Milo Kim, Yale Freed,
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and Nar Melkonian, who film and share our episodes as
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videos every week.