tv Washington Journal David Wasserman CSPAN August 21, 2019 3:17pm-4:19pm EDT
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p.m., jay inslee, john delaney, and tim ryan, live from new hampshire. friday at 6:00, pete buttigieg with a live town hall from new hampshire. watch campaign 2010 eight -- 2020 coverage anytime on c-span.org. sunday night on q&a, theoretical physicist michio cocco talks about our destiny beyond earth and achieving digital immortality. >> digital immortality takes everything known about you on the internet, your digital footprint, your credit card records, what movies you see, what wines you like to buy, your videos, your pictures, and creates a profile that is digitized which will last forever. when you go to the library of
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the future, you will not pick out a book about winston churchill. you will talk to winston churchill. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. 441 days to go until election 2020. we are joined by david wasserman. of "cook political report." let's start with what the playing field looks like right now. how many seats the republicans need to take back to regain control of the house and how many seats you think are in play this cycle. here's the basic math -- there's 235 democrats in the house, 197 republicans, one independent who left the republican party and there's two republican vacancies, one in north carolina. we expect one of them will stay in republican hands.
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the other will be very competitive, the ninth district. depending on the results of that special, republicans could need to pick up 19 or 20 seats to retake the majority in 2020. host: when it comes to the house map, we saw the house flip in 2018. what is the likelihood or how often hasn't happened in history that the house has flipped in one election and then flipped back the following election? guest: in 1952 and 1954. the house majority has not flipped twice since then. it has not flipped in a presidential cycle since 1952. there are some historical precedents working in democrat'' favor. the democrats have picked up house seats in seven of the last eight presidential cycles. the ship has been in the single digits.
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republicans need 19 or 22 shift back. in the republicans' favor is the geography of the house. we are still working with a set of lines, boundaries that republicans largely drew in 2011. we are still looking at a map where there are 31 democrats representing seats that .resident trump carried in 2017 there are enough winnable seats out there for republicans to plausibly take back the majority. i do see democrats as the modest favorites for now. host: one of the nice things about "cook political report" is the map of competitive races. those races rated by what you think they are right now, whether they are a tossup or whether they lean one way or the other. especially in a presidential election year, how many of these
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are simply dependent on presidential coattails, as goes the presidential race so does the most competitive races? guest: what does the presidential race look like, what do president trump's coattails do for republicans? it could be a drag on the ticket, it's possible that a democratic nominee could be a drag for democrats. we don't know a lot about the electability of the field quite yet. there's also the unknown of republican retirement and how many republicans will head for the exit. we are at 11 republican open seats right now, nine retirements, two running for other offices. the more republicans that retire -- keep in mind, this is something that tends to happen after a party loses its majority, you see a bit of an exit this -- exodus. host: we are talking with david
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wasserman from "cook political report," the house editor. if you have questions about your house member's 2020 race, you can call in. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. david wasserman will be with us until the end of our program today at 10:00 a.m. happy to answer your questions about any house races this cycle. you mentioned an exodus. you also mentioned a term, a "texodus." guest: we've had a lot of turnover in texas recently. we've seen a number of republicans and democrats retire. we saw democrats defeat two republican incumbents in 2018.
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right now, we are seeing quite a phenomenon in terms of republicans in texas leaving. are mike conaway, who used to chair the ag committee/ these threelem, retirees from districts that are majority minority. they have become more diverse over the past 10 years. pete olson in the 22nd district outside houston, will heard outside san antonio, that district goes to el paso, and that when he fourth district -- 24th district, the dallas-fort worth suburbs. herd is the only
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african-american republican remaining in the house -- will hurd is the only african-american republican remaining in the house. jean ortiz jones was gearing up to run again. she's now the favorite to take control of that seat. any one retirement hurt the party more than another one? hurd's in texas. that is the one that hurts the most because he's one of those three republicans in the house from clinton districts. rob woodall in the atlanta those safe republican seats are no longer safe republican because of demographic changes and what trump has done to alienate a number of suburban republicans in the past several years.
