DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene on Dems Winning Midterms

0:00Ben Meiselas:As Donald Trump's approval plummets to new lows and as more Americans and independents are also identifying as Democrat over Republican, these MAGA Republicans are getting very desperate and they're showing their cards just how desperate they are on live TV. They put the propaganda machine into high gear. And frankly, it's incredibly humiliating. One of their mouthpieces is former MAGA Republican Congress member Chaffetz, who's now, surprise, surprise, a host on Fox. And he said, you know, the real issue here is Democrats. They don't understand separation of powers. That's the issue. They don't know how that's really.

0:42Ben Meiselas:I mean, after Donald Trump's like literally engaged in a fascist state go over in our country, that's that's what you're beaming into your MAGA mush brain viewers here. Play this clip. Yeah. Tough to convince him of that right now, Aaron. Meantime, back to you, Jason. and three Democratic representatives, Esplanade, Valesquez, Goldman, blocked from entering an ICE detention center in Brooklyn. They claim they were locked in a certain area. But the truth is they need seven days notice. They're trying to go around the rules, and then they're shocked and outraged when they're blocked out. Jason, what do you think?

1:14Ben Meiselas:They just don't fundamentally understand the Constitution. We have in this country a separation of powers. The executive branch can't just blow into their offices and go talk to their staff. and go shuffle through their papers. And vice versa is true. They just don't understand the Constitution. If they wanted to wear the facility, I'm sure Homeland Security would be glad to give them one, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. This is merely a political stunt, yet again, from these people who just want an Instagram click and not really interested in solving any problems. The gaslighting is so next level.

1:51Ben Meiselas:It's ridiculous. It's so ridiculous, I don't even think I need to fact check that. Then you have Stephen Miller, one of Donald Trump's top advisors, the one responsible for all of these dastardly immigration raids, disappearing migrants and citizens alike into concentration camps here. Miller says, you know, the big issue here, it's Democrats gerrymandering. That's the issue, really. I mean, as the mega Republicans are trying to rig the midterms, this is the messaging. And by the way, I mean, they're doing this to brainwash their audience on Fox. Here play this clip. The Democrats have gerrymandered this country beyond recognition.

2:28Ben Meiselas:Republicans won in the biggest blue states about 40 percent of the vote in the last election. States like California and New York, according to the official tally, but only got 20 percent of the votes. I'm talking about the House Republicans here. I mean, you literally have Donald Trump this morning posting that he wants to do another census immediately to try to rig the maps. We see what's happening in Texas. Now Trump has also ordered Indiana to rig their maps as well. Here is the governor of Indiana saying, yeah, you know, we're looking into rigging our maps basically also. Whatever Donald Trump orders, we may do in Indiana.

3:06Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. You're going to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance a little bit later today. I know a lot of things are on the agenda, but one of them is something that's caught the attention of the nation over this past week. President Trump wants to see some redistricting in Republican led states. You are one of them. This is what he said to Politico yesterday. I'm sorry, Republican operatives said to Politico. I think the legislature is led and infiltrated by spineless Republicans, many former Democrats desperate to hold office. If anyone can give them a spine to act, though, it's President Trump.

3:36How do you see the possibility of redistricting in Indiana playing out over the next six months?

3:42Ben Meiselas:So you can see Texas is leading the charge here and what the reaction has been down there. Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, you know, the heartland of the country, all looking at the same thing. And I think it's very rich for Democrats. Remember when I looked at our map when I was a state rep that the Democrats had done, it looked like tentacles of an octopus. They have done that. And the fact that they're hypocritically now complaining about it when they have been the masters of it, I think that needs to be noted. Here in Indiana, we've become more Republican over time. And these maps probably need...

4:25Ben Meiselas:The gaslighting is so next level. And then you have Jesse Waters, the host of Fox, just giving the game away. Let's show you what he says. Katie, I believe we should just gerrymander the bejesus out of these maps and just destroy Democrat representation where we can. And it's just, we're in a war now. We're in a war. They screwed around and now they're about to find out. Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman and chair of the D triple C, Susan Del Bene, Congresswoman. They're looking very desperate right there. The gaslighting is next level. Approval for Donald Trump is plummeting. They're engaged.

5:06Ben Meiselas:These MAGA Republicans are engaged in this transparent rigging of the midterms. And then they have the audacity to say those things. What's the DCCC doing right now? What's your take on what I just showed you, though, I guess, to start? Well, I think first, as you said, they are running scared right now. They are scared that they can't keep a majority in the House of Representatives because they are not standing up for the issues that the American people care about. You didn't hear once in any of those videos anyone talk about what they're hearing from people on the ground, what the people of Texas want, what the people of Indiana want.

5:41This is all about taking orders from Donald Trump. And we should be making sure that voters get to pick their representatives, that it's not politicians picking their voters. That's what Republicans want to do. We're fighting back. People are going to be fighting back across the country because this is about representation across the country. They're scared. They know they can't win. So they're trying to rig the system.

6:08Ben Meiselas:we've been following a lot of state and local races where we've seen democratic overperformance by about 10 points or so in these local races. And it's always interesting to me because then every time that happens, it's reported as a big shocker just happened in Omaha, a big shocker happened in Lancaster, another huge, I'm like, are you following the data? It wouldn't be a big shocker. Americans hate what's going on right now. So what's the DCCC doing? Just so everybody knows, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, you work with the candidates who are running in the midterm cycle. You're the leader of taking the House back.

6:47Ben Meiselas:That's your job. So what are you doing to ensure that, one, if Trump rigs this thing, they'll still be the ability to take back the House? What are you doing to fight back? Well, first, you're right. On special elections since November of 2024, Democrats have been overperforming by about 15 points because people are so outraged about what's happened under this administration and with Republicans in Congress. So we're doing a lot of things to fight back. First, we are targeting 35 districts across the country where we have opportunities to pick up seats. Republicans only have a three-seat majority in the House of representatives right now.

7:29So I need three more seats across the country. We have 35 seats. We're recruiting great candidates because we know when we have great candidates who are talking about the issues that matter on the ground, we win. We won actually in 2024. We won in 14 districts that Donald Trump also won in. So we have 14 Democrats in Congress who won in Trump districts because they are strong representatives of their community. We know we can win in these districts with great candidates, and we are going to be on offense across the country because the number one issue to people across the country is the cost of living.

8:08Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. That is a big broken promise. Republicans have been passing legislation that raises prices for American families, whether it's the tariffs that we've seen, this big, ugly bill they passed raising the cost of health care, of food, energy prices. Across the board, Republicans have broken their promise to the American people. And that's why you're seeing more and more folks in special elections, but more and more folks turning out across the country, standing up, wanting to see change. We're going to have great candidates to provide them that option.

8:46And we're going to take back the House in 2026.

8:48Ben Meiselas:You know, what's interesting is usually Fox parrots the Trump talking points. But when it comes to Trump's cover up of the Epstein files or Donald Trump saying that he's defeated inflation and everything is great, they can't do that. Right. So their pivot is, let's talk about Sidney Sweeney, and let's talk about anything other than what's actually happening on the ground. And when Donald Trump's out there and says, this is what he's saying in his speeches, I've solved inflation, grocery prices are lower, gas is$1.98. And then you combine it with him saying, Epstein's all a hoax. To me, this all comes together as you are just like, oh, and by the way, when it comes to what he's saying about bringing peace to Ukraine, his line now, when you finally corner him is, this was all a joke.

9:48Ben Meiselas:I was being sarcastic. I never really meant those things. You should have known that I was being sarcastic. And to me, that's when it's like you don't have to be a political person to just go, oh, what are you doing? Is that what you're hearing on the ground? I mean, what are you hearing from the people, you know, when with with your candidates across the country? Well, I think you're hearing exactly what you said. What happens is when you say, oh, you know, I've made prices go down when you haven't is it doesn't ring true to people. Families are struggling with the cost of housing, food, child care, health care, energy costs, all going up because of actions taken by this administration and Republicans in Congress.

10:34and people feel that when they go to the grocery store, they know prices are going up. So he can say whatever he wants to say. It does not resonate with people. And that's why you see such a huge response to the public. And that's why Republicans don't want to do town halls and talk to their constituents because they don't want to hear from folks the challenges they're facing. They just want to keep doing the bidding of Donald Trump. In fact, you know, it seems like they don't want to listen to their constituents ever. They just do whatever they're told. But people are standing up. They want to make sure their voices are heard.

11:10And we have candidates running across the country who are listening, who are connecting with people, who are talking about what they will do to lower costs, to help make sure that we have affordable quality health care everywhere in our country. And Republicans can't fight against that because they have nothing to fight with. They aren't interested in doing policy. They aren't interested in connecting with their voters. That's why they're running scared. And that's why their big focus now is just on rigging the system.

11:42Ben Meiselas:Anything else that's on your mind? You know, oftentimes as an interview, we're going with a set of questions, but you're seeing things on the ground that I'm not seeing. I mean, you are speaking to all of these candidates who are out there speaking to people. So is there anything you think that maybe isn't getting enough attention or you think should be focused on beyond the issues of kind of affordability, which is a major one that needs to be spoken to at this time before we go? Well, I think, you know, affordability, health care, these massive cuts they're making to Medicaid, impacting the premium tax credits that people have had to help pay for premiums, huge increases coming to health care premiums next year because of the big ugly bill from Republicans.

12:29people are feeling all of that, the cost of the grocery store, the impact on health care, programs that they depend on being gutted, concerns around veterans benefits and Social Security benefits. It hits everyone. And so people are outraged. That's why you see people standing up, you know, gathering, making sure their voices are heard. And I think story after story that we hear and the fact that people are willing to share their stories in this difficult time also shows how personal and impactful the actions of this administration have been to people already, because it's only been seven months people are feeling that impact and are standing up.

13:11And absolutely, when people's voices are heard, we're going to win and we'll take back the majority.

13:18Ben Meiselas:Congresswoman Susan DelBene, Chair of the DCCC. And as I told you before we started. One of my first internships was with the 2003-2004 chair of the DCCC. Now, I get to interview the current chair. There you go. One big circle. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.midastouch.com. All 100 % USA union made.

13:56We'll see you next time.