I WANT TO BRING IN OUR PANEL, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR
DIRECTOR NAYYER HAQ, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF CHIEF OF THE DITCH
PATCH JOHN GOLDBERG AND CNN POLITICAL ANALYST RON BROWNSTEIN.
QUITE A NIGHT. AS OF NOW THERE'S DEMOCRATS AVOIDED CERTAINLY THE WAVE, THE
TSUNAMI, THE SHELLACKING, WHATEVER --
>> THUMPING. >> THUMPING.
DID THIS HAPPEN BECAUSE OF BIDEN?
DESPITE BIDEN? WHAT DOES THE WHITE HOUSE DO
NOW? >> THE WHITE HOUSE IS GIDDY FROM
ALL REPORTS BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT EXPECTING THAT DEMOCRATS
WOULD HOLD AS STRONG AS THEY ARE.
IT'S NOT A CLEAR MAJORITY FOR EITHER PARTY RIGHT NOW, BUT
DEMOCRATS RAN LOCAL RACES AND ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL WHEREAS ON
THE REPUBLICAN SIDE THE TRUMP NOMINEES WERE TRYING TO APPLY
THEMSELVES WITH TRUMPISM AND MAGAISM.
DEMOCRATS IMAGED TO MAKE NATIONAL ISSUES LIKE INFLATION
AND ABORTION LOCAL ECONOMIC ISSUES AND THEY MANAGED TO
DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM THE POLITICS FIGURES AND MAKE IT
HIGHLY LOCALIZED. ONE OF THE THINGS WE ALSO SAW
BECAUSE OF THAT PARTICULARLY IN PENNSYLVANIA AND IN WISCONSIN
WAS YOUTH VOTER TURNOUT. IN WISCONSIN 350% MORE YOUNG
PEOPLE VOTED THIS YEAR THAN THE LAST MIDTERM.
FOR FETTERMAN UNDER THE AGE OF 45 VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY TURNED
OUT FOR FETTERMAN, A CANDIDATE WHO IS UNAPOLOGETICALLY
PROGRESSIVE, CAMPAIGNED ON MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION.
SO THESE ARE ISSUES THAT HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN POLITICS AS
PROGRESSIVE BUT ARE REALLY BECOMING MAINSTREAM PUBLIC
SUPPORT ISSUES. >> I MEAN, THERE'S A LOT TO
DISCUSS. HOW MUCH OF WHAT HAPPENED IN
PENNSYLVANIA WAS OZ, YOU KNOW -- WASN'T A LONG TIME RESIDENT OF
PENNSYLVANIA AND NOT A GOOD CANDIDATE.
THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENT FACTORS IN THIS.
JONAH, HOW DO YOU SEE IT? >> ON THE PENNSYLVANIA ONE IN
PARTICULAR PROBABLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE STATISTICS OF THE WHOLE
NIGHT IS ACCORDING TO THE EXIT POLLS PENNSYLVANIA VOTERS WERE
FAR MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE -- BELIEVED THAT BEING FROM NEW
JERSEY WAS A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM THAN HAVING HAD A STROKE AND I
RESPECT THAT IN PENNSYLVANIANS. AS A NEW YORKER, I HAVE SIMILAR
VIEWS TOWARDS NEW JERSEY. LOOK, MORE BROADLY SPEAKING I
THINK CANDIDATE QUALITY MATTERED AND REPUBLICANS HAD A LOT OF BAD
CANDIDATES, BUT ALSO THE RED WAVE HAPPENED, IT JUST HAPPENED
THAT GUAM AND FLORIDA BROKE IT AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WENT
THE OTHER WAY AND AS A SE CONSERVATIVE WHO DOESN'T LIKE
POPULISM, DOESN'T LIKE THE TRUMPY TERM, DOESN'T LIKE THE
NEW RIGHT NATIONALISM STUFF, I'M FAIRLY ECSTATIC ABOUT ALL OF
THIS. THIS COULD NOT HAVE WORKED OUT
BETTER FOR TAKING THE AIR OUT OF DONALD TRUMP'S BALLOON.
I THINK RON DeSANTIS HAS HIS FLAWS BUT IS NOW THE HEAD OF THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THAT'S GOOD NEWS.
>> WE HAVE A CNN PROJECTION. A WIN FOR PRO ABORTION RIGHTS
ADVOCATES IN KENTUCKY, AMENDMENT 2 HAS FAILED.