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trump has done some positive things for republicans in rural areas of the country. in these southern melting pot suburbs, that's where the democrats have an opportunity to gain some ground. host: is texas a purple state at this point? is it still a red state? guest: it is a red state that is trending purple/ it is really republican policies that have made texas a more redable -- purple shade of the last 12 years. if you think of rick perry and george w. bush and greg abbott, they lowered the corporate tax rate to where you have all these corporate relocations from blue states like california and illinois, millions of professionals going from coastal states, blue states, to suburbs of san antonio and austin and now, those suburbs are behaving
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a whole lot differently than they used to. williamson county, bette o'rourke won. democrats have been won -- haven't won these places in years. in 2018, even though democrats only picked up two seats out of the 26 that republicans held, there were six more republicans in the delegation who won by five points or less. they of them are retiring, will have competitive races. it's no wonder why the democratic congressional campaign committee has made texas ground zero. host: we will focus on some of those other races. carol out of new york. a democrat. you are up first. good morning. caller: i would like to ask your guest about cp 22 in new york, anthony brindisi, who is a
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freshman and beat a team party member -- tea party member. i would like any insights you may have about the upcoming congressional race. thank you. guest: that is a fascinating district. there was no district in the country that democrats picked up that gave trump more than 55% of the vote in 2016, but this one came close. trump won this district by 15 points, but a democrat did manage to win this seat. one of the reasons he was successful, claudia tenney was really unpopular as an incumbent. she made controversial comments, she had gone out of her way to alienate some republicans in the district. there had long been a divide between more moderate republicans behind richard hanna and more conservative
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republicans who fell into the tenney camp. there is likely to be a competitive race in the republican camp. this is one of the most vulnerable seats for democrats in the country. do republicans nominate tenney or do they nominate someone who is a more conventional republican like steve cornwell? if republicans can get a mainstream candidate as their nominee, i think their odds of winning this seat back are pretty good. host: you ranked the 22nd district as a tossup. there are some incumbents you put in that category of being a tossup race. are they mostly freshman members? guest: they are mostly freshmen. the democrats who are most
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vulnerable are in seats where the democrat margin in 2016 was smaller than trump's margin. in the same category as brenda si, kendra horn in oklahoma city, ben mcadams in salt lake city, utah. one thing that was noticed in 2018, democrats broke through in a lot of southern suburbs. they picked up seats in places where democrats never would have expected 10 years ago. charleston, south carolina, oklahoma city, dallas suburbs and suburbs in houston. we will see if democrats can hold those seats or if they will flip. host: we can talk about any of the congressional races coming up and pick david wasserman's brain about it.
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republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. massachusetts, matt is a democrat. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. david, i am a fan of the ratings. i follow you on twitter. i sometimes bug you about particular ratings but i keep it polite. i want to ask you about two particular seats i find very interesting. one is minnesota's first freshmanwhere a republican is running for his first reelection bid after one of only year, two blue to red flips in the house. if jason lewis runs for senate in minnesota, the republican be three men who have
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a history of controversial remarks, some rightly considered racist,some considered certainly inflammatory. if that's an area where that may nice.issue in minnesota the democratif makes a second try for a rematch with hedge doran -- host: what is the other race? first: california's district where doug lamalfa may be heading for the exits. he's used to winning by 18-23 points. last year, that was cut to single digits by audrey, who is running again and is out
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fundraising him. issues are leaning democrats' direction. guest: i love the callers this morning. the callera 1, raised the possibility that three republicans with a history of inflammatory comments could be on the ballot. minnesota's first district by over 10 points. that nearly caused the incumbent democrat's reelection that year. he later went on to become governor in 2018 and they republican -- a republican won that seat. there are only a handful of democrats left from early rural -- rural -- really rural
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districts. ag is the chair of the house committee. even though he is a powerful long-term member of congress with high popularity back home, he saw his margin cut to just about five points in 2018. original member of the blue dog coalition still in the house is like trying to spot a leopard in a thick forest somewhere. there aren't too many of them left to see. in ruralemocrats minnesota are an endangered species. california's first, doug lamalfa, the incumbent, who is a rancher in the northern rural reaches of california, we saw
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his lead cut to single digits in 2018, a high watermark for emma democrats. even though republicans are just down to seven members of 53 in california, this probably isn't one that democrats will get in years.t for years -- few host: who might be more vulnerable on the republican side? guest: of the seven republicans left in california. all but one mccarthy, saw their single -- saw their lead cut to single digits. republicans -- a saw republicans became the third california.
