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>> representative susan delbene who is chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee spoke with reporters about the party's strategy for the elections in november. she was the featured guest at the christian science monitor breakfast series in washington, d.c. she also talks about the youth vote and engaging voters in purple districts. linda: good morning. i'm linda, washington bureau chief of the christian science monitor. our guest today is representative susan delbene of washington. chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee. she's making her first appearance at a monitor breakfast, welcome. she was born in selma, alabama, and moved to washington as a child. after moving around the country, she landed back in the pacific northwest for college and business school and after that had a career in the private sector before going into politics.

she was first elected to congress in 2012, representing washington's first coppingal district and became chair of the dccc in 2022. today the democrats have a real opportunity to retake the house, we're going to ask you about that. where the current balance is 217 republicans, 213 democrats. that's why we're all here today. again, so welcome. now for the ground rules. we're on the record. please no live blogging or tweeting and in short no filing of any kind while the breakfast is under way. and once the session ends, there's no more embargo and i should also add that there may be a call for a vote on the hill in which case the congressperson might have to leave a little early. so anyway, we want to keep this brisk and it might end early and when we do, if we do make it to

10:00, she's going to have to leave right away. no gaggling after we're done. now if you'd like to make a brief opening remark, the floor is yours. ms. delbene: their for inviting me. i'm excited to be here. and this is an incredibly important election. this is about our rights, our freedoms, our democracy and our future and that's why we have incredible candidates running across the country, why we have voters who have been very engaged and why it's so critically important that we win and we take back the gavel so we can move forward and get work done for the american people. we have seen nothing but chaos and dysfunction and traoepblgsism this congress -- and extremism this congress from day one on vote after vote after vote on the speaker's election, being on the brink of a shutdown, brink of a default, brink of a shutdown. speaker votes again.

even ongoing attempts to remove the speaker. folks want to see governance work and that's going to play a big significant role at the ballot box and we know that the agenda that republicans are pursuing is a very extreme agenda and that's not in sync with the american people. so we have a map of 65 races across the country, we have 29 front liners who are the incumbents we have who are in those purple districts, who have tougher re-elections. we have 20 red to blue candidates who are folks looking to flip seats across the country. and we'll have more as we get through primaries that are continuing across the country. so, we only need four more seats to take back the majority and we are -- it was five, but with the win of tom suozzi in new york three, we're four more so we're working hard to do that. and have an incredible opportunity. so happy to take your questions and thanks for having me.

linda: sure. all right. i'll ask you a few and then if anybody wants to, after i'm done, just wave at me and i'll make a list. as you said, you just need a handful of seats to retake the majority. according to the cook political report, the republicans have actually a slight edge overall. but it's not much of one. democrats are favored in 203 races and republicans are favored in 210. which leaves both parties short of 218. so if you could just -- how do you map out a path to the majority under those circumstances and in such a volatile cycle? ms. delbene: first i think it's important for folks to know that the focus is always on these purple districts across the country. the redistricting has really made it so that there are a lot of bright red and bright blue districts, so that there's 70 or less purple districts across the country that are really the focus and we have -- to start

off there's 16 seats that republicans are in, where president biden won in 2020. so that's a credible opportunity for us. there are a lot of seats in new york and california that are on our map and are great opportunities. but we have opportunities everywhere across the country. folks who want to run to represent their communities and actually make sure that we have governance and folks who are standing up for rights and freedoms and so we've been able to recruit incredible candidates and that's why when we look across our map, we've got incredible opportunities in many places, not just these 16 opportunities in these seats that president biden won, but all across the country. and on the house side, every race is a little different. we're not even talking states. we're talking about unique districts and so these are all very unique races and we have incredible candidates in each of

these districts who are running and that gives us a great opportunity. linda: are there any you can flag that are particularly exciting to you where you really are feeling good? ms. delbene: i'm excited about all of them. but i will say that we have -- and there's been a lot of focus understandably on races in new york and california. but we have races all across the country. we have two opportunities in iowa with two people running in iowa. tony vargas running against don bacon in nebraska. monica tranell running in montana. i mean, we just kind of -- i could go around the country and we have opportunities now, strong opportunities to pick up seats, another democratic seat in alabama. and given the recent supreme court decision in louisiana. so those are also places where the black vote hasn't been

