Speaker 1: Now night Side with Dan Ray, an election night special
Speaker 1: on wb Z, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Good evening, everyone, and welcome on in. My name is
Speaker 2: Dan Ray, the host of Nightside, and I have about
Speaker 2: eight people tonight that we're going to talk to who
Speaker 2: know politics inside and out from different perspectives here in
Speaker 2: New England. Going to start off with Jim Brett. He's
Speaker 2: the President of the New England Council. Jim Brett, Welcome
Speaker 2: back to Nightside, sir. How are you tonight?
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure Dan to be back.
Speaker 2: Well, this is a big night. We only have a
Speaker 2: few of these during our lifetimes. You know, divide by four. However,
Speaker 2: whatever it is you get, if you get four score
Speaker 2: years in your lifetime, you get about, realistically twenty of these.
Speaker 2: You've seen more than a few presidential elections, final presidential
Speaker 2: elections on that first Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
Speaker 2: and you're looking at it the perspective of the New
Speaker 2: England Council. A lot of people don't understand what the
Speaker 2: New England Council is, but you're about to not you personally,
Speaker 2: The New England Council is about the year in one
Speaker 2: hundred years old. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3: Well, that's an historic figure itself, one hundred years old.
Speaker 3: We're the oldest regional business organization in the United States. Obviously,
Speaker 3: it was found in nineteen twenty five and it was
Speaker 3: founded in a little town called Poland Spring in Maine.
Speaker 3: And there was the governors and the leading CEOs at
Speaker 3: the time who were involved in manufacturing of textile and
Speaker 3: shoe and they were saying that we need to find
Speaker 3: ways of working together because in nineteen twenty five a
Speaker 3: lot of the workers were leaving the New England region,
Speaker 3: going down south to the Carolinas, warmer climate, lower taxes,
Speaker 3: and they said that we are well situated in our
Speaker 3: own individual states. We know the Senators, we know the Congressmen,
Speaker 3: they know us, but it's more important that we know
Speaker 3: more of the elected officials throughout in New England that
Speaker 3: could help us and be our voice in Washington. And
Speaker 3: that was really the genesis, saying, if we work together
Speaker 3: as a region, even though we're a very small region
Speaker 3: of the United States, we're only about five percent of
Speaker 3: the nation's population and about thirteen and a half million people,
Speaker 3: half of them in one state. But the genesis was,
Speaker 3: if we work together Vermont's population is no bigger than
Speaker 3: the city of Boston, but they have two United States Senators.
Speaker 3: So they said, if we're five percent of the nation's
Speaker 3: population and we have twelve percent of the United States
Speaker 3: Senate in New England, that's a great asset. But we
Speaker 3: have to find ways of keeping them engaged, involved and
Speaker 3: working together on New England issues. And it's something that
Speaker 3: has developed into a very successful advocacy organization. And what
Speaker 3: we do is we are engaged with all the members
Speaker 3: of Congress, the twenty one members of Congress and whether
Speaker 3: they're Democrats or Republicans today they're Democrats. When I first
Speaker 3: started in nineteen ninety six, you know, there's two Senators
Speaker 3: in New Hampshire, Republicans, Bob Smith and Judd Gregg, and
Speaker 3: new Ginridge was the Speaker of the House. So they
Speaker 3: needed someone who could go to Washington and be their voice,
Speaker 3: who could work both sides, both sides of the aisle,
Speaker 3: and advocate on behalf of New England, whether it be
Speaker 3: on higher ed energy tax policy.
Speaker 2: I also assume, Jim, that there must be issues, for example,
Speaker 2: fishing issues that whether you're a Democrat or a Republican
Speaker 2: on that issue, you want to make sure that whatever
Speaker 2: restrictions are imposed on our fishing industry, they're done fairly. Obviously,
Speaker 2: you have many regulatory agencies that you have to contend with.
Speaker 2: Interesting enough, you talked about the population. I will bet
Speaker 2: you that as great as your organization is today, over
Speaker 2: time you've lost population and also representation in Congress. I
Speaker 2: suspect that back in the day when the New England
Speaker 2: Council started, we probably had sixteen or seventeen, maybe even
Speaker 2: eighteen members of the House of Representatives, and that figure
Speaker 2: has diminished, which means that you.
Speaker 4: Could double that.
Speaker 3: In the nineteen twenties, it was all but thirty members.
Speaker 3: Thirty members that we're advocating on behalf of New England
Speaker 3: and Washington, and now we have twenty one and every
Speaker 3: dessential every ten years when they do resistrict and someone
Speaker 3: seems to lose, Rhode Island seems to lose the seat,
Speaker 3: Massachusetts seems to lose the seat. That's why it is
Speaker 3: so important that the members of the delegation work as
Speaker 3: a region. And someone like Ritchie Neil, who's the dean
Speaker 3: who's elected nineteen eighty eight to Congress from Springfield, he
Speaker 3: has really truly led the effort to in farm and
Speaker 3: educate all new members of Congress from New England that
Speaker 3: we work together as a region, because when we do that,
Speaker 3: we have a lot of clout, and we've had a
Speaker 3: lot of successes and in areas such as tax policy
Speaker 3: and energy and health care. And that's because people in
Speaker 3: other parts of the country marvel at how well coordinated
Speaker 3: and cohesive. The New England delegation is both the House
Speaker 3: in the Senate, and it's been that way, whether they're
Speaker 3: all Democrats, are all Republicans, it's just working together. So
Speaker 3: it's a joy for me to work with them because
Speaker 3: they understand and strength and unity. We have an awful
Speaker 3: lot of clout, and as I say, we've had people
Speaker 3: from other parts of the country come to us and say,
Speaker 3: we would like to duplicate what you do. We would
Speaker 3: love to have a mid Atlantic Council, our South East Council,
Speaker 3: but they've been unsuccessful and achieving that. So we're unique
Speaker 3: and able to do what we do. And I think
Speaker 3: one of the reasons we do as well is that
Speaker 3: New England pretty much you know, it's rich so Ox nation,
Speaker 3: it's patriots, you know, New England patriots. There are many
Speaker 3: people that live in New Hampshire that work in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Many people in Massachusetts work in New England. In New Hampshire,
Speaker 3: many people live in Massachusetts work in Rhode Island. Some
Speaker 3: even work in Maine and live here. So we are
Speaker 3: a little more cohesive. But I think also we're an
Speaker 3: organization that is very unique in this time and era
Speaker 3: where there's so much gridlock, so much polarization in Washington.
Speaker 3: Our organization is able to access Democrats and Republicans to
Speaker 3: sit together and to see if we can find common
Speaker 3: ground on issues that would be of importance to New England.
Speaker 3: It's not the New England Democratic Council, it's not the
Speaker 3: New England Republican Council. It's the New England Council. And
Speaker 3: who's the New England Council. It's the community health centers,
Speaker 3: it's hospitals, it's colleges, it's the biotech, it's the industries
Speaker 3: that you could think of. They're part of the New
Speaker 3: England Council. The mission statement to improve the economic conditions
Speaker 3: in New England and have a voice at the table
Speaker 3: in Washington. And what I'm very proud of is to
Speaker 3: be able to say that we don't give money. We don't.
Speaker 3: We don't have a pack, we don't give endorsements, we
Speaker 3: don't give a grade. And that's why we're able to
Speaker 3: get leaders of both parties and.
Speaker 2: Jim Whitehouse, Jim, maybe, with a little bit of luck,
Speaker 2: Congress can take the New England Council as an example
Speaker 2: and as a model and maybe work together in the
Speaker 2: Congress that will assemble in January. Jim Brett of the
Speaker 2: New England Council, President and CEO, thanks so much for
Speaker 2: joining us tonight here on Nightside and a very important
Speaker 2: night and we'll have you on some night and spend
Speaker 2: some time taking phone calls from listeners.
Speaker 5: Thanks so much, love you, Thanks very much.
Speaker 3: I appreciate Thank you.
Speaker 6: Dan.
Speaker 2: All right, Jim Brett. Back to our other programming here
Speaker 2: on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray continues now on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back. We are interviewing a number of political leaders
Speaker 2: from different perspectives and with different experiences and different emphasize
Speaker 2: emphasis with us. Now with State Representative David Lynskey. He's
Speaker 2: a Democrat, been in the House Chamber here in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: for many many years. Representative. Welcome to Night's Side. Welcome.
Speaker 2: How are you. Welcome to wbz's special election coverage. Thank you, Dan.
Speaker 4: It's a big night for America tonight and I'm very
Speaker 4: happy to be part of it.
Speaker 2: Well delighted you with us. You have been a state
Speaker 2: representative for I know Natick, but do you have other
Speaker 2: communities in your district as well?
Speaker 4: Yeah, currently I represent all of Natick and half of
Speaker 4: the town of Whaleland. I formerly represented Sherburn and Millis too,
Speaker 4: but I picked up Whaleland and I'm very happy to
Speaker 4: have that too. And I've been in the state legislature
Speaker 4: now for twenty five years in Massachusetts and been involved
Speaker 4: in in a variety of issues.
Speaker 2: So you have some seniority then, twenty doll.
Speaker 4: Well, one of the things you think, as we're saying,
Speaker 4: goes when I first ran that, my slogan was give
Speaker 4: a young man a chance, and now it's turned into
Speaker 4: there's no substitute for experience.
Speaker 2: No question about that. Perspective always makes us feel that way.
Speaker 2: A little bit of age, nothing wrong with that. So look,
Speaker 2: one of the things you mentioned was that your district
Speaker 2: changes periodically, and of course congressional districts change, and one
Speaker 2: of the things that you are very much involved in nationally.
Speaker 2: You're a state representative from Massachusetts, but you're involved with
Speaker 2: the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the DLLCC, and you told
Speaker 2: me that the Republicans nationally have been I guess out
Speaker 2: maneuvering the Democrats when it comes to controlling state legislatures.
Speaker 2: Not so in Massachusetts. Tell us what's going on and
Speaker 2: what you and other members of the the DLCC are
Speaker 2: trying to do about it.
Speaker 4: Well, so, Dan, I think the reality is is that
Speaker 4: because of the dysfunction in Congress for the last many years,
Speaker 4: and then also a whole series of Supreme Court decisions
Speaker 4: that pushed decisions down to the state level, including quite frankly, abortion,
Speaker 4: the importance of state legislatures became magnified immensely, and so
Speaker 4: state legislatures now have an enormous impact on everybody's day
Speaker 4: to day lives. But the Republicans quite frankly beat us
Speaker 4: to the punch about fifteen years ago with a program
Speaker 4: to get people elected. Republicans elected the state legislatures, and
Speaker 4: what it turned into, quite frankly, was they then controlled
Speaker 4: congressional redistricting, because that's generally done by state legislatures out there. Now,
Speaker 4: did you know, for example, that way more people in
Speaker 4: this country vote for Democratic congress people than Republican congress people,
Speaker 4: but that's never reflected because the way the maps have
Speaker 4: been drawn. So we in the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
Speaker 4: over the past few years have decided to meet the
Speaker 4: Republican challenge and put a lot of emphasis in trying
Speaker 4: to get Democratic majorities in state legislatures. So, yeah, my
Speaker 4: colleague around the country, Yeah, on.
Speaker 2: That issue, there are some states, some sparsely populated states,
Speaker 2: I think maybe South Dakota and Wyoming where they have
Speaker 2: two US Senators but only one member of Congress. So
Speaker 2: it doesn't make a big difference in states that just
Speaker 2: have one member of Congress because there's going to be
Speaker 2: really no redistricting unless as a dramatic increase in population, but.
Speaker 4: It makes them a lot difference in a Michigan or Wisconsin,
Speaker 4: or New York or North Carolina, you know that really
Speaker 4: the swing states. So what happens is is, as we
Speaker 4: know from what's going on in the presidential election tonight,
Speaker 4: in the swing states, the votes are pretty much split
Speaker 4: fifty to fifty. But because of redistricting at both a
Speaker 4: state legislature level and the congressional level. The Republicans have
Speaker 4: really had majorities in those states in the congressional delegation
Speaker 4: and in the state legislature, and so they've done a
Speaker 4: great job at it, and we in the Democratic Party
Speaker 4: are now trying to match it. And I expect we're
Speaker 4: going to have some good news tonight.
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be interesting. I know that at some point
Speaker 2: later in the week, we'll find out that across the
Speaker 2: country the Republicans or the Democrats either picked up a
Speaker 2: lost so many state Senate seats or so many state
Speaker 2: legislative seats, state representative seats. State I know it's called
Speaker 2: the legislatures are a little different in New York. I
Speaker 2: know it's the Assembly, if they're not mistaken. But that's
Speaker 2: the equition I guess of our House of Representatives. And
Speaker 2: do you think that the Democratic Party can in this around? Obviously,
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts, the Democratic Party has a super majority in
Speaker 2: both the House and Senate, and nothing's going to change
Speaker 2: as of tonight. The Republicans are hoping to pick up
Speaker 2: a seat here, a seat there, but the Democrats run
Speaker 2: Beacon Hill in Massachusetts. But it's not always the same
Speaker 2: way in the other forty nine state capitals and that's.
Speaker 4: Really For example, in Pennsylvania right now, the Democrats have
Speaker 4: a one seat majority in the in the state House
Speaker 4: of Representatives, and they're down one seat in the state Senate.
Speaker 4: Up in our neighbors in New Hampshire, that's within three
Speaker 4: or four seats in the state legislature and just a
Speaker 4: couple of seats in the state Senate. You know that
Speaker 4: the changing the majority in these states can really have
Speaker 4: a major effect on people's lives, on democracy, on their
Speaker 4: right to vote, on the right to control their bodies.
Speaker 4: It has enormous impact. Like I said, the Supreme has
Speaker 4: pushed these decisions down to the state legislative level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's a lot of cases that work their
Speaker 2: way up to the Supreme Court to deal with you know,
Speaker 2: apportionment and how districts are are constructed, and you'll see
Speaker 2: those those those cases percolate up. The other thing which
Speaker 2: people need to understand, and maybe you can explain it
Speaker 2: better than I that different legislatures around the country are
Speaker 2: quite different. Meaning Massachusetts, for the most part, members of
Speaker 2: our legislature, that's your primary career. You're a legislative, you know,
Speaker 2: elected official. Whereas in New Hampshire, I think that people, it's.
Speaker 4: Much more and fifty dollars a year, yea, right.
Speaker 2: And no one's going to be able to live even
Speaker 2: in New Hampshire on one hundred and fifty dollars a year.
Speaker 7: So this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so very different situation. The reality is, when
Speaker 4: you have a situation like that, it gives governor a
Speaker 4: lot more power when you have a very part time,
Speaker 4: inexperienced legislature with no staff and no expertise. That that's
Speaker 4: what happens. It hands it hands the control away from
Speaker 4: the people, away from the legislature into the hands of
Speaker 4: the governor.
Speaker 2: But doesn't it make that a little easier for your organization,
Speaker 2: this Legislative Campaign Committee Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee to go
Speaker 2: into a state like New Hampshire and and find good
Speaker 2: candidates who you would approve of and and help them
Speaker 2: get elected. Because it's it's it's an easier lift, I guess,
Speaker 2: is what I'm saying, to turn to flip a state
Speaker 2: legislature like New Hampshire than it would be for the
Speaker 2: Republicans to in any way, shape or form flip a
Speaker 2: more professional legislature like Massachusetts or exactly say.
Speaker 4: That, right, we're putting a lot of resources into New
Speaker 4: Hampshire today obviously, and we've been doing it for months,
Speaker 4: but we're also trying to get control of state legislatures
Speaker 4: this session in Minnesota, in Arizona, and then increase some
Speaker 4: seats where we're in the minority and trying to be
Speaker 4: able to at least sustain a vetol. North Carolina as
Speaker 4: an example of that. They have a democratic governor, they
Speaker 4: just elected another democratic governor tonight, but the legislature down
Speaker 4: there is overwhelmingly Republican, and when the governor veto's something
Speaker 4: in North Carolina, there aren't enough Democratic votes to sustain
Speaker 4: is VETOL. So there the Republican super majority in both
Speaker 4: the House and the Senate are really able to control THEMS.
Speaker 4: So we're trying to pick up some seats in North
Speaker 4: Carolina to give that governor a little help down there.
Speaker 2: And what this shows is that so many of the
Speaker 2: states in America, at the legislative level and at the
Speaker 2: state level are just very different. They're pp dishes of
Speaker 2: democracy different, but all of them have impact. And again,
Speaker 2: your group, if people want to check it out as
Speaker 2: the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, or if they're more interested,
Speaker 2: they could get in test with your office at the
Speaker 2: State House. Representative David. Great to have you on. Get
Speaker 2: you on some night and maybe we'll get some callers
Speaker 2: involved as well. But this was a pretty interesting Pacidis
Speaker 2: lesson tonight. Thanks so much, Representative.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Dan, have a good evening and made democracy
Speaker 4: prevail tonight.
Speaker 2: I think it will, There's no question in my mind,
Speaker 2: and the show will prevail and continue right after this
Speaker 2: quick break right here on WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1: Nike Side with Dan Ray continues now on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back. We are interviewing a number of political leaders
Speaker 2: from different perspectives and with different experiences and different emphasize
Speaker 2: emphasis with us now is State Representative David Lynskey. He's
Speaker 2: a Democrat, been in the House Chamber here in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: for many, many years. Representative, welcome to Night's side. Welcome.
Speaker 2: How are you welcome to wbz's special election coverage.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Dan. It's a big night for America tonight
Speaker 4: and I'm very happy to be part of it.
Speaker 2: Well delighted you with us. You have been a state
Speaker 2: representative for I know, Natick, but do you have other
Speaker 2: communities in your in your district as well? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Currently I represent all of Natick and half of the
Speaker 4: town of Whiteland. I formerly represented Sherbert and Millis too,
Speaker 4: but I picked up Whaleland and I'm very happy to
Speaker 4: have that too. And I've been in the state legislature
Speaker 4: now for twenty five years in Massachusetts and been involved
Speaker 4: in a variety of issues, and I'm awesome now you have.
Speaker 2: Some seniority then for twenty five do we well?
Speaker 4: One of the things you think, as we're saying, goes
Speaker 4: when I first ran that, my slogan was give a
Speaker 4: young man a chance, and now it's turned into there's
Speaker 4: no substitute for experience.
Speaker 2: No question about that. Perspective always makes us feel that way,
Speaker 2: a little bit of age, nothing wrong with that. So look,
Speaker 2: one of the things you mentioned was that your district
Speaker 2: changes periodically, and of course congressional districts change. And one
Speaker 2: of the things that you are very much involved in nationally.
Speaker 2: You're a state representative from Massachusetts, but you're involved with
Speaker 2: the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the DLLCC. And you told
Speaker 2: me that the Republicans nationally have been I guess, out
Speaker 2: maneuvering the Democrats when it comes to controlling state legislatures,
Speaker 2: not so in Massachusetts, tell us what's going on and
Speaker 2: what you and other members of the DLCC are trying
Speaker 2: to do about it.
Speaker 8: Wow.
Speaker 4: So, Dan, I think the reality is is that because
Speaker 4: of the dysfunction in Congress for the last many years,
Speaker 4: and then also a whole series of Supreme Court decisions
Speaker 4: that pushed decisions down to the state level, including quite frankly, abortion,
Speaker 4: the importance of state legislatures became magnified immensely, and so
Speaker 4: state legislatures now have an enormous impact on everybody's day
Speaker 4: to day lives. But the Republicans quite frankly beat us
Speaker 4: to the punch about fifteen years ago with a program
Speaker 4: to get people elected. Republicans elected the state legislatures, and
Speaker 4: what it turned into, quite frankly, was they then controlled
Speaker 4: congressional redistricting because that's generally done by state legislators out there. Now,
Speaker 4: did you know, for example, that way more people in
Speaker 4: this country vote for Democratic congress people than Republican congress people,
Speaker 4: But that's never reflected because the way the maps have
Speaker 4: been drawn. So we in the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
Speaker 4: over the past few years, have decided to meet the
Speaker 4: Republican challenge and put a lot of emphasis in trying
Speaker 4: to get Democratic majorities in state legislatures. So to issue, yeah,
Speaker 4: my colleagues around the country, Yeah, on that issue.
Speaker 2: There are some states, some sparsely populated states, I think
Speaker 2: maybe South Dakota and Wyoming where they have two US
Speaker 2: Senators but only one member of Congress. So it doesn't
Speaker 2: make a big difference in states that just have one
Speaker 2: member of Congress because there's going to be really no
Speaker 2: redistricting unless as a dramatic increase in population, but it.
Speaker 4: Makes them an difference in a Michigan or Wisconsin, or
Speaker 4: New York or North Carolina, you know that really the
Speaker 4: swing states. So what happens is is, as we know
Speaker 4: from what's going on in the in the presidential election tonight,
Speaker 4: in the swing states, the votes are pretty much split
Speaker 4: fifty to fifty. But because of redistricting and both a
Speaker 4: state level and the congressional level, the Republicans have really
Speaker 4: had majorities in those states in the congressional delegation and
Speaker 4: the state legislature. And so they've done a great job
Speaker 4: at it, and we in the Democratic Party are now
Speaker 4: trying to match it. And I expect we're going to
Speaker 4: have some good news tonight.
