The NPR Politics Podcast - Who Will Kentucky Pick To Face Mitch McConnell?

Episode Date: June 23, 2020

Closely-watched congressional primaries in New York and Kentucky will test how well progressives fare in two very different parts of the country. And reporting from a Michigan suburb on how folks there view the racial justice protests and the president's response to the pandemic.This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional correspondent Susan Davis, Kentucky Public Radio reporter Ryland Barton, and campaign correspondent Asma Khalid.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, this is Jen in Huntersville, North Carolina, where yesterday I received 100 pounds of linguine thanks to two of my best friends. 90 pounds of this pasta is now in my mini cooper and going to the local soup kitchen later today. This podcast was recorded at 2.06 p.m. on Tuesday, the 23rd of June. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. Okay, here's the show. I think that 100 pounds of linguine is what I like to call a good problem. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith, I cover the White House. And I'm Susan Davis, I cover Congress. And it's primary day again. Today, New York, Kentucky and Virginia are all holding primaries. Sue, let's start with New York. So there's a bunch of really interesting

Democratic primaries in New York today. But I think the one that's getting the most attention is for Eliot Engel's seat. He is a prominent Democrat here in Washington. He's the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And in the weeks leading up to this primary, he has just had nothing, nothing but bad news and stumbles. He was first criticized because he basically never went back to his district during the pandemic. His district in particular was one of the epicenters of the pandemic. And he kind of admitted that he didn't feel safe going back to New York. Yeah, not a great, not a great news cycle for him. And then when he finally, ultimately did go back up to New York, he had maybe what I think will be one of the most memorable gaffes, no matter

win or lose today, of the 2020 Democratic primary cycle, when he was at a press event and said this. If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. Say that again? If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. And it's a little hard to hear, but he says essentially, if I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. It didn't mean he didn't care about the issue. He meant I wouldn't care about speaking at this event.

But it was also an event about racial justice. And it's part of a broader trend we're seeing in some of these races today, right, that he is now vulnerable to a challenge from the left. He is, you know, there's a lot of the progressive movement is trying to root out long term incumbents, more centrist or more moderate Democrats. And so he's facing a primary challenger. His name's Jamal Bowman. He's black and he's progressive. And he's been endorsed by pretty prominent people, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, herself a Democrat who ousted an incumbent, very well known. And it's also, I think, part of a trend, too, in which we're seeing right in this moment some really prominent black candidates competing in Democratic primaries for districts and place and states

where, frankly, black candidates don't normally compete for the Democratic vote. Which takes us to Kentucky. That is a state with a competitive Democratic Senate primary, two candidates facing off to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the fall. And I've invited Ryland Barton of Kentucky Public Radio here to talk about it. Hey, Ryland. Hey, how's it going? Tell us about this race and who's running. Yeah, sure. So actually, it's a 10-way Democratic primary, which kind of shows you just how much interest it has developed. But the main candidates are, there's Amy McGrath. She's this retired Marine fighter pilot who worked as a foreign affairs advisor in Congress

for a bit and as a teacher in the Naval Academy. And then there's the other main candidate, State Representative Charles Booker. He's 35 years old. He's black. And he's much more progressive than McGrath. He's been pushing for Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. And he's made this late surge in the campaign because of how visible he's been in protests in his hometown of Louisville, speaking out against racism and police violence,

especially after the death of Breonna Taylor. This Louisvillian, she was an EMT, an emergency room worker, who was shot to death by police serving a no-knock warrant at her apartment back in March. Well, and so McGrath is someone who many people might know because she had these viral ads back in her last campaign and then again in this campaign that allowed her to raise a ton of money, got a lot of national attention. But really, Booker came up fast. Yeah, McGrath was this anointed candidate to run against Mitch McConnell, but she's made some big gaffes along the way. She said she would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which was right when she launched her campaign last summer,

and she really quickly reversed it. But, you know, that's left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. And I think it really primed a lot of progressive voters to vote for somebody else with Charles Booker, you know, really seizing the moment during the protests. I think there are a lot of people who are just waiting in the wings for everything to come together for him. Booker also benefited, I think he's been endorsed now by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, a lot of the big name progressives in the party have come out for him. But I'm curious if you think that that matters to Kentuckians. Do those kind of endorsements have an impact in a race like this? I think it definitely matters to a lot of progressive Kentuckians, of which there are

a whole lot of them. It's kind of building a bit of a coalition. He's got this tagline, from the hood to the holler. He says that a lot of these progressive policies that he's pushing for benefit poor people in urban areas just as much as they benefit poor people out in Appalachia. And it's really been interesting over the last few weeks, you know, how much this, you know, protests over racism and police violence have really struck a chord across the state. You've seen protests pop up in the most rural corners of Kentucky. And, you know, certainly it's not everybody out there, but it is out there.

I fully admit that I had to Google the holler to figure out what it meant for local Kentucky politics. I didn't know. Come on, really? Gotta listen to more bluegrass music. I do think we need a little bit of a reality check on Kentucky, right? When we look to November, because no matter who wins, McGrath or Booker, realistically, how competitive does this race look in November? Yeah, I mean, you know, opponents like to point to the fact that Mitch McConnell's popularity ratings are underwater, but they've been

underwater for years. They won in 2014 as well, and he ended up winning that race. It's consistent. Yeah, he ended up winning by 15 points back in 2014. What'll be so interesting in Kentucky, if Booker were to end up getting the nomination, is that he's, you know, Kentucky's never really run a statewide progressive candidate. And progressives have been just kind of waiting in the wings, you know, saying like, you know, quit running these candidates who just kind of, they rush to the middle. And it will be interesting to at least, you know, put that experiment out there. So Ryland, we are going to let you go. You're a rock star. Thank you for

sharing your reporting. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me on. And we're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, Asma has some on the ground reporting from Michigan, an important state in the upcoming presidential election. This message comes from NPR sponsor Facebook. In response to COVID-19, people around the world are coming together to help one another. Facebook's community help feature is making that easier. From delivering groceries to neighbors to donating to a local fundraiser or food pantry, community help provides a place where people can offer or request support in their area. Learn more at facebook.com slash COVID support.

