From WXXI news.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made 80 years ago, 1946, which happens to be the closest historical analog to what happened last night.

Back in 1946, President Truman had an approval rating of around 33%, same as Donald Trump.

And Truman's party got wiped out in the midterm.

Just like the Republicans did yesterday.

This was not a blue wave.

This was a total rejection of the last two years of governance.

And as we sit here right now, the Democratic candidate for Senate in the state of Mississippi leads the Republican incumbent by 43 votes, 43 votes out of nearly 1 million votes cast in that state.

Nate Silver said yesterday morning that Democrats had maybe a 1 in 25 chance of flipping that seat.

That's how dominant yesterday was for the Democratic Party.

They're winning in places that were not even considered on the competitive map.

This hour, we welcome seven of the winners of elections in our region at various levels.

And we start with the congressman who was resoundingly reelected.

Joe Morelle represents the 25th Congressional district.

He defeated the Republican opponent in that race, Virginia McIntyre.

Joe, welcome back to Connections.

Do we got Joe?

Are you there, Joe?

I think I can hear you now.

Are you there, sir?

I am, can you hear me?

I can hear you now.

Hey.

So, Congressman, what surprised you most last night?

Well, I think it's just the magnitude of the response to Donald Trump across the country.

I mean, honestly, I think we were cautiously optimistic.

We take the house.

I mean, all the polling data seems to suggest that.

So I think we were optimistic, but I think everyone was unprepared for the just the, the the the level, the magnitude of this.

This is shocking.

And anyone who thinks they predicted this, I would, I would, I would seriously question their judgment.

Well, I mean, this is this is unbelievable.

Well, you know, there's a lot of debate now about what you do with this.

What do you think would be the wrong lesson to learn from this?

Well, I think is is often the case in politics.

The morning after is too overindex for anything.

I mean, what is clear about this is that Americans in massive numbers, rejected the politics of Donald Trump.

Finally, the hatred, the divisiveness, the cruelty, the brutality, the recklessness and frankly, the incompetence.

And this is not what they want out of their government.

I think the corruption of Donald Trump, and the fact that he pays attention to his own pocketbook instead of the interest the American people came through loudly and clearly, and this is an opportunity for Democrats.

But I don't think it's more than that.

I think we have to build on this foundationally and prove to people that we need it.

When we talk about an end to corruption, restoring faith in government, and making lives easier for the American people, not for ourselves.

But, and that means addressing costs, whether it's housing, health care, child care, the cost of groceries, everything.

But this is a repudiation of Donald Trump.

And people should not overindex, beyond that.

Well, and look, for the next two years, you've got majorities.

But the president is a Republican.

And the president said this morning two things.

He said he is absolutely willing and ready to work with Democrats.

And he says he's got his veto pen ready.

So what can you realistically expect to accomplish?

Well, I think well, first of all, it does depend in part on which of those two things he really believes in.

Here's the other thing you should know about Donald Trump.

Last year, we did a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations bill, which he signed, which he was not even really involved or engaged in because he's not interested.

He's not interested in government.

He's not interested in stewardship of the of the of the, you know, the national dialog.

He cares about Donald Trump.

And I think Americans finally saw through it.

I think they saw last night, they spoke out last night about what they've seen over the last two years, which is a complete rejection of their interests.

I mean, he cares about himself, and I've been saying it.

I know people get frustrated.

I don't have Trump Derangement syndrome.

I have a pretty clear eyed view of what goes on and what leadership is truly about.

And he doesn't have any of the qualities of leadership.

So it'll depend in part on him.

But we have enormous leverage.

We have huge majorities.

The question is, can we find common ground?

And he's willing to accept is, you know, what role he played in this or is he going to continue to live in this alternative reality that Americans no longer accept?

Well, as the listeners of this program know, you did a lot of election defense planning over the recent months.

Today, President Trump says he is not going to challenge the results.

He accepts them.

You had identified, you said around 150 potential threats to election security.

Did none of it come to pass?

Well, a lot of it came to pass in terms of what he tried to do.

But as I said repeatedly, look, we are prepared and we will meet him on the field wherever it is.

So that meant lawsuits.

That meant, organizing, mobilizing, communicating, the dozens and dozens of not-for-profit civil society groups who step forward.

And that's tens of thousands of people around this country who joined in this effort.

It will be they will be unsung heroes because people won't ever know their names.

And but they did an amazing job, as did.

And I want to point this out because they deserve amazing credit.

Which is local election administrators across this country, Democrats and Republicans who stepped up, they understood their responsibilities and they did it.

And what's really interesting, this morning, I just got off the phone with Leader Jeffries, soon to be Speaker Jeffries and I've always been preparing this as sort of a three step or a three phase, initiative.