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republicans will try to get the four seats they lost in orange county back. democrats will be going after duncan hunter's seat in san diego county. he's facing a trial, he's under indictment. democrats will be trying to protect a lot of the gains they made. one of the reasons why democrats there'sell in 2018, still a lot of republicans from blue states left. that's not the case anymore. host: dolores, a republican. caller: good morning. i'm a little nervous. -- why there is no penalty for what politicians say, especially in this presidential race. they can say whatever they want. i guess an example -- there
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doesn't seem to be any -- for instance -- i'm getting a little nervous here -- host: do you think a penalty is not being elected or being voted out of office? caller: some penalty. they can say whatever they want. i watched the debate. afterwards, they were saying this wasn't true, that was true, that wasn't true. they should tell the truth. if you don't and they can't prove it, there should be some sort of penalty. i don't know if a financial fine -- it seems really hard for me to know what to believe when they can say what they want and two days later, they print out that they made a mistake and it wasn't true. host: let's take up that topic with david wasserman.
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guest: let's be clear -- if a candidate does something patently false and and add -- in an ad, the stations take those down. --they say something untrue a big problem lately has been the closed information loops in the country, the decline of local media that once provided voters the opportunity to size up candidates based on their backgrounds and qualifications on who they were as people. we've seen a rise in straight ticket voting, a decline in split ticket voting. if i had to give advice to local news outlets, outlets i interact with quite a lot, it's probably
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past time to stop endorsing candidates for office. i think when voters perceive that a media outlet has a force in the game -- that is why c-span is so trusted -- it thers the credibility of hard news in that outlet. that explains a bit of the decline in trust we've seen the news media when it comes to holding candidates accountable. ist: your twitter handle redistrict, a source for redistricting analysis. can you explain the june supreme court decision on gerrymandering and what its actual impacts will be on the ground going ahead in 2020? guest: the supreme court decision in june essentially to overturnnot sue maps in federal court on the
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basis that they are partisan gerrymandered. fightnded a decades long over whether the court was going to impose a standard by which the judge maps is going too far. although this is regarded as a setback for reformers, it sets the status quo. we have not seen a map overturned on a partisan basis in federal court. going into the next round of redistricting, there was already hope that we would see less aggressive gerrymandering. there are a number of developments at the state level that are going to change the game without supreme court intervention. for example, a new commission in place in states such as michigan, colorado, utah, ohio. whether those commissions
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actually work to stop aggressive gerrymandering in those states is to be determined. some reformers believe those reforms are more cosmetic than anything else. it's an open question of how they will turn out. additionallso won governorships in 2018. inare also likely to see states where republicans do control the process in 2021 a re-examination of their strategies. they are looking at the maps they drew in 2011, a number of states that were intended to be safe seats fell by the wayside in 2018 because of the changing voting patterns in the suburbs. republicans need to be more careful in terms of the maps they draw, particularly in texas and georgia. host: in texas, judy. good morning.
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go ahead, judy. caller: hello. i want to discuss abortions. it seems to be a big deal in a lot of these races. i have personal knowledge of it. don't know who's going to take those crackhead babies, alcoholic babies, babies with lots of problems, if these women don't have abortions. host: judy in texas. abortions in the 2020 house campaign as an issue. guest: it could come up as a big issue in the presidential campaign. one of the reasons trump was able to break through as a republican candidate where others have not been able to break through in the past was because he emphasized issues where he had commonalities with working class democrats. the social read
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issues that had plagued republicans for some time, especially gay marriage and abortion. he did not embrace socially positions.e positions. he tried to bring religious and social conservatives into his coalition by nominating mike pence for president -- for vice president. to the extent that there is a big debate next fall over the future of roe v. wade, that could split trump's coalition somewhat. it does include a number of working-class voters, particularly women who are a leadice, but presents coastal politic. democrats were able to do well by portraying republicans as the party of the wealthy and the party of bible thumper's who wanted to impose their religious values on everyone else.
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trump is the opposite of a bible thumper. can make the case that republicans are once again pushing tax cuts for the wealthy and trying to impose religious they stand tors, gain back some of the ground they've lost. host: about 30 minutes left with david wasserman of "cook political report." it is cookpolitical.com. roger back in michigan. an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. we have a beautiful morning here in the 60's. host: sounds lovely, roger. it's a lot higher in d.c. go ahead with your question for david wasserman. caller: i was raised a democrat. this past election changed my whole mind. i grew up seen as a democrat.
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i've completely reversed. for the election judge republican party because i couldn't get to be one as a democrat. michigan, this is god's country. i don't understand why are congresswoman from michigan, that tlaib and that omar from minnesota and a ocasio-cortez ofm new york, that group four of them, i don't understand it and i don't understand anybody with brains in their head would have anything to do with those people. they think they are above the president of the united states. as far as i'm concerned, they are a disgrace to this country. host: that block and their impact outside of their own races. guest: republicans tried to run
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against nancy pelosi and 2018. now, they are squarely running against the squad. their message going into 2020 is that the squad, aoc, rashida tlaib, ayanna pressley leading the party off a socialist cliff. that is dangerous for some democratic candidates and it provides an opportunity for a lot of the freshman democrats who don't fall into the and don'te caucus fall into their political viewpoints to separate themselves from the most liberal parts of the party. woninia's seventh district a very close race in 2018, ran a very impressive campaign. she is running as more of a formatic democrat who voted
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$4.6 billion in emergency funding for the border, differentiating herself from the squad, did not call for impeaching the president. there are some opportunities for these democrats to show independence from their party as a result of the squad notoriety. there are 62 democratic freshman and three of them are getting 90% of the attention. host: a ocasio-cortez winning her primary, a bit of a surprise two years ago. any of those members of the squad facing a tough primary challenge or are they likely to cruise to a nomination? aret: the two to watch rashida to leave -- rashida tl
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aib in detroit. she did fairly well in the suburbs but did not win the city of detroit itself. then ill hanno mark -- alana omar.- ilhan this is one of the most liberal districts in the country. the squad represents four of the five most democratic districts among the 62 democratic freshmen in the house. host: highland, new york. michael, a republican. go ahead. caller: my question for david, i'm here from new york, the leadership here is atrocious. i think that's why people drink so much. what do you think about -- running for senator? guest: i don't think republicans
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are all that competitive at the statewide level in new york, at least when it comes to federal office. would be wise to keep his house seat and become more influential in the republican party in the house. ofo think his chances staying there are pretty good after surviving 2018. host: new orleans, joe, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is what influence does the political right organization called the family -- what influence will they have on the upcoming election? a documentary about this group and how they are behind the scenes really running the country.
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enlightening and headbulbs went off in my to explain what is really going on in our country. host: that is jo in louisiana. that documentary running on netflix these days. guest: i haven't watched it, myself. leadingblican party's image problem is a lack of diversity. out of the 13 women remaining in the republican conference in the house, two are not running for reelection in 2020, one from alabama and susan brooks, the recruitment chair for the nrc seat -- nrcc. on the positive side for republicans, there are a number of impressive women who have launched candidacies against incumbent democratic freshmen.
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rich is running for an open seat in georgia. ashley hinson is running against -- abby inn our iowa. 90% of house republicans are white men. they know that's an image problem. host: what was the reaction in republican circles when susan brooks announced she wasn't running? guest: it was demoralizing for republicans. i think republicans are the favorites to hold onto their -- onto her seat. it's the retirement of non-trump republicans in the house, the people who were there before hold thatand took
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have more mainstream republicans worried. the republican party in congress has become more trump centric. terry, astone state, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question for david. ta 10 district where scott perry is running -- he had george scott run against him last time. democrats already lost by 10,000 votes. now, you have this to briar and on -- toming him briar and eugene taking him on. what does he think about that? a primary between these two democrats?
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thank you. host: thanks, terry. guest: there will be a primary between tom briar and eugene. eugene is the favorite at the outset. he was at the top of democrats' wish list. he's the incumbent state auditor, he ran statewide in 2016 and carried his district. this is an interesting district. four years, the republican -- for years, the republican --umbent ran the district the court decided to overturn the map that republicans had gerrymandered in 2011 and imposed a map with a more harrisburg centric seat. it is a swing district now. we expect this to be one of the most competitive races of 2020. host: we are in the heart of the
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august recess as members of congress often hold town halls with constituents. what are the key themes you hear emerging at town halls this august recess? guest: there's a lot of conversation right now about a lot of the issues being discussed at the presidential level. certainly immigration is at the forefront as well as health care. carefuls have to be heading into 2020 to remember why they won their majority in 2018. i interviewed dozens of democrats who ran in the most competitive districts in the country. they weren't talking about trump very much. they were talking about russia or the prospects of impeachment -- they were talking about votes to replace the aca, they were talking about the republican tax
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bill, particularly the changes it made to the solid deduction. republicans are still paying attention to pocketbook issues. to the extent the democrats get caught up in some of the issues that have moved the party to the --t in the presidential race you've heard presidential candidates talking about decriminalizing border crossings or demolishing private insurance, that could put a lot of these freshman democrats in a bind. host: what about the issue of gun control? guest: democrats are going to be talking a lot about background checks, particularly in suburban districts in 2020. that's one issue where i think republicans have a problem. isanding background checks
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still not a winning message in a republican primary. and yet, it is something that inoys strong public support marginal and competitive districts. a lot of the freshman democrats even in seats that trump won narrowly are campaigning on expanded background checks. thatmocrats can keep it to rather than talking about an assault weapons ban, i think they stand to gain. host: this is tim from spring lake, michigan. a republican. morning. caller: my question has to do with justin amash. i live in a district located west of him. all of our local news comes from grand rapids. he has declared that he is running as an independent. there are quite a few
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republicans who are going to run in the republican primary and of course a democrat. what would be the impact of a three-way race like that in an area that is traditionally amashican but justin seems to be pretty popular and i'm wondering if a democrat might slide in under those circumstances? i will take my answer off the air. host: thanks, tim. guest: this is one of the districts that democrats didn't compete in an 2018. justin amash now has challenges from his left and right. as an independent, it is difficult to win a house race unless you have the lion's share of one side of the vote. the problem for amash, there is
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not a big market in the electorate for a pro-life, pro-impeachment member of congress. there is a crowded field of republicans running against him, , theding peter meijer heir to a local grocery chain. on the democratic side, hillary nickn and nicole been -- colven are running. we don't have much precedent for this type of race. it will be interesting to see whether amash takes away more democratic boats or more republican votes. moremocratic votes or republican votes. host: republican. good morning. caller: we have an interesting race coming up in charlotte, the
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ninth district. dan bishop and dan mccready. unabashedly a trump backer. won'tou have mccready who answer anything. are you for open borders? he has no response. will you run for senate if you get into the house? no response. i wonder what david's take on this race was. guest: it is a competitive do over election. this race came down to a couple hundred votes in 2018. it was found that absentee ballot fraud was prevalent enough that it warranted another election, which is why the seat has been vacant. we have it in our tossup column.
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i think republicans have a slight edge here. dan bishop, the republican state portion ofpresents a the ninth congressional district where democrats typically have done well. if bishop can neutralize the election in his own backyard, it's hard to see how dan margin inakes up that the more conservative outlying regions. dan mccready has a lot more money. he will be using that money to attack dan bishop for giving a donation to a social media later became a hotbed for white nationalists. bishop is denying that he knew that cite was headed that direction and that he regrets was headed that direction and that he regrets that.
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it probably won't be a high turnout. i give dan bishop a tiny edge. host: if democrats do win that the, what does that do for hopes of republicans taking back the house in 2020? guest: it would be icing on the cupcake for democrats after gaining 40 seats in 2018. there's less urgency for democrats now that they've already taken back the house. maybe there won't be the same rocket fuel dynamic in the democratic base to turn out and vote in a late-summer special election. host: which we've seen in previous cycles. massive amounts of money that went into these special elections. guest: right. nice for democrats, it would be more demoralizing
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for republicans after 2018 and another setback in their drive to take back control of the house. republicans'think odds look decent. cookpolitical.com and @ redistrict to follow david wasserman. fort lauderdale. an independent. caller: this is a bit of a complicated question. i'm a new party affiliate voter. have been since i started voting in 1988. i'm noticing things have changed. not saying my support for anyone, but i'm noticing something very odd. i've been contacted by independent polls seeing where eileen as an independent. there going over the democratic
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and republican field. -- where i lean as an independent. i'm feeling they are not addressing bernie sanders in the democratic field because he was not a democrat up until the election. i'm wondering whether or not you feel the polls are being manipulated based on other ideologies and that we are not of how a true snapshot the american people feel because they are not adding him in or dissuading me from mentioning him? are the american people being misguided in some way, shape or form? guest: there's a lot of questions about the reliability of pulling, particularly after
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2016. polls got 2016 right for the most part. they showed hillary clinton with a lead of 3-4 points. won the popular vote by 2.1. there's a lot of skepticism on the part of bernie sanders that the voters primary elections were rigged in hillary clinton's favor. she didn't need the superdelegates to put her over the top. racee seeing in the 2020 this interesting dynamic of elizabeth warren and bernie sanders splitting the left. they are taking from different segments of the democratic electorate. ppeal of bernie sanders' a is that he is an independent still, this insurgent.
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ardentth is now an democrat. many democrats believe their best way of sending a message is sending a woman. 2018 whent dynamic in you had at least one man, one woman and no incumbent on the ballot, a woman prevailed 70% of the time, which is why i was skeptical of early polling this men that showed four white combining for 64% of the vote. host: americans are about to be inundated with pulling numbers from now until election day 2020. what should they look for in a ?oll to trust that poll guest: who took it? was it an immediate organization?
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was it a poll taken for one side or another? candidates take a lot of polls and release the one that puts them in the best light. wethe presidential race, prefer to take an aggregate of the gold standard polls. polls that are conducted by major news organizations, cnn,er abc, nbc, fox, which use a combination of live telephone interviews and cell phones. we are seeing more polls with online samples and we are comparing those. we are still in the early phase of online polling. clearly, we are headed there. we are looking to see how well-known the candidates are. polltimes, we will see a in the house race where one
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candidate has a lead in the mid 40's, but they are better known and if a district leans the other way fundamentally, the other candidate could have an advantage. there are a lot of data points below the top line that you have to take into account if you really want to know what a poll is saying. host: less than 10 minutes left in our program today. stephen massachusetts. independent. massachusetts. caller: the so-called republican , i want to the house know if they should term limit the amount of time someone can serve as chair -- that is an incentive to leave the house. the democrats can stay on as long as they are reelected, which is one reason you have the
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old bulls in the democratic columns. i wonder what the effect would be if the democrats had six-year limits on being the chair or ranking member. aret: one of the reasons we seeing so many republican retirements is that there is this six-year limit on making members and chairs on the republican side. mike conaway was the ag chair. he is retiring. we are looking at historical data. saws going back to 2008, we six democratic retirements and 27 republican tyrants. -- republican retirements. at three, we are democrats leaving and 11 republicans leaving. we are on pace for something similar to 2008. i don't expect democrats to win as many of those open seats
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because we have a more polarized landscape. another side effect of this, a areof those old bulls getting primary challenges from the left. engel on foreign affairs, richard neal for massachusetts, jerry nadler on judiciary, one of the most liberal democrats in the house as a primary primaryer -- has a challenger saying he hasn't been progressive enough in pursuing impeachment proceedings. host: with younger members of congress endorsing primary candidates against older members -- we see that happening at all? guest: there are cases of awkward alliances where some younger members of the squad
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have gotten behind primary challengers. there's a young woman in texas' running against one of the more conservative democrats in the house. that is an overwhelmingly hispanic seat in south texas. we will see if that message resonates with voters there. these races are notoriously hard to forecast. every situation is unique. we don't see much of a baseline for evaluating the strength of a candidate in a low turnout primary. host: democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i believe democrats hold all but three districts that hillary clinton won in 2016. thinkdoes mr. wasserman democrats are most at risk of losing? texas --ll hurd from
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democrats are the slight favor to take his seat. fitzpatrick won in 2018, he was able to survive the way because democrats nominated a wealthy philanthropist with houses in africa, easysouth to portray as out of touch with voters. in 2020, democrats will be going after him. one of john's advantages in syracuse, that is a small media arc. -- media market. when you are an incumbent in the his reputation has allowed him to perform a lot better in that seat.
