Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Joining us now for more here in balance of Power
Speaker 2: is Democratic Senator of Illinois Dick Dervitt, who chairs the
Speaker 2: Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, Happy election day, Thank you so
Speaker 2: much for joining us. I'm not sure your degree of
Speaker 2: confidence at this hour of Kamala Harris's ability to win
Speaker 2: this election. But if she does so, to what extent
Speaker 2: do you think the Dobbs decision and the Supreme Court
Speaker 2: will have played a role in that.
Speaker 1: I think it's a major factor. I can just tell you.
Speaker 1: It motivates not just women to vote for Kamala, but
Speaker 1: a lot of men are joining in the ranks. And
Speaker 1: I see it with younger voters too. They look at
Speaker 1: the actual cases of these women facing miscarriages, trying to
Speaker 1: find competent physicians, and states where their criminal penalty is
Speaker 1: being threatened, and they understand that they don't want to
Speaker 1: be in that position. It doesn't sound like America to them,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't sound like it to me either.
Speaker 3: Well, how you feel about things going into this election day, Senator,
Speaker 3: You've had a couple of them in your career. Illinois
Speaker 3: is not a swing state. It's not going to be
Speaker 3: one of the states likely to decide the balance of
Speaker 3: power in Washington on Capitol Hill or the next president.
Speaker 3: So where are you looking.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what I'm looking for, and I've
Speaker 1: seen it this last weekend and before. We have literally hundreds,
Speaker 1: if not thousands of Illinois volunteers who are going into
Speaker 1: Wisconsin to help Tammy Baldwin in the Michigan to help
Speaker 1: olssa slutkin, into Pennsylvania, to help Bob Casey in the
Speaker 1: bottom line, to make sure that Kamala is elected president.
Speaker 1: These are real volunteers who care and are making personal
Speaker 1: sacrifices to help. I don't know what's going on the
Speaker 1: other side. There's no evidence of this similar and undertaking.
Speaker 1: And you can't buy this kind of support. It's like
Speaker 1: comparing mom's apple pie is something you bought at a store.
Speaker 1: It just isn't the same thing. These folks really care,
Speaker 1: and if we do well in the blue arrange the
Speaker 1: blue wall that they talk about here, I think it'll
Speaker 1: be because of this factor.
Speaker 2: Well, as you raise the likes of incumbent Senators Tammy
Speaker 2: Baldwin and others who are facing tough re election fights
Speaker 2: today as well, Senator It raises the question of even
Speaker 2: if Kamala Harris is able to pull off this victory,
Speaker 2: the prevailing wisdom is that you will become a member
Speaker 2: of the minority, that the Republicans will be able to
Speaker 2: flip the Senate as they only need to pick up
Speaker 2: net two seats. How would Washington work in that scenario.
Speaker 2: Where are the areas for cooperation?
Speaker 1: That's a very good question, But I'm not going to
Speaker 1: concede your point that it's going to be a Republican Senate.
Speaker 1: We need one or two breakthrough and I can point
Speaker 1: to the states you can too that are possibilities. If
Speaker 1: God forbid, the Republicans take control of the Senate and
Speaker 1: Kamala is our president, it's going to be a matter
Speaker 1: of negotiating questions like filling vacancies and judge ships and
Speaker 1: working together. I hope we can find that common ground.
Speaker 3: Well how much, Senator, then, will the top of the
Speaker 3: ticket help to determine the balance of power in the
Speaker 3: US Senate? When we look at some of the Senate
Speaker 3: races in the Blue Wall states, for instance, how close
Speaker 3: they are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Will the presidency help to
Speaker 3: decide the balance of power in your chamber.
Speaker 1: Well, I think you addressed that earlier in the program.
Speaker 1: In some years, it appears that it helps, in some
Speaker 1: it hurts. I will just tell you that those three
Speaker 1: senatorial candidates and many others we talked about, certainly have
Speaker 1: a strong record and a strong message to bring to
Speaker 1: the voters. Kamala is put together an amazing campaign in
Speaker 1: a little over one hundred days that she's been the nominee,
Speaker 1: and I think the fact that she's inspired so many
Speaker 1: volunteers to go door to door in these states going
Speaker 1: to make a definitive difference in the Senate races as well.
Speaker 2: Well. As we watched all of this and the issues
Speaker 2: voters will be considering as they make their choices up
Speaker 2: and down the ballot, Senator, do you feel that the
Speaker 2: Harris campaign has done an adequate job addressing all of them?
