[video clip] >> americas ready for a better story. we are ready for a president

kamala harris. host: this is the "washington journal" for august 21, a four hour program. as you just saw, attendees last night heard from former president barack obama but also the former first lady, michelle obama, with their speeches highlighting shark decisions of former president trump while boosting democratic presidential candidate kamala harris. you can react to those speeches and the others made on day two of the convention or the convention overall. republicans, (202) 748-8000. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text is about the convention, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook at facebook.com/cspan and you can

also post on x at @cspanwj. the chicago tribune this morning on their front page story highlighting the former president's speech last night. barack obama, they say, returning to his adopted hometown to keynote the second night of the democratic national convention while bringing an aspirational goal for the country to elect kamala harris and reject years of bluster and bubbling and chaos of donald trump's return to the white house. speaking early -- nearly for 35 minutes, he praised the qualifications and character of harris while castigating the former republican president and gop he said has turned into a cult of personality. that is some of the highlights you can see. you can go to our website to see the speeches. you can see them also at our app and follow along through the course of the day during the

coverage of the democratic national convention. as you call into comment on the convention, here is more from former president barack obama last night. >> it has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that have been getting worse now that he is afraid of losing to kamala. there are the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes. it just goes on and on. the other day, i heard someone compare trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.

from a neighbor, that is exhausting. from a president, is just dangerous. the truth is donald trump sees power is nothing more than a means to his ends. he wants the middle-class to pay the price of another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends. he killed a bipartisan immigration deal written in part by one of the most conservative republicans in congress that would have helped secure our southern border because he thought trying to actually solve the problem would hurt his campaign. he does not -- do not boo.

vote. he does not seem to care if florida women lose their reproductive freedoms since it will not accept -- not affect his life. host: we will show you more of his speech and others through the course of the four hours together. if you want to call in and comment on these things, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. our live coverage begins at 5:30 eastern with a prend your calls about the night's events following thention at 6:30 and more calls and reactions starting -- then you'll have more calls until 11:00. tonight's speakers will include pete buttigieg, nancy pelosi, bill clinton, and the vice

president's running mate, minnesota governor tim walz, as he officially accepts the vice presidential nomination. commenting on the convention, daniel starts us off, washington, d.c., republican line. caller: yes. barack obama's speech and many others certainly criticized donald trump and his candidacy, but i think it just scratched the surface. the national enquirer, which we know from those trials did the catch and kill of karen mcdougal's story to not have negative impact on trump before the election, but also the national enquirer, if you looked at covers, and don lemon talked about this during one of his shows, follow media operations

where a picture of hillary clinton looks like she is half dead and the surrounding articles. host: let me ask how that relates to last night. caller: they always talk about donald trump being selfish and lying, but if you see the national inquirer, an article by dr. fred landis in 1982, he is consulting to the church committee on the cia and there is media manipulation of a subliminal nature in the national enquirer. host: we will move on to alan in new york on last night's convention. caller: i want to say the

convention was uplifting. it was great. there should be a hall of fame for presidential speech. it would go to obama because he nailed it and -- host: what do you mean when you say he nailed it? caller: he was so specific and precise in his criticism of the former president and just on a bigger picture let me say that it is a mystery that america does not see how messed up trump is, psychologically. every which way. i am just crossing my fingers and i am not a person that has been in politics were worried about politics my whole life, but this is so obvious, that

trump is a danger. i could create a college course on how donald trump was a bad president. host: this is change, democrat line, on last night -- this is james comer democrat line come on last night's convention. caller: make america great again was the original slogan of ronald reagan. he started his campaign in mississippi. trump started his in texas. all this is based on racism against american people and hate. if all the states over here did not have anyone black voting, this country would be worse than afghanistan. they are trying to take people's rights. they are trying to censor speech.

host: as far as that is concerned, last night's convention, what do you think about coverage so far and the obamas last night? caller: obama's speech was great. he got all these people united. this is what i'm talking about. the majority of white people in this country come up trump read them. this is how they feel. host: james in georgia there. the offshoots of last night's events, how democrats are feeling on vice president kamala harris's campaign, the new york times highlighting that this morning. they say just over a months ago on the heels of mr. biden's

debate performance, democrats were despondent, openly writing about losing the white house and being locked out of power in the house and senate. chuck schumer saw challenges ahead with the senate majority hanging by a thread and races looming in ohio. some embattled contenders are staying on the campaign rather than hobnob with fellow democrats at the united center in chicago. that is something you can also factor in as you give comments on the convention. you can always see it on our various channels night after night, gavel-to-gavel without interruption. if you missed that, if you have a phone or another device, go to our c-span now app to watch it there. crystal in pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: good morning. normally i go to bed early so i can get up early, but for the

last couple nights i stayed up watching the dnc convention and i saw it was absolutely wonderful. it made me happy again to listen to politicians. obama's speech should be taught at universities on how to take your opponent out in a nice way. i loved all of the speeches last night, but michelle obama was number one last night, so i appreciate the dancing and joyous feeling again. other than listening to that dark, down donald trump. i can't do it no more. for the last couple months, i said i would've of her biden,

and i would not have. but i came back home to the democratic party because they make me happy. thank you and have a good day. host: that is crystal in pennsylvania. we will hear from charles in tennessee. caller: last night was top-notch. from what i have watched, and i watched a lot of it, the best speech were those men and women that could very well die from abortion. them right there are the winners of this convention, those people right there. those women could have died. women especially, look around. is this what you want?

for your wives and sisters? projects 2025, i hope they dig more into that. but the winners of the speeches from what i have watched are the women who stood up there. people and churches are supporting this man. they should be ashamed. you know what he done to that woman. women's rights are on the ballot this time. women, please call in and express yourselves about this. my winner is michelle obama and barack obama every time they get behind a microphone. they just are. host: catherine, republican line in florida, you are next up. caller: i thought last night was a perfect example of a

convention filled with not hope or ideas for the democrats. it seems like it was a convention night of i hate trump because none of the speakers gave any type of suggestions of what the democrats could do as far as what they could do regarding inflation, the border, any of the problems that the united states is suffering at right now. all they could talk about was what they hated about trump, especially when they trotted out all the i hate trump republicans . i cannot believe they would do that as part of their program. even when the obamas came out to speak, again it was about what

they did not like about trump and his policies rather than give ideas regarding what the democrats could do for you in the next four years. and i thought it was a terrible evening of politics. host: several republicans speaking this week at the democratic national convention. one of those who spoke last night was stephanie grisham, former press secretary of former president trump, speaking to the dnc. here's a portion of her speech. [video clip] >> i was not just a trump supporter. i was a true believer. i was one of his closest advisors. the trump family became my family. i spent easter thanksgiving, christmas, and new year's at mar-a-lago. i saw him when the cameras were off.

behind closed doors, trump mocked his supporters. he calls them basement dwellers. on a hospital visit when people were dying in the icu, he was mad the cameras were not watching him. he has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. he used to tell me it does not matter what you say. say it enough and people will believe you. but it does matter. what you say matters. what you do not say matters. on january 6, i asked melania if we could at least tweet that while peaceful protest is the right of every american there is no place for lawlessness or violence. she replied with one word. no. i became the first senior staffer to resign that day. i could not be part of the insanity any longer.

when i was press secretary, i got skewered for never holding a white house briefing. unlike my boss, i never wanted to stand at that podium and why. now here i am behind a podium, advocating for a democrat. that is because i love my country more than my party. kamala harris tells the truth. she respect the american people, and she has my vote. host: again, more of the speeches available on our various platforms. me tell you about the views you are seeing a chicago now. these are live and made available because of pru in chicago allowing us to set up our building with such -- our camo such great views there. we are going to broadcasting from this location for the next couple days and you will be able

to see those beautiful shots in chicago courtesy of our team behind the scenes at c-span as well. steve in florida, independent line, on the democratic national convention. >> we face a dilemma in both parties. the choices you have or not the best. this is all because of an uninformed public. an economist, taylor is his name , said democracy is doomed to fail when the voting public is able to vote their own benefits to the treasury. this is where we are at now. people are spending so much money. host: how does that relate to

what is going on at the convention? caller: they are talking about a situation as far as government control and government intervention and government use of money to make things happen that are almost a fantasy. the democratic party has controlled the majority of our government whether president or in the congress. that is 42 years of failed policies because the democratic party has complained. right now, it is worse than it was 50 years ago, back to jim crow. then you have on the other side the republicans are having to react and choose somebody they really do not want because of the economy. you people do not know about

history. there's actually a person, schroeder. all that was happening last night at the democratic national convention was schroeder's tactics. host: randy in south dakota, you are next up. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm excited about harris and walz because it reminded me of listening to obama talk last night reminds me of 2008 and 2012, where we were all energized and not talking bad about trump or anybody, just positive. host: do you think last night's characterizations of the former president were positive? caller: obama did not go after

him too hard. look at what trump said about obama. obama tried to stay positive on the high note compared to trump. you know what i mean? host: do you think vice president kamala harris will carry that same kind of ability to foster enthusiasm like the former president did last night? caller: yes, she already has, like when she was giving a speech. people said lock them up and she said no. do not say lock him up. get out there and vote. stay positive. that is what we need. there is so much hate in this country, so hateful, and it is good to hear somebody like obama . harris is going to be like that, i think. host: john in michigan

independent line. caller: i said it in milwaukee and i will say it again. it is a freak show, a cold meeting. the red cold and the blue called. i am an independent. i did vote for obama. he was just selling a bill of goods, hope and change, but we did not get that. we got how many more wars that we were involved in in the middle east and africa and he set the seeds for the ukraine war in 2014, so that was a bunch of baloney. he gave us a corporate health care plan that was basically a big subsidy to the insurance company. it does not give universal health care, but they like to act like it does so it is terrible. it is not really helping us and

there is no difference between that and the gop on foreign policy. host: joe is next in texas, republican line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i was wondering why would the dnc be considered anything other than a party? that is what it is made for for the democrats. obama, he clearly was the worst president in the last 40 years. host: you are breaking up. are you still there? go ahead and finish your thought. ok. that is joe. folks at home, please turn down your television because that interrupts the flow of what is going on and the fine work of videographer alex curtis out of

chicago. you will see more of the shots with our team of photographers as part of our coverage. a lot of things going on before the convention actually starts tonight. the actual start, we will give you a program to let you call in and talk about the events of the day and talk to people involved with the planning of the convention. a lot of effort being made to present this 2024 convention out of chicago to you. you can see all of that collective work at c-span.org or on c-span now. jim in delaware, democrats line, go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span. i appreciate the coverage of the convention. you can tell the difference between the people who watch c-span or the other networks by the way -- their talking points

with a call in. to me, watching a certain amount of c-span should be a requirement to vote so you could get intelligent interpretation of what these people are doing and trying to do. as far as the speeches last night, first michelle obama is not a politician. for her to get up there and talk after losing her mother was appreciated. she and her husband were pushing the message that we have to vote up and down the ticket, whether you like the presidential candidates or not. we still have to vote so we do not have the state legislatures controlled by people who are gerrymandering their states. and the best way to protect our

constitution from people like the heritage foundation is to vote up and down the ticket and with bernie sanders talking, somebody just mentioned about romney care. romney brought his health care plan to massachusetts. it was a great thing. that is basically what obama tried to push through and all of a sudden it became a bad thing. as far as obama's record, people can use the c-span archives and mitch mcconnell singh's number one goal was to make barack obama a failure as president in 2010 and 2012. he was very public about saying he wanted to stop obama from getting his way on anything. host: as far as the former

president and former first lady, that was an added benefit of the convention? caller: absolutely. it gave the former president an opportunity, which he deserves. host: jean in pennsylvania, you are next up. caller: i am going to give people a little history about obama trying to knock trump. obama before he left office, 4 -- he sent $400 million to iran on an unmarked plane. does anybody remember joe biden stealing classified documents? and he got away with it. he said he was over 80 years old and too senile to put in jail. he should be in federal prison.

like the guy running for vice president. obama in the stolen valor act signed into law you pay a fine, mandatory, so how is he on the stage when he is not in federal prison? host: how do those things relate to last night? caller: they should not be on stage. they should be in jail. obama's out there talking for the to my kratz when he sent money to iran. -- to the democrats when he sent money to iran. host: that was part of the iran nuclear deal. caller: i am a democrat. host: you're calling on the republican line. caller: i was a democrats is

1971. when 2020 came, i voted for trump and change my vote republican. why? because the democrats, everything they do, they live. -- lie. a friend of mine in san francisco, i went out to see him. i went to talk to his wife. he passed away. i watched on the streets of san francisco. it is a disgrace. all you republicans, if you want to see what kamala harris and gavin newsom have done there and nancy pelosi cannot take a flight to california and look at san francisco. host: let's go to randall in washington, d.c., democrats line. caller: the gentleman who just spoke exemplified the contrast between the democrats and republicans.

i got reminded of something because donald trump tapped into hate and anger and everything and he made them think small. that is one of the things that michelle obama brought up and you focus on these petty things and what happened is he made it ok to be racist because he knew they were feeling bad and they had anger and everything. it made the contrast that happened last night was especially with the obamas but it has been with the whole convention, even at the beginning, was that she reminded me last night that you should not think small. it makes you angry and you focus

on those small things, but the democrats last night and ongoing, they have focused on bigger things, the things that bind americans together. the future of america, the hope of the children, the hope of having good public policy that addresses issues of families and good work that will bring americans closer together. when she talks last night, i could not help but cry. host: randall in washington, d.c. talking about the coverage of the convention, so if you want to make calls and talk about the events of last night where the convention overall, (202) 748-8001 for republicans.