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross is used to people talking about her age a lot. And she's okay with whatever people say. I'm 47 years old and I'm the most comfortable in my skin I've ever been. When we go back to being 22, no thank you. The Black-ish star on Confronting an Ageist World. Listen and subscribe to It's Been a Minute from NPR. And we're back and we've got Asma Khalid with us. Hey, Asma.

Hey there. So on Friday, you were out in Kent County, Michigan, which includes the city of Grand Rapids. And Michigan is one of those key states that we are watching this presidential election year. And this county was particularly interesting to you, right? I mean, there's a reason you went there. You're right. And part of the reason is because Kent County has been this Republican stronghold for decades and decades. And so I wanted to go to this place because I think one of the big themes I keep hearing from from analysts, Democratic analysts, is that the suburbs are really important. And they particularly feel

that if Joe Biden is going to win, he needs to do well in a place like Kent County that is full of suburban voters, in this case, many of them white. This is an area, you know, it's mostly white. It's historically Republican, a lot of middle and upper class communities. And I'm curious about what they told you about the two big issues of the moment, right? The racial injustice and the coronavirus pandemic. Well, the conversation around racial justice to me is fascinating because I met so many white voters who said that the death of George Floyd and just the outcry over this moment has really woken them up to racism in this country. And what I thought was so interesting is, you know, these were not necessarily young voters I was speaking to. Many of these voters were over the age of 60. There's a woman, Mary Musilar, I met.

She's 64 years old. She had been a Republican for many years of her life. In 2008, she started voting Democrat with Barack Obama. And she told me that really she has begun to think a lot more about race and the role of race in society just recently. Do you feel like your perceptions of race, do you feel like those have changed for you? And if so, was there a particular reason?

I think I didn't understand white privilege. I didn't see it. And I started to understand it more over the last eight years. And then when what happened to Mr. Floyd, oh my goodness, I was just devastated. It was a felt experience. Why did that hit you deeper than you feel like any other instance had? It was so wrong. It was so terrible. And I could not excuse that kind of behavior. There was always, yeah, but if, you know, well, you know,

he did, you know. I could not condone that. And then I started to see it all over. And once your eyes are open, you just start to see things in a totally different way. So how does that revelation that she and clearly a lot of other voters are having at this moment, how does that translate into voting? What I will say I hear from Democrats is that, you know, a big thing this election cycle is not going to be about persuasion. They think it's about turnout and making sure Democrats who are fed up remain fed up and show up on Election Day.

And I will say that there is this energy I've begun to see around race as a democratic issue in a way that I just didn't see as much four years ago. Like, you know, I went to a Juneteenth celebration and probably half the people there were white. Many of them sort of, you know, all range of ages. And what I heard from people is they had never come out to a Juneteenth celebration before, but they've come out to like March for Science. They've come out for the March for Women. And for them, this is yet another cause sort of in the Democratic Party and a cause in which they feel like they need to come out for specifically against President Trump. Michigan was also hit pretty hard by the pandemic. I know things have gotten better there. But

the president's handling of this crisis seems like one of the big overarching issues of this election right now, right? So, I mean, that was the other big theme that I wanted to talk to voters about, because I think a lot of us who are watching this election do feel like how the president has handled the virus will likely impact the way some voters think about November. And so I met this guy, Jeff Christians. He described himself to me as a moderate Republican, but someone who has consistently voted Republican over the years, largely because of economic policy. I think he handled things fairly well from a business perspective. I think he was very aggressive, saying that we need to protect our economic interests, the stimulus money going to families, but also the payroll protection plan programs that came through the SBA. I did take advantage of that program. So very, very critical. I don't think we would be in business if we did not have that program, frankly. So come this November,

it sounds like you feel mixed about how the president's handled COVID, but do you still envision voting for him for reelection in November? I would vote for the Trump platform again, because of the Republican pro-business approach. The economic factors are very significant for where we are right now. And I think Biden still falls into the old school Democratic establishment. I think we should note that Trump hasn't led in a poll in Michigan in months. So Biden certainly favored right now. But did you get a sense of this question of enthusiasm? Like, are the people that you're talking to, are they absolutely going to vote in November?

Are they really motivated to vote? I mean, sort of what's the level of enthusiasm for either Biden and or Trump? People are not enthusiastic. I will say that that is across the board. If anything, I would argue that some folks within Donald Trump's camp are still more enthusiastic about him as the candidate. In interviews that I've done both in Wisconsin and in Michigan in recent weeks, a lot of people I met will say Joe Biden was not their first choice. And I asked them what they're voting for in November, and they'll flatly tell me it's to get Donald Trump out of office. You know, I don't know that even the county chairman thinks that that matters because they really do feel this

election is going to come down to a referendum on President Trump. All right, that is a wrap for today. Tomorrow, we will be going live on Facebook at 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We're going to talk about the national conversation that's happening on race. And we're going to answer your questions. Send us your questions to nprpolitics at npr.org. And make sure to join us over on the NPR Politics Facebook page. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House.

I'm Susan Davis. I cover Congress. And I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the presidential campaign. And thank you Davis. I cover Congress. And I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the presidential campaign. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.