LEILA FADEL, HOST:
For more on the decision by California voters to approve a new congressional map and what Democrats learned from last night's wins across the country, we are joined by Democratic Representative Suzan DelBene. She's the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of House Democrats. She also represents Washington state's 1st Congressional District. Good morning, Congresswoman, and thank you for being here.
SUZAN DELBENE: Good morning.
FADEL: So last night, a successful night for your party, including in California where Governor Gavin Newsom argued that Democrats have to, quote, "fight fire with fire" after President Trump pushed Texas to change its map to favor Republicans. This redistricting measure in California has now passed. I mean, do you agree that this is the right strategy?
DELBENE: Well, you know, you talked about what President Trump did. He called up Republicans in Texas and said, give me five seats. This is not what the people of Texas asked for. People reject it across the board in Texas. And across the country, people have wanted to stand up and fight back because their representation is impacted. The people of California's representation's impacted if Republicans are gerrymandering across the country. And so it actually went to the voters in California, unlike what happened to Texas. And they spoke up and they spoke loudly that we're going to fight back, but also, we're going to stand up to make sure you can't gerrymander a majority across the country and take away our representation.
FADEL: Yeah. I mean, California seemed to agree with the strategy, right? Some 7 million people showed up to vote on this, and this proposition passed handily. But what does it mean then for the future of voting and democracy if these redistricting efforts and the tit for tats continue?
DELBENE: Well, I - also key in California is it was temporary. It was clear this was a response to what Republicans are doing and want - they want to go back to a commission going forward. We need to make sure that - and Democrats have supported making sure that we have fair maps across the country. It's Republicans who have been constantly redistricting - mid-cycle redistricting and who are now looking at state after state. We're going to fight back to make sure that we have strong representation across the country. And this is what we're - this is the effort right now, is to make sure folks are fighting back every way possible because we want to make sure that the people's house is still representative of the people, not just rigged by Republicans. And, you know, if they were winning, if they - I mean, in the hearts and the minds of American people, this is not what they're - would be doing. They're doing this because they know that people are not with them. And instead of looking at how their policies are hurting the American people, they've decided they just need to change the rules.
FADEL: Well, Republicans would argue - maybe not mid-cycle - that Democrats have done similar things in the past when it comes to making maps more favorable to them. But I want to talk about the larger takeaways from last night. You had very different Democrats win last night. Mamdani in New York who's a Democratic socialist, an immigrant whose message was laser-focused on affordability, winning the mayor's race in New York City. And then, quote-unquote, "more moderate Democrats" like Governors-elect Spanberger in Virginia, also Sherrill in New Jersey. These wins, what do they say about what voters want from your party going forward?
DELBENE: Well, I think you saw across the board races focused on affordability, on lowering costs - the No. 1 issue across the country, No. 1 issue last cycle. Donald Trump promised to lower costs on Day 1. It's been a big broken promise from Republicans this entire year - costs going up, policies put in place that actually hurt working families. And so across the board, you saw candidates talking about what they are going to do to lower costs across the country. And both Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, members of Congress who won in swing districts, who now are - won important races for governor, really talk about how important it is to have folks who appeal across the ideological spectrum and are bringing these purple communities together. And I think voters spoke out loudly and clearly. They want leaders who are going to stand up for them.
FADEL: Congresswoman Suzan DelBene is a - is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Thank you for your time.
DELBENE: Thank you.
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