Will Democrats flunk their midterm?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
As midterm elections loom, Democrats scramble to hold on to their slim majority. Plus, what a redistricting debacle in Ohio tells us about the map-drawing process happening in states across the country.
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For Democrats in swing districts, the midterm elections are looming large. These “front-liners” especially need something to show for their two years in the majority come November. As Marianna Sotomayor reports, some of them are advocating a new strategy on the stalled Build Back Better spending bill — breaking off popular measures, such as extending the child tax credit and curbing prescription drug costs, and abandoning the big, sweeping package.
Based on the results of the 2020 Census, states are drawing up new maps that could dramatically affect how midterm elections go in the fall. One of the states going through this process right now is Ohio, where last week the state Supreme Court rejected a pair of proposed state legislative redistricting maps, saying they were gerrymandered favoring Republicans.
Chief national politics correspondent Dan Balz tells us about the rules and processes in place to stop gerrymandering in Ohio, and why they’ve failed –– for now.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Give a helping hand this holiday season with the Washington Post helping hand. |
| 0:04.6 | This is John Kelly and I'm writing about Bread for the City, Friendship Place, and Miriam's Kitchen over the next few weeks. |
| 0:11.1 | Go to posthelpinghand.com to learn more and donate today. |
| 0:16.9 | Mariana, what is the problem facing Democrats in Congress right now? |
| 0:21.4 | Well, Democrats are really in a tough spot. Their status of their majority is really up in the air. |
| 0:30.4 | That's Mariana Sotomayor. She covers Congress for the post. |
| 0:35.4 | Democrats at this point are trying to make sure they can hold on to the majority. |
| 0:40.4 | And many members who are called the frontliners because they are the front line of defense to that majority are really starting to question leadership about the path forward for this year. |
| 0:50.4 | With midterm elections looming, Democrats are looking around for results they can show to voters and they may have to get creative. |
| 1:01.4 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm routine powers. It's Wednesday, January 19th. |
| 1:10.4 | Today, we're looking at how Democrats are scrambling for a new strategy. |
| 1:15.4 | And we've got a story about redistricting in Ohio where a new effort to prevent jurymandering may have backfired. |
| 1:31.4 | For Democrats in Congress who are up for reelection later this year, the question right now is what will they have to show for their two years in the majority come November? |
| 1:42.4 | This question is especially pressing for the lawmakers known as the frontliners. |
| 1:47.4 | So the Democratic frontliners as they're known up here, globally on Capitol Hill, they are ones who truly represent usually Trump district. |
| 1:56.4 | So districts that Trump won by one to sometimes even more as like five percentage points. |
| 2:02.4 | These frontliners tend to be from states that are usually big battleground states. So ones like Pennsylvania, some names that come to mind are Congresswoman Susan Wilde. |
| 2:13.4 | I rise today in support of my bill. |
| 2:16.4 | Also, Congresswoman Alyssa Salkin over in Michigan. |
| 2:20.4 | And I'm about to introduce my newest prescription drug bill. |
| 2:23.4 | You also look at states like Virginia where we saw a complete Republican wave and takeover at the end of 2020. |
| 2:32.4 | You have members there like Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. |
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