represented in those states and with the supreme court upholding the voting rights act, now we have opportunities to pick up an additional seat in alabama, an additional seat in louisiana. linda: right. so what is the impact of president biden's unpopularity on -- [indiscernible] -- ballot? ms. delbene: when you go across the country and talk to folks, i think a huge issue for folks is the economic opportunity they have. folks want to not just be able to get by but to get ahead. and when you really talk to folks about what the policies are, what we need to do to continue to support folks, they understand not only that the president has been working hard, the incredible work we did last congress on infrastructure and inflation reduction act and reducing prescription drug prices, chips and science act and bringing manufacturing jobs back the, but we continue to talk to folks about the work that's been done and the work that can be done if we have a

functional congress who is focused on the needs of the people. folks are with us. and so we need to continue to talk to folks and make sure they are aware of the work that's been done and is still being done to move forward and what the opportunities are. but there couldn't be a bigger contrast in this election. there's a stark contrast. when we talk to folks about not only the policies we can do to -- to develop ongoing economic opportunities across the country, but also to protect our rights and clearly reproductive rights are going to be on the ballot across the country, the policies to make sure that we are addressing what we see at the border, president biden's been at the table trying to move forward. it's republicans who have been thwarting policy over and over and over again. so i think we have incredible opportunities and i think people continue to see that when they

sit down and are going to make that choice on their ballot. linda: if president biden loses in november, can the democrats still retake the house? ms. delbene: first of all, i think president biden's going to win. linda: ok. ms. delbene: and i think that each of our races are unique races where the candidates are running and we have five seats where -- that we have that -- where -- in districts that president trump won in 2020. so all of these areas are very unique. these districts where authentic candidates win. and we're going to continue to fight each of those races individually across the country and i think you're going to continue to see us hold orpik out seats -- or pick out seats all across the country because of the great candidates we have. linda: does anybody else want to jump in? yeah, go ahead. >> dig in a little bit on the economy. polls show that president biden is not faring well with the

economy. why isn't that resonating with folks more? and what do you have to do to kind of turn that trend around? ms. delbene: i think, one, folks need to understand who has done the work to help, for example, on those projects that are helping to fix roads, put broadband in place, all of that work was because of the work of president biden and democrats in congress. but you've all seen republicans go to ribbon cuttings and take credit for projects that they voted against. and we need to continue to make sure people really know who has done the work, they're making differences in their communities. and we have to continue to talk about the work that we still can do if we have a functional congress. there's a lot more we can do on issues of affordable housing or childcare, top issues that impact families. these are things where there are great policy ideas we can move forward on, but republicans aren't interested in moving

forward on policy right now. they can't even agree with each other on most things, they can't even pass a rule to move a bill. so over and over you hear folks talk about this being a do-nothing congress. we have a republican majority that's been ruled by chaos and dysfunction and folks want to see governance work and i think that is a fundamental thing i've seen in every part of the country that i've gone to and i hear regularly from folks who aren't just -- identify themselves as democrat, even a lot of folks who might have said they were republicans aren't sure what they are now because they feel like their party has left them. they want to see governance work and they want folks who are going to be serious about legislating and house democrats have been doing that all of this congress and we have great candidates that can help us take that majority so that we can have those gavels and actually govern again. reporter: what about the -- his

slipping poll numbers with black voters in particular? how concerning is that? and what do you do to turn that around? ms. delbene: well we actually at the dccc, we've been doing a lot of two, make sure that we're engaging communities of color in our districts and part of that hag has been doing a lot of work to understand where people are getting their information and where their trusted information is coming from. because it can be very different in different parts of the country. it isn't just broadcast tv. a lot of folks are on social media and there are local leaders who have a big impact. we've been working with local leaders and the types of media people look at to get their information and make sure we're working with them directly there. in tom suozzi's district, we had folks working very closely and congresswoman grace meng was very influential in making sure

we were connecting with the aapi community there, making sure that we were providing information in appropriate languages to communicate with folks, to make sure we were talking to community leaders to get information out and so we have a full effort that we have across the -- we call it empower the people, to make sure we're targeting those communities an getting them information -- and getting them information because that's number one. people know what we've been working on, what we're doing and what our candidates stand for. we win. linda: over to your left. can you introduce yourself, please? reporter: i'm jennifer with states news room. i wanted to ask you a little bit about these purple districts that you all are focusing on. some of them are in states where there are going to be abortion access ballot questions directly on ballots in november. so what do you think impact if any at all it's going to have on those purple races? and then i have a quick follow-up to that as well.

