The Christian Science monitor, he was asked about tuesdays elections in kentucky, virginia, mississippi and new jersey as well as the impeachment inquiry. Good morning. Im linda feldman. Washington bureau chief of the Christian Science monitor. Our guest is tom perez, chairman of the Democratic National committee. This is his third appearance on a monitor breakfast. Welcome, chairman perez, and congratulations on last night. For his background, chairman perez grew up in buffalo, new york, the son of immigrants from the dominican republic. He earned his bachelors degree from Brown University and a large degree from harvard. After graduating, he served in a number of government positions, wasked for a federal judge a federal prosecutor, advised senator kennedy, was in hhs under president clinton, became the first hispanic member of the perez was elected chairman of the Democratic National committee, which brings us to today. Now for the ground rules. We are on the record here. Please, no live blogging or tweeting. In short, no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway. There is no embargo when the session ends at 10 00. To we will email pictures all reporters here as soon as the breakfast ends. If you would like to ask a question, please send me a signal and i will call on as many of you as time permits. Mr. Perez. The floor is yours. Perez thank you for the additional invite to come back. It is an honor to be here with all of you. Two and a half years ago, february 2017, i ran for chair of the dnc, and iran under the promise that we were going to Work Together with our partners in the democratic ecosystem to build a 50state party so that we are competing everywhere, every year, in every zip code. And we are doing exactly that. 2017 virginia and new jersey, those elections taught us democrats could win again. A month later, the doug jones victory in alabama taught us we could win everywhere. 2018 was about scale, what can we do across the country at scale . We now have the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, the historic gains in the house, even in the headwinds of gerrymandering, where we not only had to win races, but frankly had to beat the spread in order to win so many seats. Last time we flipped this many governors seats firm red to blue prior to 2018 was 1982. The historic gains in state legislative seats. The work continued into 2019. And when i say the ecosystem, i mean the ecosystem. Yesterdays victory was a victory for all democrats. Ouras a victory for democratic values. I cant say enough about the great work of all the partners in the ecosystem. The democratic governors powerhouse, a invested over 5 million alone indirect investments in kentucky, not to mention other investments to help that race in kentucky. They made investments in mississippi as well. Let me say a moment about mississippi. We invested last year in mike sp, this year in jim hood, we are investing next year in mike sp again, because we are in it for the long haul. That is what a 50state party does. What i learned last night was that we indeed can win everywhere. And what is notable to me about the victory in kentucky is the similarity it has to our victory last year in wisconsin. It starts with candidate quality. In wisconsin we had a spectacular candidate for governor, tony e verse. In kentucky, a spectacular candidate for governor, andy bashir. Matt andy beshear. Andy is the attorney general. His father, when he was governor of kentucky, built one of the most effective healthcare exchanges in the country area and when matt bevin got elected, in the category of, it if it aint broke, break it, that is exactly what he proceeded to do. And people saw that. I firmly believe you cant govern effectively if you have to hate everybody you disagree with. That is what matt bevins ammo was. That is what scott walkers ammo was. And what you saw in andy yesterdayvictory was the culmination of a great candidate and Great Organization competing everywhere. In wisconsin, tony evers did better across the state. Scott walker lost 170 5000 votes between 2014 and 2018. About a quarter of that game was in milwaukee and madison, the rest was across the state, we competed everywhere and we were competitive everywhere. Same thing last night in kentucky. It wasnt simply louisville or lexington, although he ran up the score there. He did well in northern kentucky, kenton county, boone county, those areas where bevin had done so well for years ago. In cold country he won a number of counties, competing the rural parts of the state. So when you are in every zip and yourandidate, message resonates because he was talking about health care, talking about basic pocketbook issues, that is how he succeeded. Virginia, again, another example, and i cant say enough good things about the great work of the Democratic Legislative Campaign committee, an important player in the ecosystem. At the beginning of this term i spoke with jessica post, the remarkable leader of the d. L. And we talkedcc, about the fact that if we could flip roughly 40 seats intend legislative chambers this cycle, we would flip those chambers. That is on top of eight chambers flipped in the 2018 cycle. Two of those chambers jessica and i were talking about where the two chambers in virginia. Mission accomplished last night. In princee night William County. Prince William County embodies the challenges donald trump and his politics of division are confronting in todays world. It is the quintessential suburb that democrats continue to win across the country, whether virginia or pennsylvania in 18 or elsewhere. Stewart, former chair of the board there, practiced the politics of division. Democrats and virginians overwhelmingly rejected the politics of division and now have a majority on the prince William County board, and that is because we have, as a Democratic Party, we believe our diversity is our greatest strength. Mr. President , when you continue to divide america, that is not only unamerican, that is going to prove to be terrible politics for you because that is not who we are. Voters in virginia spoke up. The first muslim member of the state senate out of prince americanounty, a sikh elected last night in prince William County. That is what we are all about. We are competing everywhere. And when i look at Youth Engagement in virginia, early polling showing that Youth Engagement went up Something Like 200 or 300 , so young people are responding. This is the third year in a row donald trump has been president. We had 2017, 2018, 20 19. The common denominator in all of these is that democrats have been competing, winning and leading with our values. I am so appreciative of the ship of the dj, appreciative of the partnership of the dja, the dlcc, and in kentucky a new entity in the democratic ecosystem, the Democratic Data Exchange was created earlier this year, and the work that was done in kentucky last night was test for thetle Democratic Data Exchange. And that is a really important partner in the evergrowing democratic ecosystem, a partner that can annable everybody ready that can enable everybody running for office to have more information. We are proud to be a partner in kentucky, proud to invest 900,000 in the coordinated campaign, in addition to the work we did with the voter files and the partnership, but the state party chair, been self, is one of the best chairs in the country. You couldnt find a better candidate than andy beshear, and when you lead with your values, you can win. There is nothing weak about kindness and compassion, and in his acceptance speech, andy beshear said, i will be truly looking out for you, as opposed to the president the night before who said, you need to vote for matt bevin, otherwise it embarrasses me. Mr. President , elections are not about you. They are about the people we are trying to help. That is why democrats are winning. We are focused on helping people across this country. So i am excited for these results, but i am absolutely sober about the task at hand. That we are going to continue to compete early, everywhere, and together with our partners, as we now are less than one year from the most important election in my lifetime. Linda thank you. Im sure we will have more questions about yesterdays results. I want to ask about the 2020 race and this huge, diverse, potentially divisive president ial field. On the question of party unity, you have a unity pledge you have asked candidates to adhere to, andyou have talked about expanded unity pledge, which is just to have candidates serve as surrogates for the eventual nominee, but also have a Senior Adviser from each of their campaigns work with the winning candidate for the nomination, and also shared data, which is critical land which Bernie Sanders didnt do in 2016. Tell us where that stands, and your efforts to keep the party from flying apart as we get closer to the nomination. Unity is ourr greatest strength, and it is Donald Trumps worst nightmare. Our unity is what helped us win in 2017 and to win at scaling 2019, and when last night. Every candidate running for president understands this is not about them. Democracy at aur critical inflection point. That is why i asked every candidate not only to pledge to support the nominee, but to pledge to actively campaign for surrogatee, to have a , and ambassador, if and when they leave the race. Because one thing we know, if there are 20some odd people running for president , all but one are not going to make it to the mountaintop. And every one of them has signed the pledge. They signed a document early on that said they are running as a democrat. They made a very clear commitment to us last week. So i have absolute confidence everyone will follow through. That doesnt mean we are not going to have disagreements in the primary. That is what primaries are for. Emerges by definition is going to be a very Battle Tested candidate. Linda have they signed a document for the extended the expanded pledge, sharing of data in particular . Mr. Perez we havent made them sign a document, but they made a commitment and im confident we are moving forward. Health care is on the ballot. Womens reproductive rights are on the ballot. Immigration is on the ballot. An economy that works for everyone is on the ballot. All those things and so many things, Climate Change on the like are on the ballot. At democracy as we know it is on the ballot, and every candidate understands that this is bigger than them and we have to come together. We will come together, and over the last three years we have come together in these races, and our unity has enabled us to win historic gains up and down the ballot. Linda are you concerned the democrats might nominate somebody who is too leftwing for a lot of gardenvariety democrats, and that unity pledge doesnt hold . Mr. Perez the real problem now in america is the Republican Party. The party of lincolns dead. The real challenge right now is the Republican Party is so off the rails to the farright. Virginia yesterday, a big reason we won that race is there was a special session a few months ago to deal with the issue of reducing gun violence, and the aftermath of another horrific shooting. What happened in that special session . 