Aljazeera. Hi im Steve Clemons and i have a question whats brewing in heartland america are classic republican strongholds going wobbly and are democrats poised to turn a lot of red states blue lets get to the bottom line. Many local elections were held across the United States last week and both parties found reason to celebrate virginia turned from red to blue and as a sign that times are changing to muslim women were elected to Public Office in that state elsewhere republicans held their ground and even made some gains so is there a National Trend here or there are just too many unknowns like impeachment which is going to get really big this week and the lack of a democratic challenger to face donald trump were fortunate today because we have 3 people in this room who just have all the answers may shew want to seat on the school board of Fairfax County virginia just became the youngest elected official in the States History channel king a strategist for the Republican Party is cofounder of speak georgia a Town Hall Forum for people to talk about politics and Simon Rosenberg is strategist for the Democratic Party and advisor to former president bill clinton and the president of the new Democrat Network so good to have you all here today uproar congratulations i know you just want to election is the youngest person ever to win a race in virginia so whats all that about what is motivating you right now to throw your hat in the ring and congratulations on your win thank you and thank you for having me you know its more so a testament really to where we are and where you know where are we where are we so you know i would even throughout my work on the campaign knocking on doors while being a member of the party and having to navigate those kinds of relation the Democratic Party the Democratic Party who endorsed of course because of iran and that realizing that this connect oftentimes between what the elites are talking about what folks you know who are in power talking about versus just the basic conversations that are happening at the doors and thats kind of what motivated our campaign and made it about representation having everyone so drill down for. Just when youre out there youre running as an independent tree talking to republicans youre talking to talking to other philippe did you know what are the things they care most about when you i know you were trying to run for the school board right maybe youre saying is what were they saying hey i really want to talk about x. What are the things they want to write i mean you know you had folks who would talk about Mental Health services in the schools you had folks and that was consistently by the way students especially their number one issue you had families talking about safety in the schools and this conversation about gun control and their concerns related to that you had some of them special needs parents who would just complain about the difficulty of raising a child with special needs and the School Systems you know whether theyre supportive of that or not so youd see that the conversations are far more related to their daily life than the Grassroots Level of whats going on for their child in the school whether they can access an advanced academic memory not whether the child was bullied in school or discriminated against those are the conversations have to be either like real issues and i want to tell a scientist but i want to ask you when youre out there and theyre talking and right now youve got the Democratic Party i know youre an independent i respect that but it sounds like you got a little bit of a divorce my democrat you have a little bit of a chill there so i am so in a little bit to tell you have as you look at the process by which we have debates going on we have one coming up on november 20th weve got joe biden we may have Mike Bloomberg weve got to go with warren weve got mayor pete to judge when you look at that realm of people are they doing it for you. Well i do think that were having very healthy conversations i think that they are a healthy conversation where i have a tie that i merely drive for a while while also so i used to work at the d. N. C. Actually and it was a year and i would. You know so by law i mean the pretty great ok so just to clarify it got. There were the rest there was you know with the with hillarys election thats happening with the bernie kind of factional right party you know who are the progressives who are the all the democrats whats going on and thats really symbolic of the National Conversation right lynn what were seeing again locally versus on a National Scale so when you see that array of candidates theyre really reflective of the common mans issue that populist kind of argument right while you know still live in tucson i mean if youre deep into the tectonics of the Democratic Party and youre not independent. Whats going on is there a civil war going on you know as as a broad just talked about i mean she didnt say if the civil war but the she did basically said theres a divide down the middle of the party that she has to be expected frankly on empower our parties have to represent 51 percent of the country they hope and so you do have factions and wings and debates that are going on but i do think that i was a Senior Advisor to the House Democrats in 2018 and at the teachable c. And i was very involved and i was flipping the house and i think the single thing is a win because of you know i like to say i definitely helped but i think the thing that people underestimate i think many voters right now democrats are not motivated by ideology as much as they are they feel the countrys in trouble and they want to strong leader to be able to take on try and lead the country to a better place and see the candidates who are succeeding right now bidens a serious person warren recast herself as the woman with plans who judges a veteran speaks 7 languages conveys the sense of gravity and i think its those candidates who present themselves as serious people in a time of struggle theyre doing well which is why i think joe bidens new set of ads which are very much like a general election taking on donald trump that just came out this morning is really tapping. Into the most important sentiment in the democratic family right now which is were worried about a future we want a experienced person of gravity to take take on these great with the least interesting democrats right now running. Well. I think that the most interesting is happened in our race will the candidates have been locked out by the d. N. C. Process right this very aggressive debate schedule weve now got the possibility where Mike Bloomberg mayor of new york for 12 years book of governor right weve got you know Deval Patrick if he gets in a governor and theres one more theres a 4th cat Michael Bennett senator from colorado all thoughtful serious experienced people wont be in this next set of debates but also gabbert and andrea and well be right and i think that so the question will be is that do democrats really give this new group kind of a look and will race open up a little bit from sort of the very static race that weve had over the last several months you know youre not an independent either your help with your if youre here you know and i really appreciate you joining us today but i want to ask you you know as you look at i interviewed Vice President biden in 2016 and he made a comment which i still hear ringing in my head today said you know the Democratic Party had become a party of snobs and he saw this before the donald Trump Victory over Hillary Clinton he said that had become a party of snobs and left a lot of people behind your republican now and im interested in as you look at your own political dashboard why are you a republican and did joe bidens admonition about the party have something to do with that so no nothing that joe biden said to me being a republican but i will say that you know im a republican because i far firmly believe in the principles of the party in the values of the party for what are those principles yet so Smaller Government personal responsibility being able to take care of your own the 2nd amendment these are things that are really really important to me especially as an africanamerican what about all those other amendments. The im all human club and you know which is which which is which i mean i dont mean to be facetious about it but sometimes you know folks out there say hey you know republicans know one amendment and its the 2nd amendment now but dont really Pay Attention a lot of the other amendments and i mean thats whats going to play out in this impeachment process is is there a respect for the constitution as a whole and im just id like to just understand as you look at it whether these other pieces of the constitution matter and whether the leadership right now in the Republican Party you worry that its not paying attention now absolutely it matters but as you opened this this segment this show were talking about the ads actual average voter and were talking about individuals who are not as politically involved as we have the ability to do because this is what we do were talking about people who go to work every single day were talking about parents who in some cases a lot of cases they are Single Parents who are unable to attend p. T. A. Meetings because theyre working 2 jobs and and so more or less they are focusing on issues that are pertinent for their household so yes all of the other amendments matter and all that its really important but when i am talking to actual voters and im on the ground and im doing my town halls i am listening to what im actually affects them with the day to day basis and all this other stuff does not put food in their childrens mouths or turn the lights on at the end of the day fasting i want you all to listen to a tape a clip we have right here of the president at a rally that you attended called black voices for trump in atlanta on november 8th. Last year democrats even shut down the government to preserve benefits for Illegal Immigrants never have they forget that hard to do anything for the African American community they dont fight that way. I see a mom with the they dont fight for the Africanamerican Community. They would rather have illegal aliens come and health care schools. Ginnell jaded political analysts would look at that clip and say classic roger ailes you know the former fox news executive advisor to nixon divide and conquer and so is the president trying to set immigrants against the Africanamerican Community from your perspective no not at all what the president is doing is highlighting something thats been going on for over 50 years as africanamericans that have voted democratic city jiggly and for a number a number of years we have gotten absolutely nothing in return other than our vote so he says hey you cant get any worse with cs youre totally agree this points at this point i and i know a lot of africanamericans who said you know what im going to try Something Different and they are pleased with it because often times our community is lumped into the category of minority which is nothing wrong