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be interesting. I know that at some point
Speaker 2: later in the week we'll find out that across the
Speaker 2: country the Republicans or the Democrats either picked up a
Speaker 2: lost so many state Senate seats or so many state
Speaker 2: legislative seats, state representative seats. State I know it's called
Speaker 2: the legislatures are a little different in New York. I
Speaker 2: know it's the Assembly, if they're not mistaken, But that's
Speaker 2: the equivalent, I guess of our House of Representatives. And
Speaker 2: do you think that the Democratic Party can turn this around? Obviously,
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts, the Democratic Party has a super majority in
Speaker 2: both the House and Senate and nothing's going to change
Speaker 2: as of tonight. The Republicans are hoping to pick up
Speaker 2: a seat here, a seat there, But the Democrats run
Speaker 2: Beacon Hill in Massachusetts. But it's not always the same
Speaker 2: way in the other forty nine state capitals. And that's
Speaker 2: really so.
Speaker 4: For example, in Pennsylvania right now, the Democrats have a
Speaker 4: one seat majority in the in the state House of Representatives,
Speaker 4: and they're down one seat in the state Senate. Up
Speaker 4: in our neighbors in New Hampshire. That's within three or
Speaker 4: four seats in the state legislature and just a couple
Speaker 4: of seats in the state Senate, you know that they
Speaker 4: changing the majority in these states can really have a
Speaker 4: major effect on people's lives, on democracy, on their right
Speaker 4: to vote, on the right to control their bodies. It
Speaker 4: has enormous impact. Like I said, the Supreme Court has
Speaker 4: pushed these decisions down to the state legislative level.
Speaker 2: Yea, there's a lot of cases that work their way
Speaker 2: up to the Supreme Court to deal with, you know,
Speaker 2: apportionment and how districts are are constructed, and you'll see
Speaker 2: those those those cases percolate up. The other thing which
Speaker 2: people need to understand and maybe you can explain it
Speaker 2: better than I that different legislatures around the country are
Speaker 2: quite different, meaning Massachusetts, for the most part, members of
Speaker 2: our legislature, that's your primary career. You're a legislator, you know,
Speaker 2: elected official. Whereas in New Hampshire, I think that people
Speaker 2: it's much more one and.
Speaker 4: Fifty dollars a year. Yeah, right, and no one's going to.
Speaker 2: Be able to live even in New Hampshire on one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars a year, so.
Speaker 4: This part them too, yeah, yeah, so very different situation.
Speaker 4: The reality is is when you have a situation like that,
Speaker 4: it gives the governor a lot more power when you
Speaker 4: have a very part time, inexperienced legislature with no staff
Speaker 4: and no expertise. That that's what happens. It hands it
Speaker 4: hands the control away from the people, away from the legislature,
Speaker 4: into the hands of the governor.
Speaker 2: But doesn't it make that a little easier for your organization,
Speaker 2: this Legislative Campaign Committee Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee to go
Speaker 2: into a state like New Hampshire and find good candidates
Speaker 2: who you would approve of and and help them get
Speaker 2: elected because it's it's it's an easier lift, I guess,
Speaker 2: is what I'm saying, to turn to flip a state
Speaker 2: legislature like New Hampshire than it would be for the
Speaker 2: Republicans to in any way, shape orform flip a more
Speaker 2: professional legislature like Massachusetts or.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 4: Right, we're putting a lot of resources into New Hampshire today, obviously,
Speaker 4: and we've been doing it for months. But we're also
Speaker 4: trying to get control of state legislatures this session in Minnesota,
Speaker 4: in Arizona and then increase some seats where we're in
Speaker 4: the minority, and trying to be able to at least
Speaker 4: sustain a veto. North Carolina is an example of that.
Speaker 4: They have a democratic governor, they just elected another democratic
Speaker 4: governor tonight, but the legislature down there is overwhelmingly Republican,
Speaker 4: and when the governor veto's something in North Carolina, there
Speaker 4: aren't enough Democratic votes to sustain is veto. So there
Speaker 4: the Republican supermajority in both the House and the Senate
Speaker 4: are really able to control them. So we're trying to
Speaker 4: pick up some seats in North Carolina to give that
Speaker 4: governor a little help down there.
Speaker 2: And what this shows is that so many of the
Speaker 2: states in America, and at the legislative level and at
Speaker 2: the state level are just very different, the PP dishes
Speaker 2: of democracy different, but all of them have impact. Again,
Speaker 2: your group, if people want to check it out as
Speaker 2: the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, or if they're more interested,
Speaker 2: they could get in test with your office at the
Speaker 2: State House. Representative David, great to have you on. Get
Speaker 2: you on some night and maybe we'll get some callers
Speaker 2: involved as well. But this was a pretty interesting lesson tonight.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Representative.
Speaker 4: Thank you Dan, have a good evening and made democracy
Speaker 4: prevail tonight.
Speaker 2: I think it will. There's no question in my mind,
Speaker 2: and the show will prevail and continue right after this
Speaker 2: quick break right here on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray, Election night in America tell
Speaker 1: you BZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well back at you here on a very important night.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray, the host of Nightside. Have
Speaker 2: the honor tonight to talk to several guests who are
Speaker 2: people who are well steeped in the tradition of Massachusetts politics,
Speaker 2: and none more steep than my next guest, Former Congressman
Speaker 2: Mike Cappel. Mike Capaano, Welcome back to Night's Side. Always
Speaker 2: good to have you on, particularly on an election night.
Speaker 5: I love talking to you, Dan, So on a night like.
Speaker 2: Tonight, You've been through what uh ten or so elections
Speaker 2: to Congress, you were the mayor of Somerville. Do the
Speaker 2: juices still float? Does the adrenaline flow as you're watching this?
Speaker 2: Are you, like you know the former guy that you
Speaker 2: know played in the NFL or the major leagues who
Speaker 2: still gets excited about watching NFL on Sunday or a
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball at a World Series in playoff.
Speaker 5: Time significantly less than you might think. I mean, really,
Speaker 5: you're in the ring so long you kind of get tired.
Speaker 5: And I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm desperately interested
Speaker 5: in the outcome of this election, but the juices are
Speaker 5: really interested in the outcome, not so much the game
Speaker 5: so much anymore.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now, I know that you were never, in any way,
Speaker 2: shape or form a big fan of Donald Trump. Can
Speaker 2: you explain to me from your perspective, how after all
Speaker 2: that he has been through that he's still standing. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a guy, you know, Ben impeached, Ben indicted,
Speaker 2: been shot at all of.
Speaker 5: This most everybody around.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. I don't know if he's personally insulted you
Speaker 2: or not. But I've never had the honor of having
Speaker 2: him on my show, and I've always been convinced that
Speaker 2: he can win the Republican nomination if he wanted it.
Speaker 2: But I don't know that he can win tonight, And
Speaker 2: of course.
Speaker 5: We'll know that he's the only Republican. I think he's
Speaker 5: the only Republican we can beat at this point in time.
Speaker 5: I mean, the Democratic label is a little bit damage
Speaker 5: at the moment on a national scale, but I think
Speaker 5: Donald Trump himself has significantly damaged on a national sale.
Speaker 5: So we'll see. It's it's very It's gonna be an
Speaker 5: interesting election. I think I don't know too many people
Speaker 5: who are terribly excited to vote for somebody. A lot
Speaker 5: of people I know a voting against somebody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, a friend of mine looked for my
Speaker 2: predictions today, and I simply paraphrased Rick Patino and sent
Speaker 2: back a text that said, Jack Kennedy and Ronald Reagan
Speaker 2: are not through it, not walking through that door anytime soon.
Speaker 2: Uh and and you long for the day of that.
Speaker 2: How much of a mistake. And it has to have
Speaker 2: been a tremendous mistake for for former President Trump not
Speaker 2: to invite Nicky Haley out on to trail with him.
Speaker 5: I mean, really, I don't get it. It's almost political malepractice,
Speaker 5: you know, Like, I know she's said some tough things
Speaker 5: about him. But in publical business, you're supposed to have
Speaker 5: a thick skin. You're supposed to understand that when the
Speaker 5: campaign's out there, it's like it's like a contest on
Speaker 5: a football field. Nobody goes out there and gives half
Speaker 5: half a loaf. They give everything they got, including against
Speaker 5: their best friend. And once the game is over, you
Speaker 5: shake hands, move on, you know, and get on the
Speaker 5: maybe on the same team next year. But all that
Speaker 5: being said, I couldn't agree with some more. It's a
Speaker 5: huge mistake not to have reached out to her. Don't
Speaker 5: get me wrong, He's a good Democrat. I'm glad he
Speaker 5: made that mistake.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there were others. I don't think that he
Speaker 2: campaigned with DeSantis or Rubio or many others. It almost
Speaker 2: it's almost seems to me that given a choice between
Speaker 2: winning with the help of say Nikki Haley, or realizing
Speaker 2: that he would lose, that he almost would prefer to
Speaker 2: lose then to have to share any credit for a win.
Speaker 2: And that to me is I'd like to talk to
Speaker 2: some psychologists a psychiatrist about that decision who might have
Speaker 2: a minor in two.
Speaker 5: He governed that way as well. He didn't govern He
Speaker 5: governed by browbeating the Republican friends and totally ignoring Democrats.
Speaker 5: You know that he did that for four years. And
Speaker 5: that's one of the reasons you asked. In my opinion,
Speaker 5: he didn't show any of the business acumen of trying
Speaker 5: to work with people at all, other than people who
Speaker 5: agree with him, and I don't think there's a successful
Speaker 5: businessman in the world who hasn't learned how to work
Speaker 5: with other.
Speaker 2: People, including competitors.
Speaker 5: Especially competitors. Now me, you compete when you compete, but
Speaker 5: then you try to get on the same side if
Speaker 5: you can. It's a game of addition, just like life.
Speaker 5: It's not a game of division.
Speaker 2: It just isn't that he assuming that he were to
Speaker 2: win tonight, and I'm not making that assumption. But if
Speaker 2: he were to win tonight, do you think he will
Speaker 2: govern any differently in a second term?
Speaker 5: No, I think I personally think it will be worse.
Speaker 5: I think he will have vindicated himself. Everything I have said,
Speaker 5: everything I have ever done, has now been vindicated, so
Speaker 5: I will do whatever I want to do. I think
Speaker 5: it will be worse than the first two.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's an interesting night. It's a fascinating night.
