Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2020 DCCC Chair Executive Di

Betsy we are delighted to have congresswoman cheri bustos of illinois. She is currently the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She has served four years in the house and in her previous life, she spent nearly two decades working as a journalist. With18, she was reelected the largest victory for any democrat from a district which trump won in 2016. We are delighted she is with us. Thelso have lucinda guinn, executive director of the d triple c since september of 2019. She is the first latina to hold that position. Previously, she was Vice President of campaigns at emilys list. And she worked at the dnc, so she has now come full circle. Were going to talk about their efforts to expand their House Majority and build on the success we all saw in 2018, year of the woman. They will give us the landscape, how it looks now, then i want to go through some of the Democratic Women to watch in the districts they are targeting. The bottom of your screen, you will see a ask a question send a so feel free to question. It is always my favorite part of the evening. So we hope you fill that out and ask a question. If you want to watch any of this then, the replay will be on website. With that, welcome. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having us. Betsy congresswoman, the red to blue program, can you give us a sense of what that is and why it is important to Something Like the d triple c like the dccc to have. Rep. Bustos the name of it kind of describes what it means, all of the attempts we will make honestly and ethically to flip a state from red to blue. You mentioned the kind of business i came from, in 2012, i was one of those red to blue candidates. This cycle, we have 24 candidates from across the country on how red to blue list. That is not a static number. That number will grow. Inhave primaries coming up july, august. This is an evolving list. Of the 24, 20 are women. Another Diverse Group of people that we think we have a great shot of flipping many of these seats from red to blue. Why solucinda, tell us many of these women you think are poised to flip these seats. Lucinda 2018 was a very important year for women in politics. I had the fortune of working and theirwoman bustos team at emilys list where we were able to Flip Congress into democratic control. The first two latinos ever elected to congress. The first two Muslim American women in congress. Reaction to womens Donald Trumps reaction has been so strong. Womens march. He we ran, we voted, we took over city council meetings. There is so much math and science that goes into all of the work we do in elections. But the candidates matter. All of the candidates we were working with for stepping up to run for office, truly remarkable, from we had farmers, teachers, veterans, lawyers, Supreme Court justices from all over the country. Authenticity and have helped them with voters. Betsy i wanted to ask you, congresswoman, currently there are 85 democratic woman incumbents running. Can you give us a sense of the landscape of the women that are already there serving . How does it look in terms of the reelection prospect . Rep. Bustos we have another group at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called front liners. They are in the toughest strengths in the nation they are currently serving in congress. We had 42 of those this election cycle. , meaningr freshman they are brandnew, serving in their first term. Why we think they will do well, just like a red to blue candidate, they fit their districts like a glove. They come from all different backgrounds. Many of the women got some publicity when we were first starting this last session of congress because they had a service background. They served in the cia, the military, the navy, the army. And they stuck together just like you would if you were in the military. Just amazing stories, amazing women. Noting, not that we like to talk about money, but you have to have resources to be able to tell you tell people who you are. These frontline women are just doing amazingly well at getting support from all over the country, these low dollar donations coming in five dollars, 10 at a time because they have this deep belief in women. These stories are just amazing of the kind of women we have serving in congress right now. 2018, there was a lot of handwringing of, will we be able to maintain this, expand upon it . Or is this just a one off . As you said about early on last cycle, doing some of those recruitment efforts, what did . Ou learn from that process after 2016, is this still the case or other other issues . Rep. Bustos if i could start that off, then please join in. With a candidate. Unning right now she is from my hometown of springfield, illinois. I have known ansi since we were little girls. This is what motivated her to run. Betsy im going to pull up her picture right now. There we go. Rep. Bustos this story can be repeated for other people who have made decisions to run. Health care is the number one issue in these districts all over the country. About, what people care what they worry about. Case, she had a young son that was on his deathbed, that was given last rites not once but twice. Her family would have gone bankrupt had they not had good health insurance. She sees her opponent, rodney onis, after he took a vote the house floor to get rid of the Affordable Care act, he is on the white house lawn to proudly cast his vote, celebrating like a frat boy. In our heart, to think, this is not ok, and i am going to run against this guy. She makes the decision then and there that she is going to run against rodney davis. This is her second time running. Votes per lost by two precinct. She made a decision that she is going to try again. I have the deepest faith that she is going to win. It is amazing to see a candidate running for a second time, just how much they grow. She is