90 minutes into it, republicans gaveled it down, notwithstanding the fact that 90 of the American People believe we ought to do something to reduce gun violence, and we can do so consistently with the Second Amendment. So when you look at roe v. Wade, 70 of the American People believe roe v. Wade should be the law of the land, and it is republicans trying to overturn it. You look at Gun Violence Reduction, a look at people with preexisting conditions. Everyone think you ought to have coverage ended his republican strength to take away coverage. I think the extreme party in america right now is the Republican Party, and that is why we have been winning elections, because independent and moderate voters and lincoln republicans have been voting for democrats. Look what happened in 2018, you saw suburban women across this country, you saw young people, voting in abundance. We saw it again last night in virginia and elsewhere. So i am very confident that whoever wins our nomination, their values are going to command the respect and support of the majority of the American People. Linda where do you stand on the issue of corporatefunded super pac helping the democrats retake the presidency . Mr. Perez that is up to the candidates. Linda what about money for the dnc . You are behind the republicans in money. Mr. Perez if you look at the court if you look at the Third Quarter of this year, look at what the democratic president s for candidate and dnc raised in the Third Quarter of this year, it is 500 million. If you look at what the rnc end Trump Campaign raised, it was 311 million. The democratic ecosystem, especially in the small dollar space, is raising record amounts of money. Blue, they to act had more new donors in when he 19 the 2017 and 2018 combined. Their biggest single hour of fundraising in the Third Quarter of this year was the second hour of our september debate. What that tells me is that people are excited about our candidates, they are voting with their smart phone, and they are investing in candidates. So donald trump, they raised more money than the dnc last year and more than the dnc in 2016 we run at skate we won at scale last year. They are morally bankrupt and have to spend a lot of money on their Legal Defense fund, because their legal bills are mounting. What we have to do is raise enough money to get our message out, to build the infrastructure of success. That is what we are doing. Linda are you ok with a corporatefunded super pac helping the dnc . Mr. Perez again, we dont have a corporatefunded super pac helping the dnc. And we have been very clear that we dont take money from organizations that are inconsistent with our values. Cleart has been a very rule of engagement for us at the dnc, and that will continue. Linda and you are ok of biden backing down on his rejection . Mr. Perez that is up to each candidate and voters will assess that. Every candidate has to run the campaign he or she believes is best for them. Linda paul from the washington examiner. Since the president backed away from his promises after recent shootings, and your races it was a big thing, especially virginia and around the nra. How do you see this issue playing out in 2020 . And what does it say the nra is now surrounded by proguncontrol counties and legislators . Mr. Perez the issue of reducing gun violence is an issue of national importance. This president has broken his promises repeatedly to the American People. He said the day after a shooting, yeah, we have to do something about background checks. And then the following day, he meets with the nra. And voters in virginia communicated very clearly about this the majority of nra members believe that we can have common sense Gun Violence Reduction measures and Second Amendment freedoms. This is going to be a really important issue to the American People. I applaud the young people, not simply from parkland, but from across the country. We need to stop going to funerals and we need to stop kowtowing to the nra. People have spoken. This is an example of so many issues where this president makes promises and breaks promises. He said, i am not going to mess with your health care. Now he wants to do away with coverage for preexisting conditions. He says, there will never be a plant closure, to workers in ohio and michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania. You see we are now in a manufacturing recession, the worst for the Automobile Industry since the great recession. Barack obama saved the Auto Industry in this president continues to break his promises. He has a record now, and that record is what people are going to vote on. They are going to ask, can i trust him to keep his promises . The answer is a resounding no. Are year ago last month, the democrats ran the table and congressional races, but lost legislative races. How does that bode for 2020 . Are you concerned you cant keep your gains . We won a lot of very critical municipal races in new jersey. Did we win 100 sent . No. Did we win the majority . Absolutely. Is one of the most effective governors in the country, fighting for issues new makingvoters care about, sure the new jersey economy works for everyone, making sure if you work a fulltime job, you can feed your family, and i think new jersey is going to continue to be a great model of how we succeed as democrats. And they have built a remarkably effective, every zip code organization. That is what enables them to win. Some of these races turn on some local issues, but when you look at the aggregate data in new jersey, we did pretty darn well. Gaining four or five seats and trump districts in 2020 . 