View of government. We are funded by these Television Companies and more, including podcasts including comcast. Comcast is partnering with 1000 Community Centers to create wifi enabled list so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. Comcast support cspan is a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Next the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee gary peters talks about the Key Senate Races in the upcoming midterm elections. Posted by the Washington Post. Washington post. The podcast on Washington Post live. I am jonathan capehart, associate editor of the Washington Post. Midterm elections are less than a month away and democrats are not only hoping to hold their majority in the senate but also to pick up two more seats. The person leading that effort is the chair of the committee, senator gary peters, welcome to capehart on Washington Post live. Sen. Peters thank you. Over the summer, you know the democrats seem to have the wind at their back. But we are less than four weeks from election day and key races are training for democrats. What changed . Sen. Peters nothing change from what we anticipated. We knew the polls will be tightening, we knew the elections would be nailbiters it would be very close. If you asked me last year where you see these races going into the last few weeks, i wouldve told you all of these battleground states are going to be tight. It is going to be critical for us to have a ground operation to make sure we turn out voters. As you know, voter turnout in the midterm tends to drop off where our president ial election is. So turnout is a major factor. At may have been making significant efforts to turn out the battleground vote so we are not surprised about where we are. No one should be surprised with these numbers. It is going to come right down to election day and very tight races will determine the majority of the senate going into the next session. Jonathan we will talk about key races in a little bit. But i want to pick up on what you were talking about in terms of turnout. We hear that word all the time. Turnout the base for making investments, to turn out voters. What do you mean by that . Turn out how . Sen. Peters it is our Majority Program we have instituted. I will tell you in my own experience in 2020 when i ran in a very tight race in michigan as you recall. I came down to a very tight margin for both me as well as president biden. There were substantial investments made in michigan. Only two years out from the election, making sure we have our voters list correct, that we were reaching out to voters talking about issues that were important to them, ensuring they got an absentee valid and are ready to vote. All of that is campaign 101 when it comes to reaching out to those voters we believe will support your candidates and make sure that they actually vote. It is not something you can turn on a dime. It is not something this is something we have been doing over a long period of time. Im very confident that we are superior to what we are not seeing on the ground with the republican party. Turnout is one part of the equation and the other part is the issues but potential voters are interested in. Does the Supreme Court ending the constitutional right to abortion fuel a lot of the wind i mentioned earlier, but the latest Washington Post poll shows that the economy and inflation are more pressing. The economy, 85 say it is most pressing, and abortion, which 62 of those polled said it was the number one issue or very important to them. Republicans do a better job handling inflation in the economy, both 54 . How do you turn those numbers around, especially on inflation in the economy, handling of both . Those are numbers you are looking at. It is what is happening in the battleground states where the elections are. It is not a National Election that we elected senators, each state is a candidate versus candidate race. That is the major advantage we have going into this election is candidate quality. We have republican strategists and even the leader of the republicans in the senate say they have a problem with candidate quality. We have a clear choice between two candidates. They look at those issues and look at what is in there about the individual candidates in every case im confident those voters are going to believe that our democratic incumbents running for reelection are clearly superior to their challengers and our challengers are running great races and clearly differentiating themselves from their opponents. This is going to be an election where it is going to be dependent on candidate quality. That is usually the difference particularly in very close races. So you add a ground operation getting our voters out who are highly motivated on particular issues. We are seeing a lot of new voters highly and motivated on the abortion issue and the fact that republicans are taking away a fundamental right for women is highly motivating. It is what you are seeing voting registration up particularly with women in all of these key states. These are folks who may not have voted otherwise. They may not even be but they want to get out and vote. Put all that together with a clear contract contrast in candidates, that is it. Jonathan i hear you on candidate quality. Im wondering, though poll numbers, there is the national number. But it is hard to believe that fear or concern about the economy and inflation are not having an impact on individual senate races. Im wondering if candidate quality is going to supersede a voters anger at the party of the majority. The anger over the economy or inflation eating into wage again. Sen. Peters