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he is the toughest one to defeat. host: on the flipside of that coin, 31 democrats represent districts carried by president trump in 2016. you have 17 democrats in the top subcategory. -- tossup category. guest: that is correct. host: cheryl next out of iowa. a republican. caller: good morning, c-span i just love your program. i would like to ask mr. wasserman from "cook political about the fourth district in iowa, steve king's district. it doesn't look good for him in the primary. i'm wondering if the democrats could possibly take that area. i will hang up and listen to his response. thank you again. guest: steve king has done just
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about everything he can to try to lose his district but still hasn't been able to. a pretty small margin in a district that voted for trump by 25 points in 2016. just about everything was going right for democrats in 2018. was imploding in terms of his image, democrats had a young former baseball pitcher who outspent king massively, king wasn't even on the air until the final two days of this race but still managed to win because of the highly partisan straight ticket nature of voting these days. i he couldn't lose in 2018, don't know that democrats will be able to beat him in 2020. challengeve a primary
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, probably the most formidable republican running against him, but if there are multiple primary challengers, king gets nominated with a plurality of the vote. there is a path to reelection for king. host: bob in brunswick, maine. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, bob. in maine, we had an interesting situation. our two senators, my good friend, angus king, is an independent who caucuses with collins,, and susan and revered byed many democrats as the second
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, who famouslyh took on mccarthy, but she was losing a lot of her support among democrats and independents for what is perceived to be a independenther .nstincts i think her seat has been compromised substantially. she will be running against a woman who is the speaker of the maine house and is a democrat. i want to know how mr. wasserman feels about susan collins' chances.
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maine, it is an interesting situation. toan collins has managed alienate some republicans by refusing to endorse president trump. she usually wins with 70%. it will be much more competitive. that could have some impact on the second congressional district in maine, which is held by jared golden, who held that seat because of ranked choice voting. he's a former susan collins staffer, even though he's a democrat. on a personal note, one of the reasons i became so interested in data was actually my grandfather, a weatherman for and a climatologist
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in massachusetts. to say hi to my grandfather who is in hospice care right now. letter that he gave between himpondence and his brother talking about the 1936 presidential election, the first election he ever voted in. he is 103. the reader's digest poll that have been released weeks earlier in the race between fdr and landon. political family in history. i wanted to say thank you to him for passing on a passion for data. our viewers take a look at that and our thoughts are with him and your family. house editor that
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that birthday, the, john delaney and congress when tim ryan live from londonderry, new hampshire. on friday, mayor pete buttigieg with a live town hall from nashua, new hampshire. c-span,20 coverage on anytime online at c-span.org, or listen live on the go using the free c-span radio app. tonight at 9:00 eastern, a conversation on climate change from the science center of iowa planetarium. north carolina state climatologist kathy delo was part of the event. here is a preview. are littlentists unencumbered by some of the constraints they felt in the past to make these links. >> attribution science, seeing the fingerprints of climate
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change on events has moved along in the last few years. our colleagues but out of a paper on the european heat wave. climate change absolutely made this more likely. i think back at 10 years ago when a reporter would say, well, we can't tie one of it to climate change. we are past that point and we are seeing the he waves, big fires out west and sang climate change is here in our face. announced aleenan new rule concerning the detention of migrant families and illegal immigration have the u.s.-mexico border. under the new policy families can be held for extended periods of time as they await immigration and adjudication proceedings. >> good morning. thank you for joining us to discuss importanti
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