Speaker 2: I hope that when this is over, whoever wins, everyone
Speaker 2: at least gives them a chance to do the right thing,
Speaker 2: even if in the case of Donald Trump it's probably
Speaker 2: not likely. But I hope that that whoever wins, you
Speaker 2: and I both can say, well, that person is our
Speaker 2: president until they start to stir up back right.
Speaker 5: From your lives to gazias. I totally agree. And you know,
Speaker 5: it's just the country is too divided. It's too there's
Speaker 5: too much animosity out there. And again, I've been in
Speaker 5: lots of street fights politically, and you know, fine, But
Speaker 5: I've also made friends as we go along, some people
Speaker 5: that I'm friendly with today that I never would have
Speaker 5: thought I was friendly with thirty years ago. Why because
Speaker 5: things change, Different issues come up, You work together and
Speaker 5: you realize, okay, they're not so bad, and maybe I
Speaker 5: can be with them the next time. It's again, it's life,
Speaker 5: and I just I hope you're one hundred percent right.
Speaker 5: I pray to God you are. I think the country
Speaker 5: really needs it.
Speaker 2: You know, in another time and in another place, you
Speaker 2: were considered sort of the Democratic firebrand. There were some
Speaker 2: comments that you and I don't have to recall that
Speaker 2: you made at rallies, which some of the Democrats will say, hey,
Speaker 2: can you keep it down a little bit, But today
Speaker 2: you would be considered a moderate Democrat within the context
Speaker 2: of the National Democratic Party. How tough is that.
Speaker 5: It's again, I think it's one of the reasons the
Speaker 5: Democratic Party is struggling a little bit. I don't think
Speaker 5: we should be, but I think we are because of
Speaker 5: things like that. We have our radicals in the party
Speaker 5: as well. Many of them are activists in the party,
Speaker 5: just like the Republican Party. And there are a lot
Speaker 5: of moderate regular people just going ahead on a day
Speaker 5: to day basis, try to make a living, try to
Speaker 5: make ends beat and they want to be on the
Speaker 5: democratic side. But they look around, they see some of
Speaker 5: the things that they just don't want to hear about.
Speaker 5: You know. They don't want to be told, you know,
Speaker 5: what kind of a neighborhood they have to live in.
Speaker 5: They don't want to be told they have to be
Speaker 5: a needle exchange or whatever it might be next to
Speaker 5: their own house, you know, and they don't want to
Speaker 5: hear it, so that you know. And my problem is
Speaker 5: that there are too many politicians who refuse to then
Speaker 5: go out and actually solicit and listen to the opinions
Speaker 5: of others. There's always some issues where a politician is
Speaker 5: going to have to say, look, I love and respect
Speaker 5: my constituents, but on this issue, it's a moral issue
Speaker 5: to me, I have to do X. But we're supposed
Speaker 5: to represent the people that we that elect us, and
Speaker 5: sometimes that means you do things that maybe you don't
Speaker 5: personally share one hundred percent, but that's what the job is.
Speaker 5: At least I think that's what the job is.
Speaker 2: Well, you did the job for a long time, and
Speaker 2: you did really well, and you're a Democrat that certainly
Speaker 2: had the respect at the time, and you still have
Speaker 2: the respect and you are always welcome here at Nightside.
Speaker 2: Mike Capawano, I want you to get back in the game. Thanks,
Speaker 2: thanks so much, my friend. Okay, we will talk again
Speaker 2: and we'll talk to Thank you, Mike, say aha to
Speaker 2: Bobra for me. We have Elizabeth Warren would be speaking
Speaker 2: pretty soon, so stay with us, and we have more
Speaker 2: guests coming up and more program on this special election
Speaker 2: Night twenty twenty four coverage.
Speaker 1: Our Election Night coverage continues now with Night Side with
Speaker 1: Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone. We're now speaking with the chair of
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts Republican Party, Amy Connavalley. Amy, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Night's Side. I believe that you're down
Speaker 2: in the southeast corner of the Commonwealth tonight at a
Speaker 2: number of Republican events one of the things that I
Speaker 2: think you're most concerned about. I don't think you thought
Speaker 2: Donald Trump would carry Massachusetts or John Deaton would unseat
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Warren. But how are you doing at the legislative
Speaker 2: level here in Massachusetts tonight?
Speaker 6: Dan, thanks very much for having me back on the show.
Speaker 6: I am coming to you this evening from Taunton, Math.
Speaker 6: I'm here at the Kelly Duner uh celebration. They are
Speaker 6: counting votes as Kelly is running for state Senate in
Speaker 6: an open seat. She is currently up, but the still
Speaker 6: awaiting additional votes to be cast.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 6: So we've not yet called the called the race, but
Speaker 6: this would be a pickup for Republicans.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 7: It's it's an open Kelly is able to witness.
Speaker 5: Yes, open, it's what the it's.
Speaker 2: What they call an open seat because the longtime Democratic
Speaker 2: incumbent down there, Mark Pachico, I guess, had decided that
Speaker 2: he would he would retire from from office. What a
Speaker 2: what percentage of the votes do you have at this point,
Speaker 2: and just be curious how how it looks. I know
Speaker 2: you don't want to claim victory ahead of time, but
Speaker 2: she was a strong candidate and I'd be interested as
Speaker 2: to what what the numbers are are looking like, either
Speaker 2: on a percentage basis or on a raw basis if
Speaker 2: you had had them available.
Speaker 6: So we're still waiting on a couple of towns. But
Speaker 6: right now in Taunton, which is the city, Kelly is
Speaker 6: is up, which is typically a good good sign for Republicans.
Speaker 6: So again we're we're still waiting on a couple of
Speaker 6: outside towns to come in. But and where where them
Speaker 6: in some of the other towns. But but she's up
Speaker 6: right now in Taunton, So it's a great sign.
Speaker 2: Okay. So right now there are forty state senators here
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts, and the Republicans only represent four for for
Speaker 2: members of the of the Senate. Uh, if things break
Speaker 2: well for you tonight, that's one seat you might pick up.
Speaker 2: Are there any other seats that are are available for
Speaker 2: to increase your your your number of senators? I mean
Speaker 2: it's a it's a it's a small, a hardy group,
Speaker 2: but a small group nonetheless that I'm sure you'd like
Speaker 2: to add to it.
Speaker 6: Well, everyone makes a difference, as we saw by the
Speaker 6: the addition of Peter Durant last year in a special election.
Speaker 6: Even having just one more state Senator as a Republican
Speaker 6: who's willing to speak up and and voice objections to
Speaker 6: some of the policies that that are being passed through
Speaker 6: Beacon Hill without a lot of debate or dialogue makes
Speaker 6: a difference. So did Another seat we're looking at this
Speaker 6: evening is state represented Matt Moore Torri who is running
Speaker 6: for State Senate. That race is currently neck and neck.
Speaker 6: It's much too early to call, really, I think that
Speaker 6: one could be a nail bier, you know, rate down
Speaker 6: to the to the wire. A lot of money has
Speaker 6: been spent in that race. So Matt again, Matt gave
Speaker 6: up his state rep seat to run for State Senate
Speaker 6: and that's in the Plymouth area.
Speaker 2: Okay, how are you doing again? I know that part
Speaker 2: of the problem that the party has had for a
Speaker 2: long time, well predated You're very active involvement, is that many, many,
Speaker 2: many members of the legislature, of the Democratic legislature were
Speaker 2: not even challenged. Do you have any possibility of increasing
Speaker 2: You have but twenty five members of the one hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty member House Chamber. Do you have any shot
Speaker 2: to increasing that group number?
Speaker 6: We do, so, we have some challengers running and again
Speaker 6: some other seats, open seats in the in the state house,
Speaker 6: state representatives, some open seats that were previously held by Democrats.
Speaker 6: So where we have competitive Republicans running, it is typically
Speaker 6: easier for Republicans, particularly in a presidential election year, to
Speaker 6: gain seats in when the Democrat is not running for
Speaker 6: re election and we are. We're a party that's coming
Speaker 6: off losses two years ago, so we really wanted to
Speaker 6: set our sites this this cycle on winnable races, which
Speaker 6: is what I think we've done. So we have some
Speaker 6: strong candidates running in state rep seats, in some open
Speaker 6: seats too. So for example, we have Jesse Brown and
Speaker 6: Plymouth running, Ken Sweezey and Pembroke running Christopher Thrasher, which
Speaker 6: is an interesting race. He's running in Westport. That race
Speaker 6: is actually five candidates, so you have, of course the Republican,
Speaker 6: the Democrat, and three other political parties represented on the ballot,
Speaker 6: and that's an open seat. And Chris got on actually
Speaker 6: as a writing candidate, so it would be really interesting
Speaker 6: and if he could win that seat, and we think
Speaker 6: he has a real chance of doing that.
Speaker 2: So let's let's talk about your job. Your job is
Speaker 2: to revitalize a party, which has been very dormant. Frankly,
Speaker 2: you've done well at the gubernatorial level. How are you
Speaker 2: getting people either to become Republican registers Republicans or actually
Speaker 2: you step up and say, hey, I'll run for city
Speaker 2: council or I'm going to run for state rep. Or
Speaker 2: I'm going to run for You know, It's one thing
Speaker 2: John Deaton to come in and try to take out
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Warren. Obviously he was not successful tonight. And Donald
Speaker 2: Trump at the head of the ticket is not going
Speaker 2: to have any coattails in Massachusetts whatsoever. How tough is
Speaker 2: it to get new members into a party that is
Speaker 2: such a minority party in a state like Massachusetts. Now
Speaker 2: you have a tough task in front of you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So I would say, you know, this year, starting
Speaker 6: last year was a little more difficult than this year.
Speaker 6: I think people saw some of the failures on Beacon
Speaker 6: Hill as a result of the policies like the migrant crisis,
Speaker 6: of billion dollars being spent, little policy changes being made,
Speaker 6: and those policies really starting to impact kind of everyday
Speaker 6: residents of the Commonwealth in their in their schools and
Speaker 6: their cities and police and fire protection, and you know
Speaker 6: some of them this policy is like protection of victims
Speaker 6: over criminals, and so I do think we saw a
Speaker 6: real change in the mindset of residents in the Commonwealth
Speaker 6: this year, and we saw a number of Republican a
Speaker 6: number of our state rep candidates running as writ ins
Speaker 6: who really felt that they needed to step up and
Speaker 6: make a difference. So I think we're going to see
Speaker 6: that continue into next year, and I think we'll see
Speaker 6: really a flood of Republican candidates, much more so than
Speaker 6: we saw this cycle headed into the twenty twenty sixth election.