The first was to get to Election Day.

The second was to make sure the votes were counted accurately, fairly, and that the certificates of election go to the House.

And then the third phase was January 3rd, making sure that the will of the American people was reflected in the organizing the house.

So it now appears that phase two and phase 3rd May be unnecessary.

I mean, the margins were so big that even the president has to accept, the verdict to the American people.

So I honestly, it was all the preparation of, of so many people.

And I think, they recognized the deterrence factor in that, which is why you didn't see Ice agents anywhere at polling places across the country.

You didn't see the National Guard.

He didn't invoke the Insurrection Act.

He didn't.

You know, he tried.

The Department of Justice was suing everyone.

But they were losing repeatedly.

And it's been amazing.

Honestly, I'm privileged to have played the role privilege that the leader, Jeffries, asked me to lead this national effort.

So I'm grateful for that.

And, And I'm looking forward to the future.

All right, two more quick questions, and then we got to get to other guests.

Unfortunately, the long going to be a fast hour here.

We've got Congressman Rowley.

You mentioned Jeffries.

Do you want him to be the speaker?

Do you want Chuck Schumer to stay leading the Senate?

Do you think there's a need now for new leadership in your party?

Well, Hakeem Jeffries is the new leadership.

He is.

He has been focused like a laser beam on the important issues that Americans all spoke out loudly about yesterday.

He's been right on this from the beginning.

I'm incredibly say that he's an inspirational leader, and I'm I'm glad to be on the team.

And I'm looking forward to not only voting for him for as speaker.

But I'm like a being a part of his leadership team going forward.

So, I couldn't be more excited.

I think this is an opportunity for reform.

In our country, it's an end to, an opportunity to end the corruption, which has gripped Washington and an end and an opportunity to return government to the people.

And there was one thing I missed yesterday that happened in the morning, that the New York Times reported on today.

That could have got lost in the shuffle.

President Trump in a maybe a sign, a show of desperation.

On Election Day, he's on Fox and Friends.

In the morning he calls into the show yesterday morning, Election Day morning, and he announces a major change in US policy, saying that after this year, the United States is not going to aid Israel anymore.

I want to listen to that clip.

Mr.

president, I just want to clarify something you said earlier.

When it comes to Israel, aid is, we don't understand.

We've cut off aid to Israel.

They were giving them 4 billion and they're no longer going to be giving them.

We're giving them 4 billion.

We are.

But it gets cut off at the end of the year.

Why?

Why?

Because they don't need it, right?

I mean, I ask this because they don't need it and because why should we, suffer the slings from, lunatics like Canalside when they don't need it?

It's a bad it's a bad talking point because you say, why don't we give everybody $4 billion?

Israel's our number one.

We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it.

So the president says, number one, Israel doesn't need it.

Number two, this has been used against his party.

And it's over after this year.

Congressman, can he do that unilaterally?

And do you support that change?

Well, I guess the president I don't think he's learned this lesson.

After seven years in the presidency, Congress makes decisions about appropriations of where money is spent.

Look, I and this, as you can tell, for everything for him, is so personal.

He's mad because his party's getting beat, which is, frankly, his responsibility has nothing to do with all the external forces.

I mean, this is a repudiation of Donald Trump.

So let there'll be a thoughtful, you know, and I was on your show just a couple of weeks ago talking about Israel and what we need to do, throughout the region for the Israelis and for the Palestinians, how to achieve peace and stability in the region.

We've got a lot of work to do, in that space, clearly.

And so, hopefully this will be a new chapter as we move forward.

But, you know, this is the president just having a tantrum because that's what Donald Trump's emotional maturity is out of about a five year old.

So, he only cares about this now because it affected him personally.

And that is not the way that leadership inspired and thoughtful and intelligent leadership worked.

But the vice president tweeted today that one of the four things that has to change for Republicans is changing the relationship with Israel.

Do you expect to be clear?

Do you think that the funding change the president talked about is actually going to happen?

Oh, I do think there's a possibility for a change in the relationship with Israel.

I think it depends in part on what the Israelis decide in terms of their leadership and how we move forward.

I've been outspoken about my criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and what he has done, to Israel in the world.

So I think I definitely think the relationship will change.

But I think the thing that I find amusing about this is somehow Donald Trump and JD Vance want to blame other people.

And yeah, that, by the way, this situation that they created and they're trying desperately to avoid responsibility.

Donald Trump, because he has no emotional maturity and he's not a leader.

And JD Vance because he's suddenly looking at 2028 and realizing that he has been part and parcel of this disaster and he has not had the courage to stand up, nor has any other, leader of the, of the Congress, the Republican leadership, which is why they've all been repudiated.

And, but now they're all just looking out for their own interests, as is usual.