ms. delbene: first of all, yeah, i think we have about 11 states where it's likely that reproductive rights will be on the ballot. but we also know that it's been on the ballot many, many, many times already. since november of 2022 we've had special election after special election, whether it's initiatives, a state supreme court case in wisconsin, the local elections last november, over and over and over since november, 2022. and since the dobbs decision we've seen overperformance on democratic races. kansas, ohio, virginia state assembly, wisconsin supreme court race. and even tom suozzi's race, that was a 15-point swing in just over a year. and so alabama, after the alabama supreme court decision on in vitro fertilization, we saw a special election in a

state house race there that was over a 30-point swing where a democrat won in that state house race. after the dobbs decision. and because people more and more are seeing that their rights are at risk and that all the things that republicans said about it being a state's rights issue, etc., that's clearly not true. they want a national abortion ban. i think we've seen a huge turnout as a result of that over and over in elections since november, 2022. and i have no doubt we're going to continue to see that all the way through. this is a huge issue for voters and the american people are with us. folks support women's reproductive rights across the country and that's going to be a huge issue and for some people it is the issue. it's a bright line issue. it's an issue where they're only going to vote for someone if they support reproductive rights. so it absolutely is going to be an important issue. when -- i'd argue whether or not

it's on the ballot. reporter: a quick follow-up. the cook political report is forecasting between one and four senate seats flipped to republican control. and so we are in a situation where right now the dynamic is that we potentially would have a democratic house and a republican senate which is of course still divided government. and i know that democrats, especially since the dobbs case, have talked specifically about reinstating roe and the protections nationwide under roe. but can you talk a little bit about what you all would hope to do if you had a democratic house and potentially a republican senate in that sort of middle ground potentially? ms. delbene: you know, we're going to fight to make sure we have a strong majority in the house. we passed the women's health protection act last congress with a democratic majority in the house to make sure that we are putting into law the protections of roe. and so that will be one of our top priorities, to make sure that we pass the women's health

protection act again. but i'm also hopeful that we will keep the senate and be able to move forward. but we're absolutely -- that's a top priority in the house. reporter: i'm interested in the role of young voters and how you plan to reach them because they will be so crucial for this election, like in the 2022 midterm elections. so how are you planning to reach them and are democratic candidates in general use a tiktok to reach them? ms. delbene: i was talking about kind of how we engage and media engagement is critically important and you're going to see a lot of movement towards digital media, social media, etc., in terms of communication. because that's where a lot of people get their information. folks have been using different -- focusing in different areas. i think we have some folks who continue to regularly engage on tiktok, we have folks who don't.

i think that's a decision that individual campaigns are going to make. but we know that it's really important not only that we engage where people are getting their information but that people are present and talking to voters, going out and engaging with young voters, working as -- similar to what i said, who are the important leaders in communities that folks talk to, to make sure that people understand what's at stake. this really -- i said this election is about our rights, our freedom, our democracy and our future. and our future is also -- it's our young people's future. and making sure that they realize -- because yeny they have -- generally they have been folks who haven't filled out their ballots. how critically important it is that they want their voice to be heard, they have to vote. and i can't say, you know, when i talked to young people, even high schoolers who are going to be voting in their first presidential election and maybe

the first election at all this november, they have been very engaged for a variety of issues. and the issues that young people care about also are very similar. economic opportunity is number one across all age groups when we talk to folks across the country. and also making sure we're talking about rights and freedoms and climate is important because this is the future of the planet that they live on and future generations are. so these are all important issues. reporter: what about the gaza issue? do you get a lot of response on the campaign trail with democratic candidates? we see what's happening on the campuses nationwide. can you talk a little bit about that, how the -- [indiscernible] -- is out there and how do you deal with it right now? ms. delbene: first, i just want to highlight that we have seen a dramatic rise in anti-semitism across the country. we all, and this should be

bipartisan to speak out against hate wherever we see it, wherever we see it in our country, but when we talk to young voters, as i said a minute ago, still across the board their number one issue is making sure that they are going to have economic opportunity going forward. and that they're going to be in a position where they can have the same opportunities that their parents did, that they're going to have the same rights and freedoms that their parents did. we talk about reproductive rights, this is a huge issue in terms of making sure that young women have the same rights that i did growing up. so these are critical issues and we talked to people about the issues that they care about, democrats are actually talking about these issues, we're actually talking about policy that we can work on going forward. and i think what we've seen from republicans is they want to break things and then they want