with that in the grand scheme of things however everybody every community may have similar issues but we prioritize them differently and this is what the president is saying abrar youre the granddaughter of libyan immigrants which i think is totally cool and congratulations again your 1st but yeah exactly you know were going to put a graph up here and we see that in this in this graph the black community actually has less problem you know less of an issue restricting immigration policy in the White Community does and we but when you look at the views of immigrants really across the board all americans white black hispanic very very high in the in the high eightys and ninetys of appreciation for immigrants so this says Something Interesting to me that this notion about immigrants a new immigrants coming in is a new thing but nonetheless you have baked into the d. N. A. Of americans across all these groups a real respect for immigrants but i mention what you felt when you were running because people may look at you they may see you and we think that your recent immigrant and when youre not yeah absolutely and thats something you confront you know i confronted on a daily basis in a variety of you know the deal with this oh absolutely you know whether its someone not being able to get past it and only talking to me about my. Politics or arabic are Different Things that are not the conversation im trying to have or you know oftentimes more sinister experiences that weve had but really to me that why this is important is showing the folks who are making gains on the local level or in politics in general are the ones in touch you know immigration or race are just labels really for the feelings underlying a lot of these topics and we can see how you know folks who are running for Office Especially as someone whos been doing it you know for the past year and a half now manipulate these different feelings and emotions that underlie a lot of these topics right over stations for their own gains immigration i mean that was never a real conversation about what immigrants bring because there are facts that back up to you know how their contribution to society and all of that let alone of course just the humanity and the fact that theyre escaping a lot oftentimes horrific you know scenarios but if we were to have a fact based conversation i think we would all agree on that and when its a one on one conversation even with a voter who may not understand you know what were scared so you can break a lot of that down to a bore is fair i mean i want to put you on the spot here for a minute and it may be unfair to you as you look at President Trump and the Republican Party are there things that that party could do to appeal to Muslim Americans here because you know is a contrary and shes interesting you know 8 percent of the voted for President Trump so she sort of sees something there but are there things there are some as americans who vote for trump i dont know what the numbers are i know that 32 percent of hispanics voted for president drop in this im just issued what would be some of those those issues that would attract you if you saw them yeah no i mean ill start off by saying that i dont think either party has really positioned itself to accommodate minorities or you know whether its african or male its you know as the Muslim Community immigrants. Because there are still elites who want to maintain that their clenched that kind of power and make it exclusive because right about their own survival. And thats just the matter of fact the reality of how some of this is that up you know when i was running within the party and of course they faced even from the democrats i mean thats just a reality so we know in terms of issues that would attract me i think my generation has become you know as we know from Political Attitudes is more inclusive is less respectful of institutions and is kind of tired of this limiting 2 Party Structure that that forces you to pick a side instead maybe we can talk about you know expanding Health Care Education for everybody things that are common sense that you can have a republican a democrat on opposite ends can have a conversation about and arrive at a place that is sensible and right works for everyone but on a National Scale when it becomes about optics and sensational you know conversation you lose a lot of that nuance and just polarize simon is there anything the Republican Party or donald trump could do that would impress you in a way and kind of give you if not their support at least your applause i just commenting coming at that in a slightly different way and whats been most interesting to me about the last couple years is that 3 areas are donald trump has gone on the attack right on immigration brain trade on Health Care Attitudes in the country have changed dramatically during his presidency the country now is 25 points more positive on obamacare the than it was 3 years ago attitudes on immigration have gone way up and even attitudes on trade and globalization have gone way up trump i think forced the conversation forced Many Americans to really think about these things in ways they hadnt before and in all 3 of them theyve come out against the president and the Republican Party in a way that i think is going to be dangerous for him as he goes into 2020 and so for me as a liberal but im gratified to see attitudes around race and immigration to to grow in a far more inclusive way during trial but i think hes forced the country to make choices on these things and the unfortunate thing for him and the Republican Party is that theyre choosing the other way in many cases. Issues that poll highest with africanamerican voters are health care and crime and and as you look at the cast of councilman i ask you the same thing in a moment but but 1st how do you think President Trump is doing on the Health Care Debate how do you think hes doing on the crime debate i think is doing wonderful but i will say this i i dont know necessarily where that data who they polled but when i talk to people in my own community right what i hear more than anything else the 2nd amendment. We are really really serious about maintaining our guns as well as education. For americans. Also africanamericans in general as republicans as a whole i think right now were just excited to have a president that is standing up and speaking bad and making sure that whenever there are attacks that are coming against him that he speaks the truth he leaves with citizens who leads with numbers and leaves were results and thats what we are happy about at this point we dont care much about any of the other aspects of all of this and when it comes to how do you how do you respond in the cases and i mean this you know not a knee jerk way but i really want to understand and im listening to you about our about the 2nd amendment and im surprised frankly im surprised to hear about that being a priority for the black community but when it comes to gun violence you see violence in schools and violence in kids theres been a lot of frustration even the president has come out and said we need to do something we need to get background checks then when the n. R. A. Comes in and he the president himself has flip flopped a number of times how does that play out there is that not a priority at some level i mean youre kids in schools too and yet you know i keep hearing about these not going to cover conversations and what to do and the trauma that this is creating among children is that not true as well you know what so in this goes back to my original statement about prioritizing issues right you know when we look at the 2nd amendment what we think about is the question around Police Brutality and discussion around the crime. It is in our neighborhood as it relates to related things of that nature we simply want to be able to protect ourselves and thats thats just it when you add in the children in the schools and all of that into a yes we definitely want our children to be protected and that is highly important but when you have individuals who are just focusing on that one portion of it you grossly neglect the other side which is why our community is actually leaving the Democratic Party in a mass exodus going to another side because once again the topic is not being driven out if i made you pick a democrat to vote for who would you like you know what ive said this from the very beginning that i was a democrat and i would look at it with my democratic ears that i put on every once in a while i actually may or pete i know that everyone is not with him and i know that there are a lot of issues a lot of contradictory hypocrisy on the democratic side when it comes to him thats one of the conversation. Ok but when i 1st heard mayor pete months ago he didnt enter the caucus he just it was there to explain to our global audience is that hes a gay former Service Member mayor in south bend indiana i assume thats the part that is the absolute hypocrisy is that i cant believe a party this would be so tolerant its not being tolerant to his life but thats just my personal opinion on that but when i go back to it i listen to him and listen to his policies and i felt like he was only when i actually made sense i feel like i lived with warren does not she cant can accomplish any of the things that shes listing off and i feel like joe bidens time has passed and then when it comes to Bernie Sanders again i mean we are not ready for a socialist so i thought mayor one of the things that strikes me as we talk about the currents going on politically in this country proposed republicans and democrats is that everythings in a 50 percent one i think simon just has this 50 percent one plus one mode and certainly what i just said about virginia going blue after being red. Its 50 percent plus one its barely literally right and it is been red for a long time so how how deep how substantial is this shift that we saw in virginia i mean to get back to the question we asked at the beginning is this a trend that were seeing right now or is there something deeper from your perspective deeper and more tectonic happening right i mean i would i would say you know like i said when i started that there is a rift or a disconnect between again the elites the leadership and what the conversations are happening on the ground with the people and thats what we see here i mean when we see people moving away from a party or some of these shifts i think its more so a dissatisfaction with what they have already been in and not necessarily an opting out opting into the other alternative and so you know if someone leaves their public a party because of trumps rhetoric or someone leaves the Democratic Party because they are disillusioned and realize that theyre just as bad as everyone else so. You know that then theyre forced to make new choices and especially on the local level or even on a state level when there are more discussions and are able in iraq to some of these candidates and hear their views out you end up having split votes we saw you know we had 6 candidates running in my race there were 6 candidates 6 candidates 3 you know