With the upcoming elections in 2022, Moulitsas and Eleveld focused on analyzing the Republicans’ current message and strategy. Both are at a loss that the party has yet to cobble together the semblance of a coherent strategy that would enable them to compete in crucial battlefields and states. In particular, Eleveld spoke about the power of swing districts and how news needs to be targeted to voters in those districts:
[For the House], the places where control of the lower chamber is decided will really be on the fringes in these swing districts. And Trump is not going to help them. Trump is ranting about his 2020 loss and spreading the Big Lie and stuff – that won’t help them in the swing districts. So the question is, how many swing districts are there and how much can they protect their swinging incumbents? And where they cannot protect them, Trump is a disaster for them in these districts.
Moulitsas noted that there had been no anti-Biden Republican equivalent of the Democratic anti-Trump “resistance” movement. He wondered, “What math are you doing that makes sense to keep clinging to Donald Trump’s leg?” Eleveld speculated that Republicans might now have a moment when they regret their decision not to completely expel him from the party after Jan. 6, as it will surely affect their chances of retaking the House and Senate next year .
In particular, Eleveld highlighted the GOP’s devotion to talking about the same issues that only distract from any kind of substantive political discussion and the focus of the violence on the southern border on the 6th – they want to talk about people crossing the southern border – Trump calls it there are still “caravans”, [though] that’s not really the case right now – they want to talk about critical racial theory. None of them … want to talk about January 6th and the stolen election. That is of no use to them in these swing districts or in these swing states where senators are upstairs. ”
Moulitsas also commented on what he believed to be a major mistake by the Republicans:
They had reached an agreement with the Democrats on a committee that would be severely paralyzed. It had a tough deadline to get ready by the end of the year so it wouldn’t spill over into the bulk of the electoral cycle, and it gave Republicans a chance to veto. So we can all imagine how useless this committee would have been – a sham farce. And yet, because Donald Trump made a statement or said something, they all got scared and killed it. And now you have a Democrat-led – and dominated – committee at this point … The Democrats control 100% of the subpoena, the Republicans have no real say, and there is no artificial deadline to finish this thing by the end of the year. Will it change many minds? I don’t know if it will change a lot of opinions, but it will stay in the back of people’s minds that it will.
When it comes to news for Democrats, Eleveld believes there is a certain line of news that will work well, and if the Democrats stay on the right track with this, it could lead them to victory again. “I think it’s not 2018. It’s 2022,” she said. “I think it will be important that they don’t just say, ‘We deliver for society; Republicans are a threat to that. ‘”
Moulitsas agreed, hoping that Democrats can focus and make sure they don’t let the GOP control the narrative: “Halfway through is a referendum; it is usually a referendum on the newly elected president. 2022 can either be a referendum on Joe Biden – and Republicans will expand it to a referendum on the Squad and “creepy blacks” – or it can be a referendum on Donald Trump. “
Moulitsas and Eleveld welcomed Emily Cain to the show at this point, and she spoke about her personal and political background, the work of EMILY’s List, and why she believes more women running for office help make a better country for to create all of us.
Cain began her political career at the young age of 24. She ran for Maine State House and won what ended a 10-year term in the legislature. During her tenure, she served as a minority leader in the House of Representatives and eventually helped convert the Chamber into a democratic majority in 2012.
Cain came from no political family but began her career in music education and education policy, which led to her interest in the challenges of affordability, access, success, and higher education. “And that was when I started connecting the dots between the issues I cared about and really bad decisions by elected officials – things like student debt, underfunding Pell grants, underfunding public higher education,” said Cain. “That drove me to run for office at the age of 24. I went to my senator, told her what was important to me and asked her if she could help me get a job in the statehouse. And she said, ‘Have you ever thought of running for office?’ “
When Cain ran, EMILY’s list was instrumental in supporting her victorious campaign, and she stressed that the organization helped her in a holistic way that primarily took into account her human identity:
EMILY’s list came to my aid. We took them back [state House] Majority. And just then it so happened that a few months later I started running for Congress, and of course EMILY’s list was my first call … I saw [the relationship] now from both sides. I felt like EMILY’s list saw me as a candidate as a real person – not just a person on a table of fundraising numbers, but a real, living, living, breathing person who needed help to get this right. I am now on the other side and can confirm to all the women we help that the help is as personal as I have experienced it. And I think for myself I try to bring into this work that it is important that we deal with candidates. And how we see them as a whole people, and not just another Democrat, makes all the difference.
Since joining the organization as executive director, Cain has helped spearhead waves of key advocates over the last few terms. In addition to the routine training of women for candidacy, EMILY’s List worked with over 1,000 candidates in the last cycle between state and federal elections. The organization has also helped elect 157 women to the US House of Representatives and 26 to the US Senate, as well as 16 governors and more than 1,300 local and state officials.
Moulitsas asked Cain about difficulties the organization is facing, including threats to candidates. Cain responded that almost all women running for office will face threats, and black and brown women are more likely to face serious threats to their lives:
Unfortunately, there was a direct link between the threats to … we saw it in high profile cases like Governor Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan. The high profile people might have caught people’s attention, but women at all levels of election faced the same threats – women of color, especially. At EMILY’s List, we try to work with best practices, with community, with security and with advice. But we also know that our women’s voices need to be heard, that this will only change if we help them get elected. Then we come with the power and support of our Super PAC, our campaign advisors, our 5 million-strong community who … help support these women not only with millions of dollars but with calls and emails, and general support only.
Cain added that this is not an easy job and that the definition of success is not just, “Let’s get 50% women in office”. The definition of success, as she described it, is choosing as many women as possible and, furthermore, making it easier for future generations of women. “The image of Kamala Harris taking her oath of office on January 20th changed careers for little girls everywhere who now saw someone who looked like them take that oath of office. Now I want to make sure the little girl is old enough to run, that the barriers Kamala Harris faced, the racism and sexism that we saw take center stage last year [are gone]. I want to make sure the little girl has an easier time when she’s old enough to be in the White House, ”she said.
Eleveld and Moulitsas were concerned about a possible decline in Democratic women’s interest in running after Biden is president, but Cain offered some comforting news, revealing that their team has been inundated with requests from women keen to run for office. “They say, ‘Emily, what do you do if more than one woman wants to run for a primary?'” Cain said. “[I say] bring the primaries with multiple women. Let’s make it difficult for ourselves. Let us have more options. “
In closing, Cain shared this glimpse into the Democrats’ chances for the next year and what she’s seen and learned about women running for office:
For us, in my opinion, the gravitas has become commonplace that we do not take anything for granted. And I’ll say, you see, we also know that in the past few years we haven’t gotten that good at predicting what’s going to happen … Barack Obama was not eligible until he was elected, Donald Trump was not eligible until he was elected was elected, and then the women were ineligible until they were elected, so the past may not be as much prologue as it used to be. But we can make this story if we recruit women for these positions. And that’s exactly what we’re doing at EMILY’s List – we’re changing the narrative.
Do I know what 2022 will look like? No. But I know women on the ballot mean more women win and more Democrats win – period. Because of this, EMILY’s list has already been endorsed for the North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin Senates. We already supported each other in the race for governor of Ohio. So we have all confirmed our incumbents … because there are no more free years with so much at stake.
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