Democrats Add 4 New Pickup Opportunities for 2026 (w/ Suzan DelBene)
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As House Democrats look to reclaim the majority in 2026, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene joins Joe Perticone to unveil four new Democratic target districts and explains why her party believes the political map is expanding. DelBene discusses emerging pickup opportunities in New Jersey, California, Nebraska, and Florida, including the growing controversy surrounding Tom Kean Jr., who has been absent from public view for months. Plus, Joe also asks Florida's newly redrawn congressional map and whether DelBene and the DCCC is supporting Debbie Wasserman Schultz in her controversial new district.
Read Joe Perticone's 'Press Pass' Newsletter: https://www.thebulwark.com/s/presspass
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey there, and welcome to The Bullwork. I'm Joe Perdicone, the author of Press Pass, which is all of your congressional news for the bulwark. |
| 0:06.8 | And I'm joined by the D-Triple-C chair, Susan Del Benny. How are you doing? |
| 0:11.7 | I'm doing well. How are you? |
| 0:13.6 | Good. So we've had a lot of primaries in the past few weeks. The races for November are starting to take shape. |
| 0:22.8 | I know that this morning, you just announced four new target districts. One of them that we can start with that was very interesting |
| 0:29.4 | to me is Rebecca Bennett running against Tom Kane Jr. For those watching who don't know, |
| 0:36.3 | Tom Kane is a congressman in New Jersey who's been |
| 0:39.3 | missing for a couple months now. He's released some statements. He did a phone interview, but he still |
| 0:47.4 | doesn't say why he's missing, but he'll be back in a few weeks, but no set date. So obviously, |
| 0:53.1 | that's going to be a factor going into this race that |
| 0:55.7 | the congressman can't be found. But what are the key areas where you think that race can be won? |
| 1:04.6 | And is this absence something you're going to lean heavily on? We have an incredible candidate, |
| 1:09.8 | Rebecca Bennett, who won in the primary just recently in New Jersey 7. She is a naval, former naval aviator, just a strong |
| 1:19.6 | leader in her community, has been an incredibly strong candidate, and really is connected to her |
| 1:25.9 | community, a strong contrast to Tom Kane Jr., who just talked about, hasn't even appeared for his district, hasn't even shown up. No one knows where he is. For months, he has been absent and has not voted. Folks want someone who's going to stand up for them, especially given the challenges |
| 1:44.7 | community they're facing right now, skyrocketing costs, hitting families for housing, food, |
| 1:53.2 | health care, child care, energy costs, gas prices going up because of this reckless war with no |
| 1:58.6 | plan, no strategy, and Tom Kane Jr. is nowhere to be found. |
| 2:02.3 | So having a veteran, someone who has dedicated their life to public service, strongly connected |
| 2:08.4 | to community who wants to fight for working families, we have incredible opportunity here, |
| 2:13.8 | and Rebecca Ben is going to flip the seat. Hopefully she actually is there. She's there. |
| 2:19.7 | She's been on the ground working hard. And yeah, I mean, he said he's going to be back over and over, |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Bulwark, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Bulwark and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.