It was another busy and complicated week of politics. On Tuesday,
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock beat his Republican challenger,
Herschel Walker, in Georgia's Senate runoff election. Here's what we're, Knox said
during his victory speech, where he thanked his mother.
She grew up.
In the 19 fifties.
In Waycross, Georgia, picking somebody else's cotton and somebody
else's tobacco.
But tonight she helped pick her youngest son to be a United States
senator.
Now. Warnock's win was also supposed to mean Senate Democrats would
have a 51 to 49 majority. But today, Senator Kirsten Cinema of Arizona
announced that she has left the Democratic Party and registered as
an independent cinema is known to be close to many Senate Republicans.
But she said she does not plan to caucus with the GOP.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, President Biden announced his administration
had successfully negotiated the release of star basketball player
Brittney Griner from Russian detention. She was part of us she was
part of a prisoner swap agreement for a Russian arms dealer joining
me tonight to discuss this and more Maya King politics reporter for
The New York Times and joining me here in Studio. Laura Barone Lopez,
White House correspondent for PBS news Hour.
Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, and Marianna
Sotomayor, Congressional reporter for The Washington Post. Mariana,
You know I'm going to start with you because there's so much going
on on your beat. It was a rollercoaster week for Democrats. What
more do we know about where this leaves Democrats in terms? Of course,
we're not winning but cinema, saying that she's not going to leave
the party and what's behind you think
Cinemas decision. What's driving her Max win was significant for
Democrats. It finally broke that 50 50 stalemate that we've experienced
the last two years and really what it meant was okay. Finally, there's
51. What does that mean?
Committees can now subpoena whoever they want. They don't need to
talk to Republicans to come to an agreement. On that front. You will
physically see more Democrats sitting on those communities to move
things faster to approve judicial nominations that Biden might send
forth. Also other administration officials that may need to be nominated,
so it's a little bit more procedural. But Democrats are really feeling
good. This was a big victory. All of these incumbents waiting for
the first time and I think almost 100 years is something we haven't
seen for a long time.
And then you get this news about cinema. It's not going to change
that 50 51 50 dynamic. I think that there were some Democrats that
were very much fretting about that. She herself has not said she
was going to caucus with the Democrats. However, she says, You know,
I want to stay on my committees, and that is a decision made by Democratic
leadership, Schumer saying, You know she does have an independent
streak. This is part of her nature and you know we'll continue to
keep working with her. But Republicans also seeing this as a moment
where maybe they will be able to have
At least in here into the Democratic caucus. Be able to maybe continue
working with her in a bipartisan manner, especially since the houses
in Republican hands so there's gonna be influenced. Their functionally
speaking cinema would not go to
The Democratic caucus meetings. So even prior to this, and so she's
not. She's going to continue not going to those meetings that they
used to hold the White House. You know, it was asked about this multiple
times today, and they said that they were really confident that no
matter what the dynamics of that 51 49 majority are not going to
change their confident that they can still work with cinema as a
partner, and they stressed that she was a part
Of a lot of the things that the president got passed in the last
year, including the big infrastructure bill and many other priorities,
And so they didn't say if they were given a heads up or if they were
aware of this coming, But they really defended her and said that
she has voted with the president 93% of the time. And so they don't
foresee that changing or their majority changing. Mariana. I want
to go back to you because it's my understanding that Democrats are
looking forward to using their new subpoena power to do things like
investigate corporate abuses. It was supposed to put an end to the
power sharing
The mint is your Is it your understanding, especially for our viewers.
This is going to change the function of the way that things are going
to happen Or is the Senate sort of going to function the way that
the Democrats had hoped it would
No, You're totally right. They are going to be looking at more of
that and be able to investigate more thoroughly actually get people
to come forward and testify. If a new numerous amounts of committees
want to be able to do that, and I think Senate Democrats in particular
looking at this as well again, the House is going to be in Republican
control everything that House Democrats have been in guest investigating
while they've been in the majority. That's something that Senate
Democrats can also take up. I don't think you're going to see them
necessarily lean inasmuch as House Democrats have on investigating.
Trump and and those kinds of things, but
They can do that if they want to, and that's significant for them.