2020erez i am focused in on taking the remaining house seat in new jersey. We have all but one and if phil murphy were here he would say, i want all those house seats. That is what we are going to do. Whether it is antikim or mikey kim or mikeyy cheryl, i learned candidate quality matters. We continue to field spectacular candidates, and they continue to feel candidate to field candidates like matt evan. Becandidates like matt vin. Very the u. K. You have a leftwing candidate hoping to be prime minister. What do you think our Lessons Learned for the Democratic Party if you have a leftwing candidate . What are your impressions of Jeremy Corbyn as well . Mr. Perez i will let voters in the u. K. Speak to what is going to happen there. I dont want to do what donald trump did, put your thumb on the scale of an election. I will leave it up to the voters of the u. K. They have been in a quicksand of ,ridlock since brexit passed and a few days after brexit, Boris Johnson acknowledged a lot of the promises he said about brexit actually werent accurate. That is the challenge they confront. I am very confident about our candidates here, because it is really important to analyze what the American People are concerned about. They want a leader that is going to look out for them. That thetax bill republicans passed, and the ukraine scandal have in common, is they illustrate what this president s northstar is. The tax bill was all about helping himself and people like himself. Ukraine is all about himself. His northstar is what he sees in the mirror every single morning. And the American People want a leader who is going to wake up every day waking wake up every day looking out for them. How am i going to keep my health care, how am i going to get a better job . The Financial Times on a pole a few days ago that said two thirds of the American People that poll a few days ago said two thirds of the American People believe they are not better off under donald trump. Race would be a difficult for the Democratic Party if it were Elizabeth Warren are sanders versus joe biden. Mr. Perez when you look at the polling, they are all defeating donald trump. I have confidence that whoever our nominee is, it is someone who is going to be fighting that you will keep your health care if you have a preexisting conditions, is going to take on the pharmacy gretel is going to take on the pharmaceutical industry, take on the nra, mixer roe v. Wade is the law of the land, past comprehensive immigration reform. That we acknowledge Climate Change and its existential threat to america. All those candidates are focused on those issues. I think we have a tendency, and some in the media have a tendency, to conflate unity and unanimity. I am not saying that the candidates agree on details of every issue, but the unity of values i think matches where the American People are. It is the Republican Party that is off the rails to the right. That is why we have been able to win back so many constituencies. Linda john gizzi from newsmax. To brief questions, mr. Chairman. Should donald trump be impeached, or do you just want to defeat him next time . ,econd, you have a post script republicans, their big talking points this morning about electing the first black attorney general in kentucky, a strong trump supporter, and the first woman attorney general of mississippi, a very proud nra member. Mr. Perez the impeachment brings no joy to me, brings no joy to Speaker Pelosi and a brings no joy to anybody. Nobody runs for office on a platform of, i want to impeach the president. But we do run for office, and they take an oath to uphold the constitution of the laws of the united states. And this is a straightforward abuse of power case. With theaw yesterday d,lease of ambassador sondlan that was a smoking gun, plainly and simply. I have spent over 10 years of my life as a prosecutor. Had witnesses like ambassador taylor, ambassador avich, the colonel, a war hero, purple heart recipient, these witnesses are unassailable. And this president s effort to focus on the whistleblower is a classic distraction. The whistleblower has acknowledged that the whistleblower doesnt have firsthand knowledge. Now we have heard from the folks who have firsthand knowledge and they have all corroborated that this wasnt abuse of power. The president put his own interests ahead of the national interests. You dont hold foreign aid ,ostage in order to get dirt dirt which does not exist, on a political opponent. And so this is a sad day, and every day the mountain of evidence grows. And what i am interested in knowing is, what will republicans do . Will there be A Howard Baker a moment, as we talked about in watergate . It took howard baker two years. Dont get me wrong, but will there be somebody who has the courage to step up . At the moment, im skeptical. Because on every other issue, when kids were being held in cages, they didnt step up. So many other moments, charlottesville, they didnt step up. So their past actions dont exactly give me a lot of optimism that they will put country before party in the future. But time will tell, and i applaud the deliberate work that is being done by the committee. And every time someone from the white house refuses to show up, that is just adding to potential articles of impeachment for corruption and obstruction of justice. The post script, your second stion was about the election of the election of the attorney general in kentucky. Mr. Perez well, that is the same state that throughout matt bevin. The president didnt go to kentucky to campaign for the attorney general. With rand kentucky paul and Mitch Mcconnell at his side to campaign for matt bevin. He won kentucky by 30 points. He put his credibility on the line. The most telling statement he made there, again, mr. President , this isnt about you. It is about the people in coal country. You said you would never forget them, and you forgot them. People working in a health care exchange, they had one of the most effective healthcare exchanges in the country and matt bevin undermined it. That is what people remember. And being mean is not an effective longterm strategy, ns that was matt bevi statement. Aboutas, i wanted to ask the senate and house race. At one point you were involved in trying to encourage beto to run for senate, maybe joaquin as well. We have a situation where there are at least four solid candidates in the race for , and they are polling very, very low. The uttexas tribune poll says 66 of primary voters dont even really know who they are, those four. I want to ask how you see that if whether, what you think it is possible that he would come back. And on the house races, we have dus, withnown as texo the six members targeted. I wanted to know about the state of play with that. Mr. Perez texas is a battleground. I dont know whether congressman orourke will run. I applaud the campaign he ran for president. That will be up to him. I look at the polling there. We did a debate in texas because we strongly believe texas is a battleground. This president is underwater in texas. A poll i saw a month ago had the generic democrat i head of the president in a general election by Something Like five points. That is why he was there. It is remarkable this president has to spend time in states like think we can compete. One effective last nights election is you are going to see more retirements, not just the more retirements from republicans because they can see the handwriting on the wall. Donald trump wins a state by 30 points and he cant drag a republican across the finish line in that state . If im a republican and a swing or close to swing district, im looking myself in the mirror. I think we can win the senate race. I think we can win, we are competing in the president ial and the dlcc, a really important partner of ours, we are competing in the state house of representatives, because we needed to win 40 seeds intemperate in 10 chambers to flip those 10 chambers, and we flipped to chambers last night and so now we need 37 seats in eight chambers on one is the texas house of representatives, where we need nine seats to flip that chamber. They have a remarkable party chair and i look forward to working with him. We had remarkable gains in the last cycle, and i think we can compete everywhere, and again, suburban virginia last night, you saw what happened. The suburbs in 2018. In texas, you saw what happened there, harris county, fort bend county, democrats winning everywhere. I think we have a real shot at taking the house of representatives they are in addition to competing in the federal races. Partners at the Democratic Congressional campaign committee, they already have a field office in texas because they correctly believed, and i couldnt agree more, that there are six opportunities now, there might be more coming up, because texas is a remarkable, potential opportunity. I will give you one more data point there. 800,000 more latinos voted in 2018 in texas than in 2014. 800,000 more. 3. 5 million latinos were eligible to vote, but did not vote. Roughly half were registered and did not vote and roughly half were eligible to register and did not register. We are longterm invested. And again, that is a loss by a little over 200,000 votes. That number is going to be closer to 4 million. If you want to know why they engage in Voter Suppression on the republican side is because they see the numbers. They cant compete on the merits where latino votes are africanamerican or asian and votes or asian votes, so they are just trying to make it hard for them to get elected. And the democratic ecosystem in those communities. Amanda from huffington post. I was wondering if you could be more specific . Roughlyz we invested 900,000 in the coordinated effort. We invest through the party. Is a remarkable partner in that effort, the party chair. In addition, the voter file they use is the dnc voter file. Our data people and their data people spent a lot of time making sure our data was as rich as possible. We bought up 110 million cell phone numbers a year ago to give to all the state parties, because if you want to communicate with voters, you have to take the voters where they consume their news, and smartphones are the place where they are consuming their news. Democratic Data Exchange. The Democratic Data Exchange was established this year, and is chaired by governor dean. And it is a really critical totion critical addition the Democratic Party ecosystem, because what the Data Exchange enables is the realtime independentween the expenditure side and the hard side. Previous to the establishment of ,his, there was no vehicle to in realtime, share information. So as we were running up to the election, the existence of that exchange enabled everybody who kentucky,ed in whether it was us worthy party campaign, orr folks on the independent side, it enabled them to be smarter, to understand more about voters. The Democratic Data Exchange, there have been previous efforts to establish an exchange of this nature and they didnt succeed. We spent a lot of time working with all the stakeholders in the ecosystem to establish this, and what we intend to do in 2020 is scale it up. We are going to learn lessons, you plan, execute, reflect, iterate and learn. And we are going to learn a lot of lessons from kentucky. Right now are our immediate attention, and i know the dgis immediate attention is louisiana, because we have a Runoff Election there and we are going to continue to work with thedga work others to maked sure we reelect john bel edwards. You said impeachment is a nonpolitical issue to you. Does the result tell you impeachment is bad politics for republicans . Medicaid given the results what we saw, do you believe this is the message democrats should carry in 2020 . Or are you equally confident about singlepayer . Mr. Perez democrats believe everyone in this country should have access to quality, Affordable Health care. Thanks to Lyndon Johnson with medicare and medicaid and barack obama with the Affordable Care act, we are 85 of the way, or roughly, up the mountain top. And we are having a discussion about how we get to the summit. Then we have differences of opinion. And voters in the democratic primary are going to decide. If health care is your numberone issue, what is the best pathway . But every single mccright running for president wants to ensure that if you have a preexisting condition, you can keep your coverage. Every single democrat is taking on the pharmaceutical dentistry. Nancy pelosi and democrats in the house have passed a series of bills to do just that, and republicans want to do the opposite. Voters in kentucky saw through that. They understood that Steve Beshear built one of the best healthcare exchanges in the united states. People were getting access to quality, Affordable Health care, and matt bevin made it worse. Donald trump is doing the same thing. On impeachment, they tried to nationalize the kentucky race. There were unsuccessful. And they were unsuccessful because voters got to the polls and they said, who is going to help me . Who has my back . Matt bevin had four years of a record, and it was a record that was abysmal. People couldnt trust him. We have a president at 1600 pennsylvania who is in the same boat. There have now been three elections, 2017, 2018, 2019 every single election has been a repudiation of trumpism, the politics of division. We have seen it, the politics that says no, you cant have health care, the politics that says we are going to help people like donald trump at the expense of everyone else. I know we have a lot of work to do, but i approach today and every day leading up to the election next year with that same determination, to make sure we are focused on these Critical Issues. You dont believe impeachment politics will matter . Mr. Perez democrats can walk and chew gum. Democrats have a constitutional obligation to pursue this investigation. And i think the American People, you look at the polling, the more people learn about this, this is a straightforward abuse of power case. Tos was a president threatened to take away foreign aid unless they interfered in on election. In an election. He was inviting a foreign leader to interfere in a domestic collection. That is unamerican, at a minimum. And people can see through that. And people will also see that the democrats are doing their job constitutionally, and doing their job on health care and all the other Critical Issues that people elected them for. Donald trump, i would like to see him tweet about preexisting conditions, but he doesnt because he is obsessed about tweeting about himself. When you started planning the 2020 debates, did you anticipate in november you would have 17 candidates still running . And what do you make of candidates who say the dnc is somewhat picking winners and losers, or putting its thumb on the scale, by raising thresholds you have in these debates . I wasnt sure how many people would be in the race , when we were planning the debate regimen. We did know it was going to be a historic field in terms of size. We had some basic northstar principles, fairness and transparency. In january we laid out the rules of engagement before everybody was in the race, we laid out the threshold for first debates long before the first debates. We created a grassroots fundraising threshold, because one thing we knew about the field is that there were going to be folks who are household names and folks who werent household names but had real talent, so we wanted to make sure we give everybody a fair shake. We worked with a lot of networks to encourage them to ensure everybody got earned media. For instance, one thing i applaud about cnn and other networks who did town halls is, you didnt just do the folks who were wellknown, you give everybody an opportunity. So this field has had a earned ia opportunities than he opportunities than any field, i would argue, in american history. And because of that the American People have gotten to kick the tires on our very deep field. I am proud of our deep field. What we have done is what you do in every campaign. The closer you get to iowa and New Hampshire in voting, you raise the bar because candidates have to demonstrate that they are getting traction. Question, iond respectfully but strongly disagree with the notion we have somehow been winnowing the field. We have been doing what you do in every cycle. We started out at 1 , june and july. Hard to get lower than 1 . Inwent up to 2 septemberoctober. Went up to 3 in november. End in december, there is no candidate i am aware of on the democratic side who has been under 4 in december who has gone on to win the nomination, or even had traction for a large part of the primary cycle. So we studied that history. And we have major we have been exceedingly inclusive. Frankly, some days i get a different question than what you asked, which is, someday i get, you dont have enough people in the field. Some days i get, you have too many people in the field. I think that is going to be up to the voters on the candidates themselves. So i am proud of what we have done, and it is indeed going to be up to the voters. Some candidates are up in the polls, some candidates arent, and we have created a fair and level Playing Field for all of them to compete. You ran against one of the candidates, Pete Buttigieg for dnc chair. Thatdid you learn from race and you think him losing to you is the best career decision he has made . Mr. Perez pete is incredibly talented. Whipsweb smart he is wellinformed and very, very quick on his feet. I had the privilege of getting to know not just pete, but working with all of the candidates, and i would say the same thing about all of them. This is my 14th year in a row coaching at least one of my kids in basketball. I have never met a basketball coach who said, i have too much depth on my team. We have got a remarkable amount of depth in this field, and the most important thing i think we can do is make sure that we highlight that depth and then even up to the voters to decide. That is exactly what is happening. Demetrius from the Financial Times. Farm belt when the candidates are asked about china, they criticize trumps approach on tariffs. But i have heard few ideas about what they would do to tackle china and the trade issue. What should the message be going into the election entree to win back people in the middle who will decide the outcome . The policy and practice of all the democrats is that our northstar is the worker. Donald trump walked into wisconsin eight weeks ago and said, i quote, farmers are over the hump. Barrel, andover the wisconsin and elsewhere. Wisconsin is the farm bankruptcy capital of america. One third of farm bankruptcies, mostly dairy and 2018, were in one state. Wisconsin. And he has the audacity to go in and say farmers are over the hump. Secretaryriculture goes there a month or so later and says, the big are going to get bigger and the little guys, you are out of luck. There is an emerging bankruptcy crisis end and emerging suicide crisis among farmers, and this president does not put farmers first. The ethanol subsidy exemptions in iowa, he is putting big oil ahead of family farmers. And people are starting to see it. Another example of broken promises. And what they want to see in a trade policy is a president who is truly putting them first. When you put them out of business, as he did with farmers in wisconsin and elsewhere, you are not putting them first. And that is the reality of his trade policy. And he has to understand that when you put tariffs on china that isanada as well, ludicrous. You need to work with our allies. We need more friends in the world, not less friends. And his policy by tweet. You are saying what donald trump is doing is wrong, but what should democrats say they will do . Mr. Perez put workers and family farmers first. The problem that he doesnt understand is that a tariff is a shortterm measure to obtain a longterm solution. China is the problem. There is no doubt about it. They cheat. If we want to create a greenenergy economy in this country and build solar panels and Wind Turbines here, we have to address the fact that china dumps solar panels into the united states, making it hard for us to pay our workers a fair wage. So we have to take on china, but meataxe approach and his policymaking by tweet, that is not how you get it done. The way to get it done is engage allies in this. And when you alienate your allies and betray workers here, which he has done, and when a tariff becomes an end in itself, that is reflective of bad policymaking. End democrats understand that. Linda stuart from the Christian Science monitor. Talkingere in kentucky to voters about the governors race, and there was a lot of commentster bevins about voters and frustration with his divisiveness. There was political apathy and comments on that same thing from the democratic side. They felt both the republican and democratic candidate in the running campaigns with an unnecessary amount of vitriolic divisiveness. 2020 andthink of beyond, will the Democratic Party, is that the party that will fight fire with fire . I think back to Michelle Obama, when they go low, wego hi, it seems like they are at odds there. Mr. Perez two things i learned in the course of this is, i am not going to go to a knife fight with a spoon. Time, Michelle Obama said when they go low, wego hig my variant on that is, when they go low, we go vote. That is what we have done as democrats. You look at turnout in places like nevada and elsewhere in 2018. Look at the turnout yesterday, young voters in virginia. Is vitriol of this President Trump fatigue that has set in. Not need a candidate that is going to match have divisiveness and vulgarity with divisiveness and vulgarity. We won in wisconsin with tony thes by contrasting politics of division in scott walker with the politics of inclusion and optimism in tony evers. And we did that yesterday, andy beshear, read what he said last night, he wants to take care of the least of kentuckians. And he has a proven track record of doing that. But we are going to do moving into 2020 is, again, when they go low, we go vote. The reason there is so much Voter Suppression out there is that they know, in texas, in response to your question, look at the remarkable opportunities with latino, africanamerican, asianamerican voters. They cant win on the merits, so they make it harder for our perceived votes to win. So we are going to win by getting everyone out there, by leading clearly with our values, by not taking the bait. Distracting donald will straight will create distractions. The distraction of 2018 was caravans. People saw through it. The distraction now was going to be socialism. That is the oldest trick in the book. When we enacted Social Security in the 1930s on medicare in the 1960s and the Affordable Care act under obama, what they all have in common is that republicans called it socialism. I call these policies the anchor of our social compact. You made clear uc immigration uc you made clear that immigration as an opportunity to see trump that you immigration as an opportunity to best trump. You have any concern that any candidate would go in a direction that could be can that could be perceived as too far, a moratorium on deportation and things like that . Mr. Perez our candidates firmly believe we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. That is what motivate democrats, that we need to make sure we pass comprehensive immigration reform, that we dont demonize, what this president is doing on immigration is the quintessential divide communities against one another. You can only succeed if the immigrant fails. That has never been the case. We didnt say bring us your rich , largely white european masses, we said bring us your tired and your huddled masses. And so many people who came here with pennies in their pocket have become millionaires and job creators in this country. That is what democrats are fighting for. And we will continue to fight for an enforcement policy that is sensible, and we will continue to fight for immigration policies that are sensible. He is not only against undocumented immigrants, he is against immigration. Look what he is doing with refugees. Look what he is doing with illegal immigration. This is quintessentially unamerican and it is going to make america much less competitive. Values ofs why the the Democratic Party are the values that command the respect and support of the vast majority of the another one from texas. Todd gilman of the dallas morning news. Night president last boasted that before his rally in kentucky, he had a massive impact. The increase on the governors race was at least 15 points, maybe 20. Is that plausible . Mr. Perez no. My inside voice says, no. You talk about how critical hispanics are in the 2020 race. It is remarkable the only hispanic candidate for president is going to get shot out of the next debate. And is barely making a dent. How do you square those . Mr. Perez we cannot know who is going to make the debate stage and who is not. I do not know what is going to happen. I do not want to prejudge it. Ofave had the privilege working with just about every candidate in this race. The differences between everything good candidate running for president and this incumbent president and the party of trump why is a hispanic not getting traction . Mr. Perez you look at latino 2018, and it in was increasing remarkably. I was in prince William County last night. Latino voter turnout is remarkable. It increased substantially. It is one of the reasons why we flipped the prince William County board of supervisors. I am proud of the fact that i am the first latino chair of the dnc. I am equally aware of the fact that you do not have to be latino to fight for latino issues. The community understands the difference between people who are fighting to divide them and cannot even speak out when their brethren are in cages, and every fighting too is build at america of opportunity for them. I think this campaign has been remarkable in its breadth and diversity. Candidates of color are more numerous than ever. They have made more progress than ever. , they lay groundwork marker for future campaigns. We truly reflect america. Everything will candidate for president is going to be running latino sure not just the community, but communities across this country have access to the american dream. Lets squeeze in one more quicklime. Ago, hillaryeeks clinton mentioned her concerns that tulsa gabbard was being groomed by republicans to be a thirdparty candidate. One, do you share those concerns . Two, have you talked to tulsa gabbard about this or Hillary Clinton . Three, generally speaking, how fearful are you of a thirdparty candidacy doing something i can to what joe something a in to what joe stein did 2016. Mr. Perez she has told the American People, i am not running as a thirdparty candidate. He asked every candidate to take that pledge. That was your first or second question. Enthusiastically. I invite you to look at a post she did on social media. One party, one year. Hashtag. That is a she took an unequivocal pledge. Tulsa gabbard and every candidate running for president understands it is not about them. It is something much bigger, which is the strengthening and preservation inc. Of our and preservation of our democracy. Did you say you talked to her campaign after the comments . Mr. Perez we spoke to every Campaign Last week regarding the pledge and every campaign took that pledge and took it with enthusiasm. Absolutely. We have reached the end of our. Thank you for coming. Hope you will come again. Mr. Perez i would be honored. Thank you for your questions. After last year, you were sad when i mentioned the patriots. Now, mr. Perez you are still a better team. We are 71. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [indistinct coversaons] campaign 2020. Watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Cspans washington journal live everyday with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up thursday morning, the impeachment inquiry and next weeks first public hearing. We will discuss it with a senior fellow with the R Street Institute governance project. And, Heritage FoundationDeputy Director is joined with the friends of the earth president to talk about the u. S. Effort to lead the perez climate agreement. Watch cspans washington journal. Join the discussion. Live thursday on the cspan network, the Senate Energy committee looks at development on federal land. That is at 10 00 a. M. On cspan. At 1 00, blaze president mike pence will speak that saint anselm college. Speak at saint and some college. On cspan3, at 00 a. M. , librarian of congress testifies before the senate rules and Administration Committee efforts to modernize the library. Former Democratic NationalCommittee Chair donna brazile