to blame someone for it. usually blame democrats for it. they have not been interested in governing or moving forward solutions to help us -- help our country and our communities move forward and that's going to play a significant role. i'd say across the board, but definitely with young people too. linda: to your right. yeah, you. can you introduce yourself, please? reporter: yeah, thank you. i'm from bloomberg government to have. i wanted to bring it back to the border for a second. we saw tom suozzi talk about the border a lot more than democrats have in the past during his special election which obviously was successful for him. just curious how are you advising front line democrats to talk about the border when they're facing opponents who this is like their number one issue that republicans think they'll win on? ms. delbene: this is another really important issue across the country and absolutely right. tom suozzi talked about it. he knew it was an important issue. he took it head on. he talked about the work he had done in the past, the work that he would still do going forward to really make a difference for

the community and for the country. and the republican candidate was nowhere to be seen, no where talking about issues, just disappeared. and so absolutely it makes a difference that people are present, that they're talking about issues and they're talking about what they can do on any issue and absolutely that's true on the border too. and he also highlighted, which i think we will continue to highlight over and over again, that there was a bipartisan deal on the table and republicans walked away. president biden was there, you know, working on that deal with republicans and democrats, a bipartisan deal, and they walked away and some republicans even talked about it as well. we can't do this because it might be a win for president biden. what about putting the american people first and what's the right thing to do there? so back to my point that republicans aren't interested in governing. i actually think this is one

where -- where we can make that point very clearly and people have seen that. and i think it's been 100 days since they tank the border bill and still we haven't seen proposals on what republicans would do instead. except to try to inflame an issue which seems to be the only thing they have been focused on doing this congress. linda: how will president biden, the story is that he's just going announce a bunch of measures and i guess chuck schumer's going to reintroduce the immigration bill to pave the way. ms. delbene: i think congress has an important role to play here. and so as a member of congress, we have important legislative role that we should be playing and for anything to pass, anything this congress, it's got to be bipartisan. and so for folks to say it has to be my way or no way, which is what republicans have said, that means they don't want to do

anything. and people want to see governance work. they want to see folks come together and they know that to get a bill done it's got to get through the house and the senate and to the president's desk. and folks worked very hard to come up with an agreement that could get through the senate, at least that was the proposal that could get through the house and get to the president's desk, that he would support. and republicans blew it up. and they were at the table. that's the only way we can govern and congress needs to do its part and republicans refuse to participate. linda: but if congress can't do its part, then president biden needs to just do what he can? ms. delbene: i think the president will continue to do what he can but i think we have an important role to play. since i came to congress comprehensive immigration reform was a top priority when i came. i actually led on a bill to do comprehensive immigration reform when i first came and that was bill that passed the senate and the house refused to take it up.

and it would have passed but that's our challenge and that was under speaker boehner. if republicans want to be at the table and legislating and are serious about legislating, then they'll be working in a bipartisan fashion. but they're not interested in doing that. and clearly there was an attempt to do that and republicans backed away. linda: can you introduce yourself? reporter: "roll call." i wanted to ask, ahead of the primary in oregon next week, you all have supported janel bynum to try to take on dreamer there. curious, if jenny is the winner on tuesday, do you foresee the -- supporting her and this be a race where you get more involved behind her than you did two years ago when she came within 2,000 votes, fairly close

margin. ms. delbene: absolutely. i think we can win in oregon and i think janel bynum actually beat lori twice in state legislative races. janel is an incredibly strong candidate and that's why we put her on the red to blue list. and she's got strong support from elected officials in oregon, leaders in oregon. so she's in a really strong position. but the primaries are coming up on tuesday so this still is absolutely a district i think we can win and so we'll see the results of the primary and then make our plans in terms of how we're going to proceed going forward to make sure that we win that seat. reporter: do you think you can win with either of those candidates? obviously you backed bynum. ms. delbene: we're supporting janel bynum and we'll see what happens after the primary. i absolutely think we can win that seat. linda: john from cnn to your left.

reporter: just a follow-up to that. can you talk more broadly about the recruitment strategy, especially in those biden 16 districts? in 2020 the strategy was really recruiting a lot of veterans, a lot of national security folks to sort of combat what was happening in the white house. so this time around, what's been the strategy? ms. delbene: so we've actually looked at individual districts and really been thoughtful about those districts and the important priorities in those districts and also the incredible candidates that are out there or other leads that are are out there who -- leaders who are out there that would be great members of congress. in some cases when he folks who had run the last cycle who are running again and you've seen that in a few cases. tony vargas, i was talking about in nebraska, is running again. i actually think we've had incredible momentum from folks who ran great campaigns last congress who are running again