And my you covered this Georgia Senate race so closely, But you broke
a number of stories. You also told our producers that you were sort
of up close and personal with the Walker campaign in the last few
days and sort of watched it collapse and saw all this. What's your
biggest takeaway from this race as someone who covered it on the
ground there in Georgia?
Well, Georgia has really emerged as sort of a microcosm of so many
of the trends that we're seeing in politics right now, Of course,
the influence of moderate voters the way that voters across the country
sort of rejected Trump aligned candidates. And, of course, that plays
into this larger argument that I think has also been very exemplary.
Here in Georgia, which is this issue of candidate quality.
I think a lot of Republicans saw Herschel Walker as a shoo in for
Republicans in a year. That was very good for them here in the state
because he's such a big name as a football star. But what they also
had to realize is that he is a football star and not necessarily
a politician who was extremely untested and had a lot of baggage
in his background.
Uh, in the final days of this race, I did spend a lot of time with
the campaign and you could just see that they felt that the writing
was on the wall. They made a number of key missteps. The biggest
of those being this issue of Saturday. Voting Democrats and Warnock's
campaign actually sued to have their voters turn out and vote on
the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Republicans and Walker's campaign
largely rejected that, and they saw how in these deeply democratic
areas of the state
It was explosive turnout while in the areas that were largely Republican
aligned. There just was a little bit of a dampening and enthusiasm
for Walker. And that, of course, came to pass with Warren Knox close
to three point win finally on election night, but that's sort of
that trend really started to materialize. I think in the weekend
and days before this runoff election on Tuesday
And Maya. I've been hearing from some of my sources that, um cinemas,
Senator Cinemas decision. It really makes war knocks when even more
consequential than what Democrats thought it was. What's your sense
there on the ground about how cinemas sort of her decision changes
the outlook of Democrats and sort of what they're thinking about
this decision that she's making here.
I think if you're a Georgia Democrat, you're really thankful for
the $50 million that you spent to get Raphael Warnock elected. I
mean, this is a really consequential and sort of immediate consequence
now of cinemas decision, But beyond that, you know, I spent a lot
of time with Senator Warren Octu and talked with him at length about.
You know what he wanted to accomplish in this next Congress if he
was elected, and he prioritized voting rights, continuing to lower
healthcare costs, continuing to create jobs, not just in Georgia.
Really across the sun belt here in the deep South, And so I really
wonder now what cinemas now becoming independent could mean for Warnock's
legislative agenda. All the things that I've named, you know, they
really require pretty heavy majorities in Congress and
It's going to require senators like cinema to sort of get on board
with these policies. It's very unclear if that would happen, though,
and Josh Trump endorsed six Senate Republican candidates, only one
of them one. I wonder what you make of the sort of benefit, possibly
for the Republicans, with sticking with Trump, as well as sort of
the challenge that come with that, given the fact that we heard the
former president talked about suspending the Constitution, and we've
heard the fact that he wasn't even invited this time around to go
campaign for Walker.
Yeah, I think you missed that. This issue of candidate quality is
more than an abstract issue. It's tied to Trump. I mean, he's the
one that back these candidates that backed Herschel Walker that back
Dr Oz in Pennsylvania and said these were the guys to go with. These
were the ones who could get it across the finish line, and in those
two cases they couldn't now Trump's people will say a lot of the
people he endorsed.
Did manage to get elected. But that were was mostly house candidates
that were in safe Republican districts where just about any Republican
could have been elected. So I do think that what happened in Georgia's
contributing to this sense that Trump is losing more and more attraction
in the Republican Party, and it's no longer sort of a whisper about
questions about whether he's a good person to be leading the party
going forward. You have people in the establishment that I think
are more willing to speak up a little bit, even though they still remain.
Fearful of a backlash from Trump voters, and Laura, What do we know
about sort of whether or not Republicans influence cinemas decision?
We know that she's closed with some Republicans. I also wonder what
you're hearing about whether or not Republicans might think that
they can lobby her more now that she's someone who's an independent.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has long tried to lobby cinema,
and we've also seen where he's tried to lobby Senator Joe Manchin,
the other very moderate kind of independence Democratic senator it
from West Virginia. But again, the White House and Democrats seem
confident that cinema votes with them the majority of the time. And
when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came out today, he again
was saying, Look, The dynamics here aren't going to change. I think
that Republicans are certainly going to try.
To bend cinemas here where they can to see where they can get her
to not go along with democratic priorities in this new Congress.
But even if she does stick with Democrats in this new Congress, we're
still talking about house.
Majority that is Republican. And that is not going to pass the vast
majority of these Democratic priorities at all, Really important
point to think that whatever
Sort of President Biden once. It's really going to stop for most
cases in the house, Mariana, that brings me in some ways to 2024
Democrats were already facing an uphill battle. When you look at
the Senate map of of that sort of election that coming election in
two years, which makes my head spin a little bit, But here we are,
Um, what does this make Cinemas decision? What's the What impact
could it have on the 2024 map? Good Arizona be easier to pick up
for Republicans could And that is something that a lot of Democrats
for just thinking about it. Okay? We just put the 2022 midterms to
bed and today
Hey, we have to start thinking about 2024.
And you know, a lot of people have been saying a lot of Democrats
in particular thinking that she made that decision to become an independent
for electoral reasons. They do think that if you know she knows that
she cannot get elected as a Democrat, Greg Stanton, who is a member
of a Democratic member in from Arizona, tweeted it, I said the quiet
part out loud basically saying, Look, these are my poll numbers compared
to hers. If we were to hypothetically run for a Senate race, and
she would lose by 40 point
Democrats just would not elect her. So this
I mean, independent may help her bring in some Republican votes get
those Democratic voters who do like that independent streak within
her and maybe repel Congressman Ruben Gallego, who has not been quiet
about potentially primary in her at some point, Hopefully, I at least
her orbit thinks this could be a signal to him that you know what
you're going to make it way more difficult and make it easier potentially
to elect a Republican to the Senate. And, of course, all eyes were
on Georgia when it when it comes to sort of how you win a swing.
Hey, What's your reporting Reveal on whether Georgia is really now
a purple spayed. And could it be a blueprint for Democrats to to
try to win some of these swing states are going to be critical.
I do believe that Georgia is a purple state, but not without significant
effort on the part of Democrats. So while Raphael Warnock was successful,
and of course, John Ossoff one in 2021, I mean, that came at a cost
of several $100 million and lots and lots of on the ground mobilization
and organization. Georgia is a purple state for Democrats with a
whole lot of work.
Though I do think that Senator Warren Knox win provides a blueprint
for how swing states or swing state candidates can campaign particularly
to these very politically influential moderate voters and these suburban
areas. I think that Warnock and his team were really savvy and realizing
pretty early on one that Walker did have some soft spots with conservatives
in the in the suburbs of Atlanta, but to going out really strong
with a message that was well part in part
Aren't anti walker very much pro Warnock underlining a lot of his
bipartisan accomplishments. But again, I mean, there's still was
an extremely expensive race that did go into a four week run off
and required that only mobilization by grassroots groups but lots
of money on the airwaves and even a lawsuit to try to get voters
back out and rebuild this Democratic coalition that in many ways
is still taking shape in Georgia as the demographics change.
Really smart to sort of remind people how much it took to win Georgia
and Laura really quickly before we turn to all of the legal challenges
that Trump has had, But I want to just pause for a minute because
Brittney Griner is home, right? She is someone that I know so many
people around the country were praying for. She was in Russian detention.
Um, President Biden seems very, very happy about that. Of course,
there is some criticism because Paul Wheelan American he remains
in in Russian detention. What are you hearing from? White House officials
about all of this
White House was very careful as
As they announced that that Brittney Griner would be returning home
to show that they were very aware of the optics and the unfortunate
case that Wieland would not be returning home with her, which they
said repeatedly, White House officials told reporters this week.
That they were trying the best that they could for months to negotiate
for wheeling to be joining Brittney Griner and to come home, but
that ultimately the Russians were not willing to allow him to come
home based on the slate of options that the U. S. Was trying to offer
them to get him home as well, You know, they said that they also
when they when they ultimately decided to bring in American home
and enter into negotiation with another country that has taken in
American hostage
That they are very aware of all the consequences that could come
with that. And they said that despite all the consequences and all
the different things that they thought the ramifications, they said
that they still felt is that the best option was to bring her home
and Paul Wieland's family agreed with the White House on that.
Well an important story that will continue to follow. Thank you, Maya for joining us and sharing your great reporting from Georgia.