I mean, that's sort of typical of the way that they have responded.

And hopefully what this means is a lot of Republicans are going to start thinking about what their party is about, and get back to, you know, being legitimate instead of being this blind following of a president who is really not capable of, of being president.

He doesn't understand the complexities of the office, doesn't understand the responsibilities.

Look, in, behalf of the 344 million people who are privileged to call themselves Americans.

Congressman, thank you for the time.

No rest for the weary.

We appreciate it.

And you're welcome back anytime on this program.

All right, Brother Phil.

Well, thanks so much.

Congressman Joe Morelle, a resounding winner in his bid for reelection.

And we appreciate the time.

If you're just joining us today, we're talking to winners from Election Day, a massive day for Democrats, a very disappointing day for many Republicans.

And a chance now to talk to some winners on the state level.

My next guest is a member of the New York State Assembly, Jen Lunsford, reelected to the New York State Assembly and her race against the Republican candidate, Kalinda Washington.

And Assembly Member Lunsford is back with us.

Welcome back to the program.

Did you did you get much sleep as I'm a member?

You know, I got a solid five hours, which is more than I typically get on election night because it wasn't that late of a night.

It was like an early ish night.

I mean, it was so dominant.

The margins were so big.

Everybody's watching Mississippi now.

You didn't think you'd be watching Mississippi before?

I've never watched Mississippi before.

I that's never a race that's on my radar.

So, so let me I'm going to ask everybody kind of what you what lessons do you draw.

And you're at the state level.

You're at the national level, the national level.

Democrats for years.

When you ask voters the brand of the Democratic Party nationally has not been very good.

I wonder what you make on the state level, what lessons do you draw from the whole night and how that affects state governance?

Sure.

So, I mean, we had enormous wins in the Assembly where we picked up it looks like, 110 or maybe even 111 person majority.

That is absolutely bonkers.

But I am no fool and know that much of that is a repudiation of national politics, and not necessarily about those candidates or about us as a party.

So I'm not going to take that for granted.

But I think this is a real opportunity with Supermajorities in both the Senate and the Assembly, to show people from districts that have not elected Democrats in a long time.

What we've been able to show here in Monroe County, which is that when you elect Democrats, Democrats deliver.

And that's how we've been able to capitalize and roll forward the gains here in Monroe by showing up, by doing real work that matters to people, delivering resources, making people's lives better and showing them that Democrats are workers and deliverers and people who are going to, actually improve the lives of New Yorkers.

But that's going to be a tough road when we're still dealing with the fallout from H.R.

one and all of the federal policies that are putting weight on us just because of these wins, we didn't have those issues disappear.

You know, Congress can help roll back some of them, but we still have to live with the ramifications of H.R.

one.

So let's talk a little bit about that.

So we have talked about how after these midterms, the Medicaid cuts are coming.

A lot of the cuts were planned for after people voted and for if that was a policy that Republicans chose on purpose, it didn't work.

They got blown out.

People are aware that those changes are coming, but is there any people are going to ask you at the state level and people are going to ask Congressman Morelle at the federal level, is there anything that can be done now to mitigate some of those cuts?

So I hope very, very much that Congress can roll back the administrative responsibilities of Snap that they've put on our counties, because that's a huge cost to our counties.

And we are going to be in a really challenging position, as it relates to funding for, Snap programing and the tax burden that puts on the counties.

So I think that is something that they can do.

But when it comes to those Medicaid cuts, a lot of that savings was delivered to millionaires as tax cuts.

So I don't know that that money is available to simply roll back into the program.

But anything we can do to help, take some of this off of our local municipalities and restore benefits to people who are losing them.

We need to do as soon as possible.

I want to listen to a piece of sound that comes from Saturday, three days before election Day.

James Talarico, who went on to win by a big margin in Texas as a Democrat, was asked if he's excited about turning Texas blue.

And I want to listen to his answer here.

And when we think about states and places where there's one party rule, listen, I'm not interested in turning Texas blue.

I want to focus on I want to I want to win this thing so that I can fight for all 31 million Texans, whether they're Democrats, independents or Republicans.

My party talks about turning Texas blue a lot.

Republicans talk about keeping Texas red.

I've said before, I think the best color for Texas is purple.

I think she would look great in purple because when you have a purple state, when you have competitive elections, it forces every politician in both parties at all levels to stay on their toes.

And and we've seen this before, you know, when when we saw, Democrats flipped state House districts in 2018, I was one of the 12 but flipped suddenly in 2019, you saw the Republican leadership focusing on real issues.

We were able to come together as Democrats and Republicans to pass historic school finance reform, historic property tax relief.

We weren't we weren't chasing crazy culture wars.

We weren't grandstanding on issues.

We were actually solving problems.

And so I've seen this work.

When you have competitive election results, you get better public policy.

You know, of course, part of that is like, be still my beating heart as the talk show host.

But, you know, we are a one party control state here.

We're not with Talarico talking about.

And is there too much comfort for the Democrats in this state, or do you still think you can be effective in governance in in a way similar to what Talarico is talking about?

There?

I think people forget that the New York State Senate was Republican controlled for 81 years until 2018.

It's not like we are this decades old, staunch blue stalwart.

The reality of what it looked like when we had Senate control was that low hanging fruit policy that everybody wanted, like the Reproductive Health Act, you know, things that just made sense and were easy, fully funding foundation aid.

Those were things that were being held up by the Republican, majority in the Senate, in part because they were trying to win gains in other houses and the governor and in the Assembly.

So they didn't want to give us the W's that they knew would help us.

Once we flipped the Senate, change started rolling in.

I can't wait to see what Texas does now that it has the ability to.

And that's policies that have been held back for political reasons, for reasons that were related to, I think, entrenched politicians who I maybe didn't have the people's interests in mind.

But here Democrats are Republicans are different.

I said this on your show before, the Democrats are three parties in a trench coat.

So if you think that we're all lining up behind each other and all fighting for the same thing, boy howdy, I'd love to invite you a big to eat our own for breakfast.

The discord within our own party is what controls us.

We have members that are extremely far left who are self-identified socialists, and we have members that are more conservative than Republicans.

On the other side, truly, members that are rated by the Conservative Party as more conservative than Republicans, like, okay, okay, okay.

Well, and here's our next guest.

We're going to talk to him in just a second.

Speaking of Assembly Member Johnson, so your meeting is going to run out and we have to let you go because we're going to talk to some of you, Member Johnson, and a lot of your colleagues.

But I want to thank you for the time.

And I always appreciate the conversation with elected leaders.

Come back soon.

We hope so.

And he's an Assembly member.

Jen Lunsford reelected, in a big win for the Assembly.

Member to the New York State Assembly in District number 135.

There, let's take our first break of the hour.

Two short one.

We're coming right back with the winner in district number 134.

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Democrats won big in the midterms and they took control of Congress.

We just took back Texas.

And I'm so honored that Michiganders believed in me and North Carolinians.

I accept your job offer and there were major gains among governors.

We'll do more analysis of results on the next morning edition.

From NPR news.

Tomorrow morning at five.

I told you, this hour is going to fly by.

We're talking to the winners from Election Day.

And a Republican winner is Josh Jensen, reelected to the New York State Assembly in district number 134.

Assembly member Jensen beat Kurt Van Wyck House, the Democrat, in that race, and he's with us.

Assembly member Jensen is.

Josh, welcome back to the program.

Did you get some sleep last night?

I think I have, Assembly Member Lunsford beat.

I think I only got four hours of sleep, but, as I woke up and the sun was shining, so it's, it's a good day.

Well, so let me just start by asking.

I know you heard the Talarico clip.

What do you make of the idea of purple governance?

You know, you're in a party that you're limited on what you can do.

It is a one party control state.

But I know that you've got relationships with your colleagues on the Democratic side.

Is there an opening to do more, and do you think that they will open the door for your party and your caucus to do more?

You know, I certainly, I assume you agree with the sentiment of Senator elect Talarico.

I mean, at the end of the day, we all have to represent, people who voted for us, people who didn't vote for us Republicans, Democrats, or those who hate all of us.

And and I think it's, you know, it's it's really part of being a public servant is that you try to find common ground with people.

And, you know, in the six years I've been in the Assembly, I've been more than happy to work with Democrats or Republicans, who had the best interests of my constituents in mind.

And want to improve the lives of, the people of New York State.

And I really do think that in in a functional democracy, you need to have a minority party who's willing to hold government to account, to ask questions, demand accountability, and really make sure that important questions are being asked and that they're answered and they're answered honestly.

And that's something that I, you know, a duty that I think is very sacred in a, in a democracy, and that I will continue to do for the next two years as a Republican.

What lessons do you want your party to draw from yesterday?

Well, I mean, I think certainly you look at New York State and it was the, the worst day in New York state, the New York State Legislature since the James Polk administration in 1846.

And so I think when you look at not just what happened in New York or across the country, people are frustrated with the status quo.

They're frustrated with leaders in office who campaigned on one thing and then when they took office, didn't deliver or went back on what they said they were going to do.

And I think that not just in our country, but you look at a lot of liberal small democracies, across the world, is that that is a sentiment that is is very clear.

And, you know, just because we have people vote for us, in one elections, they're not a promised vote.

They're being sent to us.

And I think it's it's the obligation of everybody in office, to make sure that we're fulfilling what, what the voters value lovers and told us they want us to be working on is their voices.

The Republican mayor of Oklahoma City is David Holt.

He said this morning that the Republican Party, his party is, in his words, morally and intellectually bankrupt.

And Republicans, he says, at all levels of governance across the country now, should be examining how to change that.

And viewing yesterday as a chance at rejuvenating a broken party.

Do you agree with that?

I think, you know, I have a lot of respect.

You know, he's Oklahoma City is the 21st largest, city in the country.

And certainly I have a lot of respect for, for for Mayor Holt.

And I agree with his sentiment.

I think for a long time, Republicans have have been very good at saying what we're against.

But we, you know, we have to do a better job of preventing, presenting what we're going to, what we want to do to make people's lives better.

And I think that we have to recognize that, a Josh Jensen, New York State Republican, is not an Oklahoma City Republican.

It's not a North Dakota Republican.

It's not a Texas Republican.

And that we have to make sure that we're talking about the issues that people really care about in the communities where we actually serve, where we actually represent the people who call our communities home.

And I think that's one of the things that as a party, we've gotten away from and it's something that I've tried to do, for the past six years in the Assembly is be very focused on getting stuff done for the people police department and working with, my colleagues in the majority locally across the state when it's in the best interests and it can be, we can actually get things done.

And I think that's what that's what people want.

They're frustrated and they just want things to get done and to make their lives better and to actually see their public servants give a darn about them.

Okay, I just did a little fact check because I knew that, you know, you're a pretty impressive thinker, but how in the world did you know that Oklahoma City is the 21st largest city?

I just looked it up, and that's true.

How did you know this?

I may I may have seen the, the mayor's, tweet earlier today, but let's just pretend that I. I just know those things, like the back of my head.

You could have lied.

Josh.

I wish I could have, but that's what politicians do have.

And I'm not a puppet.

Yeah, they're a public servant.

That was very, very impressive.

All right, last question for you, because I know everyone's busy here.

Your party will win more in two years at the state level where you are now, but also at the federal level.

If what?

I think if we're serious people.

I think that in society today, it's very easy to to chase low hanging fruit and try to try to make, 140 characters be a governing doctrine.

And that's not real life.

And I think we have to, I think, to be successful, we have to be serious people with serious solutions and actually listen to people.

And I think from time to time, more often than not, we, we don't listen, and we have to do more of that.

Assembly member Josh Jensen, you're welcome back anytime, sir.

Thank you for making the time.

Congratulations on your reelection.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

Assembly Member Jensen has gone back to the Assembly, winning in district number 134.

One of his colleagues is our next guest.

We're joined now by Assembly member Sarah Clark, a winner in district number 136, defeating Cleon de Florence in a very big margin.

There.

Assembly member Clark, welcome back to the program.

Thanks for having me.

What's your first?

Well, I got to ask you, what surprised you?

I, I do think this is an interesting question.

If you spend a lot of time working in national politics, you obviously working at the state level now.

You had big dreams, I'm sure yesterday morning, as a Democrat, I don't think I could have told you how good it was going to be and you would have believed it.

So what was the biggest surprise for you?

I definitely wouldn't have believed it at all.

As someone who still has 2016 PTSD and who has not had a lot of faith in polling over the last few years, I think people, you know, it's hard to get at people who don't want to share who they're voting for.

So it's really hard to get a good, accurate sense of where people are at.

So I came into yesterday with a lot of PTSD, and not a lot of hope.

And I woke up, well, actually last night, as I could not fall asleep, felt hope for the first time in a long time that people really were finally saying, I want to get back to decency.

I want to get back to the issues.

I want to get back to the challenges.

I want to get back to focusing on families and the things we face that have been such a struggle over the last few years.

And I don't want to talk about all these gotcha issues.

I want to get, you know, I want our elected leaders to go back to the things that we care about.

And, oh my gosh, so much more hope today than I have felt in a very, very long time.

I want to ask you a little bit about the formulas for winning elections, because there's a lot of assumption that it's all about money.

If you look at Mississippi we mentioned at the outset of this hour, Mississippi is going to be counting until next week.

The Senate race, the US Senate race there, which was not supposed to be competitive.

Nate Silver did a pretty good job with this election forecast this year, but he had Mississippi as a 4% chance for Democrats to flip.

Right now, the Democrat Scott column is up by 43 votes out of nearly a million cast.

And they're going to have to count every last one.

It's going to take a long time.

He could win that.

And a lot of people think it's because a few weeks ago, the Republican incumbent was asked about the price of beef, and her response was, well, you have lots of choices of protein, like you don't have to eat beef.

And Scott Collomb responds by quickly turning out an ad where he talked to voters at their grills and they were like, changed my protein.

I think I'll change my senator.

