Democrat Greg Landsman flips House seat in Ohio held by GOP’s Rep. Chabot

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  As you heard Lisa report earlier, one congressional district in the largely Republican state of Ohio proved to be a bright spot for Democrats last night in their efforts to maintain control of the House. Democrats flipped the seat long held by GOP Congressman Steve Chabot.

  I spoke with the winner of that race, representative-elect Greg Landsman, just moments ago.

  Representative-elect Greg Landsman, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations on your victory.

  Now, we know this is a House district that had been redistricted. The lines were redrawn. But why do you think you won in a district that essentially had gone Republican for half-a — a quarter-of-a-century?

  Greg Landsman (D), Ohio Congressman-Elect: I think a couple things that.

  Obviously, redistricting was significant. And the city that I have been representing as a member of city council for the last five years was wholly in one congressional district for the first time in a long, long time. And that made a big difference.

  I also think that Congressman Chabot, who had been in D.C. for decades, had really drifted to the far right. He, on January 6, sided with the insurrectionists and Donald Trump, voting to overturn an election, which, for me, was disqualifying and, for a lot of independents and many Republicans, was just too much, and his position on choice very extreme.

  And so I think it was a combination of the district and the fact that he was a big lie, anti-choice extremists. And folks don't want that. And if you're in a competitive district, as he found himself in, voters are going to say, no, that's not who we are.

  And I think that's an important message for the country.

• Judy Woodruff:

  It is also the case that, in Ohio, voters elected, reelected a Republican governor and elected a new Republican senator.

  So how do you put all that together? You're a Democrat elected where you were elected.

• Greg Landsman:

  Yes.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And yet the state looks like it's going very red.

• Greg Landsman:

  Yes, I mean, the state is just so different than any one pocket.

  And, in Southwest Ohio, the city of Cincinnati, the eastern suburbs of our county, up to Warren County, it's just trending bluer. And it's just a lot of folks who I think, regardless of political affiliation, are done with the kind of chaos and extremism that I think voters across the country rejected.

  And one of the reasons why we didn't see or aren't seeing this big red wave, folks are what really wanting a new generation of leaders who are going to work together and be done with all of the nonsense. I mean, there's just so much at stake. And I think the expectation is that we get to work.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And you discussed what Congressman Chabot's positions where that you think hurt him, but what about you? What do you think were the arguments you made that did resonate with voters?

• Greg Landsman:

  Yes, I think a couple of things.

  One is, I had a proven track record. I had built a broad coalition Republicans, Democrats, independents, to pass what we called the Preschool Promise here, which is two years of quality preschool, making Cincinnati one of the first cities in the country to provide two years of quality preschool, and had done similar work on other big issues.

  And voters knew that about me. They trusted me. And I think that made a big difference. And, on the economy, I spoke to, I think, the larger issue of what's wrong and why this economy has been broken for decades, not just because of this pandemic, but we have got decades of wage stagnation and costs that are just too much for too many of our families.

  And so fixing the economy resonated with voters. And so we talked a lot about that. But I also did, everywhere I went, reminded folks, hey, look, this is a canary in the coal mine kind of situation. We can say to the country, this is a competitive district. You have on one hand a big lie, anti-choice extremists. If we retire him, it does provide a cautionary tale to other folks who want to jump into the election-denying game.

  And that is, hey, don't do that. And the same thing on choice. Don't take away people's freedoms.

• Judy Woodruff:

  So you go to Washington to serve in the House. It looks as if the Republicans are likely to take control, to take the majority in the House. It may not be a very big majority.

  But whether you're in the minority or the majority, what do you — I mean, how confident are you that you can make a difference? I mean, we are, at this moment, as you have been alluding to, in such a divided time in this country.

• Greg Landsman:

  So I do think there's a lot of hope in what happened last night. And, certainly, I experienced it here in Cincinnati, where a lot of Republicans, Democrats, independents, but a lot of Republicans were very eager to send somebody that was very pragmatic and just about the work to Congress.

  And they were very clear about that: We like the campaign you're running. We like your disposition. You seem like you're an adult. And you don't seem to get into all these partisan fights.

  And so I think that we're going to see more and more folks like me getting elected, because the last few years have been just too much for a lot of voters.

  Now, whether we're in the majority or not, the majority is going to be slim. And it's going to require folks to work together. And I think you're going to see a group of Republicans and Democrats come together on some shared priorities, whether it's immigration reform, hopefully the child tax credit. It could be additional funding for police and fire.

  There are a bunch of issues where we agree, and it would be great to see and I will push for a bipartisan effort in the next Congress to get some big things done that voters expect us to do as we fix this economy.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Very quick last question. Do you expect to support Nancy Pelosi, whether she is in — whether your party is in the minority or the majority?

• Greg Landsman:

  Yes, I haven't gotten that far yet.

  It's hard to, as an incoming new member of Congress, really understand how all that plays out. So that's going to be part of my learning curve. I am grateful for all of the support I got nationally that really made a big difference in helping us get over the finish line.

  But my goal is to go to D.C., vote for the folks back here. I don't take corporate PAC money. And so that was a big issue. We need somebody who's going to vote for us. And then to come home every week and get as much work done here as I possibly can, something we just haven't had. So that's my focus.

• Judy Woodruff:

  So I don't hear a commitment there to support her, whether it's for leader or for the speaker.

  Well, we…

• Greg Landsman:

  Yes, I would just — I haven't even been asked the question by anyone in the leadership, so excited to figure out where all that stands.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Representative-elect Greg Landsman, thank you again for joining us. And congratulations.

• Greg Landsman:

  Thank you, Judy.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And a note: Tomorrow, we will speak with Republican representative-elect Michael Lawler, who won a seat in a formerly deep blue district outside New York City, knocking out a Democratic leader in the process.