NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Chris Van Hollen
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now is Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He's the man who's in charge of getting Democrats elected to the Senate. Senator Van Hollen, welcome back to Meet the Press.
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Chuck, it's great to be with you.
CHUCK TODD:
You know, you were the DCCC chair in the 2010 midterms, when Democrats lost more than 60 seats. It was the first midterm of President Obama. You are the DSCC chair here in the first midterm of President Trump. Compare the two atmospheres.
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Well, I was also DCCC chair in 2008, which was another very good year for Democrats. But look, there are big differences between the House and Senate seats in this cycle, Chuck, because on the one hand you have kind of a wave, a blue wave, although how big it will be, we don't know. But then in the Senate races, we've got a lot of senators who are running in states that Donald Trump won. And for them, they've been very clear from the beginning that their number one job is to stand up for the people of their states. And if that means working with Donald Trump on something that helps their states, they will. If it means opposing him and Republicans, they will also do that, for example, on protecting people with pre-existing health conditions. So, it's a very different, sort of, political battlefield in Senate races than House races.
CHUCK TODD:
So, look, I'll let you set the bell curve for yourself here. Define a good night. Is a good night losing just one Senate seat?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
You know, I don't want to define a good night because what we see right now is a situation that is a whole lot better than anyone would have predicted 18 months ago, when Republicans were saying that they might win another eight seats and have a filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate. No one's talking about that right now. We do have a narrow path to a Senate Democratic majority. It's a narrow path, and it requires holding a lot of these very tough seats and then picking up one of, you know, the four or five Republican seats where we're competing. So, as you know, everything comes down to turnout. And we've got more than seven Senate races that are, you know, down to the wire and the margin of error. So, it's all about turnout.
CHUCK TODD:
It strikes me -- I'm going to pick out four Senate seats, two are held by Democrats two are held by Republicans, that are all in red territory. And it strikes me, you've got to win one to have a good night and two to even remotely talk about the majority. It's Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and North Dakota. So, Missouri and North Dakota, and then Tennessee and Texas, where you're on offense, Missouri and North Dakota, you're on defense. Is it fair to say you can't go 0-4?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Well, you can't go 0-4 in, in all those states, that's right. And that's not going to happen. We're not going 0-4. Let me just, first of all, say no one should ever count Heidi Heitkamp out. She was down more than ten points six years ago, came back to win. Claire McCaskill also is always sticking up for Missouri, and she's known as a fighter for her state. And then in those two pick-up seats, we have incredibly strong candidates who have also said that their job, number one, is to stand up for their states, working with Donald Trump if it helps but fighting him if that's necessary to protect the people in their state. So --
CHUCK TODD:
You know, Tennessee and Texas strike me as fascinating in this respect. They're both supposedly red states and yet you have one Democratic nominee who's been comfortable using the I-word, impeachment, in Beto O'Rourke down in Texas, and he's within striking distance. And then you have one Democrat, in Phil Bredesen, who's been saying, "No, no, no, no, no, if you worry about party, I'm not going to win. If you vote the person--" he's almost running as a, a centrist Republican in a state. And yet they're both in the same position. What does that tell you about where the Democratic messaging works best? Is it better to be, sort of, a base progressive like Beto or better to be this centrist like Bredesen?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Well, Chuck, it tells you that the quality of the candidate is really important and their ability to communicate on issues that people in their states care about. And we have candidates in both Texas and Tennessee who are doing exactly that, as you say, different approaches. As you know, in Texas, Hillary Clinton got 45 percent of the vote. In Tennessee, she didn't get close to 45 percent of the vote. So, look, what you see in Beto is somebody who is working to really expand an electorate which can be expanded in Texas. In Tennessee, the electorate can't be expanded that much, although you are seeing larger turnouts than typical midterm elections. And in Phil Bredesen, you've got a two-term governor who really focused on the pragmatic art of governing, and he's been very clear. As I was saying, his job is to stand up for the state of Tennessee. He's talked about areas where he can work with the president, but he's also talked about areas where he'll fight the president, like the issue that is top of mind for most voters around the country, which is protecting people with pre-existing health conditions.
CHUCK TODD:
You know, Phil Bredesen and a few other Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema is sort of -- has been trying to reject her party label a little bit, saying she's not really a proud Democrat. They've all made promises that they won't be -- they won't be just sort of blank checks for the Democratic leadership. Phil Bredesen even said he wouldn't vote for the current leadership. If he wins, do you feel as if -- that the Senate Democrats have to look for new leaders because that's a promise that was made in order to get the Senate majority, for instance?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Well, those, those members running, I'm sure, will fulfill their commitments, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a strong leadership team in the United States Senate. Look, this is an example of what I was talking about earlier, that what voters want are senators whose number one job is to stick up for their states. And sometimes that means working with their party leadership, sometimes that means working in the opposite direction. But that's very different than, you know, Republican candidates who are simply rubber-stamp Trump supporters. And what we see from voters, even Republicans, is they want a senator who is going to hold the president accountable and also work with the president if it's good for their state.
CHUCK TODD:
If a blue wave comes ashore geographically, starting on the Atlantic, there's one place where there appears to be a riptide. And that is on the coast of the Jersey Shore. New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez -- let me read to you what The New York Star Ledger said. The headline was, "Choke it down, and vote for Menendez." "This race is rated as a tossup now in a year when a generic Democratic could win in a walk. Our hope is that voters remember that Trump is on the ballot, that they choke down their reluctance and vote for Menendez. He's no gem, but he's better than Hugin," referring to Bob Hugin, who is the Republican nominee there. Did Democrats make a mistake when they didn't encourage a primary challenger to Bob Menendez, so at a minimum he could litigate this ethics problem that he's been dealing with?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
No, look, Bob Menendez has been a fighter for the people of New Jersey. And the people of New Jersey definitely do not want a Trump rubber stamp in the United States Senate. And Hugin would be a Trump rubber stamp in the United States Senate. The reason Hugin is competitive is because he's spent tons of his own money, money that he got by really --
CHUCK TODD:
It's not because of Menendez's legal problems?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Well, there's no doubt that Bob Menendez has had that issue. And he has had to litigate that throughout the campaign, which he has. But it also the fact that Bob Hugin has now spent $30 million of his own money, money that he gained as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company that really overcharged people for cancer drugs. And I don't think the people of New Jersey want somebody who, you know, made his way that way. And so, I'm confident that Bob Menendez will win.
CHUCK TODD:
Chris Van Hollen, I'll leave it there. I believe there's nobody that has done what you've done. DCCC chair a decade ago, '08 and '10, and DSCC chair now. Nobody knows this country's elections probably at this point better than you, other than my pals over at the Cook Report. Anyway, Chris Van Hollen --
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Or all of you there.
CHUCK TODD:
-- Democrat of Maryland.
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
Thanks, Chuck.
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