Speaker 2: We obviously have heard a lot of her argument around
Speaker 2: reproductive freedom, especially casting Trump as a threat to democracy.
Speaker 2: Talking about the economy, Yes, but so too has Donald Trump,
Speaker 2: who has cast a lot of blame for the last
Speaker 2: four years, and the inflation people have experienced on her
Speaker 2: in this administration. Seeing goes for the border. Are those
Speaker 2: the issues that she risks losing on if that's how
Speaker 2: it turns out tonight.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, and I'll tell you why. From
Speaker 1: the beginning, Kamala has made the economy the issue. That's
Speaker 1: what the voters are saying, and she's backing them up
Speaker 1: by saying that'll be a high priority in her administration.
Speaker 1: But I'll also tell you when she talks about the
Speaker 1: management style of Donald Trump, the question about the future
Speaker 1: of our democracy is at stake here. He's a candidate
Speaker 1: who's running and basically says, if I lose, it means
Speaker 1: that there is cheating and somebody stole it from me.
Speaker 1: He's stuck with that story for four years, the big lie.
Speaker 1: This is an even bigger lie if he does. And
Speaker 1: that's similar circumstance. So I think she's talking about our democracy,
Speaker 1: which is a fundamental issue at stake in this election.
Speaker 3: Well, with that said, Senator, and based on your perch
Speaker 3: on the Judiciary Committee, Donald Trump appointed over two hundred
Speaker 3: federal judges in his term.
Speaker 1: What would a.
Speaker 3: Trump two point oh mean for the US judiiary.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good question. Under the rules of the Senate,
Speaker 1: for example, we have something called a blue slit, which
Speaker 1: means that both parties and their senators have quite a
Speaker 1: bit of a say as to whether a nominee is
Speaker 1: going to move forward, So there has to be compromise
Speaker 1: in that regard. But I will tell you that Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: with the help of Democrats, had two hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: four nominations filled in his four years. We have filled
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirteen under President Biden and have another
Speaker 1: twenty plus on the calendar for the remainder of the year.
Speaker 1: So we can matching. I hope we do well.
Speaker 2: If we consider as well the highest court in the land,
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court. Senator there is a chance the next
Speaker 2: president will have some vacancies to fill. Would a President
Speaker 2: Harris have difficulty doing so depending on what the Senate
Speaker 2: majority looks like.
Speaker 1: Well, it is a simple majority in the Senate when
Speaker 1: he comes to filling the Supreme Court vacancies, and that's
Speaker 1: why Trump was able to put three anti choice justices
Speaker 1: on the Court. If we're going to move forward and
Speaker 1: the circumstances you're describing with President Harris and a Republican Senate,
Speaker 1: there will have to be compromises made. The only way
Speaker 1: we can pass something, even by majority in the Senate Senator.
Speaker 3: The last time we sat down with you was in
Speaker 3: Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. One of the big
Speaker 3: storylines going into the DNC it was the protest vote
Speaker 3: that we saw materialize in the primaries, the uncommitted vote
Speaker 3: that Joe Biden withstood and faced in many cases from
Speaker 3: Arab American voters and others who were not happy with
Speaker 3: many progressives not happy with the policy in Israel. Expectations
Speaker 3: for widespread protests that the DNC never materialized, though, And
Speaker 3: I wonder if you see that being a risk tonight
Speaker 3: for Kamala Harris or if this is a media narrative.
Speaker 1: There are so many elements go into this decision making process,
Speaker 1: but the fear at the outset was that there would
Speaker 1: be a boycott support of Democratic candidates over Middle Eastern issues.
Speaker 1: I think once Donald Trump was articulate in his own
Speaker 1: way as to where he stood, people realize there's too
Speaker 1: much at stake to lose this series over that issue.
Speaker 1: It will affect some voters, for sure, but I think
Speaker 1: by and large we understand that Kamala Harris as a rational,
Speaker 1: thoughtful approach to this which wants to end the conflict
Speaker 1: soon and help on a humanitarian side as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3: Any election day rituals, superstitions you want to share with us.
Speaker 1: Senator, there's a great delicatessen in Chicago called Manny's, and
Speaker 1: I'm on our way there now. Every election day for
Speaker 1: the last twenty plus years, I've gone there and I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to Cornby sandwiches.
Speaker 3: That sounds good. I hope you have a great lunch, Sir,
Speaker 3: Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. We thank you.