wonderful, she is running for the right reasons, she cares about people deeply. We have a lot of faith in her. That Health Care Story could be repeated in different ways by the various candidates, but that would be one example. Betsy rematches and running again, why is that so important, especially for women, to get back up on the proverbial horse and run again . Lucinda we have several rematches we are proud to have to talk about today. Betsy dirksen londrigan. Denise jones. By 432 votes,lost and she is running again. We have these amazing women stepping up to the plate to do this thing again that is very challenging, where you have to ask for help over and over again. They are remarkable, they have learned a lot. I think it says a lot that you can grow. The investment they made in themselves, in their profile, in their brand, in their district, they have made Real Investments in connecting with their communities, and that does not go away. They started with a different base of support not only in polling and fundraising, but in volunteerism and grassroots support. Women whortant to see got so close in 2018 step up and try. We will see so many of these women as a result of their tenacity and pushing through. Rep. Bustos you mentioned gina in texas. Tell us a little bit more about her. She is actually the cook report, which we all look at for the rankings, she is in a district that is lean dem. Position in a good competitively speaking in that district. Notnda for folks who have spent any time with who have spent any time with me, you know that i am obsessed with this race. She is an incredible candidate. She is a veteran. She also has a very powerful Health Care Story, caring for her mother in san antonio. This is a sprawling district. It goes from el paso, texas, all the way to san antonio. Geographically very large. To suburban pockets. Thean talk about kind of revolt of the suburbs. Then there is a giant swath of rural areas between. In the gerrymandering and party partisan redistricting taking place in texas, this has been probably the only competitive seat in the state of texas that hasnt gone back and forth between democrat and republican control. Gina ortiz jones did an incredible job last cycle, came votes of winning. William heard saw the writing on the wall and decided he was not going to run for office anymore. We do not know who she will run against yet. The republicans are doing a runoff set for this tuesday. A lot more advantages the cycle in terms of where she is building from and also who we are running against. But the climate is also just right for someone with her profile. She is an air force intelligence officer, a veteran, with very deep ties in the district. We are ecstatic that she is coming to Congress Next year, we think. Betsy let me move on to some of the races that are more tossup related. California, she is a state assembly woman, and she is another one that is in a rematch. In fact, she actually ran for the seat in may for the special election and she is able to run again now. To. Bustos she just had participate in a special election. It was the only election on the entire balance. Seat that katie hill served in and she resigned and it is an open seat. Kristy, who serves in the legislature, she did very well in the primary. She was the top vote getter in the democratic primary. So, she has the special election in march. It is worth noting, unless you study this stuff inside and out, it is a little bit hard to understand. But that was the only election on a special election ballot when it was almost entirely vote i mail. We were learning as we went along. A guy named mike garcia won, so she will face him in the general election. In a general election, when you have the president ial at the top of the ticket and all of the other races going on. All, the dynamic, the voters who turn out change. We think she is the right candidate. We think that after mike garcia has a voting record that will be intertwined like this with donald trump, where he will do what he can to harm health care, we think she will be successful. She is revamping her campaign and this will be a hardfought battle. We are confident she will be successful. Just mention could one other thing about how much we have learned. It was the first election we participated in in the middle of covid. Entire field apparatus to run a more traditional campaign. She has completely revamped. About thearned a ton best ways to campaign and benefit. Betsy let me move to georgia. Another tossup race, caroline bordeaux. Tell us a little bit more about that race. Within 432 votes of winning against a republican incumbent in 2018. He also saw the writing on the wall and decided he was going to retire because Carolyn Bourdeaux was coming for him again. As you mentioned, she is a professor. While she was in college, our parents had to file for bankruptcy. Which also has this story she is hoping residents resonates with people all over the district. Obviously, we need to make sure votes are counted in suburban atlanta and all over the state in georgia. But, she has worked across the aisle in georgias last economic crisis. In her leadership is so needed right now in congress and in the state of georgia. We are thrilled that she is running again. I want to throw in one other. We just talked about these republicans who were running away. If we want to talk about inistina hale, also running an open seat in atlanta. I love following Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. He had this recent tweet that was one of my favorites. Wheninted out that President Trump took office in 241ary of 2017, there were republicans in the house. 48 have either retired, announced their retirement, resigned, or have already been defeated. More than half of those people who were in office when he was sworn in. You are seeing kind of a trend with what lucinda just talked about with the will hurd seat, now the Carolyn Bourdeaux race. And i know that you had susan brooks on your show. I like susan brooks. But, i am glad that it is an open seat. This is christina hale. Continuing ofr the trend of notable first women in congress. Latina everecond elected to serve in the indiana state legislature. As a cubanamerican candidate, she would be the first latina to represent the Hoosier State in congress. Was on love if christina the show right now because we would be laughing. She is like a standup act. She is funny, she is real, she loves animals, she is smart, web smart. Incredibly hard worker. This is a seat that, back in the day, we would not have thought we had a shot at. It is an open seat, her polling looks great, and we think we can pick this up. It would be fun maybe in october to get some of these candidates on to talk to folks. She is running, and there are a couple of matchups like this, against another woman in the general election. Rep. Bustos some of these candidates, i like to say, to know them is to love them. I say that repeatedly about Jackie Gordon, also running in another open seat, peter kings seat out of new york. You can get in the conversation with her and i will bet three minutes into it, you will go, i have to vote for this woman, she is phenomenal. We would love to tell you a little bit about jackie, too. To know Jackie Gordon is to love Jackie Gordon. She is a combat veteran who served in the military for 29 years. She also served as a School Guidance counselor. Democrats have gone after this seat. Seat for ater kings long time. We have come very close. This is a district that should be in democratic control. He also saw the writing on the wall after last cycle. Opponent named couple of days ago because counting the vote is taking longer these days. That has very good dna for democrats to win. This is a candidate who is stellar and has an incredible ability to connect with voters and constituents in our area. Betsy while we are talking about new york, there is another candidate from new york that is in new york 24. Tell us about her. At is also a professor syracuse university. Is a competitive rematch. John katko is the incumbent. Dana leads in the most recent poll. The Cook Political Report just shifted the race for democrats. This is one of two remaining clinton districts. Of holocaustghter refugees. Her work with americans with disabilities was inspired by her brother, who has cognitive disabilities himself. She has a background as a special education teacher. Ae was a director of nonprofit service. You hear these stories, these are just real people who would bring their real Life Experiences from all these areas to congress. We are very excited about her win in the primary and we think she is ready to take on katko in the polling. Move to ohio. Another former senate staffer, kate schroeder, is running against an incumbent. Tell us a little bit about her. She has a very personal Health Care Story. She is a cancer survivor. Her personal story with health care really does help her make her case to flip this district. She is a fifth city fifthgeneration cincinnati in. Diligencene our due over the years, he is ripe for the picking. That we saw was that she possesses a serious threat to her opponent. She is mounting eight strong campaign. We are really excited to work with her. Betsy here is someone who does not need much of an introduction because so many people remember her hardfought race for governor of texas, wendy davis. She is now running against the freshman in the 21st district. How does that campaign look . Rep. Bustos it looks really good. Wendy is raising unbelievable amounts of money, as you can imagine she is a hero to women all over the country. This is a quick reminder, it was wendy, if you remember, standing on the floor of the texas legislature, her historic 13 hour filibuster. That put her name on the map. She built her brand working across the aisle. When you look at these districts, these are tough districts. Your politics cant be too far out this way or that way to be successful in some of these really tough districts. Thatnk of her in filibuster, she is known for working across the aisle as a state senator. Roy,s running against chip who has literally built his reputation as this unoriginal loyalist to donald trump. Ari great bigina part of why texas has been ground zero since day one in this election cycle. Betsy speaking about trump loyalists, i want to ask you about amy kennedy, who just won her primary yesterday. Of course, she is married to former, richmond patrick kennedy. Facing congressman van drew. I know there is a tweet you guys sent out that said Jefferson Van drew is a turncoat, con artist, and political opportunist who cannot be trusted by anyone. How do you really feel . [laughter] rep. Bustos you know what, literally, the week that he leaves the Democratic Caucus to become a republican, he is raising money, asking other democrats to contribute to his reelection effort. That all of he is on fox news, holding Donald Trumps hand. We feel really good about amy kennedy winning the primary. This is hot off the presses. I actually called her late last night. Weve been playing phone tag today. Amy has what it takes to win this. Committedwe are very to wanting to beat Jeff Van Drew this election cycle. She just released a poll showing her with striking distance of Jeff Van Drew. There is a little bit of an ax to grind here. Betsy lets move to arizona. In the sixth district, she ran twice in the eighth district and is now running in this district. Again, on our health emergency, she is an room physician. She is phenomenal. She ran for office in a different district. She decided to run in this district as this is where she lives. She is running against a candidate who has a ton of ethical issues right now. She is doing an incredible job. Seat in theburban northern part of phoenix. Suburban area is growing very rapidly, much like a lot of the suburban areas we are talking about. Kind of su