Speaker 2: I want you to know that I know you're watching
Speaker 2: the competitive races very closely, but I also want you
Speaker 2: to know that the early returns on some of the
Speaker 2: ballot questions I think will please you when you think
Speaker 2: about how people think about issues. The effort to authorize
Speaker 2: the state auditor to audit the legislature again, it's only
Speaker 2: about fifteen percent of the vote, but is leading by
Speaker 2: quite a bit, seventy two percent to twenty eight percent.
Speaker 2: The question about psychedelicsubstances looks to be very tight. Also,
Speaker 2: the increasing minimum wage for tipped employees that does not
Speaker 2: that's not doing well either. It's losing about two to one,
Speaker 2: so on many of the ballot issues people of voting,
Speaker 2: I think in line with the philosophy of the Republican Party.
Speaker 6: Ironically, that's right, yes, and so the party did take
Speaker 6: a position on the ballot questions. We were we did
Speaker 6: join with the auditor on question one in favor of that,
Speaker 6: and you know, we think there are common sense issues
Speaker 6: of transparency and accountability for taxpayer dollars and the commonwealth.
Speaker 6: And we were opposed to the remainder of the questions,
Speaker 6: in particular, most active on question five on on the
Speaker 6: tipped employees, because we heard from many of our family
Speaker 6: restaurants and workers at those restaurants that they, in fact
Speaker 6: were not in favor of this ballot initiative that really
Speaker 6: kind of came out of California.
Speaker 2: It sure did, it, Sure did. Amy Connor Valley, thank
Speaker 2: you so much, and thank you thanks for attempting to
Speaker 2: make Massachusetts more of a two party state than it
Speaker 2: has been before your arrival. You're working hard at it,
Speaker 2: and my hat's off to you and a best of
Speaker 2: luck tonight for the balance of the evening. Thanks Amy,
Speaker 2: appreciate it very much.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Dan, and to all your listeners, Thank.
Speaker 2: You, you're welcome. When we come back during the ten o'clalker,
Speaker 2: I'll be talking with Congressman Seth Moulton a little after
Speaker 2: ten to fifteen, the Democrat from the North Shore. And
Speaker 2: then at ten forty five tonight we'll talk with New
Speaker 2: Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who's celebrating, ironically his fiftieth birthday.
Speaker 2: So we have Tom O'Neil speak, the son of former
Speaker 2: Speaker Tom O'Neil, coming up, as well as Polster Spencer Kimball.
Speaker 2: Stay with WBZ News Radio throughout the night.
Speaker 1: Now Night's Side with Dan Ray, an election night special
Speaker 1: on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: This is Dan Ray, and this is twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: We won't have another one of these nights for four years.
Speaker 2: That's what makes the night special with me. Also someone
Speaker 2: who makes the night special Congress and Seth Moulton here
Speaker 2: from Massachusetts Congress and Moulton represents the the sixth Congressional
Speaker 2: district up in the northeast corner of the state. Congress
Speaker 2: and Milton welcome back to Night Side.
Speaker 8: Daniel, very kind, it's great to be back with you.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure you've had a pretty easy dice because you,
Speaker 2: along with for the other members of the delegation, are
Speaker 2: uncontested and you now have been elected to Congress. This
Speaker 2: will start your sixth term. Time flies when you're having fun. Congressman,
Speaker 2: I would say.
Speaker 8: Well, time does fly, and it's not always fun, but
Speaker 8: it does feel important right now with everything.
Speaker 9: Ata No, but it's honest with me, Dan, It's the
Speaker 9: question I get a lot. It's like, seth, why do
Speaker 9: you put up with this? How do you keep doing this?
Speaker 9: How do you stay sane? I mean, this is my friends,
Speaker 9: you know, asking these questions and my family, and I
Speaker 9: get it.
Speaker 8: I get the concern, but actually the craziness makes it
Speaker 8: feel to me like, you know, now more than ever,
Speaker 8: try to try to keep some sane heads in Washington.
Speaker 2: Maybe this would make you feel better. But good friends
Speaker 2: of mine will ask me the same thing about my job.
Speaker 2: They'll say, not put up with that anyway, deal yours
Speaker 2: is a much more important job than mine. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about what's going on across the country tonight. I'm watching CNN.
Speaker 2: I'm watching a little bit of Fox, uh, and it
Speaker 2: looks to me like this RACI is indeed going to
Speaker 2: be as tight as the pollsters predicted. So far, it
Speaker 2: seems to be following a script and at some point,
Speaker 2: obviously there's going to be a break point here. It
Speaker 2: looks like a tennis match that's going five sets. What
Speaker 2: is your sense as you watch this tonight from you know,
Speaker 2: from from home?
Speaker 8: That's my sense exactly as well. And I've been on
Speaker 8: the ground at swing states. It's felt really close, felt
Speaker 8: really close. I was down in Arizona, it was down Pennsylvania.
Speaker 8: You know, It's it's felt very close over the last
Speaker 8: several weeks. And I don't think we're going to know
Speaker 8: the results tonight. I mean we might, we might wake
Speaker 8: up in the morning and know the results, but there's
Speaker 8: a really good chance that we won't actually know the
Speaker 8: final results for a few days. We'll just have to see.
Speaker 2: Is that because of the slow count that is expected
Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania, each state does they count a little differently,
Speaker 2: And because Pennsylvania is not only close, but it's also
Speaker 2: very meticulously accounted as that a fair assessment.
Speaker 8: That's right, And there are just different procedures for when
Speaker 8: mail in votes are counted. For example, some are not
Speaker 8: even opened until election day, and so it takes a
Speaker 8: long time to go through them. Other states count them
Speaker 8: in advance. You know, these are state by state election laws,
Speaker 8: and so it depends. I mean, I remember Arizona took
Speaker 8: a while to get called last time. Maybe it won't
Speaker 8: be as close this time. You know, we don't know,
Speaker 8: but I just I think people need to be prepared
Speaker 8: for this act that this could drag out. And what
Speaker 8: often happens is sometimes the late votes that come in
Speaker 8: are in different direction. I mean, I remember in my
Speaker 8: first race, all the small towns, places like West Newbury
Speaker 8: where I think that was the first town to call in. Uh,
Speaker 8: they counted their votes pretty quickly. It took a while
Speaker 8: for big cities like Lynn, uh to get their votes in.
Speaker 8: And you know, Lynn could completely change the election for me.
Speaker 8: So uh, this is this is something that that you
Speaker 8: get used to. But I'll tell you, Dan, after after
Speaker 8: speaking with you, I'm going to bed.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you staying up late. So I just
Speaker 2: got to ask a couple other questions. One, I'm sure
Speaker 2: you're monitoring this around the country. The Senate looks like
Speaker 2: it's going to flip to the Republicans because of Montana
Speaker 2: and West Virginia. Maybe Ohio the House could flip back
Speaker 2: to the Democrats. Do you get a sense as to
Speaker 2: what's going on? I mean this this, you know, four
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty five, four hundred and thirty eight races
Speaker 2: around the country. I'm sure you can't put your well,
Speaker 2: you can't take the pulse in all of them. But
Speaker 2: what sort of a chance do the Democrats have of
Speaker 2: getting at least a House of Representatives back tonight to
Speaker 2: balance off whatever? I think?
Speaker 8: Yeah, no, I think it's a good chance. But I
Speaker 8: think you've summarized it well, which is that we've known
Speaker 8: for frankly, for years now that this was going to
Speaker 8: be a tough year for Democrats in the Senate, just
Speaker 8: based on the races that they were up for re election.
Speaker 8: And you know, a lot a lot of people have
Speaker 8: been saying for a while, uh that they thought Democrats
Speaker 8: have the House in the bag. I've never said that.
Speaker 8: I've always said I think the House will be closed.
Speaker 8: Let's not forget the Republicans are ahead right now in
Speaker 8: the House. They have control of the majority right now,
Speaker 8: so you know, we have to flip that. And on
Speaker 8: top of that, when you just look at how jerry
Speaker 8: mandering something that you know originated here in Massachusetts, but
Speaker 8: screwing up elections across the country ever since. You know
Speaker 8: that that the current map, the current gerrymandered map across
Speaker 8: the country does favor Republicans. So there are a couple
Speaker 8: of things working against Democrats here. You know, I think
Speaker 8: insiders know that the Republican Congress in the House has
Speaker 8: been a disaster under Speaker Johnson. They can't seem to
Speaker 8: get anything done, can't get out of their own way,
Speaker 8: didn't even have a speaker for three weeks, the first
Speaker 8: time in American history that that's happened. But you know,
Speaker 8: these races are this has decided race by race right
Speaker 8: across the country, and people aren't always voting on just
Speaker 8: how you know a Republican speaker does. They're just looking
Speaker 8: at the candidates that are going to represent them. And
Speaker 8: I think when you go race by race, it's pretty close.
Speaker 2: To two final questions. One, if it goes against your
Speaker 2: party tonight, either at the House level or at the
Speaker 2: presidential level, is it time for a shake up of
Speaker 2: leadership in the in the Democratic Party and specifically within
Speaker 2: within Congress. Has this been an an experiment that maybe
Speaker 2: the American people were not quite ready for I'm not
Speaker 2: talking about us, the Harris campaign, and I'm talking about
Speaker 2: the last four years of Democratic leadership.
Speaker 8: Well, I think the question is what a shake up
Speaker 8: looks like because I've always been one calling for, you know,
Speaker 8: new generation of leadership, new ideas.
Speaker 2: Asking the question is why I'm asking the.
Speaker 8: Questions right, appealing to a broader, uh swath of Americans. Right,
Speaker 8: we want to be the majority party. We've got to
Speaker 8: get a majority of voters on our side. That should
Speaker 8: be pretty obvious. But I think that there will be
Speaker 8: some real time to to step down and say, Okay,
Speaker 8: what exactly does that look like? Because you know, we
Speaker 8: did have a generational change going from Biden to Harris.
Speaker 8: I was the third in the House, in the whole
Speaker 8: Congress actually House or Senate to come out and say
Speaker 8: that needed to happen.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 8: On the on the other hand, it doesn't. I also advocated,
Speaker 8: UH for Harris breaking away more from Biden. I love Biden,
Speaker 8: she loves Biden. She's a great she was a great
Speaker 8: loyal vice president. But I think one thing she could
Speaker 8: have done differently in this campaign is said, here's where
Speaker 8: I'm going to be different than the president. You know,
Speaker 8: I'm going to handle immigration differently, or I'm going to
Speaker 8: handle the economy differently. I think she should have been
Speaker 8: willing to will to break with the past a bit
Speaker 8: more we have.
Speaker 2: She was asked that question, She was asked that question
Speaker 2: point blank, and she just didn't have an answer.
Speaker 8: I was shocked by that. Yeah, I think that I
Speaker 8: think she'd be had goo ahead.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to say that's a tough question for
Speaker 2: you on this one. We'll talk about a greater, greater depth.
Speaker 2: But I just want to no matter who wins or
Speaker 2: how this all shakes out, we need to come together
Speaker 2: as a country. And and I know that you share
Speaker 2: that thought with me. But just a few final comments
Speaker 2: on the need for us to get together as Americans
Speaker 2: and to put this this this divide, this this really
Speaker 2: horrible divide behind us.
Speaker 8: We do need to come together. And the level of
Speaker 8: just sheer vitriol, the name calling, the baseless disinformation, the
Speaker 8: attacks on our democracy itself, you know, saying that elections
Speaker 8: are rigged, claiming that Trump won the last election when
Speaker 8: he clearly did not, just making up facts and whatnot,
Speaker 8: that has got to end because that undermines the principles
Speaker 8: of our democracy.
Speaker 2: You know what, Congress, I hate to do this here,
Speaker 2: but I agree with you totally on that, and unfortunately
Speaker 2: should have asked you such a technical question because we're
Speaker 2: flat out of time. But I want to have you
Speaker 2: back and let's let's explore this a greater length on
Speaker 2: another evening, if that's okay with you, because I think
Speaker 2: it's important to discuss Seth Moulton, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for joining us tonight. Thank you for having me very much.
Speaker 2: We'll talk so him. We will be back with more
Speaker 2: of our special election coverage here on Nightside. We'll be
Speaker 2: talking with Governor Chris Sanunho of New Hampshire in the
Speaker 2: next half hour.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray continues now on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. We had delighted to be joined by
Speaker 2: the Governor of the great state of New Hampshire, my
Speaker 2: my personal favorite, governor, Governor Chris Sonunu and Governor Sonunu.
Speaker 2: I want to wish you a happy birthday today.
Speaker 10: Happy birthday, Nah, who cares.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're not going to put the number on it,
Speaker 2: but this is a big one as I understand it.
Speaker 10: Okay, it's a big one. It's a big one. But
Speaker 10: it's really about a look at at the end of
Speaker 10: the day, this is a great night, great election in
Speaker 10: New Hampshire. It's all I really cared about. So the
Speaker 10: dust will settle in a few in a few days
Speaker 10: and I'll be like, oh crap, I have to buy
Speaker 10: reading glasses or something like that. But now I'm just celebrating, trying.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Remember you can go to CDs and Walgreens and
Speaker 2: they're like twenty bucks seam just you could lose them
Speaker 2: and everything. Look, tell us about the governmentace.
Speaker 10: Up there money. I have to save the money for
Speaker 10: the ozembic.
Speaker 2: You were all in on this race. I thought that
Speaker 2: the commercials that you did for Kelly Aod probably won
Speaker 2: her the election. You're not going to say that, but
Speaker 2: I'll say that, what was the margin of up there tonight?
Speaker 2: And what do you expect the margin to be?
Speaker 10: I think it's going to end up being four or
Speaker 10: five at least. It's definitely bigger. I won in twenty
Speaker 10: sixteen and then the last open race by two points
Speaker 10: and that was like a landslide. So Kelly definitely outdid
Speaker 10: me in a lot of towns, which was just great
Speaker 10: to see and more importantly let me tell you how
Speaker 10: crazy it is because some did not do well up here, right,
Speaker 10: He didn't invest any money, he didn't invest any time.
Speaker 10: So to have an open race for governor that then
Speaker 10: outpaces the presidential ticket by ten points, that's incredible. I mean,
Speaker 10: it's really incredible that she was able to pull off
Speaker 10: such a strong win, and just at the testament to
Speaker 10: how she ran the message she ran. She didn't talk
Speaker 10: about things that the party wanted or she wanted. She
Speaker 10: talked about things that the voters wanted. And that's a
Speaker 10: huge fundamental difference between her and her opponent. Her opponent
Speaker 10: just kind of ran this big, nive, anti party message
Speaker 10: all on on abortion. Reproductive important issue, fine, but not
Speaker 10: an issue for us here, not a top priority in here.
Speaker 10: It's not really a problem in New Hampshire. So it
Speaker 10: was a hugely flawed UH strategy on their part. But
Speaker 10: you know, at the end of the day, Telly was
Speaker 10: just a not just a better candidate, but a better
Speaker 10: connector to the people on the ground.
Speaker 2: Again, I want to come back. It was a spot
Speaker 2: that you did which I know you pretty well, and
Speaker 2: I thought, you know you you connected. You looked in
Speaker 2: that camera and you kind of smile the people and
Speaker 2: said the new Hampshire Way and it connected. I do
Speaker 2: not understand by the way the ad that she did
Speaker 2: with her husband. I thought that was embarrassing, but that's
Speaker 2: but I guess you that.
Speaker 10: You know, people love that ad. It's the number one
Speaker 10: respond to that. Yeah, people love. People thought it was normal.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 10: People thought it was normal and silly enough. So I
Speaker 10: don't know.
Speaker 2: But talked about her snoring, it was what what is
Speaker 2: he going to say next? It was like terrifying, let's
Speaker 2: talk about the national race. I am surprised to see
Speaker 2: where this seems to be trending tonight. What is your
Speaker 2: take on this?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 10: No, I mean, look, I've always thought, I really do
Speaker 10: believe in the last month, especially that Trump was going
Speaker 10: to win. I think this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 10: I've said it for a while and maybe I'm right,
Speaker 10: Maven wrong, but I think Trump is going to do
Speaker 10: better than everybody thought. It's going to be close. I
Speaker 10: don't I think he's going to declare victory. I don't
Speaker 10: think Kamala is going to concede. I think you're going
Speaker 10: to have recounts for a couple of days and you know,
Speaker 10: getting these last townsend votes in Pennsylvania, wisconsinin But at
Speaker 10: the end of the day, whether it's a couple of
Speaker 10: days from now or a week from now, I think
Speaker 10: that the Harris campaign is going to have to fold
Speaker 10: it up.
Speaker 4: And it's not.
Speaker 10: And they kept looking at polls. The difference is it's
Speaker 10: not the polls, it's the non poll data, it's the
Speaker 10: early ballots. It's the lead the Democrats thought they would
Speaker 10: have in the early voting states that they just didn't have.
Speaker 10: It's the fact that Trump is going to get This
Speaker 10: guy's going to get a bigger vote for a presidential
Speaker 10: candidate than ever before from Latinos in African Americans. Right,
Speaker 10: So he's going to be the most popular presidential Republican
Speaker 10: presidential candidate for Latino and African American voters in history.
Speaker 10: That's hard to overcome. And so there's all these kind
Speaker 10: of things that aren't spoken about in the general media.
Speaker 10: They just look at these big national poll numbers. But
Speaker 10: on the ground, this is where it is. And Trump
Speaker 10: voters tend to keep everything close to the vest that
Speaker 10: we always know that they come out of the woodwork
Speaker 10: at the last minute. The Democrat message nationally has been
Speaker 10: you better vote for Kamala or else you don't believe
Speaker 10: in democracy. It's like a shaming type thing they were doing.
Speaker 10: That's not a way to earn people's trust. And so
Speaker 10: what that drives is a false narrative on the polls.
Speaker 10: People say, yeah, yeah, I'm going to vote for Kamlay,
Speaker 10: just stop yelling at me. But at the end of
Speaker 10: the day, they're going to vote for what they think
Speaker 10: is in the best in their family's interests. And they
Speaker 10: might not like Trump, they might not like his personality,
Speaker 10: but they want a fundamental change in administration and culture
Speaker 10: down in DC.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you and I are pretty close philosophically,
Speaker 2: and I think in terms of what we feel about
Speaker 2: President Trump, I've never had President, former President Trump, maybe
Speaker 2: future President Trump on the show. And it's amazing to
Speaker 2: me as somebody who's covered presidential elections literally going back
Speaker 2: to nineteen seventy six and having interviewed Gerald Ford and
Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter as a young reporter, and having obviously the
Speaker 2: Reagan years and then the Bush years, and there was
Speaker 2: always reach out to minority groups that Jack Kemp used
Speaker 2: to try to do that and did it pretty successfully.
Speaker 2: But he was always that minority voice within the Republican
Speaker 2: Party that there are people in groups that have traditionally
Speaker 2: been democratic who can identify with a Republican message. And
Speaker 2: Donald Trump, above all, was able to deliver that message,
Speaker 2: which again it's stunning, and it's also stunning to think
Speaker 2: that this guy who lost with such la of grace
Speaker 2: was able to somehow bring himself back through indictments. I mean,
Speaker 2: he put it all on the incredible.
Speaker 5: I mean it's incredible.
Speaker 10: It's it's an internet.
Speaker 2: Look.
Speaker 10: I was over in Dublin on a trade mission recently,
Speaker 10: and then I was in Greece doing something for a
Speaker 10: robotics program for education and Europe. People don't realize. Europe
Speaker 10: right now is absolutely one hundred and fifty percent glued
Speaker 10: to this, and they have been for the last six months.
Speaker 10: They are fascinated with what's happening here to the point
Speaker 10: that you just made because you have somebody like Trump
Speaker 10: who's gone through all this turmoil and all this craziness
Speaker 10: and all the crazy things he says, and the indictments
Speaker 10: and all this stuff, and now it looks like he's
Speaker 10: actually going to win again, and he's again his I
Speaker 10: think as everybody gets now he's not connecting with people
Speaker 10: on a policy, or he connects with people with an attitude,
Speaker 10: with a pride in America, with a toughness, with I'm
Speaker 10: going to fight. You know, we're Americans. We got that
Speaker 10: in our DNA a little bit. And I think too
Speaker 10: often the politicians go, well, this policy will help you,
Speaker 10: so you should vote for me because I'm going to
Speaker 10: help you, as opposed to kind of thinking a little
Speaker 10: broader and understanding what the DNA of a free market
Speaker 10: American is all about. And there's something there that Trump
Speaker 10: connects with, and there's no denying it.
Speaker 2: I follow some of the betting pools in Europe and
Speaker 2: have watched them an intense interest in this race with
Speaker 2: the bookies in London. I was stunned that he did
Speaker 2: not invite Nicki Haley to come out on the campaign
Speaker 2: trail with him, and I almost felt that he would
Speaker 2: have preferred to have lost the White House and all
Speaker 2: the implications of that, rather than share any any glory
Speaker 2: with anyone other than himself. Am I reading that wrong?
Speaker 10: Well, I'll say this, I don't think he was willing
Speaker 10: to lose. I think the numbers just showed that the
Speaker 10: vast majority of Nicki voters were already with them, right.
Speaker 10: They were good, They were Republican voters. They like me,
Speaker 10: They wanted to change, they wanted the next generation. They
Speaker 10: fought hard for it. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 10: we're not voting for this insanity that Kamala was when
Speaker 10: and the and the buying campaign we're bringing. And more importantly,
Speaker 10: I go back to the statement. I say it a
Speaker 10: lot that a couple of the interviews she did in
Speaker 10: one week, she did like three straight interviews, but she
Speaker 10: was asked what is going to be different? Like softballs,
Speaker 10: like the number one question you you should have been
Speaker 10: really prepared to answer back in July, Well, I can't.
Speaker 10: Nothing comes to mind. You want to be the leader
Speaker 10: of the free world, and nothing comes to mind about
Speaker 10: what you're going to do different. It was a mind
Speaker 10: bogglingly bad answer, and right at that point, combined with
Speaker 10: the vice presidential debate, which, believe it or not, I
Speaker 10: do think I had an impact. I think people were
Speaker 10: told yeah, and I think people were told that jd
Speaker 10: Vance was, you know, wacky and all this stuff, and
Speaker 10: he came up measured incredibly smart, cordial, clearly willing to
Speaker 10: walk work across the aisle, not vindictive, and they said, Okay,
Speaker 10: this is the future of the Republican Party that we're
Speaker 10: voting for. We can buy into this. So it was
Speaker 10: a combination of things that were Kamala.
Speaker 4: Just really blew it.
Speaker 10: And so because they just there was no there there,
Speaker 10: it was kind of an empty suit. And so again,
Speaker 10: the race isn't over. We'll see where all this goes.
Speaker 10: But I think people like to your point, I think
Speaker 10: we're all pretty surprised. I got this close anyways, and
Speaker 10: now it looks like he's going to win Virginia. Some
Speaker 10: of these states that should have been walkaways for Kamala
Speaker 10: are are are being challenged.
Speaker 2: So I wonder what Joe Biden and Joe Biden are
Speaker 2: saying tonight in the Lincoln bedroom.
Speaker 10: You know, Look, my guess is they're more upset that
Speaker 10: Trump is winning than Kamala is losing.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 10: I really believe that. Look, I have said all along,
Speaker 10: the first person voting for Donald Trump was Gavin Newsom
Speaker 10: in California, because that guy's if Kamala had won, that
Speaker 10: guy's political career was over right. I mean, it means
Speaker 10: you can't run for president for eight years that no
Speaker 10: one's going to care about him in eight year, so
Speaker 10: we do.
Speaker 2: What we do know is there would be a different,
Speaker 2: a different Republican running in two thousand and twenty eight.
Speaker 2: Maybe a'll big Chris Son and we'll see. Hey, Chris,
Speaker 2: thanks so much again, Happy birthday and thanks so much.
Speaker 10: Thank you, brother Buddy's always We'll talk soon.
Speaker 2: Good night. When we get back on the other side.
Speaker 2: During the eleven o'clock news, we'll talk with the Tom O'Neil,
Speaker 2: the son of former Lieutenant governor, son of Tippleneil, as
Speaker 2: well as pollster Spencer Kimball. Stay with WBZ folks throughout
Speaker 2: the night.
Speaker 1: Our election night coverage continues now with night Side with
Speaker 1: Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm delighted to be joined as our final guest
Speaker 2: tonight here on the night Side portion of the special
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four presidential election program by Emerson College pollster
Speaker 2: Spencer Kimball. Spencer, welcome back, Thanks so much for being
Speaker 2: with us for a few minutes. To end my evening here,
Speaker 2: I have to say that I'm following this race very
Speaker 2: closely and I'm particularly watching Iowa, and I know you
Speaker 2: you don't want to talk about it, but I just
Speaker 2: want to say congratulations. You called Iowa. Over the weekend,
Speaker 2: the Des Moines Register had a poll which suggested that
Speaker 2: perhaps Kamala Harris was in the lead of Iowa, and
Speaker 2: it was a shock poll. You had a poll over
Speaker 2: the weekend which has hit the final number in Iowa
Speaker 2: right on the button, fifty five to forty five approximately.
Speaker 2: You're not going to take a victory lap. I know
Speaker 2: you too well, but I got to tell you you
Speaker 2: must feel pretty good because there were a lot of
Speaker 2: people who were looking at that Des Moines Register poll
Speaker 2: a little more closely than they were looking at your
Speaker 2: polling in the state of Iowa.
Speaker 7: Well, then, it's always pleasure to be with you, and
Speaker 7: thanks for the coverage this evening. It was a good
Speaker 7: experiment in different methods in survey research, and that's what
Speaker 7: in our world. We had a chance of last week
Speaker 7: to talk methodology, where each polster comes up with new
Speaker 7: methods of how to collect data and how to analyze data.
Speaker 7: And an Seltzer is a great polster out of Iowa,
Speaker 7: and she's had a traditional method of collecting data using
Speaker 7: live operators, using different techniques that have been very beneficial.
Speaker 7: But as technology and communication has advanced, so to have
Speaker 7: our methods. And I think it demonstrated that in the
Speaker 7: twenty first century of polling that some of those traditional
Speaker 7: methods which are still successful, can also be you know,
Speaker 7: new methods can be utilized that are also successful. And
Speaker 7: I think that Iowa demonstrated that.
Speaker 2: Now I had my eye on Iowa tonight. I assume
Speaker 2: you did as well. But you're very gracious in your
Speaker 2: comments tonight. So I'm going to move on here and
Speaker 2: tell you that I kept a particular look for it
Speaker 2: because I take some pride in the hometown team, and
Speaker 2: you and a friend Dave Paleologus, John Zogby as well
Speaker 2: are the three poleses who I rely upon. So thank
Speaker 2: you for being available tonight.
Speaker 7: Well, we lived up to the expectation there.
Speaker 2: You sure did you? Sure did h You've also lived
Speaker 2: up to the expectation tonight. I think this race is
Speaker 2: going very much in the way that that many thought.
Speaker 2: But what I mean it looks to me as if
Speaker 2: Donald Trump is going to be the president elect, if
Speaker 2: not tonight, sometime in the next day or so. Am
Speaker 2: I reading that?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 7: No, no, no, I think we've seen enough in the
Speaker 7: in the data here certainly in the voting that he
Speaker 7: has outperformed the polls once again. Now you know, we've
Speaker 7: been pretty good with him. We had him winning these states,
Speaker 7: but he's winning them by two to three points higher,
Speaker 7: which is still you know, a pretty good polling, but
Speaker 7: that's his tradition. Now he's got some big well we've
Speaker 7: seen is not just in the swing states, and you
Speaker 7: know those are the most competitive because that's where Harris
Speaker 7: spent you know, billions of dollars in advertising, but in
Speaker 7: these other states, like look at New Jersey, what are
Speaker 7: we at four or five points in Jersey? Minnesota two
Speaker 7: three points, so Virginia that's been sitting. So these are
Speaker 7: states that the Democrats were at ten points. And while
Speaker 7: Trump may not win these states as we come back
Speaker 7: from this election, while there's a lot more things in play,
Speaker 7: and it looks as if the electorate has made a
Speaker 7: real shift in how they're going to vote in the future.
Speaker 7: And look at like the state of Florida, that state
Speaker 7: doesn't look to be in play at all for the
Speaker 7: Democrats in the future. That could become a problem for
Speaker 7: them as the electorate shrinks. And it's amazing to think
Speaker 7: where we were just eight years ago when Trump won
Speaker 7: that first election, not winning the popular vote. He might
Speaker 7: win the popular vote as well tonight when you start
Speaker 7: looking at California hasn't come in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 7: But I think he I think he could walk out
Speaker 7: with the popular vote.
Speaker 2: It's stunning to think of this. This this this political resurrection.
Speaker 2: I mean when you think of where he was in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, after the disgraceful events of January sixth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, and the indictments, all of that, and
Speaker 2: everything was on the line for him tonight. I had
Speaker 2: I spoke with Tom O'Neill earlier this hour, and he
Speaker 2: was trying to figure out. I was trying to figure
Speaker 2: out what is the message that somehow Donald Trump was
Speaker 2: able to deliver this. This is almost a realignment election
Speaker 2: in terms of we're different. Yeah, so tell it. You can.
Speaker 2: You can explain that better than I can. Go ahead, please, Well.
Speaker 7: The working class is becoming Republicans and the upper class
Speaker 7: is becoming Democrats. And the problem that the Republicans had
Speaker 7: a few years ago coming out of the Bush years,
Speaker 7: where that they were the upper class and the Democrats
Speaker 7: were the working class and that change of what's happening
Speaker 7: in real time, But you know it's happening as you
Speaker 7: watch these returns in Michigan, in Minnesota, and you know,
Speaker 7: I think we saw it in real time back in
Speaker 7: twenty sixteen in Ohio. When we think of that blue
Speaker 7: wall of Pennsylvania to Minnesota, we're forgetting that Ohio used
Speaker 7: to be a swing state. That's not you know, that's
Speaker 7: a I think we had it at twelve points tonight,
Speaker 7: maybe ten points. That's no longer in playing.
Speaker 2: And the Republicans also also won a took a senencee to.
Speaker 7: Way packed up the Senate YEP, and they're going to
Speaker 7: do the same thing out in Montana. So the question
Speaker 7: is can the Democrats at this point hold the House?
Speaker 7: Otherwise the Republicans could potentially walk out with all three
Speaker 7: chambers and have a lot of power for the next
Speaker 7: two years.
Speaker 2: So what is the message that that Trump Wasn't it
Speaker 2: as simple as she broke it, I'll fix it. I
Speaker 2: mean that was what he came down to at the end.
Speaker 2: She broke it, I'll fix it.
Speaker 7: No, no, no, no, it goes further back, goes back
Speaker 7: to NaSTA. He's back into the uh, into the into
Speaker 7: that to that trade agreement where there's still a lot
Speaker 7: of you know, yeah, yeah, no, that's deep rooted, but
Speaker 7: you know he's part of that where hey, that was
Speaker 7: a mistake, people agree with it. And I think you
Speaker 7: saw Vance almost get it to a full boil during
Speaker 7: that vice presidential debate with Walls, where Walls ended up
Speaker 7: agreeing with them because you know, they were talking about
Speaker 7: experts and experts, and it got Walls twisted up on
Speaker 7: that argument. So that's where Trump has been able to
Speaker 7: make inroads with that union vote, the working class, and
Speaker 7: younger voters. So that I think the other concern, Yeah,
Speaker 7: do you think it.
Speaker 2: Would have made a difference if Kamala Harris Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: had picked Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania or do you think
Speaker 2: this was this was baked in the cake.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 7: I think that would have been one event that could
Speaker 7: have helped. I think there was a series of mistakes
Speaker 7: that were made on the Harris side and the communication
Speaker 7: front that opened up or didn't know if enough opportunities
Speaker 7: for the campaign and she had to play for that,
Speaker 7: including not accepting many debates when she initially entered into
Speaker 7: the race and because of that, the whole campaign kind
Speaker 7: of falls flat in October because there's no events, there's
Speaker 7: no you, no focusing events to get the country looking
Speaker 7: at something. And with that said, Trump was in a
Speaker 7: strong spot. There's a reason why Joe Biden President Biden
Speaker 7: was he dropped from the race because he thought he
Speaker 7: wasn't gonna win.
Speaker 2: Spencer, you you, you and Dave Paleologus and and John
Speaker 2: Zogby are the best, simply the best, the three of you.
Speaker 7: Thanks so much, my friend, Dan, Thank you so much
Speaker 7: for having me.
Speaker 2: Anytime, anytime we will. We'll do a postmoto on this
Speaker 2: sometime in the next week or so. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: Spencer Kimball, Emerson College poster. Extraordinary, extraordinary.
Speaker 4: That is it for me.
Speaker 2: But please stay with WBZ. We got great coverage into
Speaker 2: the early morning hours. This race is not officially over yet.
Speaker 2: Stay with us.
Speaker 1: Our election night coverage continues now with night Side with
Speaker 1: Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm delighted to be joined as our final guest
Speaker 2: tonight here on the night Side portion of the special
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four presidential election program by Emerson College pollster
Speaker 2: Spencer Kimball. Spencer, welcome back. Thanks so much for being
Speaker 2: with us for a few minutes. To end my evening here,
Speaker 2: I have to say that I'm following this race very
Speaker 2: closely and I'm particularly watching Iowa, and I know you
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about it, but I just want
Speaker 2: to say congratulations. You called Iowa. Over the weekend, the
Speaker 2: Des Moines Register had a poll which suggested that perhaps
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris was in the lead of Iowa, and it
Speaker 2: was a shock poll. You had a poll over the
Speaker 2: weekend which has hit the final number in Iowa right
Speaker 2: on the button, fifty five to forty five approximately. You're
Speaker 2: not going to take a victory lap. I know you
Speaker 2: too well, but I got to tell you you must
Speaker 2: feel pretty good because there were a lot of people
Speaker 2: who were looking at that Des Moines Register poll a
Speaker 2: little more closely than they were looking at your polling
Speaker 2: in the state of Iowa.
Speaker 7: Well, then, it's always pleasure to be with you, and
Speaker 7: thanks for the coverage this evening. It was a good
Speaker 7: experiment in different methods in survey research, and that's what
Speaker 7: in our world. And we had a chance last week
Speaker 7: to talk methodology where each polster comes up with new
Speaker 7: methods of how to collect data and how to analyze data.
Speaker 7: And Ann Seltzer is a great polster out of Iowa,
Speaker 7: and she's had a traditional method of collecting data using
Speaker 7: live operators, using different techniques that have been very beneficial.
Speaker 7: But as technology and communication has advanced, so to have
Speaker 7: our methods. And I think it demonstrated that in the
Speaker 7: twenty first century of polling that some of those traditional
Speaker 7: methods which are still successful can also be you know,
Speaker 7: new methods can be utilized that are also successful. And
Speaker 7: I think that Iowa demonstrated that.
Speaker 2: Now I had my eye on Iowa tonight, I assume
Speaker 2: you did as well. But you're very gracious in your
Speaker 2: comments tonight. So I'm going to move on here and
Speaker 2: tell you that I kept a particular look for it
Speaker 2: because I take some pride in the hometown team and
Speaker 2: you and our friend Dave Paleologus and John Zogby as
Speaker 2: well are the three poleses who I rely upon. So
Speaker 2: thank you for being available tonight.
Speaker 7: Well, we lived up to the expectation there.
Speaker 2: You sure did you sure did? Uh. You've also lived
Speaker 2: up to the expectation tonight. I think this race is
Speaker 2: going very much in the way that that many thought.
Speaker 2: But what I mean it looks to me as if
Speaker 2: Donald Trump is going to be the president elect, if
Speaker 2: not tonight, sometime in the next day or so. Am
Speaker 2: I reading that?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 7: No, no, no, I think we've seen enough in the
Speaker 7: in the data here, certainly in the voting, that he
Speaker 7: has outperformed the polls once again. Now you know, we've
Speaker 7: been pretty good with him. We had him winning these states,
Speaker 7: but he's winning them by two to three points higher,
Speaker 7: which is still, you know, a pretty good polling, but
Speaker 7: that's his tradition. Now he's got some big What we've
Speaker 7: seen is not just in the swing states, and you
Speaker 7: know those are the most competitive because that's where Harris
Speaker 7: spent you know, billions of dollars in advertising, but in
Speaker 7: these other states, like look at New Jersey. What do
Speaker 7: we at four or five points in Jersey? Minnesota two
Speaker 7: three points, so Virginia that's been sitting. So these are
Speaker 7: states that the Democrats were at ten points. And while
Speaker 7: Trump may not win these states, as we come back
Speaker 7: from this election, will there's a lot more things in play,
Speaker 7: and it looks as if the electorate has made a
Speaker 7: real shift in how they're going to vote. In the
Speaker 7: future and look at like the state of Florida. That
Speaker 7: state doesn't look to be in play at all for
Speaker 7: the Democrats in the future. That could become a problem
Speaker 7: for them as the electorate shrinks. And it's amazing to
Speaker 7: think where we were just eight years ago when Trump
Speaker 7: won that first election, not winning the popular vote. He
Speaker 7: might win the popular vote as well tonight when you
Speaker 7: start looking at California hasn't come in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 7: But I think he I think he could walk out
Speaker 7: with the popular vote.
Speaker 2: It's stunning to think of this, uh, this this resk,
Speaker 2: this political resurrection. I mean when you think of where
Speaker 2: he was in twenty twenty one, after the disgraceful events
Speaker 2: of January sixth, twenty twenty one, and the indictments, all
Speaker 2: of that, and everything was on the line for him tonight.
Speaker 2: I had I spoke with Tom O'Neill earlier this hour,
Speaker 2: and he was trying to figure out I was trying
Speaker 2: to figure out what is the message that somehow Donald
Speaker 2: Trump was able to deliver this This is almost a
Speaker 2: realignment election in terms of weird different Yeah, so tell
Speaker 2: it you can. You can explain that better than I can.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, please.
Speaker 7: Working class is becoming Republicans and the upper class is
Speaker 7: becoming Democrats. And the problem that the Republicans had a
Speaker 7: few years ago coming out of the Bush years, where
Speaker 7: that they were the upper class and the Democrats were
Speaker 7: the working class, and that change of what's happening in
Speaker 7: real time. But you know it's happening as you watch
Speaker 7: these returns in Michigan, in Minnesota. You know, I think
Speaker 7: we saw it in real time back in twenty sixteen
Speaker 7: in Ohio. When we think of that blue wall of
Speaker 7: Pennsylvania to Minnesota, we're forgetting that Ohio used to be
Speaker 7: a swing state. That's not you know, that's a I
Speaker 7: think we had it at twelve points tonight, maybe ten points.
Speaker 7: That's no longer important.
Speaker 2: And the Republicans also also won a took a senencee.
Speaker 7: To wak taped up the Senate YEP, and they're going
Speaker 7: to do the same thing out in Montana. So the
Speaker 7: question is can the Democrats at this point hold the House?
Speaker 7: Otherwise the Republicans could potentially walk out with all three
Speaker 7: chambers and have a lot of power for the next
Speaker 7: two years.
Speaker 2: So what is message that that Trump Wasn't it as
Speaker 2: simple as she broke it, I'll fix it. I mean,
Speaker 2: that was what he came down to at the end.
Speaker 2: She broke it, I'll fix it.
Speaker 7: No, no, no, no, it goes further back, goes back
Speaker 7: to NAFTA. He's back into the UH, into the into that,
Speaker 7: to that trade agreement where there's still a lot of
Speaker 7: you know, yeah, yeah, no, that's deep rooted, but you
Speaker 7: know he's part of that where hey, that was a mistake.
Speaker 7: People agree with it. And I think you saw Vance
Speaker 7: almost get it to a full boil during that vice
Speaker 7: presidential debate with Walls, where Walls ended up agreeing with
Speaker 7: them because you know, they were talking about experts and experts,
Speaker 7: and it got Walls twisted up on that argument. So
Speaker 7: that's where Trump has been able to make inroads with
Speaker 7: that union vote, the working class, and younger voters. So
Speaker 7: that I think the other concern. Yeah, do you think it.
Speaker 2: Would have made a difference if Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: had picked Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania or do you think
Speaker 2: this was this was baked in the cake.
Speaker 7: No. I think that would have been one event that
Speaker 7: could have helped. I think there was a series of
Speaker 7: mistakes that were made on the Harris side and the
Speaker 7: communication front that opened up or didn't know off enough
Speaker 7: opportunities for the campaign, and she had to play for that,
Speaker 7: including not accepting many debates when she initially entered into
Speaker 7: the race. And because of that, the whole campaign kind
Speaker 7: of falls flat in October because there's no events, there's
Speaker 7: no you, no focusing events to get the country looking
Speaker 7: at something. And with that said, Trump was in a
Speaker 7: strong spot. There's a reason why Joe Biden President Biden
Speaker 7: was he dropped from the race because he thought he
Speaker 7: wasn't gonna win.
Speaker 2: Spencer, you you, you and and Dave Paleologus and uh
Speaker 2: and John Zogby are the best, simply the best, the
Speaker 2: three of you. Thanks so much.
Speaker 7: By from Dan, thank you so much for having met anytime.
Speaker 2: Anytime we will we'll do we'll do a post warning
Speaker 2: on this sometime in the next week or so. Thanks
Speaker 2: so much, Spencer, Kimball Emerson College poster. Extraordinary, extraordinary. That
Speaker 2: is it for me. But please stay with WBZ. We
Speaker 2: got great coverage into the early morning hours. This race
Speaker 2: is not officially over yet. Stay with us.