THAT WOULD HAVE EXPLICITLY PUT INTO THE STATE CONSTITUTION THE
RIGHT TO AN ABORTION IS NOT PROTECTED.
IT IS THE FOURTH STATE THAT HAS NOW PASSED PRO ABORTION RIGHTS
LEGISLATION. BACK NOW WITH THE PANEL.
RON? >> OBVIOUSLY THERE WERE
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN EACH RACE AND DEMOCRATS DID SUCCEED IN
MANY CASES IN LOCALIZING IT, BUT I THINK THERE WAS A NATIONAL
STORY HERE AS WELL AND THAT WAS THAT THE COALITION THAT TURNED
OUT TO OPPOSE TRUMP IN 2018 AND 2020 LARGELY HELD TOGETHER.
IT ERODED SOME AROUND THE EDGES WHICH IS WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT
WITH 9% INFLATION AND A MAJORITY DISAPPROVING OF THE PRESIDENT'S
PERFORMANCE, BUT THE BASIC COALITION OF YOUNG VOTERS,
PEOPLE OF COLOR, COLLEGE EDUCATED WHITES, ESPECIALLY
WOMEN IN ALL OF THOSE CATEGORIES, IN STATE AFTER STATE
THEY TURNED OUT IN BIGGER NUMBERS AND GAVE DEMOCRATS
BIGGER MARGINS THAN EITHER REPUBLICANS OR MOST MEDIA
ANALYSTS EXPECTED AND THEY, AGAIN, HELD THOSE SWING STATES
BY AND LARGE FOR DEMOCRATS. IT IS STRIKING, ANDERSON, TRRP
FIVE STATES THAT MADE JOE BIDEN PRESIDENT, FIVE STATE THAT
FLIPPED FROM TRUMP, ARIZONA, GEORGIA, PENNSYLVANIA,
WISCONSIN, TRUMP PUSHED THROUGH NOMINEES ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
IN ALL OF THOSE STATES AND IT IS POSSIBLE THAT ALL OF THEM MAY
LOSE EXCEPT POTENTIALLY KARI LAKE IN ARIZONA, POTENTIALLY
HERSCHEL WALKER IN GEORGIA AND NEITHER OF THEM ARE GUARANTEED
TO WIN. THERE IS A CLEAR MESSAGE THERE
THAT THERE IS NOT A MAJORITY IN THOSE STATES FOR THE DEFINITION
OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THAT TRUMP HAS IMPRINTED, HAS STAMPED
ON THE PARTY, BUT IS ANYBODY IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY GOING TO BE
WILLING TO SAY THAT? WE WILL SEE.
>> JUST TWO DAYS AGO OR YESTERDAY BEFORE VOTES STARTED
TO COME IN THERE WERE A LOT OF DEMOCRATS WHO WERE SAYING, LOOK,
THEY DIDN'T -- THE DEMOCRATS DID NOT DO -- THEY FOCUSED ON
ABO ABORTION, THAT WAS A MISTAKE,
THAT'S NOT GOING TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO THE POLLS, THEY DIDN'T HAVE
AN ECONOMIC MESSAGE THAT RESONATED WITH VOTERS.
YOU WERE PRAISING YOUNG PEOPLE COMING OUT.
A LOT OF THAT WAS ABORTION ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND PLACES.
>> WELL, I WILL MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN VOTERS,
SUBURBAN MOTHERS, WOMEN, AND PUNDITS AND THOSE OF US ON CABLE
NEWS WHO WERE TRACKING HIGHER POLLS THAT EQUATED ABORTION AND
INFLATION SEPARATELY. ABORTION IS AN ECONOMIC ISSUE
FOR WOMEN. BEARING A CHILD, DELIVERING THE
CHILD, PAYING FOR CHILD CARE, ALL OF THAT HAS A SIGNIFICANT
ECONOMIC COST. TAKING AWAY THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE
FROM A GENERATION THAT HAS GROWN UP WITH THAT BEING UNDERSTOOD AS
JUST A GIVEN RALLIED THEM. WE SEE THAT PLAYING OUT IN THE
STATES WHERE EVERY BALLOT MEASURE THAT WOULD HAVE
RESTRICTED ABORTION HAS BEEN RESOUNDINGLY REJECTED.
SO IT'S LISTENING TO WOMEN. LISTENING TO GENERATION Z AND
YOUNGER PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT AS THEY ARE THE RISING
MAJORITY IN THIS COUNTRY. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH.