Inside the Democratic campaign strategy to reclaim control of the House

The dramatic changes in the presidential race could have implications for the other major battles for control of the House and Senate. Both chambers are up for grabs with Democrats particularly hopeful about flipping the House of Representatives. Lisa Desjardins discussed that effort with Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Read the Full Transcript

Geoff Bennett: The dramatic changes in the presidential race could have implications for control of the House and Senate. Both chambers are up for grabs, with Democrats hopeful about flipping the House.

Our Lisa Desjardins has more with the lawmaker overseeing that effort.

Lisa Desjardins: Suzan DelBene represents a long stretch of Western Washington state in Congress, and two years ago became the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That’s DCCC, for short. Her job is to oversee Democrats’ push to keep and gain seats in the House.

And she joins me now. Thank you for joining us.

Now, your colleagues, I have been speaking to them, as have many reporters over the last few weeks. They were very nervous about Biden when he was the nominee. Many House Democrats felt like he was going to hurt them downballot.

Now, with Harris as the presumptive nominee, has anything changed? What should she do for those downballot races that you care about so much?

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA): Well, first, we have incredible candidates running across the country who are unique voices for their districts. So they have been running strong.

But there is definitely heightened energy and enthusiasm all across the country. Folks are excited, and this election is a huge contrast. It’s about folks who are standing up for our rights, our freedom, our democracy, and our future and our Democratic candidates out there, and folks who want to undermine all of that, take away our rights and undermine our democracy. And so there’s a lot at stake.

And people see that. They’re very motivated and engaged and involved all across the country. And so we know, when we can get our message out to voters and talk to them about standing up for reproductive freedom, making sure that we build an economy that works for everyone in this country, grow the middle class, we win. And we’re continuing to get that message out.

And, obviously, the enthusiasm will be really helpful.

Lisa Desjardins: After the Harris announcement and Biden stepping down, the Harris campaign saw a massive surge in fund-raising. You also had a one-day record right after that. But has that continued?

What does the money and sort of activism look like on your end?

Rep. Suzan DelBene: Well, we have been outraising our Republican counterparts all this cycle.

The DCCC, our committee, has been out raising our Republican counterpart by a lot. And we have — our candidates and our incumbents running in tough reelections have been out raising their opponents. But we did see a big uptick when Vice President Harris was announced as the new candidate, and had our biggest online fund-raising day.

And — but we have continued to see strong support. And those resources are important, because we have a lot of races across the country in the House, and we need to make sure that folks know who our candidates are, what they stand for, fight the mis- and dis-information that will be out there, because, again, when we get that information out there, we win.

Lisa Desjardins: This House was famous for the close margin that Republicans were running by, which, of course, caused them problems in their leadership repeatedly.

You have to flip a handful of seats around the country in order to take the House. Now, looking at The Cook Political Report, they rate right now there’s about 22 toss-up races. And of those, 11 are Democratic-held right now, 11 are Republican held.

But if you look at the ones that you all hold, I noticed the majority of those are in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, manufacturing types of states. Why is it that Democrats are now defending in those areas, where there used to be such a core constituency of working-class Americans that Democrats could count on?

Rep. Suzan DelBene: Well, I actually think the reason that we have those seats and are going to keep those seats is because our focus always has been on growing and strengthening the middle class, talking to people about the issues that they’re facing in their communities, making sure we’re addressing affordability, the cost of housing, of food, childcare, and making sure that we’re focused on opportunities for workers, not tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected, which seems to be a top priority of Republicans.

That’s been part of our message of making sure that folks know we’re working to get things done in our communities. And when we do that and folks see our authentic candidates who are fighting for them, they continue to support them. And these are purple districts, right?

Lisa Desjardins: Some voters hold you responsible and the Biden administration particularly for increased grocery prices. They have gotten pretty rough right now and housing prices.

What’s your message to them to say, no, we’re going to make it better, we’re not the ones to blame? How do you do that?

Rep. Suzan DelBene: Well, I actually think this is about who’s actually fighting for an economy that works for everyone.

And we absolutely have been, if you look at policies and the ongoing work that’s going on. And there’s more to do. We’re talking about addressing affordable housing across this country. We need more housing in every part of our country. We need — when we’re talking about addressing costs or even looking at tax policy, it’s about putting working families first.

Republicans have been all about tax breaks for the wealthy and the well-connected and kind of their idea that it will trickle down. That never works. We have been supporting policies to help families, like the expanded child tax credit that have helped families pay bills, pay for childcare, pay for rent, and policies that help reduce childhood poverty across our country almost in half.

So we can do much more to build on policies like that, that help families. And we are talking about that and the work that will really make a difference on the ground. But, first, we have got to have folks who are willing to govern. Republicans have been chaotic, dysfunctional, extreme this entire Congress. We got sent home early because they don’t know how to pass any legislation.

So having folks who are actually going to be focused on governing is so important to every part of the country that I have been to. And we have got folks who want to govern.

Lisa Desjardins: In just 30 seconds, while Vice President Harris is now the presumptive nominee on your side, the Republicans have someone new as well, Senator J.D. Vance, now their vice presidential nominee.

Some Democrats tell me they think that’s good for you guys. Do you think that he helps Democrats possibly, in a few words?

Rep. Suzan DelBene: Well, I think if you just listen to what he’s been saying when he’s been on the road, he continues to parrot the talking points of Republicans, putting in place a nationwide abortion ban, taking away reproductive freedom, taking away our rights, undermining our democracy.

He continues to talk about that. That’s part of the Republican platform. We’re going to stand up for our rights, our freedoms, our democracy, and build a strong future.

Lisa Desjardins: Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, thank you so much.

And I want to add, we have reached out to the National Republican Campaign Committee as well to request a similar interview with them.