in the new op-ed, former north dakota senator heidi heitkamp says americans are unhappy with the taxand republicans should take notice for more on this conversation welcome to heidi heitkamp, a former u.s. senator of north dakota and now a cnbc contributor. senator heitkamp, welcome, and thanks for joining us. what say you you say on a day like today when people are writing their checks, hopefully they have written their checks already, that they should be unhappy with the republican party, why? >> well, i didn't say they should be unhappy. i'm saying that the republican party had an expectation that this tax bill that was fairly unpopular when it was passed would become more popular as people filed their tax returns and saw that they were getting more money back, and that certainly hasn't been what you see in the polls in fact, there's a lot of people complaining they aren't getting the same level of their refund is not as high, and they are having to pay in part of that was was because they re-tweaked the withholding tables getting it closer to an approximation. >> can i ask you a

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right heidi heitkamp god that after. all. that. here and loathing in siberia the fear of thousands of chinese workers coming to live and work here with the backing of the state. especially now that we're not leaving i'm going in. this public hearing at a cultural center was held to reassure people upset about a new housing project for chinese workers. some three thousand of them are set to come to omsk but many people can't even get through the door and they're angry. among them get the divorced off. would you do we go in or stay silent. the chinese workers will live on former farmland local zoning laws forbid development here but the project has political support so now excavators and cranes are busy behind high fences to keep curious locals from seeing in residents are suspicious. but you why should i let the chinese take over my country this is my land the land of my ancestors' light might be a tough it's almost like. they're building a little chinese republics here if you will to figure out that taking out. not for your money i

. >>> it's tax day former senator heidi heitkamp is out with a new op ed the new tax law could be troubleblicans in 2020 because people haven't looked that closely at it and perception is everything. >>> and today's big water cooler story, tiger's stunning comeback for his fifth masters. 15th major we'll tell you what the victory means for nike that's what we do. monday, april 15th, most wonderful time of the year, 2019 "squawk box" begins right here >>> good morning and welcome to "squawk box" here. i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen and melissa lee. becky is off it is april 15th we are celebrating -- no take a look at u.s. equity futures this morning looking at a dow that would open up 41 points higher. nasdaq opening a little higher we're showing you what's going on in asia overnight a bit of a mixed picture there european equities right now are also trading as we flip around like vanna w

now he and former north dakota senator heidi heitkamp have some ideas about how democrats can do better long him today island. >> thank you for having me today. david: i want to put up a chart that illustrates the guts of what you are talking about, and 2000,lly, going back to the republicans won the presidency but the democrats won the majority by a small margin. the margin on the popular went up and the electoral college went down. if you projected out to 2020, it gets even worse. winningconcerned about the popular vote and losing the electoral college. in placesu are seeing like pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, the election was determined in 2016, for instance, in michigan, by 10,000 votes. if you run up the score in california and new york, it does not make it simpler to win the presidency. you have to appeal to everybody across the country, have to have a message that includes everyone, and that is what we are trying to do. david: let's talk about that message specifically. we can put up a map that shows the states you are targeting, including my home state of michigan. are there

heidi heitkamp and joe donnelly both fell short in the efforts to get their senate seats in november,in 2016. well, this week they launched the one country project that's a joint initiative to help the democratic party win back rural voters. a demographic that left the struggle. joe donnelly joins me now. i appreciate your time, sir. as we start, talk about some of the challenges you faced while running for re-election in indiana and trying to connect to voters as a democrat. what was different in 2018 from the last time you ran in 2012? >> well, sure. and i want to say quickly, though, i'm from indiana. we lost richard lugar today, the senator in the seat -- i followed him in that seat. an extraordinary american hero. i think all of america wants to thank his family for his contribution and for sharing him with us. >> yes, we did hear that in our breaking news. go ahead, sir. >> he was as good as it gets. but in regards to the challenges we face, you know, i outran president trump's numbers by 14 points in the last election. but it was a little bit shy. the problems we run into are t

. >> leading off our discussion tonight, former democratic senator from north dakota, heidi heitkamp, a fellow at harvard's institute of politics and today she launched a new initiative called the one county project aimed at democrats winning back rural voters. also joining us, steve hildebrand, democratic political strategist and campaign manager of president obama's 2008 presidential campaign. and jason johnson the politics editor at the root.com and professor at morgan state university and an msnbc contributor. an all-star political lineup for the presidential campaign analysis. senator heitkamp, i want to get are your reaction to biden's entry into the campaign today and what it might mean for donald trump. >> i think joe biden answered the question that every politician gets asked. why are you in this race. i think he did a marvelous job in leading with a values character-based argument for why we need a change. you col only listen to your earlier comments and know that we are in a state where we need to have a change. and we need to broaden the dialogue. and often a greater rang

cnbc contributor, former senator heidi heitkamp, and former u.s.ator, you write a lot of editorials the latest one is about -- and i'm talking about senator heitkamp -- the latest one is about trump failing the reagan test in terms of, i guess in rural america, in terms of are you better off now and i know that democrats are going to have to talk about, you know, things that aren't quite up to speed and what most people think is good. we've got sub-4% unemployment, new highs in the stock market. wage gains are finally occurring. we've got gdp that's running about 50% higher than during the obama administration does it really feel like that's going to be the winning formula to say that people are -- this is an economy that's leaving people behind or that's failing the reagan test? >> the point that i'm making, joe, is that when you look at how regionally the economy is functioning and doing, when you look at rural america, where the president is enormously popular, continues to be popular, when you look at that segment of our economy, it's not good

joe biden is now officially running for the democratic nomination, former democratic senators heidi heitkampvoters. these two individuals, heitkamp and joe donnelly, couldn't even hold their senate seats in their own states but they are going to tell other candidates how to win over voters. that was the biggest belly laugh for me all morning so far. maria: unbelievable. great analysis, as always. great to see you guys. thanks for joining us. it's been a show of breaking news throughout the morning. have a great day, everybody. a big hello to stuart varney as we toss over to him. over to you, stu. stuart: maria, thank you very much indeed. we will take it and say good morning to you and all of our viewers in the background there, and good morning to everyone. here's the headline. the big tech rally remains alive and well, and yes, it's running strong. look at this. item one is microsoft, now valued at over $1 trillion. look at that. the stock is taking off, up nearly 5%, six bucks. it's reached $131 a share. sales up 14%, profits through the roof again and almost alone among the tech companie

at 28%, and those diverged and have continued to diverge, and there are many people, including heidi heitkampwork should be taxed the same as money. >> i agree lower the ordinary income down to capital gains -- >> that could be the nswer, too. >> the explanation -- >> that could be the answer, too, but i think that's the core issue, and i do agree this mark-to-market issue has sort of strayed to the other end. >> we have a lower capital gains rate, not the to reward people that own the assets but to try to -- >> incentivize investment. >> -- incentivize capital investment it's fine to have the conversation -- here i go -- about whether you need to raise capital gains, but make sure you understand what the unintended consequences could be, that once again it's self-defeating from the end result you're trying to get to, to help the people that you're trying to help. i'm not sure you get there. >> so, let me say this some people say i hate rich people it's not true. you hate rich people until you become rich. what people hate is a gain system what they hate is they say no matter how hard i work,