we are addressing the economy and how we address the challenges we have with inflation for example. The inflation we are seeing in this country, very similar to inflation in western europe, the u. K. , the United States as a result of coming out of this pandemic. We know inflation is a difficult problem worldwide. The question is who is trying to deal with that issue and democrats are doing that. If you look at our incumbents in support of the inflation reduction act, this is a piece of legislation signed into law that will lower Prescription Drug prices for seniors. It will cap the amount of money they pay for medical costs and medicare, a huge issue for seniors all across the country. We are dealing with energy costs to try and move away from a dependence on fossil fuels so we are not tied to our prices our prices for gasoline are not tied to global events like opec price production reduction and putin engaged in a war. We are taking action when it comes to the economy. I want to remind folks on the legislation, but also reduces the deficit. Not one republican voted for it. They did not vote for any commonsense sense solutions to dealing with the challenges we are facing with inflation and all we are hearing is they want to have a National Abortion law. They want to take away fundamental rights from women. They want to challenge elections. Candidates are saying if they lose the election they are going to challenge it because it is stolen. They want to undermine the fundamental basis of our democracy. That is what they are offering up to the American People. Democrats are dealing with tough issues and are offering Commonsense Solutions for those issues whereas republicans simply are not doing that. Jonathan two more questions before we get to specific races. This is from california, john sutter picking up on something you just mentioned in terms of abortion. He is wondering if democrats are considering new abortion legislation to take the place of roe v. Wade, they are trying to get something off the ground. There was a move just after dobbs by the senate to try and do something to codify at roe v. Wade. Sen. Peters there is a move to look at that as to how we codify roe v. Wade. But bottom line we need votes to do that. That is why these elections are so important. If folks believe that roe v. Wade should continue to be the law of the land as it has been for over half a century, they need to make sure that voice is heard loud and clear at the voting booth in the coming weeks. It is on the ballot. This is going to impact every state, especially if there is a ban as republicans have proposed. We also know the republicans have proposed legislation. I mentioned lowering drug costs for our seniors, for our price of medicines, no republican voted for that. Now the have introduced legislation taken away from the American People, a process by which we can lower drug prices. This is the rates about contrast and about and it is a race that should be very clear to the American People that will impact their lives in a very clear way. It is a contrast between candidates running to make sure they are voting democratic. Jonathan what is the democratic response to the republican mantra on crime, and the polls that show republicans are more trusted on dealing with crime . Sen. Peters well the issue is not accurate where democrats are. I share the senate i chair the Senate Homeland security committee. I think about keeping them in the past and meaningful legislation to do that. Pets have voted for substantial resources for Police ResponsePolice Departments and First Responders across the country. We helped Police Department said First Responders get through the challenges they have faced with the pandemic and make them stronger going forward. On that important legislation, to find Police Departments across the state and country, in every state, republicans voted no. They certainly did not put their money where their mouth is and we all remember january 6 and that beating of Police Officers by that mob. Republicans are continuing to say nothing really happened january 6. Los capitol Police Officers who suffered serious injuries, whether or not subbing happened, democrats stood with those capitol Police Officers on the grounds and we said with Police Officers all across the country. Jonathan whats talk about some specific races. Georgia. The incumbent senator, senator braun file warnock, is in a close race with former nfl star Herschel Walker who has denied reports he has paid for an extra friends abortion. Todays headline, women, i pressed walker to pay for abortion he wanted. More on this story. I question is why is this race this close . Sen. Peters i will say it is close because theres georgia. Georgia is going to be very close race. We saw that in 2020. It was a very close race. There is no reason to think it will be different. But there is no question what we are hearing about Herschel Walker is very troubling information. But ultimately, the people of the state of georgia will make the decision to back up candida choice. Take a look at rafael warnocks outstanding record as a senator, who he is as a person and compare it to his opponent and im confident the voters of georgia will see the clear contrast and support rafael warnock. He will be elected, he will continue to be a senator representing the state of georgia. But we know this is going to come down to the wire, which is why we are going to continue to raise the resources we need. Certainly we need Grassroots Resources not just for georgia, but republicans are extending us with their super pacs, the guys that give a billion dollars for their cost, a