Background Briefing: November 9, 2022
The Results of Yesterday’s Election Defy the Poll and Pundits and Shock the Republicans
We begin with yesterday’s election that defied the polls and pundits and came as a shock to the Republicans, in particular Kevin McCarthy who may or may not end up as the new Speaker of the House presiding over a thin majority of as few as under ten seats. Joining us is Simon Rosenberg, the President and Founder of the New Democrat Network, a leading progressive think tank and advocacy organization. Previously, he was a writer and producer at ABC News for five years, before working on the Dukakis and Clinton Presidential campaigns where he was a member of the 1992 Clinton War Room. His latest article at The New Democrat Network, published yesterday, is “On This 2022 Election Eve Would Rather Be Us Than Them.”
An Update on the Races and Recriminations
Then we get an update on the races as well as the recriminations, particularly on the Republican side since the much-anticipated “Red Wave” proclaimed by Fox News failed to materialize. Joining us is David Weigel, a national political reporter at Semafor who previously covered the 2020 Democratic race, Congress and grass-roots political movements for the Washington Post. His latest articles at Semafor are “Red Ripple: Democrats surprise themselves with their own strength” and “Donald Trump’s candidates slumped and he’s looking for someone to blame.”
We Can Expect Government Paralysis and the Trump/DeSantis War to Escalate While Questions About Biden Running Again Persist
Then finally we speak with Paul Light, the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at New York University and the founding principal investigator of the Global Center for Public Service. Previously, he served as the founding director of the Center for Public Service and director of the Governmental Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of Thickening Government, The Tides of Reform, Government by Investigation: Presidents, Congress, and the Search for Answers, 1945-2012, and his latest book is The Government-Industrial Complex: Tracking the True Size of Government. We discuss an expected paralysis of government and the war between Trump and DeSantis intensifying as well as growing concerns among Democrats about who will head the ticket in 2024.