democrats are you know well before but really. Very young but they mention it because oftentimes you know people thought youd people would fall arent going to vote either the 3 republicans or the 3 democrats right but you would find you know different choices being made i mean even when you look at the numbers some people voted to a time of crisis when the public and switched around right so i would have for the immigrants so i mean how about you i mean you see this is it is a deeper shift i mean because right now were looking at kentucky we see the republicans lost there but they want to quote the slate across the state of mississippi they won every every every seat in the if you saw a red or a blue wave coming you would have seen some slippage there so so i mean just just talk back to me if youre getting i think using data and facts is that the biggest divide in the country right now is really among people over 45 and under 45. People over 45 youre saying that youre. Formally division here right is that you know there are marginally republican right i mean they remember reagan right who was one of the most powerful president s weve ever had and certainly in recent memory and their view of the Republican Party is very generous right if you look at people under 45 who have experienced the 2 bushes Clinton Obama and now donald trump 2018 democrats won that world by plus 25 i mean this is why shes such a contrarian right shes not only young which is minority but its not true that young people who are minorities are leaving the Democratic Party i mean whats in fact the gap that we see now is bigger than its ever been theres never been a generation in American History thats been above plus 7 plus 81. 00 way or the other so the real challenge for the Republican Party in the tectonic plates is that the tectonic plates are shifting and the country is looking every day a lot more like california right you know than it is arkansas and one of the reasons that george is becoming more competitive is because people are moving in because of the Strong Economy from outside of georgia in the way it happened in virginia the way theyre happening in texas and its our changing our states so now i want to ask you the same but as you do it i also want as we as we bring this this is home id like to hear from you because i know that this must be an interesting position for you to to share with us in short form what you think a winning message for 2020 really is i absolutely think a winning message for 2020 as a republican is to focus on business and the economy because im telling you that is what im hearing that is what the community is needing is someone who understands that and it all of the other you know shenanigans thats happening again i go back to my original statement it does not put food on the table and it most certainly does not turn the lights off so thats important just to your point about the yes there is a mass exodus coming from a lot of minority groups which no one pays attention to so its like everyone thinking that oh no everyones. You know all the young people are still democrats but thats typically young white democrats right now a lot of minorities are shifting over its i think you know what is this not waiting message that is very different the 2nd is with a message for the democrats you know we have to be better than trump we cant just its not about beating him its we have to present a better vision for the economy and for how we get along and being strong in the world again i think you know most president ial elections are simple right its Foreign Policy the Economy Health care this one i dont think will be any different and i think you know look were were far ahead right now in the polls but you know how we choose our nominee we could make a bad choice i think that warren and sanders would be a very dangerous choice for the democrats are your my independent what is the way the message because i have a good bet its going to pick the next president its a what is the winning message for that campaign athan to city i think thats people want to feel they can trust and connect with their leader you know conversations surrounding things that are in touch with the american what the American People are hurting about and then good pop good policy and promise of solution you know a sense of credibility that this person will get it done i think thats a people looking for well we will leave it there id like to thank you all for being with us our bravo maisha newly elected member of the school board of Fairfax County virginia john l. King republican analyst and cofounder of speak georgia and Simon Rosenberg democratic analyst and president of the new Democrat Network thank you all so much for being with me today this was fun. So what is the bottom line what we heard today is that all politics is local the conversations that people are having may not fit it all with the conversations in washington whether they are republican or democrat a Muslim American woman the youngest candidate to win ever in virginia didnt win by talking about impeachment but rather by talking about how minority children were being left out of Educational Opportunities and a black woman in the land has very specific reasons why she supports President Trump what this tells me is that the year ahead is full of surprises the divides are growing not only between cities and rural areas but within the parties themselves and thats the bottom line. Capturing a moment in time. The snapshots of other lives. Of the stories. 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