(202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us your thoughts and post on our social media site as well. one of the features we have added to the program for convention coverage was going in and around chicago to give you highlights of things you may not see outside the convention. here is a restaurant owner talking about the events of the convention. >> about 50 miles from downtown chicago is bridgeview, illinois. it is sometimes called little palestine. we spoke to people there. >> who are you and where are you from? >> i am from jerusalem. >> what brought you to chicago? >> my father brought us to the

country and i was in school here for a few years and then we opened a business. >> tell us about your business. >> my brother and i worked at former places and we brought this concept here. we have chicken, beef, and lamb. we have some specialties that we bring from home as well. >> the democratic national convention is happening in chicago. have you been following that? >> a little bit. >> the democrats have been getting criticism. what have you seen around here? >> it is really nice here as a

palestinian community in chicago. not a lot of people understand or know what is going on. >> have you decided what you are going to do regarding the election? >> both parties have different mindsets on what they want to do after the election. i have not decided on who i want to vote for. >> thank you for your time. host: we will bring you those bits of caller from chicago as we talk about the convention overall and you can see these collective vignettes as they happen on our website or app.

let's hear from sofia in georgia, independent line. you are next up. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to say that last night's convention was incredible. i have never been so fired up about something in my life. the -- i have to be a provisional voter because i have to cast my vote but i have never been so pumped. i appreciate the decorum and beauty of that convention last night. i am telling you, i watch the republican one and it was negative. it was negative on negative. it was sadness. every time you turn around, what

they were talking about, i thought i was going to -- so much sadness. last night was just a beautiful event. i appreciate it. i do not know what these callers are calling about and talking so badly about the democrat party. the democratic party is one of the best parties. i am independent, but i am pumped about those people who are running on the ticket. i appreciate you taking my call and letting me have my voice. thank you so much. host: we will hear from keith from georgia, in atlanta, democrats line. caller: i want to bring up two things real quick. when obama left office, illegal immigration into this country was at a 50 year low. donald trump ran up the budget. he spent $8.2 trillion.

i actually watched the convention last night. i watched the convention last night. i want to warn people about this. i watched fox news coverage of the convention. i did that intentionally. of course you have c-span and cnn. i got the luxury of having a group of tv's side-by-side. i watched fox news, especially when michelle obama was speaking and president obama was speaking. if you watch the fox news coverage, they were manipulating the american people. every shot they showed of the crowd would only show folks in the crowd that were at some point not paying attention. they showed people yawning.

in other words, fox news coverage, look at it. host: that is keith in georgia. one of the key features of our programming on c-span is that we bring you the convention on interrupted by anything else. when it starts cut we start showing it to you. when it ends, we finish our coverage and take calls. that is also going to be a feature tonight, so you can tune into c-span to see more of that. many people mentioning michelle obama last night, the former first lady. politico takes this headline from this famous line. this is the headline from politico talking about her speech. michelle obama abandons her old plea to go high. here's a portion. [video clip] >> too has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing

anger and bitterness but by living a life of service and pushing the doors of opportunity open to others. she understands most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. we will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. if we bankrupt a business, we do not get a second, third, or fourth chance. if things do not go our way, we do not have the luxury of wining or cheating others to get further ahead. we do not get to change the

rules so we always win. if we see a mountain in front of us, we do not expect there to be an escalator to take us to the top. we put our heads down. we get to work. in america, we do something. throughout her entire life, that is what we have seen from kamala harris, the steel of her spine, the steadiness of her upbringing and honesty of her example, and the joy of her laughter and light. it could not be more obvious. of the two major candidates in this race, only kamala harris understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made america great.

unfortunately, we know what comes next. we know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth. my husband and i know a little about this. for years, donald trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. his limited cut narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happened to be black. i want to know.

who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs? host: plenty more from last night available on our website and follow along live as you watch night after night. let's hear from kent in illinois, republican line. caller: i listened to virtually all the convention last night. in regards to the obamas, when barack obama took over, he said he was going to fundamentally change america. i am a three tour vietnam veteran. i did not think then that we had to fundamentally change america, but behind the scenes i believe obama was responsible for

letting millions of illegal immigrants into our country. and obama took over, that was when the canceled culture became prevalent in america. aoc and those who spoke of the convention said back then that america was founded by a bunch of old white men and today's people should not have to deal with those rules and laws made by george washington and our founders. obama did found -- fundamentally change america. when you go to illinois where i live at, you will see a huge wind turbine that has been inoperable for 10 years, never worked from day one. now they are going to spend over a quarter of a million dollars trying to bury it in the dirt

and this is going on all over the country. obama did change america. host: in texas, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been so uplifted by the convention. all the speeches last night and all the way back to monday have been great. one thing trump has said that i do not believe has been pointed out, especially with them trying to point something out each night from the project 2025, which is the republican agenda as written by 120 trump people, at the christian convention recently he told all christians they needed to make sure and get out and vote and this would be the last vote.

they would never have to vote again. so he is emphasizing he is going to be a dictator. and this will be the last vote. i have called my grandchildren and told them to be sure they are registered to vote so they have an opportunity to vote in the future. and not just for president this year. we also need to make sure we support all the democrats up and down the ballot for congress federally as well as statewide. host: let me give you a sense of what else to loofoas far has not only convention coverage but the wider campaig20 coverage later today. the republican presidential nonee and his vice president pick will meet voters at a campaign rally in north

carolina. you n see that live coverage starting at 2:00 on c-span two and there will be an event hd by the democratigovernors association featuring eight democratic women governors talking about the imrtance of electing women to executive roles. that will be from the democratic governors associaon. 4:00s when that is scheduled to take place. there are the various platforms you can watch today on c-span. lewis on our republican line, go ahead. caller: i called once about halogen lamps on cars and choose -- shoes. i have three quick items to get over here. obama's speech last night was the same as the eulogy he did for cummings.

the democrats said they were going to advance. they fenced to the rear and i think tim walz is off the wall. >> ellis is in georgia, democrats line. caller: i'm glad i was able to get in today. it is strange to me that if president obama was a convicted felon, a sex offender, a con man, i wonder what fox news would say about that. and he thought that was disgusting. last night was wonderful because president obama -- everybody was outstanding.

i'm going to tell you this. he said, i do look at fox news and i read a lot of stuff from a christian site and it said trump is the coming of the lord. and i asked him this. if a bus driver was coming to pick up your daughter to go to school and he found out the next day that bus driver was a sex offender, a convicted felon, would you let your daughter go to that school again with that bus driver? he said no. why would you vote and want trump to be president of the united states when you do not

want that bus driver? host: this is. in new york cannot democrats line. -- in new york, democrats line. caller: one thing i really liked about the whole thing is they are finally fact checking. i have never seen democrats at their best like this because they do not say anything. trump has been -- democrats never speak anything and they have been angry. i'm finally glad for once in my adult life to say i am proud of them, that they have come back. they have taken his words and repeated them. i do not understand how anybody is upset.

i do understand why people do not believe the stats and they continue to show the stats on the economy. they tanked the economy. i do not get it. because then trump will run -- he will go, look at this stat. but the stats do not work. you cannot have possibly been doing it. there were less people entering the country. there were more jobs, yet they refuse to believe their eyes. host: she mentioned the subjects of facts checked. they have a couple lines from looking at the former president's speech last night

from president obama. this is some of what you will find, saying the former president claimed that former president donald trump once the middle-class to pay therice for a huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends, going on to say most of the tax cuts trump has proposed would benefit all income levels and barack obama credited joe biden delivering higher wages for americans. this fact-check owing on to say wages have gone up since 2020 but not as fast as inflation. the administration argues 2019 is a better comparison due to a fax from the pandemic. -- effects from the pandemic. let's hear from april in orlando, florida. caller: i love the whole party and obama. i hear people talking about what obama did and did not do.

he did a lot. he did what he could do. the senate had his hands tied. he tried to do everything he could for everybody. you are going to let trump get back in office? crime is going to be out of control. i am an independent, but i am going with harris. i am voting for kamala. host: from indiana, republican line on the democratic national convention. caller: i have a few things i wanted to talk about. it seems funny to me that the democrats have pushed all these bills that we got going on now

for immigrants. they let the immigrants come in. republicans did not vote on any of it. it was all democrats. democrats will not talk about it on these conventions or anything about the border, the thousands of people that is dying from fentanyl. the real problems that we have and inflation. the gas prices is ridiculous. everything is ridiculous. host: how does that relate to last night and the events of this week with the convention? caller: they do not talk about it. they have not said one word about the inflation we have. all our prices since the democrats got in power have

doubled and tripled. just in 3.5 years. they do not talk about that. they do not talk about how they have destroyed the united states. basically, by letting all these immigrants come in. host: former president obama talked about the legislation that was formed in the senate, the bipartisan immigration bill. caller: that was not a bill. they were still letting thousands of them come in. that was just a scam. host: that was part of last night's convention coverage. california, independent line, angela, hello. caller: i was born in louisiana and moved to california in 1967.

we talk about immigration. obama made a good point last night and i do not think anybody caught what he said. he said we are in the best country in the world, the united states. the only thing connected to the united states is mexico and canada. we are paying panama $6 million to keep immigrants from coming through panama like rep 66 to get united states. i want to ask the american people who talk about kamala harris in california. two anybody remember -- host: how does that relate to last night? caller: obama was saying just imagine the united states of america breaking into civil war to break this country up. is that what we want as america or do we want to go back to

behaviors kitchen table learned? go back to our values and empathy and keep this country as one nation and stop thinking about fighting all the time? this is not a videogame. this is real life. we are human beings. host: pat in florida, republican line. you are next. caller: i want to make a comment. people keep talking about how great barack obama was. he never should have had a second term because of benghazi. that was covered up through hillary clinton saying all of that happened because of -- second, i cannot believe all blacks just want to vote democrat no matter what. even though the democratic party

has gone socialist marxist. the third thing is three months ago none of the democrats even wanted kamala harris on the ticket at all. they wanted to get rid of her. now she is the greatest thing since sliced bread. host: you wanted to make three. you got three. that is the last call we will take for this first hour. normally, we would end two hours from now. today we will end three hours from now because of the four hour show as part of our coverage from the democratic national convention. not only will we get to hear from you but we will have guests joining us through the morning. our coverage continues after the break with former senator heidi heitkamp. she will talk about the group she founded called the one country project. we will have that discussion when "washington journal" >> hello i am susan slane.

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host: a shot of chicago courtesy of pru, the location of our studio while c-span covers the democratic national convention. we thank them for the access to the building. joining us, former senator heidi heitkamp, the foreigner senator from south -- from north dakota and the founder of the one country product -- project, thank you for giving us your time. guest: thank you for having me on and focusing on what is happening in rural america. host: when you say that, what role do they play this year. guest: huge. you have had me on before and i say the same thing over and over. if democrats could learn to do 5% across-the-board they would not have trouble winning pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, iowa, indiana and north carolina.

rural america really does not -- it votes more like a voting block. it is pretty red, but it does not have to be. do a lot of work exposing what those rural issues are and exposing what the solutions could be that you can talk about. do we think that we will win back rural america in one or two cycles. no, we did not lose it in one or two cycles. what we are trying to do is introduce the democratic party to rural mayor cava and to their priorities. host: do you think that this cycle, the selection of tim walz is a spec for -- a step forward in winning back the rural voters? guest: absolutely. it is -- it has escaped no one's

notice that i am a huge tim walz fan. he is our next-door neighbor and governor in desoto. he is just as comfortable coming into minnesota and coming into north cota and talking about issues that act us on the border. tim walz is of world america. in some ways i think with the selection of jd vance i think that was a nod and the republican party to someone who grew up in a rural part of the country who may be could persuade people to vote but everybody forgot that jd vance left rural america to go off to college and guess what, he has -- tim walz has lived in rural america his entire life. people who say that he has a west coast liberal, his first trip to san francisco was a couple of weeks ago. and so, we know tim and that he knows rural america. so when rural america says the

democratic party does not see yes or no us to say wait a minute you have someone who could be in the white house who knows what these issues are and knows what rural communities need and understands the need for infrastructure, that are housing and the challenges of delivering health care. he also knows we need a farm bill. i am very excited and i believe that tim can be that difference in the margin. if he could persuade even 5% of rural america to vote differently, i think kamala harris and tim walz will be in the white house come january. host: you are familiar with the work of "the washington examiner" who looked at tim walz and wrote starting by saying " steve carnegie pointed out the calculation is that walz admiral style and reliability and therefore booster with voters in michigan but there is

a bi catch. was not able to do that in his own state. in short, the elite version of whomhethink the rural voters would support is disputed by the results. it was because he had a connection with metropolitan areas and not a tangible and effective connection to voters." how would you respond? guest: watch them at a state fair or a farm meeting. she is right, he will not persuade the vast majority of rural america to switch but there are so many people sitting on the fence right now who do not see any candidacy that will affect their lives or a candidate that looks like them. those are the voters that we hope that tim can persuade. and i think they are being overly pessimistic. i think he will generate enthusiasm. you saw that tumor brass cap. he went to a rural part of

nebraska and drew a mammoth route and why is that? because all of a sudden on a national stage people and places like i did said i know that guy. i might not always agree with him. but he was like every high school teacher or coach i had. he was a guy you would call if you had a flat tire and you needed help or your mom needed help shoveling a sidewalk in a snowstorm. character counts, not just issues. the other thing that i find a little disturbing, maybe or perturbing is that when they talk about these issues and say look at these liberal issues like paid family leave or daycare warehousing -- or housing. these are just big liberal ideas. guess what? in rural america the are disproportionately unable to take time off to raise a child, to have some time with our kids

when they are first born. we are disproportionately unable to take time off to take care of basic parent. we have to quit jobs. and a system that provides that kind of support and recognizes the challenges of providing daycare and the challenges of delivering rural health care, i do not think those are liberal issues, those are family-friendly issues. once he starts talking about them, a lot of people will be persuaded. host: heidi heitkamp of the one calling -- one country project. she served in congress for notes to cota. if you want to help -- if you want to ask questions, 202-748-8000 for republican -- for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, 202-748-8001 -- 202-748-8002. and you can text us at 202-748-8003. what is the specific message

that should be delivered. she talked about an economic plan but where should she go from there? guest: i think that the vice president needs to send tim walz in a bus going to every county fair and the state fair in the battleground state of michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. he talks like he is from wisconsin and they know him well because he has come from a border state. and so i think that we will not see those two together as much after this convention is over. that makes great sense. you can also be very persuaded or very persuasive in states like rural arizona and rural georgia and north carolina. some states that she has opened up. tim walz is a unique talent. and he has a unique politician because what you see is what you get.

that is what we will see tonight. he is who he is and that authenticity which is frequently missing in politicians, i think he exudes authenticity and i like to say, tim walz knows how to get in and out of a fishing boat. he knows how to walk the corn row. he has one of us. host: you are close to him. have you talked about the speech or the themes he will talk about? guest: tim called me when it was clear that he was in consideration for vice president. and he asked me if i would speak a few words for him and talk about the work that he has done and who he is. i said i would love to. i did a lot of interviews. when he was announced i thought that guy is busy so i will catch up with him later. i am sure that tim is kind of like me. he does not like reading off of

a speech so we will see how that works for him. he typically gets up there and speak from his heart and we will really see, i should not -- it will not be eloquent like barack obama. look for more like the first gentleman. it will be more like that speech i think. telling his story, more telling his priorities. host: let us take some calls. jane and virgie -- in virginia, republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning. you set it right about walz going into meet the crowd. rural folks are that way. we do not care if you are democrat or republican. but when we turn on the news and often what we see is the crime, do not want that. that is not why you are not breaking the wall.

we do not care if you are gay or straight, we just want to be left alone and we want to do our job and we want to say good morning to our neighbors. the last sheriff we voted for was a democrat running. i voted for him, and campaigned for him and i have a trump flag in my front yard. i did not care if he was a democrat. i liked him. it did not change my party affiliation, i still voted for trump. we do not want the payoffs from chicago and san francisco. you go to the store there is no wokeness, and people say good morning. do not care about the craziness. host: got your point james from lancaster, virginia. go ahead. guest: he is right. it is that voter what you hear from him that i think tim walz

will appeal to. the one thing i would say is and this is more from a political pundit standpoint. the split ticket voter, 70 who would vote for trump and then down ballot and vote for a democrat for senate. when i ran in 2012 i was able to do 22 points better than barack obama. barack obama lost north dakota by 22 points because romney voters were able to cross over and vote me and a lot of them were in rural north dakota and that have changed as the politics become nationalized. that is a trend we are trying to fight. we are not trying to tell people how to vote i am trying to tell people to make sure that you have a choice because when rural america becomes a voting block for one political party it will not get the attention it deserves. a great example right now is we do not have a farm bill.

we are two years into an extension of the old farm bill and we need that certainty and we are not getting that out of washington. who can deliver that? that is the question we should be asking not what is your political party or what are you going to do. do not talk nonsense. i think a lot of the reason why democrats have lost rural america is this idea that you cannot say good morning honey or hello dear. the kind of hypersensitivity and political correctness is not who we are. we, as i like to say, give each other grace. do not assume the worst when people say something that might be offensive we just say that is not how i look at it. and i think tim walz is, and i do not think he is anything other than what you will see tonight and on the campaign trail. host: dallas, texas on the democrat line. caller: good morning.

i have to agree with ms. heidi and the other caller. we have a lot of rural areas so people are not communicating with them. i have friends who are republican, democrat, black, white and hispanic. they get along. they are not concerned with what party but concerned with a farm bill and things like that. and i think people need to focus on trying to be for all people. because that is what we want in a president. somebody who can unite us and fight for us and who can help all of us. i've refused to fall out with my neighbors who are republican or independent over politics. but they need to go out to the rural areas because they are often forgotten about like the low income areas all over the united states. thank you for taking my call. host: i will go on the last

point that i think that they are a forgotten block. would you agree with that? guest: absolutely. i think that in north dakota, part of the rural makeup and the entire state with the exception of a couple of urban areas is pretty rural. we have 78% of the population native american. they live in some of the most rural places. the idea that rural america looks a certain way is absolutely wrong. i want to make this point and i used to talk about this in the senate. not trying to say that rural america is better or worse than any other part of the country and i said look in every coffee shop in rural america guy sit around the table and sometimes they invite one of the wives and they talk about politics. and they argue. and then they sit around the table and they figure out we need to get the christmas decorations up on main street

and fix the church roof. we need to figure out how we will get nor -- new uniforms for the football team. they figure out to solve -- how to solve their problems working together they do not put d or r on their forehead but community. that is the value that we need again in this country. you can disagree about what we do with policy, but we have to start uniting ourselves in common cause towards improving the lives of americans and making us one country. it is interesting because i get questions about why i named my project one country project and i said that is what we are. what rural america wants, good health care and good education and opportunity for the kids to do better than they are. safety and protection, what rural america wants is what urban america wants. and the politicians have somehow figured out how to divide us

when our goals are the same. not old -- not always the same solution. it is tougher to get the ambulance out in five minutes, but they want the same things for the family. let us unite as americans and quit dividing based on any factors. host: you highlighted about the challenges that harris-walz team will have. at the 2020 campaigning amongst rural voters the 5% of those voted for former president trump versus president biden at 33%. how much do you think those numbers might change this time around? guest: if we could do 60-40, that will be a lot of votes for the democratic ticket. that is doable. the other thing i say is when i am in rural america i will tell you this. i have traveled all around in

the last couple of months. and when i did that in 16 and 20, i would walk into audiences in rural america and we are the third -- one third of the folks wearing red hats. i was just in rural minnesota and i think i saw two or three people in a crowded probably 5000. things have changed a little bit. i think people are more open to listening to an alternative. and those swing voters, the democratic voters who felt like their vote does not matter, i think that they will be enthusiastically supporting tim walz and kamala harris. you saw that in nebraska. turning out a crowd like that in -- in rural nebraska was a signal that that is what we are going to be doing. we will not take anything for granted. maybe it does not work out but we have to start somewhere. with this election it is a

message that we hear you and there will be someone sitting at the table and power in washington, d.c. that comes from our life experience, whether that is hunting or fishing or a schoolteacher in a rural community or somebody who served 24 years in the national guard and understands the needs of the men and women that he commanded. it is just a really compelling story. and at least it is an introduction and opportunity to reintroduce the democratic party in rural america. host: senator joining us who served in the senate from 2013 until 2019. new jersey, republican line. you are next up. hello. hello? ok? earl in idaho, independent line. caller: good morning.

i have a small family farm that i operate. and it is a struggle to invest money into it when we have a country skating on thin ice because of the deficit we are in. it is hard to get up every morning and go to work and bask in the rural community. host: that is earl in idaho. guest: these are the struggles that we should be listening to. what it is like to pay a lot of money for gas when you have to drive 30 or 40 miles to go to work every day. and urban america will say i commute cost money too, but you

have alternatives. so i have been talking a lot at the democratic convention. we have a rural caucus. when we have done this at the last three cycles you know the room is pretty sparse. the room was packed yesterday with rural democrats ready to go to work and listen to the challenges and provide an opportunity and solutions. they are not going to be the same solution that you need urban america. we will have to figure out how we help make our kid stay in rural america so that he can be -- so we can see a future. you do not have young people do not have a chair. it was interesting, one thing i have been talking about is access to rural health care. if you are a pregnant woman in parts of north dakota, in order to deliver a baby you will have to drive 100 miles to a hospital

that will deliver and a lot of are critical access hospitals no longer provide delivery care. these are the things happening in rural america that will spiral the opportunity to grow rural america and make rural america part of the economic recovery that it needs to be to have a healthy america. so, these are not democrat or republican solutions. we need to figure out what those challenges are. one of the questions that i got yesterday was on emergency medical services. if you are in rural america across the country and certainly true in north dakota and the rural ambulance comes, it is staffed with volunteers who are aging and not getting replaced by younger people. are you going to wait for an hour for an ambulance to drive from fargo when you are having a heart attack, or are we going to figure out some way to figure

out that your health care is provided in rural america? these are challenges that tim walz knows well. challenges that note -- that i know that kamala, and i have known her since the attorney general of california and she is always curious about what is happening and what to change. and making sure those voices are bipartisan will be critical. host: when it comes to the topic of reproductive rights which will be a theme of this convention, how do you think that plays out for the average voter in rural america? guest: when i look at what for many voters that we have lost over the last 20 years, a lot of it then because they have turned into single issue voters. they are more for lack of a

better word, more pro-life. and so they have said i used to vote democrat but now i vote republican because they want to eliminate abortion. that has been part of the fabric of the transition in rural america. one thing that all of these ballot measures have taught us is that there is a lot of pro-choice voters who were not voting on that issue because that right was guaranteed by row. and now in the pro-choice voters here that this could be taken away, he things like what happened in kansas. it was not the majority but people were shocked that the ballot measure did as well in rural kansas as what it did. there are a lot of folks who are deeply concerned about reproductive rights. you have seen in idaho, and i do not to pick on them. a lot of ob/gyn's leaving the state or they do not want to practice because they do not

believe they can provide quality health care. the other thing you are finding out with all of the stories coming up that this is an incredibly complicated and personal private issue. and that is why when people's day mind your own business, not the young -- not the exact language used, that that speaks to those voters who do not want people telling them what to do. that is the independent streak of the rural voter that i think the harris-walz ticket will appear to. host: malcolm in florida. democrat line. caller: i agree with what use red i do not think the country -- i agree with what you said. what i do not that the country will vote for two women.

i think mr. walz is terrific. i grew up in rural indiana and i really appreciate what he did. i hope you're well because with trump and jd vance, that is going to really be crazy. that will be crazy. thank you. guest: if i could just mention that i think it is interesting because now that walz is a candidate once again you have to file a financial disclosure and these are available for anyone. people have been putting his financial disclosure which looks like a lot of people that i grew up with. they might have a pension from teaching school. they have a 401(k). they are putting away some money for retirement. but they do not have a lot of asset. you that next to jd vance who literally, if you believe as i

do that he was selected because he has big friends and big republican donor friends in silicon valley, he has a venture capitalist. i think just put them side-by-side. here's a guy who spent his whole life in service, tim walz. he did not make a lot of money but he made a living and he made his community better because he taught and coached and because he served in the national guard. against somebody who once i got out of school went and -- went the other direction. i am not criticizing that. i am just saying there is a distinction between these two people. i read a story where people were criticizing him because he did not own any stocks and i am like what do you think america is? do you think that americans all have huge portfolios like jd vance? they do not. they worry about whether they

will have retirement security every day. it is one of the biggest worries especially for aging millenials, will i be able to afford to retire. when you look at somebody who knows the fear and who has lived that fear, that is who tim walz is. host: new york on the republican line. charlotte. hello. caller: good morning and thank you for your service to what you are doing. i have a concern about the joke about rural and the inner-city development that it seems that ok, we have an election year and everybody goes out and they do this and that. they spend aliens of dollars to get the vote and they walk away and nothing changes. the kids do not get what they need. everybody spends all of this

money on this election and they get the vote and they turn around and they walked back and in another four years hello, how are you doing? when is it going to really happen that people will be recognized in lower income? i appreciate the rural and i appreciate what you are doing. my concern is the inner-city are not being taken care of. and the homeless on the streets and the immigrants that are compounding. billions of dollars for election. one that be better spent taking care of our citizens? host: charlotte, in new york. thank you. guest: she is speaking the frustration of numbers of americans when you say -- i was doing a thing and i ran into a

guy who was soliciting votes for a ballot measure in australia. i was in the houston office building and i said what are you doing here? he said we have the consulate in the building and in australia everybody has to vote or you get fined. i do not think we should go to that but i think that politician should expand -- understand exactly what she is saying. this cannot be a two or four your discussion but an ongoing dialogue with proven results. one of the reasons why people do not vote is because they think it does not matter. i will say there are things that i could went to that made a huge difference in rural america, but across the country. they were popular when they were done. the affordable care act or obamacare, they do not call it anymore because it is more popular than it was when it rolled out. i know that farm families who

paid $1500 a month for health insurance on the open market, but because of the exchange is that were created by obamacare and the health -- and the help that they are getting the health care insurance costs are now at $300 a month. that is huge for a middle-class or lower income family in rural america and that is true in urban america as well. i think she make such an excellent point which is this cannot be -- if we are going to unite the country and not be cynical about politics and bring people back to the democracy as voters, it needs to matter. and when it seems like it only matters every four or two years that is not a formula for sustaining democracy. i am at the institute of politics in chicago working with young people to encourage them to participate in the system.

we did a poll, and i asked them to you believe that democracy is delivering for you? the majority of young people say no because of what this woman is saying. they do not think that people listen. they think it is a self-serving system for politicians themselves and that dialogue more on his. to be more honest about what government can and cannot doing. i am deaf -- ima deficit ha wk, and we need to get our country back on track and we are not realistic on that. to me that is a conservative enroll about cash value. you pay your bills and do not overspend. we have lost that as well. i am completely sympathetic to your caller that voters feel used and that drives frustration, concern for their

democracy and it drives them away from participating. host: onecountryproject.com. heidi heitkamp serves as a sounder and is a former member of congress, thanks you for your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will continue with our coverage of the democratic national convention from our location in chicago. next up you will meet mallory make morrow -- mcmorrow talking about issues driving voters in michigan and her participation in the convention. you will meet her when washington journal continues. ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span voices 2024 as we engage voters at the national convention asking what issue is the most important to you in this election and why. >> the issues that are more

important for me is to make more opportunities for black women. i am fighting for this. >> my name is lacey and i may delegate from nebraska, congressional district two. the top issue for me are public schools and public education and making sure that empower teachers to take back the history in the school and we do not censor schools and other materials. and also sensible gun violence reforms to enact sensible policies in our country to end the epidemic of gun violence. >> right now people struggle paycheck-to-paycheck and housing is a most important issue. i am so excited to talk about tilting more housing units and make housing more affordable and i hope to be able to own a house with my husband. and now we will be able to afford not only a rent payment

but a mortgage payment. >> c-span voices 2024, be a part of the conversation. on saturday, booktv on c-span2 takes us alive to the washington dimension center the annual coverage of the national but testable. since 2001 we featured hundreds of in-depth and uninterrupted author talks. guests include the librarians congress carla hayden, doris kearns goodwin and viet thanh nygen. the national book festival beginning at:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other.

since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced and unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policies debated and are decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: mallory mcmorrow is michigan's state senator. she is also a surrogate the harris-walz campaign. thank you for joining us. became part of the convention. how did you become part of the? guest: it was incredible. i got a call from julia rodriguez, harris campaign manager asking if i would be willing to speak and i do not think i have said yes to anything more quickly. host: we will talk a little bit about project 2025 but you came into national attention

specifically accusations made by republican georgie. guest: back in 2022 i had been serving my first term and i woke up to a fundraising email from a republican colleague of mine fundraising for herself which accused me of being a groomer and supporting child molesting and pedophilia. it was horrific and the worst of our current politics and i gave a speech on the floor of the michigan senate in response mainly talking about my own identity as a straight, white, christian suburban mom about hate only wins when we let it happen. this speech was viewed more than 12 million times. i got a phone call from president biden and i missed it. he left a voicemail. it has been a wonderful experience getting so much outreach over the past few years from people all over the country and about the world about what

it means for people to stand up in their values and how we can more of that. host: did you get a sense of why she would say those things? guest: i did not. it seems like there is this mary trumpia -- very trumpian idea about what you were taught. she has a mother and i am a mother. the idea that you could just lodge baseless political attacks for your own gain has been normalized under donald trump. i think the reaction with people on my side shows that people are tired of that. host: how did you get involved in politics in the first place? guest: i googled how to run for office a few years ago. i was a car designer and a designer for hot wheels and a creative director in new york. my husband is a native michigander. after seeing how divisive the 2016 election got on our state

level i woke up the next morning and googled how to run for office and figured it out. i challenged a republican district in 2018, and i won. i am now the senate majority -- senate majority whip in the first democratic majority since 1984. host: part of the reason that that happened was on the issue of reproductive rights. what was your involvement and where do you stand? guest: what we saw especially in the wake of the dobbs decision was that we were finally having a real conversation about how hard it is to get and stay pregnant and the many ways a pregnancy can go wrong. i think republicans for decades have been able to fear monger knowing that there was a backstop. so i was all for the state encouraging volunteers to get out in support of proposition three which was the initiative that codified row in the state

constitution to say that this is on us and the supreme court said this was a state issue and michigan took the ball and ran with it. i have always been an ardent supporter of reproduction rights and i have had my own challenges with birth role and i was not sure how easy it would be to get pregnant when we started trying. it is important that this is protected. i am proud of michigan and i am proud to have laid a small part in the effort to get that done. host: we heard vice president harris talk about reproductive rights. what do you think she has to do to follow through on the promises she has made? guest: what we are seeing in a state like michigan is that there were 70 people who did so much work to ensure that this was a guaranteed right. we know if there is action on the federal level and a federal abortion ban, that that strips all of the work and nullifies michigan's state constitution.

i think conveying that messages to voters in a place like michigan that we do not want to lose on all of work that we have done and the blood, sweat and tears that people have poured into that. that is the message that kamala harris needs to deliver. there are states where there is an outright abortion ban and we need to fight to make sure that women are not driven to the break that and aright we have not so hard to secure is protected. host: how much of that depended on the senate in the house coming under democratic control? guest: it all works together and that is the key message and something that i have been sounding the alarm about, the importance of electing democrats and pro-choice candidates at all levels. a president alone cannot do anything by herself. she will need support of the congress, and u.s. senate and then the state legislature. republicans built the bench down in the states and democrats are

building that muscle and it is something we have to keep going. host: this is a michigan state senator joining us for this conversation. if you want to ask questions you can do so on the line. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 free democrats. independents, 202-748-8002. and if you want to text your thoughts you can do that at 202-748-8003. senator, what brought you to attention this week was your presence during the convention itself, bringing out a large prop book taking out the logic of 2025. what prompted that? guest: they asked if i was willing to speak. i love distilling very complicated issues into regular language that people can understand. i tell my staff talk like he would talk to your friends at a bar no matter how complicated the issue. this is a 923 page document that

outlines in great detail 180 day plan for a second trump term created in part with more than 140 officials from the trump administration. it is important to show people in plain language what the document says and what it would do. at this point i think everybody in america knows who donald trump is but it is important to make clear to all voters what he would do if he has put back in the white house. host: how did you go about learning what the project was about and then relaying it to the people? guest: my goodness. i am a little bit of a masochist so i read project 2025, all 900 pages and we worked back and forth with a team here at the convention, a speechwriting team to break down and you will see this throughout the night of the convention to address one issue each night in a very simple and easy to understand way. host: of all the things that the

project contains, what concerns you the most? guest: more than anything else it is the idea that would replace lifelong civil servant with political appointees. this might not sound sexy but when i think about who is a person checking whether or not that i feed my daughter is safe, i want to ensure that that is a health and safety expert, a lifelong civil servant who cares only about making sure that the food is safe. not somebody who cares about the next election or supporting who is in the white house. the people who land the planes or direct air traffic, we want to make sure those people are experts. the people who are testing our cars, want to make sure that the safety is protected and it is not political appointees. there is an entirely separate arm of the government that should exist without politics in mind for the protection and service of all americans. beyond that talking about reproductive rights there is an

aspect that pushes for a national abortion ban, but goes as far to compel states to report all miscarriages that women have. that is such a violation of our privacy and something everything should be concerned about. host: you have seen that former president trump has distanced himself and other members of the campaign as well. when you hear that, what goes through my mind -- your mind? guest: that they realized how quickly and radically unpopular it is. donald trump has appeared on stage with members of the heritage foundation and raised money for them. jd vance wrote the forward for the forthcoming book from the head of the fit heritage foundation. they have decided to delay the release of the book slated to come out in september until after the election. i think it is madly disrespect will tried to pull the ball over the american people's eyes and pretend there is no collect -- connection which is important -- which is why it is important for

us that all the roads lead back to donald trump whether or not he claims it. host: let us start with kelly in texas on the republican line. kelly, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for having me. host: go ahead. caller: yes. i am a gen x-er. not married and not by choice so i did not have kids. i am an escort officer with the texas department of insurance. i have been licensed for 20 years i have now been laid off two years due to rise mortgage interest rate that had tripled almost overnight. two years ago. i am like what are you going to do, what are the democrats going

to do for people like me? i have been laid off for now two years during the great recession and during the mortgage meltdown i was only laid off for nine months. i am slowly eating away at my retirement fund. i have gone through almost half of that. i do not own any property. i do not have any kids that can take in. any grandkids that can take me in. i am scared to death for my retirement if i am ever going to have a retirement. gen x-ers, i have read on linkedin and several other site that we are stuck between the baby boomers and the millenials and gen z and whatnot.

host: let me leave it there. i thank you for telling your story and giving you -- and giving us that insight. senator, i guess for the larger economic picture for situations like you heard, what would you say? guest: first of all i am sorry for what you are going through. when i graduated from college i graduated into the recession with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. i went to school to be a car designer and graduated in 2008 which was a worse time possible to come out with a degree. i had an internship hoping to lead to a job and i did not. i lived in the back of my car for a little bit and did not have health insurance because of the affordable -- this was before the existed and i know that there are so many people like yourself in precarious situations. something that i think is important is that i have seen kamala harris talk about the cost of living and housing, not

only house -- cost but supply. making sure there is enough housing to bring the cost down. it is reassuring to see that inflation has started to drop and i hope that the fed takes the necessary action to reduce interest rate so the mortgage rates can come down. there is a lot of progress made but what we know is that progress in the larger macroeconomy is not felt by everybody and your story is an example. my point that out to contrast what we heard from the rnc and the trump campaign which to me is really laying a campaign out that is based on events and anger, things like a mass deportation effort, abortion bands, issues about trans kids on sports teams and however you feel about those things what i know is that many of those issues do not impact 99% of people. but the cost of housing and retirement savings does.

that is where i know the harris campaign is focused, on making things easier for people. that will not happen overnight and i will not be the first one to say that the election will change everything on day one. but i just listen to how people talk and what they talk about as you figure out who to vote for. host: robert in arkansas. democrat line. caller: i appreciate when you are reading the 2025. a few years ago i started noticing we were getting letters, of course when you get your phone and for me it was my bank and it was called an opt out. i was not going to be able to allow to join a class action. and the terms it said we are them, the bank and their affiliate and the affiliate affiliates. i am me. they are saying i could not join

a class action but if there was a problem i would go to arbitration no matter if it is god, misrepresentation, of contract or any other liability and the results would be confidential. i was troubled by that language so i went to the attorney and had a letter written that i will keep all of my constitutional opportunities ahead of me. it was stated as an opt out, but if i do not do anything it was something that i would agree to. this is a problem for you, and you understand my concern. host: thank you. guest: thank you. it absolutely is. what we have seen over many years now is an erosion of people's civil rights. the right to litigation or file or join a class action lawsuit that is buried in legalese.

you get these documents not in entirely the mother situation but we have seen it with data breaches in hospitals and other large asian where i have received very large stacks of paper that often give you very little time to respond and you are right, lose a lot of your rights. when i think about my personal identity and my daughter's information that is concerning. when i think about project 2025 and what the implications are if you replace civil servants and departments sole goal should be the protection of consumers and voters and residents with party loyalist who might be concerned about their next big donation from a bank or the telephone company instead of what is best for the people, that in my mind would make your situation significantly harder. the consumer financial protection bureau has done an incredible amount of work to fight back against this. this was created and approved by congress.

the supreme court tried to strip some of the ability and the rights of the consumer financial protection bureau away and if project 2025 were to be enacted that would go significantly further. host: bill from jacksonville, lorna. republican line. go ahead. caller: i am a republican but i would just like to suggest in the sales profession, but simple , six or 71-liners that can hit home to people without going deep into the weeds. thank you. guest: that is a great suggestion. i do not recommend that most people read a 925 page document and less you really want to. it is very dense and i completely agree with your suggestion. it is hard to distill a lot of the language. and going back to the previous caller. when you are overwhelmed with

legalese and policy documents it can be so overwhelming that you ignore it and there is not any way it will affect me negatively. we will continue making sure that this is as simple and digestible as possible. host: when it comes to reproductive rights, how do you think the harris campaign builds on what divided administration -- biden administration started with. guest: kamala harris is making a strong case about the fact that we counter a lot of the efforts to restrict abortion and reproductive rights is to be proactive and try to pass a version of ro on the federal government through congress which requires the support of the congress to work alongside the president. making that as simple and digestible as possible so they understand the step that it takes to others -- to put this

protection back in place. something that we did in michigan which we hope could be a model is that as we talk about what we do we made it very simple to voters. there are two things we had to do in 2022 to protect the rights. number one was passed proposition three to codify row. number two, was to elect a pro-choice majority that would do the work that we have done being elected in repealing the 1931 abortion ban and arbitrary hurdles put in place to restrict access to reproductive care. we made that case simply. two things we have to do and here are the steps we will take. and then deliver. that is incredibly important in a moment where politics is more divisive than ever and where people are losing trust in the government institutions. you have to deliver. host: your state is consistently being looked at as a

battleground state. how do you think the landscape has changed with the vice president becoming the nominee? guest: i cannot begin to tell you how much energy there is on the ground in michigan. we have seen reppert -- record upticks and people signing up. i represent a portion of the city of detroit and i was driving back home from an event in the district and there is a pop-up roadside merchandise stand of people who created purses with kamala harris' photo on them. the energy and excitement is like something i have not seen in a long time and i do not think it was a mistake that we saw michelle and barack obama reminding us what hope can feel like. michelle drove the point home by saying this is another opportunity for hope. that is what it feels like in michigan. we know that hope alone does not

win elections and yells like you're in that direction and we will deliver michigan and the rest of the country for democrats. host: diana, ohio. democratic line. you are on with the gas. caller: good morning, i thought the campaign has been wonderful and we love the democrats. i have a serious disease that if trump wins i will die because he is cutting out social security and medicare. i have to get a shot once a month at $26,000 a month. but we are happy with our democrats. they are good people and we like good people. we raised our kids at home that we did not have any racism at all. and i am proud of that. that is the one thing i am proud of my children. i am an older woman, 84 years old.

i just want you to know that we are for kamala, and president biden. and i love our democracy. i love america. we are not rich people. but we love america. my husband was a schoolteacher and we did not have a lot of money back when he first started. he is going to be 88 years old. but we made it because of america. and we were so proud to have been the ones in america and we want to keep it that way. host: and that is diana in ohio. guest: thank you so much. i mean your story really just swells my pride. i was driving around chicago yesterday with an uber driver going to event who emigrated from pakistan. and he shared so much about how

important democracy is and he compared it to the experience in the country that left where he said that opposition voices were silent people were jailed for disagreeing politically. as ugly as our politics get sometimes and moments like that remind me to your point how lucky we are to have been born here and to live in this country and to have the opportunity to decide, we decide what the future of our country looks like. i really am so grateful for your story and it sounds like you and your husband are exactly what we hope for everybody which is that everybody can work hard to make a living and raise a family. i know the cost of adequate care is far too high. president biden announced the first 10 drugs that medicare was able to negotiate for the first time in history to get the cost down and i know that kamala harris and tim walz are committed to keeping that going.

so that you do not have to pay $26,000 a month. that is staggering, to receive health care and to enjoy your life with your family because of all of the hard-working of put in. host: pbs today fact-check peas taking an aspect -- a look at project 2025 and came that the project does not call for the call -- for the cutting of social security but changes to medicare. i want to see if that squares for your own analysis on those front. guest: it does. i do not think there is outright cut social security in project 2025 and authors were smart to not -- not bring it up with leaders in the republican party either trying to raise the retirement age or to cut benefits. for people in my generation -- i

am an older millennial -- that there is an expectation for young people that we may not even have social security, that the benefits we all pay into and deserve in retirement are something you may never get. so i know that the stark contrast between republicans and democrats is democrats want to expand social security, want to protect social security, and want to make sure that is something we all pay into, we all deserve, so that all of us can retire with dignity and live out our lives. hopefully, when i am old enough to retire, i can come and can enjoy time with my friends and family come up with all of the resources i would need. host: senator, with the exposure you are receiving, to what degree are you interested in a larger platform when it comes to politics? guest: it has been really wonderful to get a national platform over the last few years . it has allowed me the opportunity to meet thousands of people across the entire

country, -- country. something that i really love is helping everybody recognize how powerful their own voice is. i like helping people figure out how to navigate the political system, how to effectively build a relationship with your state legislature. if you have not done that, lee's look up who your state legislator is. i love doing this work, and i hope to continue doing it, and to reach as many people as possible because i hope that more of us feel confident in participating in our democracy, not just in election, not just in voting, but every day, in a way that is not overwhelming, gives us a sense of pride that we are taking a lead role in deciding what is next for our country. host: the michigan state senator joining us as part of the democrat national convention in the coverage. then at her, thanks for your time. when up, we will -- senator, thanks for your time.

going up, want to call us, 202-748-2008 four independents. in chicago, a discussion with a political activist in the area, explaining what she is experiencing at the democratic national convention. [video] >> bridgeville, illinois has the largest palestinian population in the u.s. it is sometimes called west palestine. we spoke to a few people there. who are you, and where are you from? >> i am joelle, a palestinian activist from georgia. i came to the dnc yesterday to participate in this event. >> in the dnc? >> >> yes. >>what did you see while you

were over there? >> i came in yesterday and i was outside, of course. i have seen a lot of people, a lot of love, a lot of peace, calling for peace, calling for equality, calling for dignity, calling for people to live together in one place. we talk about it here in the u.s. because it is a very important event for the palestinians and for other people, and other issues we are dealing with. >> you are participating in a protest outside the dnc? >> yes. >> how long were you there? >> i was there the whole day, and i'm planning to stay until thursday. >> you were talking about the police presence there. tell us about that. >> there was a lot of police. it was surprising to me. it is actually more than when we went to visit washington. i have seen yesterday a lot of

the police forces. i understood concern that they are there to protect everybody, for us to control what is going on. but if they were not there -- it is a big event. but i was really surprised. >> some people are saying they are conflicted about how they are going to vote in this election because of the democrats' stance in this conflict between israel and hamas. have you decided how you are going to vote? >> the election this year is very important because of the ongoing events in the last 10 months in palestine. that is affecting our people here in the united states for a lot of reasons, but one of them -- when you find out that all of our tax money is going to

israel, billions of dollars going to israel. another thing is why this money was not being used for people here, for homeless people, to get better health care, to pay student loans. this is a lot of effect on people. everybody is participating. it is not just protesting for palestine and gaza. yesterday, one of the speakers is dr. cornell west, and he talked about how it is important for all of us to come together as people, to stand up for everybody. i am standing up for them. i am a human being. i was saying to police yesterday, look at me with your heart. look at me with your eyes. look at me as a mother. look at these kids as your children. they want to go home to their families.

they are therefore freedom and they did what they have to do. they need to live. >> thank you for your time. [/video] >> "washington journal" continues. host: you are looking at the united center. our coverage tonight begins at 5:30 p.m. eastern with a preview and your calls. that will be followed by a convention at 6:30. you can always see the speeches and activities as they take place. watching it live on our main channel, c-span. you can also look at our app at c-span now and follow along at c-span.org. 202-748-8002 for democrats. caller: it was kind of funny.

