New to Congress and looking for common ground from opposite sides of the aisle

Judy Woodruff:

We take a moment now to speak to two new members of Congress and how they want to govern.

Lisa Desjardins has that.

Lisa Desjardins:

Both of these soon-to-be House members won their districts from members of the other party.

Republican congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson will represent Iowa's 1st District in just a few weeks. And joining her will be Democratic congresswoman-elect Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia's 7th District.

Congratulations to both of you. And thank you for joining us in this conversation.

I want to ask you, first of all, tell us a little bit about your district. And why do you think they elected you?

First to you, congresswoman-elect Hinson.

Ashley Hinson:

Well, thank you, Lisa, for having us today on. It's great to share the screen with Carolyn and to come in, in this new Congress, the 117th Congress.

The 1st District here in Iowa is a true mix of a district. We have got suburban areas, three very populous counties, and then 17 very rural counties.

And what I did through the campaign was, I did a lot of listening. I'm a mom with a minivan and a mortgage. And I drove throughout all those counties, connecting with people about the kitchen table issues that they felt like Congress wasn't getting done.

And I think, as a result of this campaign, I was able to come in with a big to-do list that I know we all have in this time heading into Congress. But I think those issues are making sure our businesses are seeing relief, our families are able to be successful and have a good life, and we try to get that life back to normal as soon as possible.

Lisa Desjardins:

Congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux.

Carolyn Bourdeaux:

OK. Well, thank you so much for having me here.

So, the 7th District of Georgia is the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. And I talked a lot about my bipartisan background. And I have worked on helping balance a state budget during the Great Recession, worked with both parties on budgets that passed by broad and bipartisan majorities.

So, I really have a background as a problem-solver. And this is a very, very diverse community, a very diverse district. About 25 percent of the people in this district were born outside of this country.

And so the challenge was to really reach out to these diverse communities, to sit and listen carefully to what their problems are, and to have dialogue with them about how to work together to solve some of the really essential problems.

Lisa Desjardins:

Now let's talk about COVID.

You both say that you want to be commonsense politicians and reach across the aisle. Right now, we are in the middle of gridlock over what to do over COVID relief. I want to hear from both of you on what you think party leaders are doing wrong right now, including your party leaders.

And let's start with you, congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux.

Carolyn Bourdeaux:

So, just this morning, I was in a Zoom that was bipartisan and bicameral.

And I think a lot of the momentum behind this latest package is coming from groups like the Problem Solvers Caucus and the Common Sense Solutions in the Senate. And these are people who started with working with that bipartisan coalition, started with the grassroots membership of the House and the Senate to come up with the places where we can all agree.

And I was very, very moved to see that and to be a part of it, and to hear both sides talk with such passion about how we need to help the American people right now in this moment of crisis.

Lisa Desjardins:

Congresswoman-elect Hinson.

Ashley Hinson:

I think congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux hit the nail on the head.

Coming together is exactly what we need to see our elected leaders doing, whether or not they're in leadership positions in Congress or in the Senate or us newcomers coming in. I think that's what people clearly want to see more of as we come in for this 117th Congress.

So, I think looking at that list, finding the areas that we do agree and moving forward with that is exactly what people expect us to be doing right now, because they're tired of the monkey business. They want relief. They want to get their lives back to normal. And they expect us to come to the table and get that done.

Lisa Desjardins:

Another thing the two of you share, interestingly enough, is you both won your elections by about 10,000 votes out of 400,000 cast, relatively close votes.

But, congresswoman-elect Hinson, you so far have not said that president-elect Biden won. You don't — haven't called him president-elect Biden, even though he won by a larger margin nationally than you did. Why not say that?

Ashley Hinson:

Well, right now, my race was called on election — or shortly after the election. There are no contests with my election results.

I supported President Trump. I continue to support the president. And I thought he should win another term. But Vice President Biden is still receiving briefings. The GSA is moving forward with that transition, as I said he should be able to get those briefings.

But President Trump deserves to be able to move forward with the court process as he sees fit. That's his right. And it's also Vice President Biden's right to be able to move forward with that transition. So, I think both things can happen at the same time, and we need to let that play out.

Our electors are going to be casting their ballots soon. And I think we will continue to see resolution here very quickly.

Lisa Desjardins:

I don't think anyone is calling for President Trump to have fewer abilities to contest the election as he wanted.

But this election was called for president-elect Biden. You're a journalist by trade. How can we see this not being politics, when all of the numbers are — and all of the court cases have gone in president-elect Biden's favor?

Ashley Hinson:

There's a lot of politics being played, I would say, on both sides of the aisle here.

And what we really need to be focusing on is getting our job done. That's what I have been focusing on the past couple of weeks, is getting my office in order. I know congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux was just mentioning she's been on lots of Zooms. Same here.

We're trying to do everything we can to get organized, so that, January 3, we can both hit the ground running and get to work for the constituents of our districts, because that's what they all expect.

Lisa Desjardins:

Congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux, you were the only Democrat to flip a House seat. Why do you think it is that other Democrats, the Democratic Party, was not able to convince voters in other moderate districts like yours?

Carolyn Bourdeaux:

This is a district where there's been a lot of demographic change and diversity.

And, in 2018, when I was running, I was engaging people who just had never been engaged before. When I ran in the primary on June 9, 85,000, people voted in the Democratic primary, up from 30,000 in 2018. Over 50 percent had never voted in a Democratic primary before.

And then we turned around again in November, and 30 percent had never voted or hadn't voted in 2016. So, we had a lot of demographic shift. And then we built on it in this campaign.

Lisa Desjardins:

I'm going to ask a different type of question now.

As you get ready to come to Washington, what's your greatest fear about being able to do this job in a way that does right by your constituents?

Congresswoman-elect Hinson?

Ashley Hinson:

So, I know I'm one of 435 voices.

And so I think my biggest fear is, how do I — it's navigating, how do I really get so I do have a strong voice for Iowa's 1st District? We're a small state. I want to make sure that Iowa's delegation is still strong, even though we are a small state.

That's my biggest fear, is just trying to figure out how to make sure that my one of 435 really counts and is amplified so that our state has a solid voice in Congress.

Lisa Desjardins:

And, congresswoman-elect Bourdeaux.

Carolyn Bourdeaux:

I think it is continuing to confront the gridlock that we see in Washington.

I really want to work and see positive progress on issues in Washington, whether I'm in a leadership role or I'm part of a coalition that's pushing things forward. And I just — we have 120,000 people in the district without health insurance. That was before COVID hit.

And so I just — I don't want to go up there and not get anything done and not be able to actually accomplish some things on behalf of people.

Lisa Desjardins:

Representatives-elect Ashley Hinson and Carolyn Bourdeaux, thank you so much.

Carolyn Bourdeaux:

Thank you for having me.

Ashley Hinson:

Thank you, Lisa.