now and have that extra strong campaign operations and came straight off the last election and are doing an incredible job going forward. i might be a little biased. i ran for congress the first time i ran, i lost. i ran again and won and it made a huge -- that first campaign made a big difference in the success of my second campaign too. so in some of those cases we have folks who were already great candidates and are running again and have incredible momentum, our candidates are on average, both our red to blue candidates and our front line incumbents who are running for re-election have been outraising republicans the last two quarters. so they have momentum, they've got the resources and are in great position. but we have incredibly diverse candidates running across the country which is something we're really proud of and i think they all uniquely speak to the needs

and issues in their districts and i'm excited to see them as future colleagues. linda: you have seen a decline at all in donations from jewish donors in light of the situation in israel? ms. delbene: i don't know the answer. i know we've been outraising and had strong, strong support. but i don't -- i can't give you any specific breakdown of that. linda: ok. next. could you introduce yourself. reporter: max with punch bowl news. i know it's the dccc policy to support incumbents. there is an extraordinary case in south texas with henry cuellar who has been indicted on bribery, corruption charges. what is your stance on that race and is the dccc committing to providing resources if that gets close and you need to support -- [indiscernible] -- ms. delbene: so we need to let the legal process play out and that process is moving forward. but he is innocent until proven guilty and they're going to

continue the legal process there. that race isn't on our map because we feel like it's a strong district that we will keep and continue to see it that way. linda: james downs from "national journal." reporter: good see you, congresswoman. you recently put a memo in the "wall street journal" about -- [indiscernible] -- mention lead it members of congress -- mentioned three members of congress as sort of models to talk about immigration. why them? what do they bring to the table that makes them so strong specifically when it comes to immigration policy? ms. delbene: i actually think there's a lot of folks that we can talk about who have been really strong. i think always we want to highlight the incredible work happening with our front liners and the important positions they have taken and the leadership they've shown on issues that are important to their communities. so this is an issue that's important to the communities

they represent. and they want to see policy move and are willing to talk about it. just like we talked about with tom suozzi. they want -- they came to congress to get things done. and i think there's a huge frustration across our caucus that i share that we want to get things done and we're here in a congress where republicans have no interest in getting anything done. so which want to make sure the -- we want to make sure the american people know and continue to highlight that democratsing and these are great examples of strong democrats who have policy proposals, have ideas on what we can do moving forward, and that we're continuing to push to try to make progress, even with republicans who are doing everything possible to prevent progress. so that's what we'll continue to highlight and highlight their work and the work of others of our colleagues as well. linda: ken trapb from "u.s.a. today."

reporter: thank you. you mentioned the economy is really important -- [indiscernible] -- the biden campaign is also really heavily focusing on democracy as a whole. can you tell us a little bit about how much and how hard your candidates run on that issue compared to -- [indiscernible] -- ms. delbene: well, it is a critically important issue all across the country and i even started with our rights, our freedoms and our democracy. and i was born in selma, alabama, when we talk about making sure we're standing up for people's access to the ballot. their right to vote. this has really been fundamental and it's been something that we have continued to stand up for and propose in terms of legislation to make sure that we have strong support for voting rights and we've seen republicans try to undermine access to the ballot in states across the country. and we have a republican presidential candidate who continues to deny free and fair elections, who continues to talk about his unwillingness to

accept the result of an election, if it's not going to be the results that he wants. so talking about democracy and how important it is that we uphold our democracy and our values and voting rights absolutely is going to continue to be part of the country because when we talk about that sharp contrast, this is a key part of that sharp contrast. in terms of where democrats stand and wanting to uphold our democracy and uphold voting rights, and where republicans are, where a litmus test seems to be that to be a good republican right now, that you have to say that you would deny the last presidential election. so that's where they are. i might highlight too that even during this session, this week while we've been in session, republicans have gone out of their way, including the speaker of the house, to go up to new york to dress like the former president, to go sit in a courtroom with him, as posed to stand up for the needs of their

communities and do their work here in congress. so that shows you and tells you all you need to know about where republicans are at. there's no original ideas. they all are just waiting to have donald trump tell them what to do next and if his position on election rights is any example, that should put great concern to folks across the country in terms of what that means for our democracy. linda: jonathan nicholson from "huffington post" to your right. reporter: thanks for doing this. getting back to democracy for a little bit. how much are you advising candidates to include ukraine in that messaging about democracy? do you see that as one thing? and are there any specific races or regions that you think that plays particularly significant roles in terms of either ukrainian community or military bases and so on? ms. delbene: it absolutely has been an important issue and i think folks have been highlighting it across the country and with -- not only

with local ukrainian communities in their districts, but just in terms of what it means when we talk about standing up for our values and our shared values with our allies and, frankly, what even that means for national security going forward. this is a case where legislation could have moved months and months ago. instead mike johnson held up legislation from moving for no reason. in fact, what we ended up passing could have been passed months and months ahead of time. when we talk about folks' inability and unwillingness to govern, this is really an egregious example of that, of the incredible consequences of his inability to even make a decision on how to move forward. we need leaders. so this is absolutely something we'll continue to highlight and bring up and frankly we've heard from our communities because they wonder why there can't be

movement and a decision made on something that should be so clear and i think has been really clear to the american people. yeah, there are the republicans overall seem to be willing to defend and be apologists for vladimir putin. but the american people think we should be standing up for our democracy, for rights and freedoms, for supporting ukraine and our allies and republicans are unable to govern and were unwilling to govern here until just huge pressure. and frankly, it's democrats who really have continued to stand up and help move us forward. even in the minority. and that's been important leadership and we've been the ones who have been able to move important policy because we are willing to stand up. reporter: any particular races or regions where you think this could be -- ms. delbene: yeah. you know, i think it clearly is

important -- i think it is an important issue across the country. you know, but there are definitely folks who look at marcy kaptur in ohio. she's been a strong voice standing up for support for ukraine. but i think it's something that's been important for our candidates everywhere and important to our communities everywhere in terms of what it means in terms of our willingness to stand up and support our allies. linda: christa case bryant from the monitor to your right. reporter: thank you so much for being here. you spoke about how a number of voters who maybe used to identify as republican are now not sure what they are. i'm just curious in this time of just such intense polarization and a very narrowly divided house and senate, how are you coaching front liners and those challengers in red districts to maybe signal to those sort of homeless former republican voters, hey, there's big enough -- our tent is big enough for you, we're not as ideologically,

you know, monolithic as some people might say. is that part of your messaging and how are you looking to include them in your base of support? ms. delbene: it is absolutely part of what i think our candidates not only have continued to do, but really what they represent and why they've won in districts that might look tough on paper. just take my colleague in southwest washington. a district that no one thought a democrat was going to win in. she won and a lot of that support was from folks, independent, kind of those former republicans, others, because she was an authentic candidate who spoke up with her point of view on what she would do and people trust her and they still do. and we have -- we have five democrats in seats that

president trump won in 2020. marcy kaptur, cartwright in pennsylvania. golden in maine. all who have had -- have won in these districts because they are trusted, authentic candidates who represent their region and they have had strong support and i do think that the reason they do is because people want a representative that they can trust, not always one who is going to agree with everything, in fact, in districts like that there's nothing you can -- whatever do you, probably someone will disagree with you. that's the nature of these purple districts. but they want to know that people are thoughtful, are listening and can explain why they made the decisions that they did. and absolutely those are important role models to follow in terms of these districts and it's something that's been really important for our candidates and why they've been

successful. reporter: do you feel like in this congress we're finishing up now, have those front liners been able to take those viewpoints from their districts that help get them elected and share those and sort of get some traction with those maybe more diverse viewpoints within the democratic caucus in the congress? ms. delbene: i was a front liner when i first got elected, representing a very similar district. i do think that you're a better legislator when you hear differing points of view and are forced to try to come up with what the right solution is. the best solution for your community. knowing that there's no answer that just is going to automatically kind of do everything for everyone. because there is no way to do that. the question is, what is the best step to move forward? and hearing different points of view really helps you kind of figure out maybe this idea you thought of originally isn't as

perfect as you thought and you didn't consider this other issue and so i think not only is that important in terms of our engagement with folks, members of our communities, but in our engagement between members of congress because when we have those debates and frankly those healthy debates are really important, but it would be great if we were having those healthy bipartisan debates too to talk about how we move forward and that's where it's been really disappointing to see the kind of -- the end of moderate republicans. there just aren't any left in congress. they got beat in primaries, they've resigned and left. they don't feel like their party has a home for them anymore. and so we've ended up in a place where the republican party and definitely in the house has been taken over by the most extreme members of their caucus. that's their voice. there is no room for debate or talking about thoughtful policy.

and for governance to really work, we need people who are serious about coming to the table to length slate. so -- legislate. so obviously within the democratic caucus having that, but i think i'd love to see us get to -- back to a place where we have folks who are willing to do that on both sides of the aisle. but frankly, as long as republicans seem to think that their only role is to follow the word of donald trump and not kind of ever be able to express differing point of view, if that's going to continue to be the republican party, then we need to show them that -- and the american people across the board that we reject that and if that's who they're going to be, then they're not going to be representing us and they're not going to be holding the gavel in the house of representatives. linda: to my left. reporter: i wanted to ask you a little bit about how you see your role. when you came into this position, was there anything

that you immediately identified as something that you would do differently from your predecessor? from a leadership perspective? anything that you immediately identified as an area that could be improveed? ms. delbene: so things can always be improved. i think no matter what you do, the number one -- i spent a lot of time running organizations before i became a member of congress. so i approached the dccc similarly. looking at what worked, what didn't work last time and many cycles before, what have we learned from that? what can we do better? how have things changed? there might have been things we've done in the past that worked well but we talked a lot about where people get information and how that has changed over time. that changes campaigns and so what do we need to do to evolve the way that we approach races and how campaign works to actually keep up to date with the way the world works today, that can be hard because people can be very engrained with the

way things always have been. and maybe because i've had a lot of experience in background working in industries that have changed things, i think i bring that lens to the dccc too. and then i willsenning to our -- and then listening to our colleagues across the board about kind of what they've learned, what's worked, what hasn't worked. all of these races are a little different and definitely as someone would came to congress representing a swing district and was a front liner in a targeted race in my first re-election, i know how important it is to make sure that we not only have great candidates but make sure that folks are running the races that are authentic to them. so it's not so much that we have a cookie cutter mentality. we are able to think uniquely about what we can do to support them, let them run their race and make sure that they're in a strong position to get their message out.

and that we built a great team. part of the work of the dccc is making sure we have a great team that can engage and work with our candidates across the country and i think we've been title of the bill build a great team of folks internally that you don't hear about all the time that are doing important work. so that's really, really important to me too. because we can only do and deliver on our goals if we build a strong team to do that and just as someone who has run the organization before, that was a huge priority for me too. linda: brian bennett from "time" to your right. reporter: thanks so much for talking to us today. what were your takeaways from the republican primaries from the active polls? particularly the nikki haley vote? are there any openings for democrats in messaging that come out of that in order to reach some of those nikki haley voters? particularly the five trump districts. ms. delbene: i think something that we were just talking about,

which is kind of how there are a lot of traditional republicans out there who have no home, who are looking for an alternative to the extremism and dysfunction that we see from the maga republicans who have taken over, and how at the heart of that is people want to see governance work and they want folks who are going to listen and talk about ideas and that's why having candidates who are actually going to engage on tough issues and talk about them and talk about the kind of -- what can we do in congress at least to help address these issues, and where people feel like they can have an honest exchange, that's really, really important. and the not just important for former republicans, it's important for everyone to feel that they have a representative who is going to listen and they trust that they're going to make good decisions based on that information. so i think it validates some of

what we've been talking about before, that there's a lot of disaffected folks on the republican side who aren't sure what happened to their party. who want to see folks who are interested in governing and they're looking for candidates who are going to do that and i think, for example, those five candidates i was talking about in the trump districts have been great examples of that. reporter: in those district, are you concerned that the voters could split their ballots, so not vote for trump, but then vote for the republican candidate down ballot? how are you handling those voters that might be interested in trying to split their vote? ms. delbene: you know, our job is to turn out the vote and make sure our candidates win and the reason i say that is, you know, there are some places where we might overlap with where there's going to be more of a focus, a district that might be a focus for the presidential election. but we also have a lot of races

in places where you're not going see as much of a focus on the presidential side because people, you know, in new york or california, where the presidential race, these are strong blue states, but our individual congressional districts can look very different and so we're going to have a focus there and the focus is on those congressional races and there may not be as much of that national focus there versus michigan or nevada where you may see senate races and the presidential race also play a big role. so we have to look at that kind of from the different perspectives depending on where the races are in terms of what it means, the work that we need to do to help turn out the vote, and the infrastructure we need to help build on those campaigns, versus other places where there may be kind of more

shared efforts and so it's going to be different for us depending on what part of the country we're talking about. linda: let's see. next to brian at the end. can you introduce yourself? reporter: jamie from creative syndicate. this is my first monitor breakfast. thank you. congresswoman, how closely are you coordinating with democratic senate races to pick up on this point? do you have like daily or weekly discussions? ms. delbene: so we talk -- we absolutely talk with our colleagues, we talk with state parties, we talk with folks about work that's happening, are there places where we are doing work that is shared work, places where we're going to do things that are different? if you look at a statewide race, they might have particular parts of the state that they're really focused on, that may or may not

be places where we have congressional districts where we're focused on. so sometimes there may be synergy, sometimes there may be not. and also kind of depends on candidates and kind of how they want to run their campaigns. so -- but yes, we talked to folks and understand what's happening and -- both with folks at the d.n.c., and what's happening within a state in terms of what they're doing, location elections, could be governor races and things like that, or initiatives that might be on the ballot to really inform us what else is happening and what else is going to be on the ballot in that particular district. linda: and then next. can you introduce yourself? reporter: thank you. i'm steven with the associated press $.. i wanted to ask you along the lines of purple districts. this week we saw a number of democrats from purple districts voting for legislation that condemned biden policies on israel and the border.

and how important do you think it is that those democrats differentiate themselves from some of those policies that might not be popular back home? ms. delbene: so i think they all are going to bring their point of view in terms of what they think needs to be done. that's what they should do. folks want them to be a strong voice for their community and stand up for the policies they think are right for their communities. and so in all of these cases we are talking about, you know, swing districts and places where people hear differing points of view. they're going to make decisions on what they think is best for their districts and we want them to stand up and talk about what positions they think -- what policies we should move and they may have disagreements with the administration in some cases, some cases not. whatever that may be, they are speaking up for their communities. so that's really important because there is no one singular

point of view, especially in purple districts, and so i think it's really important for candidates to make sure that they're willing to stand up for their communities and are a unique voice for their communities. reporter: a follow-up. you mentioned nebraska, iowa, montana, all of those trump will almost certainly win. how specifically do democrats in those states outperform biden on the ballot? ms. delbene: let's be clear. they've been -- we've had strong fundraising, i was talking about how our candidates, especially these first two quarters of this year, have been outraising their republican opponents on average, that we have -- even like a don bacon in nebraska, he won his primary by 60% which was a pretty weak showing on his side. and tony vargas is running a really strong campaign in a great position. so if you continue to look at each of these races, we've got

republicans who have kind of called themselves these traditional moderates and they're just not. don bacon has tried to scrub his website on his positions on reproductive rights. there is no moderate there. and we want to make sure not only we hold republicans accountable for their positions, and people are aware of that, but also show there's another option which is to elect someone who actually is focused on the needs of the community and hasn't kind of decided to give their vote to whatever the former president or extreme leaders in the house have told them to do. that's really important, i think that's where we have an incredible opportunity and that's why i think you're going to see us win in districts like that. linda: ok. final question. lauren from the financial times. to your left. reporter: thank you for doing this. just a follow-up. israel has come up a couple of times but i'm wondering if you could speak a little bit more

about how you're advising candidates to kind of navigate this issue? it's obviously divided the party. i'm also interested in how concerned you are or are not about this weighing onioning voters in particular -- weighing on young voters in particular? ms. delbene: i get asked a lot about how we're advising candidates and i think my advice for candidates has always been, it's important for you to have an authentic voice and talk about what you would do, how you feel on issues, because people can tell if someone's scripted and not really talking about their feelings and on such an important issue, i think it's really important that people talk authentically about their positions, what they think needs to happen, and also, frankly, call out the cynicism that we've seen from republicans who, even this most recent piece of legislation they put on the floor on israel, had nothing to

do with helping to address an issue. it was a political move on their part. and to highlight that on a very serious issue that we should be talking about with our communities, republicans continue to put their politics first. and so i think that's important and we want to continue to hold republicans accountable for not putting the needs of people in their communities first. and then on the contrast, the contrast is really stark and we will continue to make that case on that contrast. when you are going to vote, you're going to have a choice between, you know, a candidate who is going to stand up for your rights and your freedoms, and a candidate who frankly is only willing to support extreme views and that's -- i'm saying that generically. that seems to be the case we have in every district across the country. and i think for young people who

are really sincerely concerned about what the future looks like for their families, for their peers, their communities, what the world looks like in the future, it's really important that they're able to have representatives who they can engage with, who share their values moving forward and i think that's going to continue to be the conversation because not voting, just stepping aside, means you're letting someone else decide for you. and the consequences of that can be pretty damaging if we are in a place where we lose our rights, our >> i'm going to do everything to get turnout because turnout is critical and younger voters haven't turned out and that is a top priority. >> i know you need to get to the

hill. thank you so much for doing this. and i hope you come back. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org.

ms. herrera beutler: 's a look what is coming up. at 5:55 p.m. an episode series, brown versus board of education supreme court decision. today marks the 70th anniversary. and at 7:30, this week's campaign trail 2024 and and robert f. kennedy in austin, texas and and later at 9:00 p.m., a debate posing the question should the united states close its borders. watch these programs on c-span or