i was watching the convention yesterday, and it had chuck schumer and bernie sanders on there. what a joke. if that is the platform that they are going to run on with what's his name, the old one who tried and ran for president -- host: as a democrat, why would you be surprised to see them as part of the convention? caller: because he is an independent. he is an independent. what is he doing here? and schumer, he is a pots. they are doing a bunch of crepe -- crap. the independent fella, he ran for president. his view on what kamala harris wants to do -- what about the democrats? where do you draw the line? the lady you just had on -- that

is a mom with kids. in michigan, they are supposedly allowing abortions after birth, and i would like to know if that is true, and how many other states are going to try to do that. host: republican line. this is al from texas. caller: i wonder if they talked about why no one mentions covid anymore. covid was a relief virus. it caused -- host: we are talking about the democratic national convention. do you have any thoughts specifically toward that? caller: why don't they mention covid? millions worldwide were caused -- were killed by covid. no one talked about it. it was intentional. the democrats wanted to get joe biden and kamala harris. all of the things that were coming about economically as a result of covid -- it wiped out

the economy. the reason why trump lost was covid. besides that, well, i can't think. host: we go to florida, democrats line. hello. caller: hello. i'm calling from florida and i just want to say i understand why the republicans are in the position they are in, because just like donald trump, they can't stay on task. we are talking about the convention, and the convention was powerful. i was able to get my friend, who does not look at anything political, to look at the convention, and talking about covid and all this other stuff -- we have to learn from those things. but like we keep trying to tell the republicans, we are not going back. ge

we are moving forward. if you want to stay back there, talking about covid and all this other stuff, you stay back there. but you just eat our dust because we are moving forward. america is great. america is the best place to live. that is why everybody wants to come here. all we keep hearing is doom, gloom, and damnation. for trump to be the messiah, as they call him, he sure is coming with bad news. let's get it together, republicans. let's come together and get america back on track. host: mike in washington, d.c., republican line. caller: hello. how you doing? sir, can you correct everybody and let them know that trump was not a convicted rapist? also, the democrats, they are talking about gender affirming care, little kids getting a sex change, all of that, at the

democratic convention. the democrats -- they don't see all the protesting that is going on outside. you did not have that much at the republican side. need to mention the protests outside and the disparity that is growing in the country. thank you for taking my call. host: from linda in new jersey, independent line. caller: good morning. about the riots or the protesting in front of the democratic convention, most of them are protesting billions of dollars going to israel. that is not true. the billions of dollars are going to feed the palestinians. and the bombs and everything that israel is biting from the united states -- is buying from the united states, we get paid for them. we get paid for that.

they have got that wrong. the other thing i would like to mention is kamala ought to mention to everybody that she was not throwing a paper towel at the people in puerto rico after ernest o. she will offer help. as far as trump goes, i am a new jersey resident 35 years, from the 1970's to 1993 there were over four thousand civil actions and complaints against him. he has been a criminal always. host: linda in new jersey -- when it comes to the protests, this is from abc seven in chicago. security remains a top priority after a fence outside the united

center was breached on monday as delegates were arriving at the united center. it was early tuesday morning that cruz went to work outside the arena to reinforce the dnc security perimeter. a group of protesters briefed the convention before the gavel fell. that followed up a story that the associated press. it was multiple pro-palestinian demonstrators who were arrested tuesday after clashing with police in a protest outside the israeli consulate that spilled out onto the street for the second night of the democratic national convention. minutes into the demonstration, some protesters, many dressed in black with faces covered, charged at a line of police. they eventually moved past the officers. police in riot gear did not allow the protesters to disperse. let's hear from the republican line in new jersey. you are on. caller: i am john from new

jersey. i just want to know one short question. who is running the country? i am 88 years old. we are so screwed up that i don't understand who is making these decisions. i would like to -- like an answer if it is possible, but who is running the country? host: in kentucky, democrats line. caller: i appreciate you having the. i wanted to ask a question to republicans. the republicans spend a lot of time bashing america, talking about how america is a failing country, how america is no longer great. what i wanted to know is -- i am proud to be american. i am happy to be american. one of the greatest economies in the world. we have the greatest military in the world. if america is not great, i want republicans to ask one question. what nation in the world is

greater, and why haven't you moved there? host: spokane, washington, republican line. caller: good morning. my comment to the last caller is that because the principles of the u.s. constitution are not being honored, our congressional laws are not being enforced, ok? we have people getting killed. we got kids being mutilated by hormones and surgery. where is the stuff there? when do you stop hating trump and deal with the issues that are destroying our country? we have protesters out there that want the death of america. you cannot gas the jews. what is enough? when do you stop and look and honor what our country is about?

instead of hating republicans and making up crepe -- crap like trump being involved with 125. it is just not true. host: here is former president trump in michigan yesterday. talking about the topic of immigration and where the vice president stands on it -- mr. trump: she repeatedly endorsed defunding the police. it is a level that never goes away. when you are a defund or -- defunder, your first thought is the thought that if she ever had a chance she would do whatever she could to fund the police, because that is where her spirit is. that is where her heart is. we cannot have a president like

that. she sponsored a bill to strip police officers of legal protection, leaving you at the mercy of the lawless prosecutors who want to lock up police officers for sport. they lock them up in many cases long before they lock up the criminal, and they go after them violently. they don't go after the criminals and murderers two hours after the murder. she wants to destroy policeman in general, and they ruin your lives, your job is. they ruin everything you live for, everything you felt that you want to make our country great. when i am president of the united states again, we will never even think about or mention the words defund the police. we will never think about it again. it is a bad situation.

host: you can see more of that at the website and the app. that is the outside of the united center, -- that is the inside, empty now. if you go to "the washington post" there is a piece taking a look at the seating areas. the winners and losers at the convention seating chart -- not surprisingly, california, vice president harris's home state, in a prime spot alongside the large delegation. swing state pennsylvania, president biden's state of delaware, and when it comes to the size -- the side view, less fortunate were the delegations from michigan and wisconsin. all of them were close to the stage. those states arguably have the worst positioning. and then they take a look at the

back of the arena. florida and arizona delegations in the far reaches of the united center. there is a similar placement opposite florida. a one time chair of the local democratic party who was in chicago says state positioning does not reflect state electoral significance. you can see that online at "the washington post." is here from the democrats line, new york city. go ahead. caller: i think the dnc was so great last night. i stayed up and i am still kind of sleepy because i stayed up pretty late. michelle obama and obama was great last night. my faith is in god.

i just want america to come together -- republicans, democrats, independent -- all the country to come together and to be as one. it is how we can survive as a true, free country. i am a veteran. i love my country and i love my state of new york. i want the republicans to know that listen -- we are all americans. democrats, republicans -- it does not matter. we are americans. we come together. host: in california, republican line. caller: i have never been a big trump fan, but at least with trump, you know where he stands. you know he is going to follow through, or at least try to follow through on what he says

he is going to do. i have been watching the campaigning around the country, talking about all of the problems she is going to begin to fix under the presidency. and i guess the question i would have for her is, what are you waiting for? you had three and a half years to address these problems. as i recall, she was put in charge of fixing the board or three years ago. now she is telling us she will start fixing the border in another six months or so when she becomes president. when she was running in the democratic primary four years ago, she ran as far to the left as she could in an attempt to get the democratic nomination. now she is telling us she no longer believes in these policies four years ago --

abolishing fracking, abolishing private health insurance, replacing it with medicare for all, mandatory gun buybacks. i would suggest top -- talk is cheap. i would suggest that people really want to know where she stands. they take a look at her voting record when she was in the u.s. senate. go track -- govtrack, a nonpartisan organization, rated her the farthest to the left of all the members of congress, including bernie sanders, who is an avowed socialist. she selected a running mate who says he is proud to be socialist. he says one person socialism is another person's good neighbor. in her speech in raleigh the other day regarding economic policy, she said she supports price controls. one of the first things hugo chavez did when he was elected president of venezuela was to

impose price controls. it did not take long before the store shelves in venezuela were bare. host: thank you for that. this is kin in south carolina, independent line. caller: please give me a little time. first up, i would like to pray for my brothers and sisters in chicago who are being pushed aside by illegal immigrants for resources and housing. kamala harris was the borders are -- tzar. don't cut me off. illegal immigration is hurting all americans, but it is hurting black americans the most. and she is part of this administration now. how do you like this inflation? how do you like it is harder for you to build a new home? the price of groceries and etc. -- host: how does it all relate to

the convention? caller: i will get to the convention too. go host: for it now. host:-- convention too. host: go for now. caller: obama stated that immigration is a drain on society and working-class americans. and we have an asian on the stage, a hispanic on the stage -- what does that have to do with the price of tea in china? people are struggling. host: that is ken in south carolina. some tv ratings coming in, convention coverage. this is axios. 18.7 million people watched the first night of the democratic national convention on television from the primary hours. it is down more than 28% from the number of tv viewers on the

first night of the 2016 dnc. the virtual nature of this event likely pushed some viewers away. the drop could also represent the migration of many television viewers to social media. when you look at variety's coverage, they highlight that 20 million viewers tuned in to watch on monday. that is night one of the dnc. each of the first three nights of last month' is republican national convention reached 18.1 million viewers, according to nielsen as well. that is watching streaming as well -- all of that. florida, democrat line. caller: good morning. yes, i am a proud democrat. this is the first time i have taken the opportunity to watch the democratic national convention. i am 68 years old. i cannot wait for kamala to be in charge. she will put things right where

it needs to be for the ladies, for their health. and the rest will be flushed down the copper. host: independent line. good morning. caller: i would like to say i was so disappointed in listening to what i heard last night. number one, when biden was running, he said his running mate would be on the border and they would secure it. in four years, they have destroyed america. there are more illegals here than ever. we stick our nose into israel. we stick our news -- our nose into ukraine. do we recognize there are so many homeless people without a home here? why don't we take care of america? why are they forgiving student

loans? i spoke with a bunch of people from europe. they think we are the laughingstock. kimmel and colbert, the things they are allowed to say is disgusting. in central florida, morgan and morgan have given a fundraiser and they came on tv and said they are not doing it for this woman. that is all i have to say. if this is america, god bless us. we need it. host: in canada, democrat line. go ahead. caller: quick things. the first one is regarding the dnc. there was so much enthusiasm, so much positivity. everyone was enlightened and just happy to move forward. even on the first night, biden was so enthusiastic.

he was not a sleepy joe at all. he looked great, spoke well. it was phenomenal. the dnc versus the rnc -- no contest. the dnc was super crowded, had more people than the rnc. trump spoke about his crowd. she was in wisconsin and had an enormous crowd, bigger than the rnc at the same location. she had crowds going on at the same time. she pretty much swamped trump and his rnc crowd. trump is just a commander of lies. all he does is lie, lie, lie. he has not accomplished much in four years. they keep asking her, why didn't she do this? trump did not do anything in four years but give rich people a tax credit, and took credit for what obama did. there was the inflation

experienced after the election because he did not handle the pandemic. he failed miserably on the pandemic and it spiraled out of control. host: carol in west virginia, independent line. go ahead. caller: i hope i get to finish. i get aggravated. i watched the rnc. i'm watching the dnc. as an independent, i try to do more policy than anything else. all i hear is, i hear both parties talking about the cost of insulin, $35. that actually started under. then biden comes in. he halted, or temporarily froze, the eo's trump had signed.

biden, when he came in, he changed some of the stuff that trump had started, then he added to it. so actually both administrations worked on lowering the cost. as far as other issues, project lead to any 5 -- nobody correct the issue. what i am really wanting to know is, i am wanting to know why there were more policy issues at the republican convention than what i am hearing from the democratic convention. host: that finishes a half-hour of your calls for we go to our next guest. we have expanded the program for today, by the way. the last hour will be dedicated to talking about the democratic national convention. if you did not have a chance to get in on the conversation, we expanded the program as part of our campaign coverage. we are going to talk with the

founder of the aapi victory fund, a legal action committee supporting the harris/walz ticket. >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span voices 2024. we engage voters at this year's democratic national convention, asking what issue is most important to you in this election, and why. >> this is a place for blessed women. what is happening in the united states is very troubling. >> i am a delegate from the great state of nebraska. the main issues for me are public schools and public education, and making sure we

empower teachers, and that we do not censor schools and the materials that are needed to learn, and sensible gun violence policies in our country to end our pandemic of gun violence. >> right now for somebody who struggles paycheck-to-paycheck, housing is the most important issue for me. i'm excited about building were housing units, fining ways to make housing affordable. i would like to own a home with my husband. democrats care about working-class families. we will be able to afford a mortgage payment. >> c-span's voices 2024. be a part of the conversation. ♪ [gavel] >> the house will be in order. >> c-span covers 45 years of congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your

primary source for capitol hill, providing unfiltered coverage of government. policies debated and decided, all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 35 years and counting -- powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: this is not our usual studio location. we are live in chicago. our coverage of the democratic national convention -- we are grateful for the ability to have access to the building and allowing us to talk to guests at the democratic national convention. joining us right now is the chair of the aapi victory fund. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. guest: thank you, pedro. glad to be here. host: for those who are not aware of your work, what is the fund, and what do you do? guest: great question. basically, in 2015, we went into

the general election of hillary clinton, knowing that the asian-americans, the hawaiian, and the pacific islander vote is the fastest growing ethnic group in america, and that has been the case for 10 years. however, when we looked at the data, as we looked at 2016, 49% of aapi registered voters actually voted. 65% of americans as a whole voted. so we were voting 16% less -- more than any other single ethnic community in the united states. we have very high-level education, good levels of income, the most first-generation immigrants. it did not make any sense that our community was not participating in the electoral process.

we were created with the sole purpose of driving the asian american pacific islander vote -- educating folks, teaching them and talking about issues, making sure that we participated fully in american electoral politics. in 2020, you should know that percentage went up 15%, to 62%, while americans as a whole voted at 68%. we increased our vote in states like georgia, arizona, michigan, pennsylvania -- by the largest percentage that any ethnic group has ever increased in four years. drive the vote. educate folks. get them involved in the process. and yes, create a bench of leaders that looks like the communities that they represent. i am proud to say also that we have had a fivefold increase in the number of people in state and local offices, mayoral offices, who look like our

community in all its wonderful manifestations. host: do you have a sense of how things have changed with support this year because of the addition of vice president harris to the ticket, or she being the head of the ticket? guest: yes, my skin actually crawls every time somebody says something like president kamala harris, and the reason it does is that we view her as one of us. she has many identities, and the most important identity she has is that she is an american. what within that, like all of us, we have this multitude of ethnicities and relationships, so she is -- her mother was from chennai, india. she identifies as someone who understands culture from south asia, from asian america. we have adopted her. she is one of us. of course she is black. she was brought up black and her

father was jamaican. and of course she lived in a community that had all these ethnicities and this diversity in oakland, california. people don't lose their heritage and their identity just because they become american. they carry all that with them. our communities have been so energized by the fact that she is now the top of the ticket. it is even more than that. it is fundamentally because we see a chance to make history here in america. we see a chance to create an america that looks like us, that excepts us, that we are part of, and we are part of the story of the country, and bring in prosperity. what she represents is not just the ethnicity. it is not just the fact that she may understand us, and the fact that she is a first generation immigrant. it is for value systems, her belief system, and what she has done in her prior life. that proves to us that she is worth fighting for, and worth

really getting out there and beating the doors down and getting people to vote for her. host: when you talk to those that you are trying to attract to support the vice president and get to the polls, what issues are top of the list for that voting block? guest: it is very interesting, but frankly the top five issues are all american issues. it is just the order of the issues. i think, for example, in our communities, when we have done polling, number one issue is the economy, which is the number one issue for almost every american. for the top 1%, it is a lesser issue. you are not worrying about putting food on the table, building a small business, hiring workers. the opportunity set that comes with having access to capital. our community is no different. i think that economy is number one, but number two is family and education.

i think we care deeply about education. and by the way, i think aapi community is very diverse. 38 countries, 108 linkages. it is as diverse as the rest of america is. the fact that we are lumped together in the senses as one group, if you will, makes it -- it energizes us. today, we have 25 million people who identify as asian american, native hawaiian, pacific islander. 15 million voters. pedro, that is one point 5 million more than in 2020. we already have 700,000 new workers in the seven battleground states. these are the people we are asking about issues. we just go down the list -- immigration. why is immigration important to asian-americans, to native hawaiians, pacific islanders? because of several reasons. one of the largest -- and it may sound surprising -- groups that is coming over the border that

does not necessarily have documentation are in fact indians and chinese. so this is not just a problem in certain parts of the world. it is across the world. people are looking for legal paths to immigration to this country, and our system is broken. we have a system which right now would require somebody who entered this country, and they worked and had a work visa -- it would take 18 to 20 years, even if they follow the process to a t, in order to get immigration status and a green card. and then another five years plus to get citizenship. the bottom line is if you have a system that does not work and it does not promote people following the pathway, then whether they are an asylum seeker, looking for economic opportunity -- people would choose alternatives that are not desirable. we have to fix that system. our community believes in family reunification, and high skilled

visas, and the opportunities of america. create a system that works, and they will abide by rules. the top fourth is education. if you take the top five issues in america, we are the same. we just have a slightly different order. host: if you want to ask questions, you can do so on the lines. (202) 748-2001 four republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independence. if you want to text questions, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. how much is your fundraising? guest: we spend about 30% of our time, unfortunately, fundraising , raising money for candidates, for campaigns we are running in education. we speak in multiple languages both in social media as well as using influencers.

a lot of the time is spent doing that. it is by no means the majority of our time. the majority of our time is doing town halls with our community, bringing elected leaders to listen to our community, first listening and then responding to their concerns -- whether it is capital access for small business or it is having access to a high-quality education at an affordable cost, or health care. our job is education and enabling our community to participate, and encouraging those in our community who want to run for office to get the financial and campaign support. host: i ask that because you are quoted in a usa today story -- this is before president biden decided to step out of the race. it said people who made money like you were concerned about his ability to we have him, and there were influential donors that are a large factor in the president leaving the race. how did you respond to that? guest: the first thing we said

was that we appreciate and care deeply about the president, and the fact that it was his decision. however, after the debate on june 27, it became clear that there was an opportunity here just as much as there was a challenge. we did not want to spend the next three and a half months just talking about the fact that he was able or not able. we want to talk about our policies, our hopes for the future, and about donald trump. at that moment, i felt that the amnesia that many of the electorate have about donald trump -- that they had forgotten what the four years was like, waking up every morning in a cold sweat, wondering what was going to happen next. we felt that the focus had to shift back to a campaign that was positive and also brought out the contrast. and i thought after the debate there was a reason for concern. we would have stuck with him.

we did until he made the decision that it was time for him to pass the torch, and he did in as graceful and as wonderful and courageous and patriotic a manner as any american president ever has. the bottom line is we now have the race that we all wished for. it is a race about hope and opportunity and growth, and it is also a race about the fact that this offers a lot for people in our communities, and we do not want to go back and have to relive another four years that will be even more ominous if he comes back into power. host: the harris/walz campaign released ads targeting the asian pacific islander community. it is airing monday. it criticizes nominee donald trump using language from the height of the pandemic like "kung flu" and says that

language promotes xenophobia. what do you think about that approach? guest: the approach is right arm. after the attacks by the president, which he may not have necessarily seen, president trump, as attacking the asian american community and people who look different -- those attacks and the labeling exacerbated a problem that already existed. there is racism in america. don't think anybody would deny that. the question was, is it normalized? is it allowed to become legitimate, for you to stand up in the street and you see somebody who does not look like you, and you spit at them because you feel somehow that you are entitled and they are not? the spike in hate crimes against asians -- this is a 400% increase in hate crimes in the two years that donald trump kept talking about the chinese virus and the kung flu virus. the truth of the fact is you

don't know who is chinese. it could be a thai person, a nepali. as i think you know, pedro, the first person who was killed in america, literally murdered, after 9/11 was a sikh with a turban filling gas at a petrol pump in arizona. why would somebody kill somebody with a turban from america, who was quite american? because they had been fueled by hate and ignorance -- and they go together. we have been very concerned about the language that politicians use. we think that words have meaning. they have to bring about justice and they have to bring about hope. they cannot simply bring about fear and anger and passion. that is inadequate. and we don't think that donald trump behaves well.

his words and his language and actions seem to demonstrate that. bottom line, we are not going to allow you to come back into the white house. host: shekar is from the aapi victory fund. first call with our guest -- go ahead. caller: my question is about -- or i want to make a comment regarding what is going on with this project 25. i think that the democrats really need to delve more into that, more detail on it. from what i understand, they want to privatize the office, medicare. they want to privatize the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. they want to fire all government employees. they want to put in sycophants. they want to institute a national abortion ban. they need to get into the detail on this and need to make

americans aware of what this would look like in eight administration. -- in a trump administration. this is very concerning. we also need to look at the sneaky things that trump is doing right now. this is alleged. right now, he is talking to benjamin netanyahu about avoiding a cease-fire deal with israel, the war in gaza. things like this need to be more talked about. host: we will let our guest respond. go ahead, sir. guest: sure, pedro. thank you, christine, for the question. number one, i agree with you that we need to make sure that people know what is in that 900 page manifesto called project 2025. it has a lot of stuff in it. sometimes, i have been told -- my father used to always say that what a person says and puts out there is something you

should believe they will actually do. if you read that manifesto, it changes america. it takes us back to an era that we don't want to go back to. it not only would dismantle the department of education, allow the firing of civil workers who are not "obedient" -- it would take away all of women's reproductive choice rights. in fact, it would destroy even the market system. it asks for the privatization of an agency by the way people don't know about that would eliminate this 30 year fixed rate mortgage, the bedrock of american homeownership. these are the things we have to highlight. i promise you that the agenda we have to educate folks -- the fact that donald trump and his cohort, 180 of the people from his prior administration helped write that. it is run by a person who is

being rumored to become his chief of staff. he can't disassociate. the fact that he tells untruths -- sometimes, you can call them outright lies. the fact that he does exaggerate -- there is a manifesto today. it is a scratched record of four years of greed and corruption. let's look the facts. let's make very sure that everybody knows that project to 25 is in fact manifesto for the first hundred days of a trump administration, and the impact it would have on people's lives. it is not a future that we want as americans. it is not a future that we should work for. host: independent line in florida. judy, hello. caller: first, i want to thank you so much because watching c-span the whole night last

night -- there is no interruptions. to watch the whole thing last night was with such warmth and class. when i watched trump, it is cold and it is trash. trump just wants to call people names and wants big crowds. but to see how jill biden talked in her speech, and how she introduced -- so proud of her husband, president biden -- and to see how joe spoke about kamala, and the warmth there -- just warmth all over the crowd. host: got your point, judy. thank you. our guest is a delegate at the dnc and a member of the

convention credentials committee. can you respond to what the caller said? guest: judy said it so well that i don't want to have to repeat anything except that i was on the floor, in the virginia delegation, and watching the energy. let me just say it was not just rockets. it was not just that people were electrified. there was a lot of love in that room. people genuinely care about each other. i think when president obama talked about the fact that we want to go back to an america where we care about our neighbors, we care about our elders, we care about the future for our children, and we care about the future for our children -- i think you know the definition of democracy is that as citizens we have to care about people we don't know, who have less fortune than we do, and lift them up. that is the definition of democracy.

if you want to be a democrat, that is what you should stand for. i feel like the hope, the joy, and the love in that room was palpable. i hope you could feel it across the screen, judy, and all your listeners. it was real. it was not artificial. this is authentic. we can make this happen, america. we can change the trajectory again. we can build something for the future, for our children, and take care of our elders at the same time. host: from tennessee, democrats line. caller: i just think trump is the -- is trying to turn this whole country into a dictatorship. i think government is too involved in our personal and private lives. and i think they should hold

trump accountable for the crimes that he has done against the u.s. government. he caused an insurrection on january the sixth, by lying about the election. he did nothing. he did nothing for this country. he uses his money and power, and he gave most of the tax cuts, 83% of the $2 trillion tax cuts, to the wealthiest people. host: from tennessee. sarah. , as a delegate, there was some

question about the virtual rollcall putting vice president harris at the top of the ticket, compared to an open primary. what did you think of those discussions leading up to the event this week? guest: i think that is pretty much in the rearview mirror, pedro. i think our party has moved on. it has coalesced. it has united. i think kamala harris was on the ticket with joe biden. people have voted for her many times in california, and once nationally. she has the credibility, the stamina, the opportunity set, and the smarts to be our president. i think the puppy has said let's get behind a unity candidate. our number one objective is to win. our number two objective is to govern. and we have to defeat from. that is now a conversation that is well behind us. i was out there on the floor, and i don't think it is even an issue today. this is a race that we can win.

we have got to approach it with positivity. also, we have to be sober about our prospects and make sure we actually do the work and the doorknocking and the neighbor calling that are necessary in order to get the vote. host: you envision this a close race, then? guest: i fully expect this to be a very close race. and you might remember the last race, in three states, was won by a grand total of 20 -- a 45,000 votes. there were two states that were won with 10,000 votes. arizona and georgia with less than 12,000 votes. these are going to be close races. this country has heard in its different ecosystems so much that is completely confusing, polarizing, and divisive. i don't expect that has fundamentally changed. what has changed is that on our side we see hope and opportunity and joy.

and we have to spread it. we have to go to local places. 433,000 new americans became naturalized and got citizenship in between any 21 and 2024. we have to find these voters and register them, get them to the polls. all the obstacles and difficulties -- that is the opportunity in this election, for us to expand the electorate beyond the electorate that even came to the polls in 2020. i again approach this very soberly because this is hard work. you don't have much time. but they have enough time to do the job. host: one more call. this will be from petaluma, california, republican line. caller: hello? good morning. i have a family member through marriage from india, southern india, and he is very pro-trump,

and i just wonder if the guest has any idea what percentage of those with indian heritage in america are democrat versus republican. and also why he thinks it is so important to support candidates look like him. he said they adopted kamala because he says she looks like him. i just find that to be offensive, especially if white people thought that way, being the majority in america -- we would have all white people elected. host: let our guest answer that, then. guest: it is a fair question. let me answer your first question, which is that the asian american vote has tended to lean democratic, but it is by no means a monolith, and it

changes with every election. roughly two thirds of asian americans tend to vote democratic, and a third vote republican. the asian american -- the indian-american mindy is a little more democratic tilted, in the 70 plus percentage range for democrats, 30% for republicans. we are different people. it is the fact in america that everyone is entitled to vote for the candidate they choose. so if you are voting on purely economic issues, there are questions with more complex answers. i respect and honor those who choose to take the other side because i think our country is stronger for it. with regard to who kamala harris is, i like her origin story. she is a first-generation immigrant, she understands what a first-generation immigrant go

through, what middle-class living is like, what it takes to succeed. as a woman she has faced different issues, as someone whose mother was from india, she has faced different issues. as a black person she has faced different issues. the combination of that has made her better, not worse. in america whether you are white or black or brown or from east asia, the bottom line is you can still have all those experiences as a mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, and want to be part of this american story. i think she embodies that. that is why we believe that she understands our stories, she hears us, she hears all americans. that is why she will work on behalf of all americans, whether they work for her or not. please tell your husband i expect kamala harris to work as hard on his behalf as anybody else's whether he chooses to work for her or not. host: our guest website is aapi

victoryfund.com. shekar narasimhan is the founder. thanks for joining us from chicago, sir. guest: thank you, pedro. enjoyed it. host: typically we would end the program, but one more hour to go. you want to call in and make your thoughts known on the convention, you can do so during this hour. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. fo independentr, (202) 748-8002. richmond, virginia, artist jeremiah jones and his father came to chicago to display at the united center, and the artist says the art serves as a message to both political parties. [video clip] >> i am here in chicago this week because my father, jerome, and i who created this painting,

we thought it would be the right image for both political parties to see during this political storm. there is so much division in this world because there is so little submission in this world. what we wanted is an image of both parties humbling themselves, and that is the only way we can come to a consensus of what should be done to make this world a better place. so yes, i share many of the atrocities, the diseases, the destruction, and the on animosity that we see in the world in the bottom portion of the painting. but we talk so much about the problems that we thought it would be important to show some solutions. imagine what the people could be if we change the things they see now. >> what are some of the highlights of the painting? >> the dissertation -- without

images, how would we see the obstacles on the course? the problem is the canvas's course and there is no remorse. let's make peace with the subject. we can't peace out without peace in. do they pay the right amount to a man, or do they blithely shake hands when they know they have sinned? do they kill children of the king when they know he is kin? ironically, when we turn the brush horizontally and connect him to what he strives to be, the rich to those in poverty,

the young and the old, deserving the the unsung. all along we see it didactic, but this poem is another tactic. start sketching and etching. i see that script these conscriptions, and i've standing assertively. you know when being black men you were last in line. -- meant you were last in line. let's honor the date of atonement. let's read and hear what the stone meant, rejected during open enrollment. it's the smell of death when the

drones hit. we are suggesting to the government, who watched years from the innocent-- tears from the innocent. it's more a sign for us to keep our distance. i'm an objector but conscientious, a lot like ali but not in the ring. i'm waiting on that date that every one be healed. you won't find this on a cd-rom. he can't bear witness to the truth too long. peace doesn't come from coming in wrong. understand it's the offspring of love and present to the truth. he is my principality and i am his student. he taught us that faith and

control are congruent. as the hat protects the head, peace protects the mind. it's a pillar on which the brain lays. the shelter refiner during stormy days. -- we find during stormy days. peace is the star the planet calls friend. the correction to the world's oppression. the calm after every election. he is the degree to doctors of philosophy. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a view of a buckingham fountain. the location of our studios this week at the democratic national convention, where i guesss have been -- where our guests have been joining us.

we thank them for giving us access and giving you these shots. extended coverage for us as we go into our fourth hour this morning, where you can call and talk about the democratic national convention. (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 free democrats, an independents (202) 748-8002. here is what you can expect on the networks today. our coverage of the convention, day 3 continues today. our corage begins at 5:30 p.m. eastern with a preview, and calls, followed by the convention at 6:30, and more calls and reactions starting 11:00. speakers tonight include transportation secretary pete buttigieg, forma house speaker nanc pelosi, former president bill clinton, and governor tim walz officially accepting the vice presidential nomination watch on the app on c-span now and falong on the dot-org ifou wish. also today, 2024 republican

presidential nominee, form president donald trump, and his vice presidential pick, jd vance, will speak vers in north carolina. that will be 2:00 eastern on c-span2, she's been out, the guilt -- c-span out, the app, and c-span.org. kansas, kansas city, democrats line on the 2024 convention. go ahead. caller: yes, convention was great, but also i looked at both conventions. our convention, the democrat convention, you see people in the audience standing side-by-side. you don't see white compete on people like you don't see asian, you don't see -- you don't see black, you don't see white, you don't see indian. you see that mixing card. ucs michael of -- ucs pringle of -- you see a sprinkle of black, latinos, asians.

where all americans. i am a captain. i have people come up to me wanted to do what i want because they feel that they shouldn't have to take orders from somebody that is black. like the lady said before, the white -- if they vote white, most of the countries run by -- country is run by whites. look at the senate, look at the house of representatives. we need to get more people of all colors in the senate, representatives, everywhere. we need a big melting pot of everybody. host: ok, david in south carolina, republican like. caller: hello, pedro,, my favorite host. quick background, i'm republican and conservative, pro-life, and white. first-generation american of an immigrant from across the border

-- canada, neither here nor there. when obama was elected i felt glad for people who have been waiting for a long time. it was good. i was hoping he would be a you -- uniter. that i hear 8 years of identity politics. identity politics is inherently divisive, because you can't change your color unless you don't provide --don't vote for biden, you are no longer black. that aside. the other thing i'm getting to is the democratic leadership, i heard them one by one, you can name them, all called me racist. that really burned me -- host: let me ask how this relates to the convention coverage. caller: well, the convention was all about race. i'm going to challenge americans and ask them to join me -- what i'm trying to do -- i did get

through to one senator, my idea got through to him, to propose legislation to eliminate the use of race, any language related to race and federal law -- in federal. maybe just a message bill because it will never pass the democrat chamber. they have to have race, race is their bread and butter -- host: ok, peter in south carolina. peter in florida, independent line. caller: i'd stay away from kamala harris. she is when a change the country. it is all about love and hope. donald trump, it is all about hatred and lives, and i can't do another four years with donald trump -- host: when you say she is going to change the country, what do you mean by that specifically? caller: let's put it this way, the middle class -- if donald trump becomes president, what is

he going to do? tax breaks for the millionaires? and then we the middle class are going have to cover those taxes. host: what do you think the vice president will do if she becomes president? how would she change things? caller: we hope she's going to tell the truth and do the right thing. look at donald trump. he told lies and he didn't do the right things. i'm an independent. i live in florida. i'm cuban. i tell my relatives, they are blinded because they love the hate, they love the anger. you know what, donald trump, he lies all the time. host: ok, missouri next. richard, democrats line. caller: i'm calling -- i'm an old white man, really old white man, and i'm not voting for kamala because she is black or

she is a woman. i hope she carries on biden's programs. talking about housing, i've been in construction all my life. back in the 1970's i used to build houses for head savings and loans in them days -- i think clinton did away with them, i don't know why -- but if you owned a lot, you could get a government loan and pay it off in 25 years. it can be done. let's get on with it and give some people some -- not $200,000, $300,000 houses, but has taken the event and enjoy. host: ok. if in missouri giving his thoughts on issues concerning the democratic national convention. if you watch our coverage of it, you will see no doubt several signs being used during convention night. a photograph from "the washington post" this morning

demonstrates that and demonstrates what is going on in the back on of how designs are used -- how the signs are used. ashley parker writing, "u.s. signs flooded the arena on the surprise appearance of kamala harris, her 'we fight, we win' slogan, and when sean fain -- shawn fain appeared. weeks before the convention preapproved designs needed to be sent to a vendor and continued till the end of the evening, passing out the appropriate sides that the correct moment. 'a floor visibility team helped coordinate which signs the delegates would lift and whe said someone speaking on condition of anonymity aut the good intention --convention's

inner workings.'" especially if you see those signs in our coverage, how they get used, that is from "the washington post." iowa, daniel, go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a comment about c-span coverage. when they cover the republican convention, whenever there was a video segment, they showed that video from a distance in the arena. but in the democratic coverage they showed that full-screen on tv. there seems to be a little bit of a bias in the coverage there. also, barack last night said all men are treated equal and have inalienable rights. one of those inalienable rights is the right to life. and michelle said all children have a value, and that should include all children in the womb

have equal value of children outside the womb. two women the other night spoke about having a pregnancy where the child died in the womb, and last night when woman talked about having an ectopic pregnancy. those are not -- doctors can treat those conditions and they are not considered an abortion. also, two more points. the 2025 is not part of trump's agenda and it's not part of the republican platform. that is also being used as a scare tactic along with the abortion issue. they are saying women will not be able to get treatment for those different conditions. one thing -- they talked about kamala's mother, but there is no

mention about her father being a marx admirer. host: lewis in florida, republican line. caller: good morning, pedro. i have a couple comments and i hope you give me a short period to point out. i want to talk about the coverage as well. when trouble speaks, there is up-- trump speaks there is an industry of fact checkers that unabashedly call president a liar and i've heard it on c-span tons of times, the drop of a hat, every minor detail trump set is parsed and even if it is his opinion, fact checkers call it unsubstantiated, but they never follow-up with his points. c-span, i would like y'all to highlight a couple stories that came out today. one is from axios -- i know you love axios. today she called tim walz out

for his gaffes. she called -- she didn't call them lights, she called them gaffes -- host: yeah, i saw the story. caller: she pointed out a dozen estimates -- didn't carry an ak-47 during the war, didn't use iv just other family, during the road floyd --george floyd riots, said they were all from outside minnesota, there were not. also, cnn politics this morning, if you google that, they fact-checked biden's speech, and i was shocked, they said he lied about the billionaires tax rates, the effect is climate action was going to have, how many american's have health insurance, he overstated his infrastructure tilting efforts.--building efforts. the article also pointed out mistake -- pointed out

misstatement spy mallory mcmorrow and robert garcia. host: this is the article he is referencing. "walz's gaffe factory getting him in trouble for years." marlene in florida, independent line. caller: morning. about the dnc last night, it was very informative for me. and the gentleman that spoke prior to me mentioning about the ivf, i have experienced it myself and i also have a couple of friends of mine who nearly died due to the republicans continuously getting involved in women's womb. they need to -- hello? host: you are on, go ahead, keep going. caller: they need to mind their business, ok? what if we start investigating how to tell the man to make

their privates as well? i need the republicans just about. that is why i was a republican who turned into an independent because i cannot fathom the fact that we are enabling this man who sounds like a third grader continuously humiliating the united states. i travel abroad, and when they talk about donald trump, it's embarrassing, it's cringing. we need to stand up and take this republican party back from donald trump, because all he does is make all republicans unfortunately, not 100% of them, look bigot just like him this man is only want to come back to power so he can avoid going to prison. for those of you who is talking and want to support him, congratulations, but he will sink america, you give him back the power. host: that is marlene in florida. let's hear from former president barack obama last night talking about his former vice president joe biden, paying tribute to him

and his decision to step away from the race. [video clip] >> joe and i come from different backgrounds. but we became brothers. and as we worked together for eight sometimes pretty tough years, what i came to admire most about joe wasn't just his smarts, his experience. it was his empathy and decency, and his hard-earned resilience, is unshakable belief that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot. [applause] and over the last four years, those are the values america has needed most. at a time when millions of our fellow citizens were sick and dying, we needed a leader with the character to put politics aside and do what was right.

at a time when our economy was reeling, we needed a leader with a determination to drive what would become the world's strongest recovery, 15 million jobs, higher wages, lower health care costs. at a time when the other party had turned into a cult of personality, we needed a leader who was steady and brought people together, and was selfless enough to do the rarest thing there is in politics, putting his own ambition aside for the sake of the country. [applause] history will for member joe biden -- will remember joe biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger. and i am proud to call him mike

president, but -- my president, but i am even prouder to call him my friend. [applause] [crowd chanting "thank you, joe"] >> the torch has been passed. now it is up to all of us to fight for the america we believe in. and make no mistake, it will be a fight. host: again from last night, you can see it on the app, c-span now. you can also see it on c-span.org. right now you are seeing soldier field in chicago, one of the many views we have been showing you through the course of the week. let's hear from chicagoan. kathy, democrats line.

caller: good morning, gentlemen. i want to say that i watched the dnc last night, and i did not get any negative feedback from the dnc convention. and i also want to agree with the woman who was on before. when donald trump ran in 2016, he -- there was a documentary on pbs about him, and he said "if you can say a lie and repeat a lie, people will believe you." this man totally supports project 2025, and he is the one that is making it about race and gender. no one else is doing that but him and the republicans that back him. people need to look at the fact that there were republicans last night talking on the panel against him.

you need to really think. people need to really think, especially these young women, because he is looking to take your rights away. he does not like women at all. and i believe the republicans behind him don't like women either. so i agree with that woman that was on before. i am embarrassed that this country would allow a criminal to run for president. he is embarrassing -- host: ok, got your point, got your point. larry in rhode island, independent line. caller: hi, how are you? i'm just calling to say i'm having a hard time watching the convention because i know when kamala ran in the primary, she got less than 1%. so all those people in the primary, only 1% of them saw leadership ability in her. so all of a sudden she becomes

vice president and she gets a job from joe, and he asks her to take care of the southern border. we've now reached 10 million at the southern border, illegal crossings, which all he had to do was sign an executive order to stop, but they decided not to. then i heard from the last three years from kamala that joe was sharp as a tack. he was younger now than he was when he was 40. and she said this to me every time i watched her on tv, looking me in the eye, saying that biden was healthier than ever. what happened? did all of a sudden -- dementia doesn't come on in one day. for three years she lied to me. and now i'm supposed to believe she is capable of running the

country? host: ok, that is larry there. i will point you to a story with immigration taking a look at border crossings. this is from "the washington post," "56,000 illegal crossings in july, 32% the kind from june, fifth straight month -- declined from june, fifth straight month." the bronx, democrats line. caller: hello? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i would like to make points regarding these men calling about a woman's life. i heard one asking about ectopic pregnancy. what does he know about that? listening to him, he doesn't know what that is. that is all most life and death for a woman, unless it is treated. another one talk about kamala's mother. i talk about my mother every day because my father was not around. so maybe he was not around, or

whatever it is, she doesn't speak about him much. she speaks about her mother, who she grew up with daily. this is what they need to know. what i would like to ask is don't vote away your social security and your medicare, because the republicans have brought this up more than once and it is the democrats saving i t. and i hope they are listening and don't fall for these people, because their plan is to get rid of it. because you hear them talking about this is going to run out insomuch years. it's not supposed to happen. this has happened because they put people's money in the budget. if you put this money in the budget, it is going to be depleted. host: ok, texas, independent line. ella in texas, hello?

one more time for ella. ok, let's hear from catherine. catherine in illinois, democrats line. caller: hello. i just wanted to say that there -- in viewing the dnc and rnc, there cannot be a more different view of the world and different view of the future. you got dnc speakers talking about hope and policies that help regular americans. and you had fear mongering and hatred and vitriol. as far as the speakers, the men who have spoken about women's rights and children, a woman has the right to govern her own body by virtue of her gender. if you don't have a uterus,

don't have an argument in this case, period. women's rights need to be respected. women's rights are human rights. you can't have a more different choice for candidates. you have got kamala harris, who has worked steadfastly, diligently, honestly, with integrity to help people. and then you have got a criminal, convicted felon, a sexual assailant, and a history of fraud -- ask any poor student who was duped into purchasing a class at trump university. he paid a $25 million settlement because he defrauded students. he has a lifetime of graft.the-- grif-- grift. he is a bad, bad person -- host: ok, ok, ok come that is catherine in illinois. let's hear from jd vance in one of the battle ground states people are closely watching, in

kenosha, talking by the record of kamala harris when it comes to issues of crime and public safety. [video clip] >> any of the dnc tonight, or last night? if you did, what were your immediate thoughts? >> my immediate thoughts, all the people doing,i agree--- booing, that is my response, boo. i watched a little bit. we got into cincinnati a little on the lid aside yesterday so i watched some of it. just the contrast between the public safety policies of kamala harris and donald trump is striking, and it is almost a joke that they held in chicago, which has become the murder capital of the united states of america thanks to failed democrat leadership. i believe last weekend in the city of chicago you had something like 40 shootings and 17 people who lost their lives. that is not something we would accept in a third world country, much less in one of our cities like chicago--one of our

beautiful great american cities like chicago. my theory about why they decided to have the convention in chicago is tim walz is going around saying he served in war, and maybe they did it in chicago so he could accurately say he visited a combat zone. chicago -- i mean, look -- [applause] chicago has violent crime statistics that actually mirror, again, third world highly violent countries. public safety is the birthright of every citizen in this country, poor or rich, black or white. nobody should be growing up in a community with a moderate like that. and it is a good -- murder rate like that and it is a good contrast between the policies of kamala harris and the policies of donald j. trump, who promotes peace, prosperity, and wants to throw violent criminals behind bars. that is what donald j. trump wants to do, and i share that. host: that is jd vance from yesterday. if you want to see more of that, go to our website or the app.

lens work of alex curtis is what you are seeing now. he and a large contingent of team in chicago providing you not only this program, the evening program, the events that you see during the course of the day, the backbone of what we're doing there, democrat national convention in chicago. they are bringing that to you so you can see it and inform yourselves, as we go on talking about a presidential election this november. tom in south caroline, independent line. caller: i'm calling because i want to point some thing out a lot of people might not know about. at the democratic convention, promoting all these influencers and everything. a lot of people don't know that these influencers are getting paid and it is under nda, so they can't say anything about it. the people who don't are coming out and exposing this. i don't think a lot of people know this. your favorite influencer, don't listen to them, agree with them

just because they like a person, you know what i mean? i don't know. kamala i don't think is the right person. i agree with another independent that was on a couple spots before me talking about how only 1% agreed that she is a leader. now everyone thinks she can be a leader. where is this coming from? all of these things she is promising could have been done many years ago, and she couldn't even do it as vp. we have hawaii delegates voting for her even though joe biden didn't spend a single dime on maui after the wild fires. host: then who is your candidate of choice? caller: my candidate of choice is donald j. trump because he's a businessman and he knows how to run the economy, and that is what we need right now. we are in an economic crisis. it's bad. host: that is tom in south carolina. just to show you the fact sheet

from the white house that was released february 7, 2024, six month after the maui wildfires, biden-harris administration continues support for survivors of impacted communities. you can see that on the white house's website if you want to check it out yourself also from illinois, this is josh, independent line. caller: hi. host: hi, go ahead. caller: so i just kinda want to really quickly talk about something that no one wants to talk about, and it's an issue that crosses our parties, our genders, our religions, races, whatever -- i will always vote for somebody who has the audacity to speak out against the central bankers. they are really the enemy of all of us, the reason that we live in the system is it is their system and it hasn't worked for

any of us. it doesn't matter who we are. while they have the audacit y to speak out against it, i will vote for that person because they are always getting assassinated or attempted to be assassinated. it doesn't matter. this is our enemy, and nobody else really wants to ever talk about it. host: ok. will in wisconsin, democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. just speaking about the convention and the job the dnc has done, i think they couldn't be pulling off a better convention. i've been involved in street-level politics since i was a child and i watched every convention, i have since i was a kid. the dnc is doing a great job, with what they did during the roll call, the energy was just palpable, compared to what they did at the republican

convention, which seemed like a funeral at times. the positiveness and -- just the exuberance during roll call was just amazing. getting signs spread out around the stadium -- united center is a very big place. i used to live in chicago. just the job the party is doing putting on that convention, there has just been -- it's been top-notch, it's been awesome. host: iowa, republican line. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. all i hear at the dnc convention is everybody wanting another four more years of obama. he said it that if he had his wish, he would step behind the scenes with a little microphone in somebody's earpiece and tell

them what to say. that is what this is going to be, another four more years of the same old same old. i personally am sick and tired of not being able to save money, not being able to help my children or my grand children. we need to be able to get back to where there is less government, less regulations, less the thumb being on the american people, and let us actually live and prosper. that's what we did during trump, not with biden and definitely not with harris. for all these females that want to say about how they overturned roe v. wade, this, that, and the other, roe v. wade was never law. it was never law. why would it not --why what you not want to back to your state where your vote, your say-so, has an impact? you have a choice in your own state of how to legislatures to vote for, against or for an

abortion. to me, it just floors me that they don't realize that. that's all i really got to say. host: ok. octavia in new jersey, democrats line. caller: good morning, thank you for taking michael. -i want-- my call. i want to raise a point about the convention last night. i did watch it, and it was electrifying. i wanted to give simba come nation, suggested -- give some recommendation, suggestion to fellow democrats, not to make this election about race. during the roll call, so many of the delegates pointed out that kamala would be the first black woman to ascended to the oval office, and while that is notable and an equal parchment on so many levels this -- accomplishment on so many levels, this election cannot be about race. if you focus on the fact that she is a black woman, that is the sticking point that everyone, republicans in

particular, are going to make this election about. it is not about race, it is about who is the most qualified, competent, the most integrity to lead this nation, not about race. please stop focusing on the fact that she is a black woman. we didn't like it when trump made an issue of her race. black people should not make an issue of her race being the primary qualification. she's qualified, supremely qualified to sit in the oval office, and this election should not be about race. host: patty in connecticut, independent line. caller: i'm coming in about the woman who said republicans are taking social security money, are going to end it. tell her to look back in the 1960's when lb took the money-- lbj took the money out of the lockbox. he is the one who went into social security and took the money. that's all i want to say. host: one of the featured speakers last night was second

gentleman of the united states, doug emhoff, talking about vice president kamala harris, his wife, as part of the buildup for the vice president. here is doug emhoff from last night. [video clip] >> kamala is a joyful warrior. she's doing what her country what she has always done for the people that she loves. her passion will benefit all of us when she is our president. [applause] and here's the thing about joyful warriors, they're still warriors. and kamala is as tough as it comes. just ask the criminals, the global gangsters, and the witnesses before the senate judiciary committee. she never runs from a fight, and she knows the best way to deal with a coward is to take him head-on, because we all know cowards are weak, and kamala harris can smell weakness. she doesn't tolerate any bs.

you have all seen that look, and you know that look i am talking about. that look is not just a meme, it reflects her to believe in honest and direct leadership. and it's also why she will not be distracted by nonsense. kamala knows that in order to win, we cannot lose focus. america, in this election, you have to decide who to trust with your family's future. i trusted kamala with our families future. it was the best decision i ever made. this thursday will be our 10th wedding anniversary. [applause] which, i know it means i'm about to hear that embarrassing voicemail again. [laughter] however, that's not all i will be hearing. that same night i will be hearing my wife, kamala harris, accept your nomination for president of the united states. [applause] and with your help, she will

lead with joy and toughness, with that laugh and that look, with passion and conviction. she will lead from the belief that wherever we come from, whatever we look like, we are strong just when we fight for what we believe in, not just against what we fear. kamala harris was exactly the right person for me at an important moment in my life. and at this moment in our nation's history, she is exactly the right president. host: again, he mentioned the voicemail. several stories have picked this up saying doug emhoff tells the commission about the rambling voicemail asking her out, she makes him listen to it every anniversary. in florida, independent line. daphne, hello. caller: hello. i'm alarmed by statement i'm

hearing. as an independent, i choose who is going to unite our nation and who is a person of character. we must have people fact-check things that donald trump says, and that is alarming as americans, freedom of choice, we are not fact-checking things he says. let's talk about the insurrection of january 6. we are minimizing what happened. mike pence and others' lives were in danger because trump made a call to action. that is something the american people must not ignore he is a president that incites people the violence. he does not help bridge the gap of american people. as an independent, i'm looking for us to be peace and harmony. the dnc is talking about things they want to do, but they are bringing us back together as a nation. i challenge all people who choose to vote for the former president trump, fact-check the things he says. don't just take his things are true. you must fact-check him.

it is embarrassing as a country where so divided. we are supposed to be a country of love, harmony, peace, and that is not what we are doing. i challenge people, fact-check trump and compare trump to kamala. he said she was unknown. she was not unknown, she was unknown to you. i say to you guys, fact-check trump. host: patricia in florida, democrats line. caller: hello? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i'm calling to say that i'm enjoying the convention, but i think we have been so shortsighted for so long. all over this world there are women who have been in charge of countries and they are doing a wonderful job. it is now our opportunity to put a woman in charge who can do everything that needs to be done to take care of this country. this lady is educated, she has all the experience that she

needs, and i think we need to give her a chance, and give our country a chance. thank you. host: carrie and telephone you, you are next-- carrie in california, your next up. caller: i want to make a point i've not heard on any of the new stations or on this show, and that is the caravans that started in central and south america, where i believe were a result of donald trump and several of his followers who would get on national tv, fox news, etc., and say that the border was open. i've traveled in central america several times, and i know that once people think and know that the border is open, that is their opportunity for them to say, oh gosh, let's go, it's open -- host: let me ask you how that relates to the convention. caller: well, i think that so far in a lot of republicans have

used that as a point as to why kamala and joe biden have not done their job on the border, when in fact that is a point that they can make, kamala can make, in terms of the root cause of the caravans. and of course the rest of the immigration story is that joe biden and congress had really come up with a very strong border immigration package that had bipartisan, republican support, and donald trump refused and convinced republicans not to pass that. so i think it is part of that larger story. host: gotcha. carrie in california. a couple more ents to let you know about. the nation's 8 democratic women gornors will talk about the points of electing women to

election roles. that will be moderated by actress and activist julia transportation secretary pete buttigieg withessman maxwell frost and former republican congressman adam kinzinger will speak at an event politics. the institute of 5:45 eastern time this afternoon on c-span2, c-span out, c-span.org. a a lot of programming going on the next couple days surrounding the convention. stay close to our website and the app for information on how to follow that. one of the things that we like to look at from time to time is media coverage of events like the dnc. c-span cameras had a chance to explore media spaces with 15,000 journalists attending and covering the convention. here is a bit of that. [video clip] >> as the world's media dissents

on chicago for the democratic national convention, we want to take you behind the scenes to show you how the 15,000 journalists are covering the convention. this is the media pavilion just outside the united center. it is a 50,000-square-foot tent structure larger than a football field where news outlets observe the space, including copies like new york times, associate press, reuters, usa today, wall street journal, and he spent.-- c-span. it is primarily used as a workspace/office area. just outside the media pavilion are a slew of news trucks. unsurprisingly, the longest line is the coffee truck, and there are bathrooms and porter parties. right next to the media pavilion arc network, bound for abc, nbc, cbs, fox, and cnn. it includes heavy gear for broadcasting as well as satellite trucks. we are now at media row just off

the convention floor. there are more than 50 outlets using the space ranging from radio, podcasts, and television. given that this is united center, home of the chicago bulls, it features a bronze statue of the legendary michael jordan. there are plenty of cameras and standup spots were the main speakers are taking based. a doesn't media outlets have skype -- a dozen media outlets have skyboxes where they can broadcast before, during, and after the convention. there are stands at the upper level including letting an internet connection. at the lower level, there is a space for social-media influencers to create their content for millions of followers on social media. host: denise lives in chicago, illinois, republican line. good morning. caller: morning.

i would like to speak to the people who keep calling about abortion. if you do not understand the full encompassing definition of this word, please don't just say it is killing babies. it should be based on the understanding. i'm a medical professional of what an abortion is and what it does. it stops people who are having health issues related to being pregnant as well as the termination of the pregnancy wanted or unwanted, and it should be a woman's right to govern her own reproductive care. that is really all i want to say. you guys are doing a fantastic job of covering this joyous occasion. i called on the gop line because -- host: so you are not a republican, so let me stop you there. victoria and florida, democrats line. caller: yes, hi. i'm very disappointed in the democrat party.

it seems to be about race and gender and abortion and everything at the convention. they are also telling lies because i've been doing lots of research. if you fact-check -- host: wait, as a democrat, what is your issue with the things you listed? caller: well, i really like jesse jackson. he has been positive, he wants to make -- his rainbow coalition did a great job with children and giving self-esteem to children. but that isn't happening out. we have children that can't read and write. they can't do math. and they need that in order to be able to succeed. and it seems like it is being done on purpose so that the children have to grow up and need government. and that is all it is about all the time. government -- host: wait, let me stop you, are

you a democrat? caller: yes. host: i'm just trying to clarify. go ahead and finish her thought. caller: well, i just want both parties fact-checked, because trump was never charged with insurrection. i know that because i was watching the trial. i watched both conventions, and i felt that the convention for the democrat party has been really about hate, about trump -- host: let me move to bea in maryland, independent line. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i just want to say that the dnc is great so far, in the rollcall was awesome and so much fun. you can tell the democrats actually care about helping americans and protecting our constitution and freedoms. the gop, trump project 2025

plan wants to install a crypto fascist dictatorship and rip freedoms away and treat women and girls like breeding animals. you can already see that in the states where women don't have their bodily autonomy, and that is not america. so i feel like everybody who cares about democracy and people having their freedoms in this country, no matter your party, should vote democrat this election and save the country, because our supreme court is now corrupt and it should be disbanded or expended. and trump is a convicted felon and want to be dictator who is an adjudicated rapist -- host: ok, he was charged with sexual abuse. that was found out in the court system there. let's hear from bob in north carolina, hello. caller: as a registered democrat since 1964, i would like to

respond to what mr. emhoff, kamala's husband, said. warriors do not participate in the killing of children. that is what cowards do. and so far around 35,000 dead children in gaza, and it is inexcusable. and the democratic party has participated fully in that letter. thank you. -- in that slaughter. thank you. host: jasmine, independent in california. caller: -- is history, and to not acknowledge someone's grace, to not acknowledge someone's gender, is to ignore the history of america, that there has yet to be a female candidate. and also considering that any melanin makes you -- your considered black. they say, "oh, are you indian, are you asian?"

you have melanin. in america historically that is what makes you an ethnic minority. host: and how does this involve itself and the convention coverage? caller: whether or not he should be talking points, whether or not it should be discussed at all. trump vs. harris, a criminal versus a judge, which we have to see the irony of. host: ok. from tucson, arizona, this is rose. democrats line. caller: biden is doing at the border, a lot of people are saying he has done nothing. he has done a lot. he's got mexico to pay for border security. to fight the fentanyl problem. the president of mexico agreed to spend 1.5 billion over two years to improve border technology.

biden literally built sections of the wall in texas and arizona. he had to spend the money allocated for the border on the wall. so the wall is getting built still. not everywhere, because we don't need a wall across the whole entire border, but the wall is still being built. he got the haitians out of their quick and biden should have gotten a pat on the back. we deported more immigrants than trump. obama deported more illegal immigrants than trump. he was considered the dip order in chief -- deporter in chief -- host: again, how does this relate to the convention issues? caller: because people are saying they are not aggressive on these issues and not giving detail about what they're doing at the border. these are details of what they've done at the border and

will continue to do at the border. the other detail -- host: ok, have to leave it there. this is a story that is not convention related but will probably be part of the news cycle today. "new york times" reporting that the u.s. economy added far fewer jobs in 2023 and 2024 than previously reported the monthly payroll figures overstated job growth by roughly 818,000 jobs with the 12 months that ended in march. employers added 170,000 jobs over four months and that period, a downward revision of 28%. that will be part of news coverage today. one more call. this is from florida. vicki, republican line. caller: hi, and thank you for c-span. the best network to let america speak, so i thank you for this. i'm calling -- i watched the convention and i'm very happy

with everything that is happening with the convention, because it is interesting. however, it is a clear vote in this fall, either we want more of the same, high gas prices, high grocery prices. is it going to change? that is the vote on the ballot this november. i am a republican but i used to be a democrat. i need to have change. i cannot afford going to the store with $200 always in my pocket to pay. so that is the kind of issue that i wish that they would address, because i don't think it is going to change. but thank you for taking my call. but thank you for taking my call. host: a four hour program today with coverage of the democratic national convention. don't forget, 5:30 is when we

start covering tonight's event. date three, a multitude of speakers including minnesota governor tim walz, who will speak and accept the vice presidential nomination. coverage gavel-to-gavel will be at 6:30. you can call in starting around 11:00. another program comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow morning. see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> day three of the democratic national convention continues today in chicago. our live coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern with a preview and your calls, followed by the convention at 7:00, and then your calls and your reaction starting at 11:00. tonight'speakers include transportation secretary pete