massive amount of money coming in from a small number of very wealthy contributors attempting to buy this election. That is why we have defend the senate. Org, to support the work we are doing at the kingpin at the committee to make sure we can give back the super pac money to buy these elections in key battleground states. So far to defendthesenate. Org is the place to do that. As long as people in this country who care about the values that we stand for and support what we are doing, weve got a lot and we are finding a group, a small group of agreeably wealthy individuals putting forward extreme candidates in these races who do not represent the people in those states. I would encourage everybody to take a good hard look at the candidate running in your state and look at the difference in quality and the values they represent and make sure you get out to vote. Jonathan it is not just billionaires standing behind these questionable candidates. Your republican counterpart, senator rick scott of florida, is gung ho for Herschel Walker. He and senator tom cotton did an event with him just the other day. How is this about Herschel Walker . Sen. Peters theyre going to throw everything under the sun herschel is a good candidate. The democrats want to align this to their agenda. That is some cuts across the country. Jonathan your response. Sen. Peters certainly rick scott is going to say that because they want to have the majority. They want to make sure senator mcconnell is the majority leader in the senate so they can push forward their agenda, and what is that agenda . We know theyve got legislation, weve got a National Abortion ban. Rick scott is going to put out information he wants to reassess Social Security and medicare, perhaps cut those types of programs. They have an extreme agenda. They dont like talking about their issues because they know it is out of step with the American People. To them it is all about power. And they are willing to support candidates who clearly are not ready for prime time. They are not ready for any time at the present extreme views that will hurt American Families both in the pocketbook and undermine the very basis of our democracy, free and fair elections. This is a pivotal time in the history of our country. The American People are going to be faced with a clear choice this election and i believe in the end we will prevail. Jonathan lets move to pennsylvania come out senate race between the democrat against his republican senatorrepublican challenger, mehmet oz. How much of the recent that tightening is concerned about federmans health . He suffered a stroke in may. Sen. Peters i sound like a broken record here but we always expect to these races to be very tight. That is what happens in the elections. Historically you will see republican candidates tend to tighten elections as you have closer to elections. So what were seeing is not anything that we did not already expect. Certainly his opponent is trying to make issues of the fact that he has a Health Condition he is healing from. But he is a doctor who wants to make the issue of a patient who is recovering from a health issue. We all have members of our family or people we love who had strokes and have recovered. It takes time to do it and we are seeing that with John Fetterman. He is making remarkable progress. Hes on the campaign trail, holding huge rallies with people, adding excitement up in pennsylvania and he is running against a guy who doesnt even really have been pennsylvania. He is running against a guy who came from new jersey and claims he is an everyday guy but he doesnt even remember how many houses he owns and they are mostly all outside of pennsylvania except one that he recently purchased. He is a person who strongly supports trump and that agenda and election denial. Certainly not a pennsylvanian. So weve got John Fetterman, someone who has a distinguished record in pennsylvania fighting for the people of pennsylvania, running against the guy from new jersey. Jonathan you left out the word crudites in your critique. [laughter] how pivotal and how decisive will the debate between federman and oz be in that race . Sen. Peters certainly i believe in debates. It is good to have them for people who see the contrast. Im confident when folks see the candidates on the debate stage the choice will be clear and John Fetterman will be the choice for senate. Jonathan lets turn to ohio. Republican tim ryan debated his competitor. Republican ryan came out of that debate to some good press at good reviews. But the next morning on morning joe, he complained he is getting no help whatsoever from the party. Are they not providing support to ryan and if not, why not . Jonathan well, we have provided resources for tim ryan. He is an outstanding candidate. There is no question he is an incredibly strong candidate running an absolutely great race in ohio. We now provided resources. We provided help with him for some of his media. We continue to work closely and help raise money all across the country for him, from individual donors that will help him. He is getting that support now. He needs to continue to get that. Certainly grassroots support is critically important for all of our candidates. We look at all of our battleground states and the reason we are competitive on the money front is not super pacs. Those are all primarily on the republican side in terms of the amount of money they have. They have massive amounts of money they are pouring into those races. Our only ability to have the resources necessary to run is when our grassroots supporters give to things like grassroots. Org. That allows us to have breakthroughs to have races in ohio and all the main races across the country. I believe in the candidacy. My organization has invested in his candidacy and his campaign and we will continue, i will continue to work to raise money from individual donors from all across the country to help us make sure tim ryan is elected to the United States senate and i think he can do that. Jonathan four more weeks. Every penny helps. Sen. Peters where we are right now, this is crunch time. So we are looking at all of our battleground states, literally on a daily basis. We are going to be there to make sure we have races across the finish line, but it is a constant assessment we are making and we are going to do everything we possibly can to support each and every one of our battleground candidates to the extent that we can. But understand our money is not unlimited. We have a budget we have to work with. That is why i continue to encourage folks who really understand how important this election is to get online, support their individual candidates. Our website cannot you can go there and look at all of the individual candidates in our battleground states and folks can give to that individual candidate to make sure that individual candidate that they believe most strongly about can have an fighting chance to win. When that happens, im confident we will not only hold the majority, we will also have the ability to pick up the receipts. You will have to do this together as a team and that is what democrats have done and what we will have to do in the future. Jonathan we have less than a minute left and i want to use this time to switch gears to this last question. You mentioned you are the chair of the Homeland Security committee. Im wondering how concerned are you that we could have a repeat of a january 6 style insurrection either here in the Nations Capital or an estate capital anywhere in the country . Sen. Peters i am very concerned about the rise of extremist movements. We are seeing this in this country. Violent extremist groups. We have engaged the department of Homeland Security to monitor what is happening on social media, and the hearings, we will briefly will have another hearing on how social media actually takes folks who have some interest in a particular topic and takes them down a rabbit hole that often leads to extremist material and has the impact of sometimes turning what they are reading on social media platforms into actual violence, whether at the u. S. , individual capitals or in our communities. We are facing a very dangerous community. And politicians who flame those fires or flame but hate that can exist within some of these individuals, it is a very dangerous situation. Certainly im focused on it, the department ive been working with closely, the department of Homeland Security, to make sure they are focused on it. But it is also for americans all across this country to condemn with their seeing and condemn politicians that fuel those flames and make sure that their voices heard loud and clear on election day. Jonathan im sorry, one more question. How surprised are you that republican leaders, leaders are silent in the face of the hate that is coming from their party . Sen. Peters i am beyond disappointed. It is outrageous. Elected officials have an obligation to lead and strengthen the democracy of this great nation of ours. We also have an obligation to fight against violence and Political Violence in particular, which has absolutely no place in an american democracy and this amazing democratic republic that we have. And our political leaders remain silent, it means they are complicit. That is on acceptable. Folks who remain silent in the face of the challenges to our very core democracy should be soundly rejected by the American People. It is incumbent on the American People to expect more from their elected officials. When elected officials remain silent when they need to speak out, voters need to punish the behavior and make sure we are electing candidates who will stand up for american democracy. Jonathan senator gary peters, chairman of the democratic Editorial CampaignSenatorial Campaign committee, thank you for joining us, i appreciate you going over time with me today. Thank you. Sen. Peters my pleasure, but to be with you. Jonathan and thank you for joining us, for more information on what we have coming up, head to washington live. Com. I am jonathan a discussion with democratic representative ro khanna of california on president bidens recent decision to review relations with saudi arabia. That is live from the Quincy Institute at new. That 1 30 janet yellen talks about the u. S. Economic outlook at the International Monetary fund in washington, d. C. Then liz cheney talks about the constitution and defending democracy at the university of notre dame. You can also watch live coverage of the free cspan now video app or online at cspan. Org. Cspans campaign 2022 coverage of the midterm elections continues with candidates debat fm around the countrynning live tonight at 8 00. Incumbent democratic governor tony e verse debates challenr tim michaels. Then at 9 00 peter welch and republican jedalloy debate for the open senate seat in vermont. Dope miss a single election moment on cspan. Cspan now is a free mobile video app. Visit cspan. Org campaign2022, your website for all of our election coverage on demand. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. We take you live to the u. S. Capital, where the house is said to gavel in for what we believe will be a brief session this morning. No votes have been scheduled today. Live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan