Schumer Faces Challenge for Senate Leadership

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1:02Who's the boss? Senate Democrats now have two choices and a lot of different points of view. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and inside politics.

1:17Democrats are on track for their largest Senate majority since 2008, and now they're wrestling with who will lead it. Today, Senate Democrats, new and old, are being lobbied hard to choose after Maryland's Chris Van Hollen announced he will challenge Chuck Schumer for the party's top job in the Senate. I am planning to run for the Senate majority leader. We shouldn't have a Democratic leader who is getting involved in picking sides in open Democratic primaries. And we should be focused on defeating Republicans, not getting involved. We have two senators right now. in the United States Senate, who wouldn't be there if the current majority leader had his way.

2:04This will be decided by a majority vote of the Senate Democratic Caucus. And remember, it is a secret ballot. Van Hollen says he has at least 10 supporters, although so far only three have said so publicly. Schumer says he's confident he has already won. He will have the votes to win, rather. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters on this Friday. Hello, one and all. Lauren Fox, what are you hearing from your sources about where things stand in the caucus? I think there's a willingness to have a conversation about this, but people are largely feeling like Schumer likely has this locked down before it really even gets underway, in part because it's also worth pointing out to people at home, this is the season where lawmakers are lobbying their leadership for committee gavels.

2:50They are trying to get put on their choice committees. And those conversations have been happening with Chuck Schumer. So he's had a ton of face time with lawmakers who want something from him. And also there's just this sense from a lot of people in the caucus. Some of them are saying it publicly. Some of them are saying it privately that this is a leader who got them a huge majority. And you cannot forget that. And they do not love the idea of abandoning him at this moment, given what just transpired a week and a half. Let me read a quote from Angus King, who's an independent, but caucuses with the Democrats who said effectively that, but in baseball terms.

3:27Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series? Right. Look, Chris Van Hollen knows he's an underdog here. It's an uphill fight. Ten votes is not going to get you anywhere. I think the underlying conversation, though, is Nancy Pelosi on the House side stepped aside. She made a succession plan. And there are a lot of younger members, they're still older in the Senate, but there are a lot of younger members who think it's time for that to happen. We've seen Alyssa Slotkin out there. I think the other part of Chuck Schumer is they don't see him as the right messenger, that he should not be the face of Democrats.

4:13Yeah, I think you're exactly right. What I'm hearing is that, is the fact that he was really kind of revolutionary in how he communicated in the 80s and 90s. And that's what made him how he is now. But it's not the 80s and 90s anymore. Perhaps it's time for somebody else. And that what the voters wanted was change, including in who changes, who leads the Democratic Party. I just want to read something from Schumer himself, who said, I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I'm proud of what we've accomplished together. 55 seats and counting is an amazing result.

4:52And I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic leader. I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people. Tolu. Right now, it's really all about personality. It's about age. It's about generational challenges. very soon it's going to become about policy and some of the broad unifying comments that we're seeing from Chuck Schumer are going to run into the reality of trying to govern a class of 56 senators who have different ideas on what policy should be. Medicare for all is a big fault line in the Democratic Party. A lot of the people supporting Chris Van Hollen want Medicare for all to be a big priority for this democratically led Senate.

5:31It's not clear that Chuck Schumer is on board with that. And so when we start talking about policy, about foreign policy, about Israel, you're going to have a lot of clashes within the Democratic caucus that is large and has a lot of unity around it right now because they just had a big victory. But this is sort of a preview of the fights to come between the left and the moderates. And Chuck Schumer's big task is going to be how he's if he's able to get everyone under that big tent and everyone rowing in the same direction. Chris, Scott Colombe, who just became the Senate-elect Democrat from Mississippi this week, was on MS Now this morning, and he was asked about Chuck Schomer.

6:08Let's listen to the way he answered. Our party is too concentrated in urban areas. It's not a good thing that both our new majority leaders are going to, they live in the same borough. We need leadership that understands rural America. That sounds like a no. Would that be a support then for Senator Van Hollen, someone else? It's not a no. I need to be careful and discuss these issues with the people that matter in Mississippi and make sure we get leadership that's going to actually fight for rural America. And I'm open to support anybody that's willing to do that. I mean, that's another really important perspective because the Democratic caucus is going to look very different because of the winds in these deep red states.

6:51And he was referring to Hakeem Jeffries, of course, in the House and Chuck Schumer being from the same, not only both from New York, but the same part of New York. Yeah. I mean, I think this is what we see kind of every time there is this massive amount of change. And you also have to weigh how much change leads to chaos and how much change is the right amount of change to actually get something done. And that's what these senators are going to have to look at. And he's going to have to look at that when he gets into Washington, too. I mean, they're asking him about the decision that he's going to make a day after he was just elected for a man who has not served in the Senate and probably has not even had long conversations with his soon-to-be colleagues.

7:29So this is all very new for a number of these various individuals. And when they get there, one of the things they are going to have to weigh, and I think this will be an ongoing conversation, is we just had a huge upset. Do we also want somebody who's never led the Senate before and knows how to kind of work with the various factions of the Democratic Party? That could also kind of halt us or stymie us in getting things done. But again, you know, he is very old. So do we want to come back to change that? He's 76. Chris Van Hollen is 67. So it's not like he's, you know, Gen X or even a millennial.

8:03They're both baby boomers. People age differently. Yes. Somebody who is not a baby boomer is James Tallarico. And listen to what he said about this fight. The American people cannot wait two years for change. So we must work with President Trump. If President Trump wants the same plaques and portraits and busts as LBJ, we can help make that a reality. We should make the final two years of his presidency the most productive of any presidency in American history. When you extend an open hand instead of a closed fist, you'll be surprised by who takes that hand. That is how we built this majority.

8:48I just have to say, I mean, it's so interesting to hear from these new members, because I think Kristen brought up the perfect point, which is, yes, a leader has to lead on being someone who has the imagination to take the party to the next chapter, but they also have to do logistics and they have to run the floor. And you saw this week that House Democrats had a couple of foibles, right? Because they're learning how to work the floor themselves. They're learning that, yes, part of the job of leadership is making sure every single person shows up to vote. Chuck Schumer does know how to do that.

9:19He does use that flip phone to lock down votes. He does use that flip phone to make sure people show up. And I think that that is part of the dynamics. And these newer members are going to, they're going to have a little bit of learning curve on that, but it'll be interesting to see what they do. It is a secret ballot. So you can say one thing publicly and you can go into that room and have a different reality. Tolu, what did you make of Tallarico's message there? I thought he is doing what some other Democrats are doing as well, trying to play to Trump's ego and trying to play to the idea that, yes, Trump does want his name on things.

9:50He does want history to be made under his presidency. He does want to think about himself as one of the greatest presidents of all time. You saw Abdul El-Sayed say the same thing. If you want to put Trump care on Medicare for all, we'll do it. Basically trying to figure out how to negotiate with a president who realizes that he's going to be in the minority when it comes to Congress, but he called himself a great dealmaker. And one of the things that he showed that he's interested in is his legacy. And so you're seeing Calarico and other Democrats try to appeal to Trump's ego and his legacy. Yeah.

10:20I mean, especially in a place like Texas, it would be mutually beneficial politically if they could find a way to work together. Don't go anywhere. Still ahead, brand new CNN reporting today. A dozen close allies of the vice president say a new political reality is hitting. 2028, quote, may not be his time. Plus, the Navidia scandal is engulfing Washington, and it could cost President Trump's Commerce Secretary his job. Stay with us.

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11:32And with exceptional offers on select Lincoln vehicles, you might just cross the perfect gift off your own list. You know, the kind that doesn't need wrapping. Consider this a little reminder to be good to yourself this time of year. Visit your local Lincoln dealer or go to lincoln.com to learn more.

11:58Brand new CNN reporting today. CNN's Elena Treen and Steve Contorno spoke with roughly a dozen allies and advisors to Vice President J.D. Vance, who say he's considering not running for president in 2028. One of those individuals put it this way, quote, I wouldn't be surprised by any decision he makes. He's only 42. He's young enough that he can have a comeback should this environment make success impossible. It just may not be his time. A top Trump administration official is taking his, excuse me, hang on one second. Pardon me. I'm going to go to my panel right now. Who left my phone on? Sorry about that.

12:39What do you think about that? I mean, this is exactly the right, I mean, I was actually talking to Elena on the phone and saying how well she and Steve were able to capture this moment for J.D. Vance. And this is really what we've been hearing for the last several months was this idea that, well, you know, much of the public thought that he was the heir apparent, that there have been internal questions that he has kind of wrestled with in terms of whether or not this is the time for him to run. I mean, one of the things to keep in mind about Vance is that he goes home every night and has dinner with his family after the day is still going.

13:19President Trump is still a wife and four young kids with his wife and four young kids. So he is a father of four young kids. Obviously, these are things that would change if he's campaigning. There are things that will change. You know, people are just the scrutiny changes. He went on vacation after multiple trips and he took his family for a week and nobody reported on it. They didn't report on it until much later when there were several vacations in a row. But these are things that change, and the time that you spend with your family and the time that you spend campaigning, and these are all things that are going into consideration.

13:45Plus, we also just had a midterm blowout where Republicans got completely crushed. Is he going to be the one that is the new leader of the party and has to rebuild it? And on that, I want to read a little bit more from Elena and Steve's really great reporting. This is another quote. The question isn't if J.D. can do it. It's if the war, if the Iran war is still happening, can any Republican do it? This is according to a Vance ally. If they don't end the war in Iran, no Republican has a shot at 2028. That is a statement that I imagine a number of Republicans would be willing to say. We saw what happened last week with the election and how the war was such a millstone around the necks of so many Republicans that were running.

14:31Now, J.D. Vance has said that publicly. He said we lost because of the war in Iran. He also asked a question to voters and to people in the public saying, if you think it was worth losing the Senate for the next six years, then make that case about the war. Donald Trump obviously does, and he's been saying I would do it over again. But the fact that the Senate is lost in the minds of Republicans for six years means that the next president, even if it's a Republican, is going to have a democratically led Senate. Who wants to try to run and divide a government for your first two years in office?

15:00It's not really that much of an appealing job, as Republicans are going to find out soon. And so I imagine that's playing into the calculus as well. If you become president in 2029, you're not going to be able to pass much of your legislation if Democrats are running the Senate. Yeah, but you'd still be president. But the question is even getting there, which is another one of your points, Talu. This is a Reuters-Ipsos poll. And the question was, among Republican or lean Republican voters, which way do you want the potential nominee to go? Different than Trump? 52%. Similar to Trump? 46%. You know, that's a post-2026 election electorate are certainly those who are answering those questions, Jamie.

15:49But then there's going back to, yes, he's young. Right. But then there's also the, like, sometimes you have a moment where everything is open for you and you should dive in because that's your moment. And if you don't jump in at that time, do you miss your moment? And you don't know until you're either you're doing it or you're already past it. And I'm sure that's one of the big things that Vance is wrestling with right now. Ask Barack Obama about. And then ask Chris Christie. Right. Look, weighing your options is what you do. I think he's even said he's going to take the holidays, which is sort of classic.

16:29Two things can be true at the same time. To your point about the Iran war, that does not seem to be going away anytime soon as a solution. So that's going to be a problem for it. But two years is also a long time, and things can change. Two things I think we need to look at are Republican donors lining up for J.D. Vance. Do they see him as the right person? And also, even when you look at that poll, you know, Donald Trump is a singular candidate. Is MAGA dead without Donald Trump? Will J.D. Vance get that kind of support? Yeah. Let's listen to a little of what President Trump said in an exchange that he had with Hugh Hewitt about who the potential or any potential Republican candidate would be.

17:29We have 20 people. Yeah. Is that what you figure? Yeah, I think we've got I've got a list of 20 people. I'll run over it with you later. Well, we have 20, 20 capable. We have 20. We do have. The Vice President, Secretary Rubio, Besant, Hegseth, Bergen, Pompeo, Kennedy, Senators Cotton, Cruz, Hawley, McCormick, Senator Sheehy, Governor DeSantis, Governor Ducey, Governor Huckabee, Governor Kemp, Governor Youngkin, Ambassador Haley. They're all very presentable on a stage, right? When they got like 20 people on the stage. Yeah, I see. That was interesting. 16 was amazing. 16 was amazing. I think there'll never be another period like that.

18:06That was so. Did you ever see the ratings? I mean, a healthy primary is good for ratings, I guess. But the reality is that, yeah, it's going to be a busy, a busy season for Republicans and for Democrats, right, to decide who is going to lead the future of this party and whether or not it is the MAGA movement anymore or whether Republican voters might be willing to move on beyond it. I think right now that poll indicates that people are pretty divided on that huge question. But two years is such a long time, to your point, Jamie. And I think we're going to see how Democrats do on the Hill in terms of their oversight and whether the voters who just sent them there feel like they overstep that mandate.

18:49That may also give some Republicans some room to run and maybe some Republicans from Capitol Hill. Who knows? Can I just put one thing out? Because I think this has been a very striking kind of evolution of Donald Trump on this issue. Donald Trump has gone from saying J.D. Vance is really great. Marco Rubio is really great. You know, it could be J.D., it could be Marco. I don't want to get involved just yet, but I'm going to endorse. To saying there's a lot of really good people and I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I won't even weigh in. I mean, we are seeing him, like, one, kind of weigh the options in front of him.

19:22Two, grapple with his own identity and being a lame duck at the same time. But one thing to keep in mind, and this is everyone has told him this from, you know, his old chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to his political advisors, that he's going to have to weigh in, specifically early, if it's going to be anyone other than Vance, because they need a runway to get the name recognition, to get the fundraising, that really only Vance is going to have access to if Trump kicks the can down the road. But just seeing Trump kind of walk away from distinct names in the last couple of times he's been asked and just say, like, oh, there's a lot of good people, that just gives you kind of a sense of where his head is, too.

19:59Yeah, that's such a good point. All right. Everybody stand by. When we come back, we are going to dive into what is going on inside the Trump cabinet over the NVIDIA scandal. The Treasury Secretary Scott Besson's harsh words when we come back.

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20:50The knives are out again for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, this time over the NVIDIA scandal as it quickly dominates Washington. This morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant seemed to publicly throw Lutnik under the bus. The issue is Megaspeed International, the company run by the woman having an affair with now ex-NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. She has ties to the Chinese government. That's according to many sources. And U.S. officials have worried that Megaspeed was buying advanced NVIDIA chips and illegally funneling them to China. The U.S. government could have put Megaspeed on a list of companies tied to China that posed national security risks.

21:33It did not. And in an interview with CNBC, Besant blamed the Commerce Department. Treasury, War, USTR and state, they were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months. But Commerce has the pin. Commerce BIS has the pin. And you will have to ask them about their internal processes. Well, the people who are going to ask are people on Capitol Hill, because moments ago, Lutnik agreed to appear voluntarily before the Senate Banking Committee. I know you've been doing, a lot of you have been doing reporting on this. Jamie, I want to start with you. What are you hearing? So, you know, the president has said he has complete confidence in Lutnik until he doesn't.

22:19My reporting is that he's been on borrowed time for a while. This is not good. I also spoke to some national security and intelligence experts who really look at this from the perspective of was the system working? And since commerce is the focus of this, the questions that they're asking are what did Lutnick know, when did he know it, and what did he do about it? And to hear the Treasury Secretary talk about it, he didn't do anything about it that other people in the cabinet thought he should do. And Kristen, I'm going to read from a little bit of your reporting, excellent reporting with Kevin Liptak that's out on CNN this morning.

23:04Some of President Trump's advisors reeling from the fallout of Huang's resignation have begun discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be dismissed. That's according to people familiar with the conversations. Trump himself has also fielded calls from administration officials and outside advisers raising alarm bells about Lutnik. Yeah, and Lutnik is not super popular anyway within the administration. Trump likes him. They have a longstanding relationship. But there are already people who kind of think that he speaks out of turn, that he puts his foot in his mouth too much, that he's too close to Trump in terms of literally physicality, like he's always around.

23:41But we know, of course, in this administration there's proximity to power. But so you're getting a lot of calls saying Lutnik needs to go. So what we don't have and what we don't know is how Trump is handling this, because he's not, as far as we are told by our sources, indicating which way he's going to go on Lutnik. You know, in the past, he'll say things like, well, you know, what kind of job do you think they're doing? He's not even tipping his hand in these conversations, which really could go either way. We know they have a long history. I do think that there are a lot of White House officials who are deeply concerned about this scandal and this scandal kind of growing and eventually bringing in the president.

24:21And many of them do blame Howard Lutnick, whether or not it's just finger pointing. But obviously they have this reasoning with the entity list and the fact that the Commerce Department was in charge of that as one of the big things to point to here. Let's listen to what the president is saying, not about Lutnik per se, but about Jensen Huang. Because, as we know, the two of them have been very close since the president started his second term. What he's done is incredible. He built an incredible... NVIDIA is unbelievable. Should he have stepped down? Well, the big thing is, was the woman a spy?

25:00And I don't know if that's been determined yet. But if the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different. That's a big question. I mean, as the president of the United States with access to the best intelligence on Earth, he probably should know the answer to that. Maybe he does and does not want to divulge it in an interview. But the president loves Jensen Huang in part because he's the leader of a huge company that's driving the stock market. The president cares about the stock market. He doesn't want to do anything that would hurt the stock market. that Nvidia has lost billions and billions of dollars of value this week because of this scandal, and the president does not like that, does not like to see the stock market going down.

25:37And so the president is really driven in part by his love for Nvidia, his love for Jensen Wong, is driven by the fact that Nvidia is such a big driver of the stock market. And so we have to look at all of those things through that lens and realize that the president probably knows whether or not this woman was a spy, but he cares much more about the stock market than the national security implications of that. And real quick, Democrats have not yet taken over. That won't happen until January. Republicans are still in charge. And it is the Republicans who are saying, we need answers. We're just going to put up on the screen a list of Republican, current Republican chairs from Tim Scott in the Senate to Brian Mast in the House.

26:17And it goes on down who want the testimony. Yeah. And some of them want the testimony of Jensen Wong. Some of them just want the testimony of Howard Lutnick, in part because they view their job as government oversight, right? They believe that Wong has already been ousted, and therefore they don't need to go down that road because he's a private citizen. That's what we heard from Tom Tillis earlier this week. But they do want to hear from Howard Lutnick. And it sounds like he's going to appear before the Senate Banking Committee. I have seen many times, we all have, that sometimes when those cabinet secretaries come to the hot seat in these very political moments, sometimes that is the death knell for their time as a cabinet secretary.

27:01See, Cristina. Coming up, we are hearing from Chris Van Hollen. Of course, he launched his bid to, right now, an underdog bid for Senate Majority Leader, and he is speaking at a big Democratic summit in Denver. We're going to take you there after a quick break.

27:25Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's Accident Response. Learn more at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy coverage subject to policy terms and conditions. The holidays are coming, but the Lincoln wishlist sales event is already here.

28:01And with exceptional offers on select Lincoln vehicles, you might just cross the perfect gift off your own list. You know, the kind that doesn't need wrapping. Consider this a little reminder to be good to yourself this time of year. Visit your local Lincoln dealer or go to lincoln.com to learn more.

28:26Today, hundreds of Democratic activists and politicians are in Denver for the What's Next conference. It's hosted by a moderate group called Majority Democrats. They're celebrating big midterm wins and debating how the party can stay on offense. Moments ago, that debate was on full display when Senator Chris Van Hollen spoke about why he's challenging Chuck Schumer for majority leader. Last week, the American people went to the ballot box and they voted for change. They voted against a reckless and illegal war in Iran that's driving up gas prices, against rising costs that are crushing working families, and against the politics of cruelty and corruption.

29:13But my fellow Democrats, while they fired the Trump policies, they have not fully hired us. And now it's our job, all of our jobs, to show the American people that we've heard them and that we're going to act. And that work, it begins in the United States Senate. CNN's Isaac DuVert is there covering this summit. And Isaac, I'm curious first what you, what sort of what the takeaway was in the room from what we just played from Chris Van Hollen. Yeah, Dana, I would say much like the Democratic Party and much like the Democratic members of the Senate, there was some excitement and applause for Van Hollen, what he was talking about in the room.

29:56And there's also a lot of skepticism about it that obviously being expressed quietly, not like the cheers that were coming for Van Hollen, but you're hearing a lot of. Whether it's people who say, all right, maybe this isn't the right moment to turn and have an internal fight, or the ones who say, actually, this is exactly the right moment to have the internal fight. those who are questioning Schumer's prowess as leader and whether he deserves the credit for the big wins that the Democrats had in the Senate, and those who are already digging in and looking at Van Hollen's election record when he was the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee or the Senate Committee in the 2010 and 2018 cycles.

30:36So it's really now at this point, it's gone from a thing that people were talking about, maybe Schumer will be challenged, maybe Van Hollen will do it, Now that he's in, now it's getting serious. And you see a lot of senators themselves are here and are starting to sound off, even beyond the ones who've been vocal already, getting ready to say where they are on this question. Yeah, I think probably what most Democrats can agree on was that last line from Van Hollen, which is they fired the Republicans. They didn't necessarily hire us. I want to play something that the Iowa governor-elect, Rob Sand, said at that conference.

31:14Let's watch. We start all our town halls the same way. I tell people the political system is broken, because it is. I tell them too often it feels like two private clubs who are more interested in beating up on each other than they are in solving anyone's problems, because it does. And I tell them that the only way we're going to fix that is by fixing it together. We can't do it with the same warfare that brought us here. We know we can't. We have to work together. Isaac, that's so interesting in and of itself, but also because it's very similar to what we played earlier in the show from James Tallarico, saying something similar that he wants to work with President Trump to get things done.

32:00And so that also puts into question what kind of mood Democrats are in. Are they in the let's show them how it's done by getting things done or show them how it's done by keeping up the fight and not compromising across the aisle? They're looking for ways to do both of those things at the same time. And, of course, this is the easy part where it's all theoretical. They'll be sworn in to the new Congress in January and then have to figure out what this looks like. But I'll tell you, there was something that Van Hollen talked about that was very similar to what Hakeem Jeffries talked to me about when I spoke to him for a story that I did that was at the beginning of the week, but it was after the election, where he talked about the housing bill that passed in Congress with bipartisan support and then became law because the president didn't sign it, but he didn't veto it.

32:49And Jeffrey said to me, that's the strategy to go for. Keep cornering the president, keep pressuring the president and seeing, look, you can sign on or not. And maybe it gets something done. Maybe it just creates a political problem for you to Trump. And Van Hollen is talking about similar things like that, making the president have to put up or shut up. And so we'll see how that continues to be as they try to meld this together. Isaac, thank you so much. Have fun in Denver. So that's the Democrats coming up. How do Republicans recover from their midterm mauling? I'll speak to a GOP strategist who helped the party stage a comeback after another crushing defeat.

33:23Stay with us.

33:31Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's accident response. Learn more at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions. Democrats didn't just beat expectations.

34:05They blew past them from swing states to Republican strongholds. Right now, they have at least 55 Senate seats, 257 House seats. And when all the new governors are sworn in, roughly three out of every four Americans will live in a state run by a Democrat. So how does the GOP begin to dig out of an election like this? Well, I want to bring in Republican strategist Doug High, a former RNC communications director and former House GOP leadership aide. Hi, Doug. Good to be with you. Happy Friday. Let's start with your home state of North Carolina, because not only did a Democrat flip the Republican Senate seat, Democrats already flipped six House seats.

34:48There are three yet to be called. And this includes the Fifth District where Republican. There you see the picture. I mean, can you believe your home state looks like that? Yeah, that's my home. That's my home district. Yeah, okay, Virginia Fox. So Virginia Fox is the one I want to ask you about, but all of them really broadly, because she's been in Congress 22 years, and it looks like it's going to be tough. We haven't called it yet, but tough for her to keep her seat. What does what happened in North Carolina tell us about the broader picture? Yeah, it tells us a few things. One, Donald Trump's unpopularity mattered in every state and every district in the country.

35:24It's a state that he won three times, but he never won it in a slam dunk fashion. We have a Democratic governor. So it's a state that is perennial in play. And so when the incumbent president is at 34 percent approval, everybody has a problem. And I think the challenge for Republicans who are on the ballot is they didn't all take it seriously as having a challenge. If you won by 58 percent or 57 percent, you didn't think that you were going to end up clinging to your political life. And the reality is Mark Harris is the top vote getter in North Carolina right now at 50.4 percent. So even those other Republicans who won, they're under 50 percent.

36:01A lot of them just didn't take their reelection seriously, didn't spend the money that they needed to. And also because of sort of all things Trump, they weren't able to have the conversation with voters that they needed to. Here's what I've done to try and lower prices. Here's what I'm going to do to lower prices. And also then the corruption issue and how that's played such a big role. Yeah. And we should note that you've never been a big fan of Donald Trump. I think you're more of a, you know, a traditional Republican. That's probably a better way to explain it. So you joined the RNC between the 2008 election and when the GOP lost the White House, Senate, and the House.

36:38No, I was there in 2010. In 2010. We picked up 63 House seats. Well, this is what I was going to say. So you joined after that. Yeah. And in the 2010 election cycle. So having that experience where Republicans really felt like they were in the wilderness, I mean, the Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Mm-hmm. What do you think the prescription is now for the GOP? Well, it's sort of what Chris Van Hollen said, right? When we won in 2010, it wasn't about us. We had an unpopular president, and we had a real message, which was fire Pelosi and dealing with Obamacare and so forth.

37:13So it was a galvanizing thing for our base and for unhappy independents and unaffiliated voters. But it wasn't about endorsements of Republicans. And so they need to learn that, just as Democrats need to learn that it's not about you. And part of that is not so much focusing on, which we're all going to do, who's it going to be in two years? And I understand that has to be a part of the conversation. And who that person ultimately is will really steer some of that. But Republicans need to look in the mirror and say, who are we and who do we want to be? And again, that means talking about the issues that voters so clearly tell you that are important to them.

37:48So if you're talking about different issues, you've got a problem. If you're talking about those issues and say, pick another protein, you've got a problem. Pick another protein is what people hear at Chipotle when they're out of chicken, not a recipe for affordability from a candidate. And real quick, when you say, who are we right now? The answer to who are we in the House, because so many people got wiped out, are the the most conservative members. And Jim Jordan is leading them. How will that help answer where to go? At this point, I don't think it does. But but ultimately, everything that everything that happens in politics generally starts in the states.

38:23And so I look at my home state where 50 percent of voters 44 and under are unaffiliated voters. Now, that's a problem for both parties, but it should also be an opportunity for them. How can we bring these voters back into the fold? So many people who voted for Donald Trump, for Joe Biden, then for Donald Trump again, they're gettable for both parties. Use this as an opportunity to learn and to grow. Doug High, always good to see you. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Coming up, no regrets. We have brand new details from Joe Biden's new memoir.

39:00for the first time we're getting joe biden's side of one of the biggest political stories we've ever seen his decision to quit the presidential campaign cnn has obtained a copy of his new book his memoir promise me america and he writes about his decision to end his re-election bid and the anger he felt towards longtime allies for forcing him out CNN's Arlette Saenz is here. And Arlette, the president doesn't seem to have any regrets about running in the first place. No, he doesn't. And the former President Biden really devotes an entire chapter to kind of rebutting those questions about his mental acuity and also his decision to run, really expressing no regret for his decision to do so.

39:40He talks through how he considered all the various factors, that he was aware that voters had concerns about his age. They had concerns about his handling of the economy and immigration. but he felt that those were all issues that could be overcome. He wrote in the book, quote, I knew better than anyone how old I was. I knew what I was and wasn't capable of doing. I carefully monitored how I was meeting the demands of the job, and there is not a single example of me failing to handle my responsibilities. Now, this perhaps is not surprising coming from Biden, but it does come when a lot of Democrats do believe that he was too old and should not have sought reelection for it back in 2024.

40:22But as far as this chapter goes, he really doesn't seem to express any regrets about that. What does he say about Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? Well, there was a lot of frustration from President Biden and from his family about the way that his people he believed were his friends treated him during this process as people were working behind the scenes privately and publicly to try to get him out. He wrote about a meeting that he had with Senator Chuck Schumer when he had come to his home in Delaware to visit him. Biden wrote, I have to admit it was personally hard to take so many old friends turning on me.

40:55I told Schumer he had a lot of gumption. I may have said it differently at the time, coming to my home and telling me to get out of the race. Loyalty matters to me. He said, if I give you my word, I stick with you. If I say I'm with you, I'm with you to the end. He also wrote a little bit of his conversation with Congresswoman Pelosi, but he also revealed that they've started to mend fences in some ways. They had lunch a little bit earlier this year where the two finally had a chance to speak. He said we had been through too much together to allow a rift to go unmended. We talked about life and family and politics and fell into the old rhythms of friendship, and I'm glad we did.

41:34You've covered him a long time. I'm guessing none of this surprises you, although it's nice that he's mending fences, especially. At least with Pelosi. At least with Pelosi, yeah. Very important for both of them. Thank you so much, Erlette. So good to see you. Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. Join me on Sunday for State of the Union, 9 a.m. and 12 noon Eastern. My guests include Democratic Senator-elect Scott Cologne of Mississippi and Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. CNN News Central starts right now.

42:11Thank you.

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