I think I'll change my senator.

And that became the refrain, I don't want to change the protein.

I want to change my senator.

He might win because of it.

They didn't spend that much money.

It was a great commercial.

So okay, so you've seen it respond.

But but but what is what are the what does this tell us about all the time, especially at the national level where you've worked about spending time fundraising, trying to get ads up.

But but sometimes it's just a really straightforward issue, a pocketbook issue that explodes.

So what what do you want people to learn from that kind of a story?

I can't say money doesn't affect politics because it does.

And I wish poorly with my heart that we did some real campaign finance reform, and maybe we will now.

But I do think authenticity and I think, finding these moments where you can take what someone says and turn it into something that really everyone relates to, I mean, relatability is a huge piece of the success of candidates.

But I do think people are really looking for authentic.

They're looking for people who care more about the issues than themselves, care more about the issues than they do the, the, the hot button social things that have sort of dominated politics for the last ten years.

But that that is also like having a creative team around you that doesn't, you know, have all the money in the world, but has, the quick thinking.

And I do count the younger generation as people who are quick and understand how to go viral on some of these things, really fast, in a way that really connects with people.

We're seeing it more and more, and I, I love it.

Jackie in Fairport writes in to say Democrats are not good at moving in lockstep.

Often when they see healthy margins in their numbers, members begin to express nuance in their positions.

It leads to family squabbles, lost time and stalled progress.

What's the plan for getting Democrats to stick to a unified agenda?

That's from Jackie in Fairport.

First of all, do you agree with the premise?

And then what would you say to Jackie?

Oh, I would definitely say that, you know, having 111 Democrats in the Assembly is like having 111 different people in the Assembly.

So it's not, it's not always easy.

And I get it.

There's the communities that people serve are all very different.

And people are very focused on that.

Right.

And, and their uniqueness, and doing what is best for, for those they represent.

But I also think there is there was a, an affordability theme and a, you know, good governance theme that everyone ran on as a Democrat in this state.

And I think if we don't double down on those things, we will really have lost a moment in time.

And we need to be really looking at housing, at health care, at, you know, I mean, hoping more help from the federal government.

But looking at how Ice operates in our state, looking at how, these federal cuts are going to hurt and doing what we can to hopefully, you know, bring those back, bring those dollars back into our state to give us a little relief from truly cruel issues that are, you know, kicking people off health care and taking money or taking food out of the mouths of children.

With the snap cuts that we've seen.

So I think everyone there was a unifying theme to every Democratic, race across the state, and it is now incumbent upon us to stay true to that when we govern.

Well, here's another email, Alex.

In all caps, he writes generally generationally crushing baby.

And then he says, we're facing some steep deficits post one big beautiful burgle.

What's the level?

That wasn't the official name.

I don't think a lot of the piece of legislation, Alex says.

What is the level of commitment among the Assembly to raise taxes on millionaire earners, to help with the Snap and essential plan shortfalls?

Well, what we can't restore from the federal government, we're going to have to figure out how to keep our most vulnerable vulnerable from being affected.

And, you know, we have seen a government that has governed for millionaires and billionaires and now a billionaire.

And I think it I am not at all opposed to, turning that back around to our workers and to our families and to our middle class and to all those folks who, have watched I economics work for the, the highest earners and I mean highest, highest highest earners and not for them.

So I am not opposed to looking where we need to.

And honestly, those kinds of taxes are highly popular, across the state in both parties.

And we have to have the will to say, you need to pay your fair share.

And, when you make multi-millions of dollars or billions of dollars in our state, it is because of our workers.

It is because of our strong middle class.

It is because, we care about our families.

And if you need to give back.

And I think that that's a perfectly reasonable, place to be and think about, when we do when we start our budget talks in January, Assembly member Sarah Clark reelected in district number 136.

Thank you for making the time, and I know we'll talk to you soon.

Sure.

Well, thank you, Assembly member Clark, among the winners, we're talking to seven winners right down the line.

We go.

We've got to take, our second break, our second and final break of the hour, and we're coming right back.

Talking to more of the winners from Election Day 2026.

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Focused on the news, issues and trends that shape the lives of listeners in the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions.

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The 2026 midterms were the most expensive U.S.

elections ever.

$11.5 billion spent, the most ever for any election, including the 2024 presidential election.

So it's a mind blowing amount of money.

I'm Ailsa Chang.

What the results will mean for Democrats and Republicans and for the rest of the country, and all things considered.

From NPR news.

This afternoon at four.

It was a tough night across the country for Republicans, a tough night in New York State for Republicans.

And yet a number of incumbents did very well in their races and won reelection.

You heard from Josh Jensen earlier this hour?

Assembly member Andrea Bailey reelected in district number 133, defeating Gladys Flores.

Andrea, welcome back to the program.

Congratulations on your win.

Thanks for making time.

Well, thank you for having me, Evan.

So, what lesson are you drawing?

And I wonder, on a day like today where it's not a great day for your party, but it's a good day for you personally.

What is sort of like, what's the emotional radar and what are the lessons you're trying to absorb here?

Well, it's absolutely I shared it with someone.

It's very melancholy.

I'm excited for myself.

And I'm excited for the district to continue to represent them.

You know, in the assembly itself, some of the colleagues that I served with over the last two years did not win reelection.

You know, in that, in that that is sad to hear.

Because I think they did a great job.

Representing their areas and, and it'll be sad to go back not having those colleagues on, on our, on our side.

So why do you think the Republicans had such a bad day yesterday?

I mean, I think we all know the answer.

I mean, when you would be naive to say that the, temperature at the national level, you know, is is anything favorable.

And I think that that the polls were telling us that, that at a national level, folks are very frustrated at what's going on in Washington and that trickle down, to the state level.

Okay.

But is this the end, then, of of Donald Trump's influence in Republican politics?

I mean, is this sort of a final verdict on that?

Do you think?

I mean, I guess if you allowed you know, I don't really have the answer to that, to be quite honest with you, Evan.

And the reason I say that is, is the way in which I have always led, the representation that that I have with my.

You know, with my district is I listen to the folks in the district.

I understand that there's noise at the, at the federal level.

But I don't let that sway who I am in what my principles are.

You know, one way or another.

And I'm here to represent the, you know, the folks are the 1/33 Assembly district.

And when I say that, I wholeheartedly agree with that, and that is who I am, that is that's just how I was raised and that's ingrained in who I am.

So when I look at it, I just I look at it from from my vantage point that I need to continue doing what I'm doing here to represent the folks, in New York State and be a voice for rural upstate New York.

And not let the noise at the federal level, hinder my mission here to serve the people that I represent.

Well, one of the things that has happened at the federal level that will affect New Yorkers are Medicaid cuts.

And you've probably been hearing some of your Democratic colleagues talk about their hopes of doing something to try to restore some of those cuts or step in at the state level.

Can you give me a sense for how you see the changes that are coming?

If they were the right decisions and if anything else should be done about them?

I think in in you and I've, I, I have had this conversation in the past.

I think we have an opportunity to be better stewards with funding that we already have.

With, with some of the cuts that are coming, down the line, are they going to hurt?

Absolutely.

They are going to hurt.

I think new York has an opportunity to look at funding that has been identified, you know, through the comptroller's office and various reports that have been mismanaged when it comes to Medicaid funding.

And what does that mean?

You know, putting that back into play and being that in utilize the way in which it should be at the end of the day, what are the true effects from the federal level, cuts that we have?

I do not believe they are severe.

As severe as we may hear projected.

If we were doing a better job with the funding that we already have, and ensuring that there is not fraud out there.

You know, I, I believe that some, you know, some folks who were doing transportation, you know, we're just brought up on, you know, some penalties when it comes to Medicaid fraud.

So I think we have to do our due diligence and look at all corners on how we can be better stewards of the funding that we have with the cuts that are coming down.

And truly, what are those?

And you know what?

What's the impact of that?

And cut and then what do we need to do to, offset that from a state level.

But you don't think that there are severe, as some of your Democratic colleagues are saying?

When you look at it at the surface value, I would say, yeah, they're there is severe is is some of my colleagues may be saying, but I think when you do a deep dive, I come from the business, background and, and when you do a deep dive and you're looking at your PNL statement, you know, there's there's money that's going out, that shouldn't be going out, that should be going for some of those services that we're providing.

So what does that look like?

And at the end of the day, what is that true number?

I don't have that true number right now.

I don't believe it is is drastic as some want us to believe it is if we manage the funding that we already have allocated properly.

All right.

Lastly, I, I spend a lot of time in rural New York because I'm of travel baseball coach.

I'm all over the place.

And when I'm in rural New York this year, I don't meet a lot of people who are excited to vote for Governor Hochul.

And when you're in New York City, you don't meet a lot of Bruce Blakeman supporters.

It's a pretty divided state, rural to urban centers.

And in your district, there's probably a lot of people waking up on Election Day going, well, how did the governor win?

She's so unpopular and I'm curious to know in, in your view, as someone who represents the district, that you do what needs to happen so that there's less of this divide and more of what feels like, you know, I mean, we're going to have cities.

We have rural areas every state does, but less of a wall of division.

So I think you have to be open to, to to talk to everyone, to be completely honest with you.

You know, I've sat down with a group of individuals who, ideology wise, we are probably the farthest apart on a spectrum when it comes to political, beliefs.

But to discuss a bill and why I couldn't support it.

And I had their understanding and their agreement and those reasons why I couldn't support the language in the bill.

So I think it is we have to be open to have conversations and we have to get away from I'm right, you're wrong.

You know, I always say we all go into, public service to do into to serve the people that we represent.

We might just have a different roadmap to get there.

But at the end of the day, I think we all have the same goal is that we want to make the life better for the folks that we represent than maybe the life that we had.

You know, coming into it.

Or at least make sure that the same opportunities are available for our future generations.

Thank you for making the time.

Congratulations on your reelection.

We always appreciate your time and we look forward to talking to you again.

Thank you very much and I hope you have a great day.

Assembly Member Andrea Bailey reelected in Assembly District number 133.

Let me welcome one of her colleagues on the Democratic side.

In district number 138, Harry Bronson defeated Tracy de Florio.

Assembly member Bronson, welcome back to the program.

And why don't you start by telling me what what this day sort of feels like at the state.

And then you look at the national level.

It's got to be better than you thought it could be.

24 hours ago.

What are you thinking today?

Well, first of all, Evan, thank you so much for having me on the show.

And I want to thank the voters of the 138th district for placing their trust in me yet again.

And with that, I feel very privileged that they've granted to me that opportunity.

And with that privilege comes a lot of responsibility, which I'm going to make sure I meet with hard work, with integrity and working for them every single day.

So I'm honored to be in office again.

I'm very, very pleased that my Assembly Democratic majority is expanding its ranks by, I believe, eight members up to 111 and the majority, I'm happy to see that the New York State Senate also is expanding its ranks to have a, veto proof majority.

And, you know, and then, of course, in Congress, you know, certainly I believe last night's election was a repudiation of the president, his politics of division and creating others, his agenda and, and his corruption.

This is going to shake up, Washington and the Trump, brand is now being seen for what it is.

It's snake oil.

And, he's been a good salesperson.

But when it came to actually governing over the last two years, he has shown the people, that he doesn't have them.

First, he has his own agenda and his, personal businesses first.

And, so this is an opportunity to turn all of that around.

And I'm thankful for the voters to come out and and vote, for, their interests.

And instead of party interests, something, something.

Then you might have heard Congressman Morelle mentioned earlier this hour.

He agrees with that.

He thinks this is largely about Donald Trump and a final verdict on Trumpism.

And he says the Democratic Party shouldn't over extend the the lessons from that.

So what would be a mistake?

What is the wrong lesson to draw from yesterday's results?

I think the mistake the mistake would be to focus on Donald Trump more instead of doing what we have been elected to do, and that is to work for the people that we represent.

To deal with the affordability crisis that we're facing, the cost of living crisis, to make sure that we continue, to, make our neighborhoods safe and secure, make sure that families can make ends meet and their own household budgets, make sure that we create opportunities so that people can have good paying jobs with benefits, and really to focus on the people that have put us in office, you know, their health care issues, their nutrition issues, all of those kind of things are what we should be focusing on.

And, you know, put aside the disagreement, with Donald Trump and with Republicans and, and put the first, what how can we make things better for the people that we represent?

All right, one more minute here.

So I just want to ask you you just heard your Republican colleague in the Assembly, Andrea Bailey, say that, yes, the Medicaid cuts that are coming will hurt, but she's hopeful it won't be as severe as some of the Democrats in the Assembly have been saying.

Do you share her optimism that maybe this won't be as painful as you feared?

It's going to be very painful.

$10 billion cut, $10 billion cut to Medicaid.

That's what New York State is facing.

That's severe.

We are going to do everything we can to mitigate that harm.

But we also am hopeful that with the Congress flipping that at the federal level, they can help us with Medicaid and with Snap benefits and turn around the corner of, you know, the H.R.

one big, beautiful bill, big ugly bill, whatever you call it.

Hopefully the new Congress can take steps to mitigate some of that.

And then we'll do that our job here at the state level and also try to address it.

But a $10 billion cut to our health care system, that means less access to health care.

But it also means in our area where our two largest employers are in the health care provider, business.

You know, you are medical center and Rochester Regional.

That's going to hurt the workers there as well.

Assembly Member Bronson, I know we'll talk more about that on a separate day.

I want to thank you for the time you're going back to the assembly in district number 138.

We'll talk to you again soon.

Thank you so much, Evan.

Assembly member Harry Bronson, we're going to close the hour at the local level.

Now, last night, if you listen to our coverage, we talked about this interesting story that happened a year ago where Democrats were winning in towns where they hadn't won, sometimes in decades, sometimes in 100 years in places like Penfield and Grease and Panton, where Jenn Townsend won.

And the question was, well, now you got to run one year later, because this quirk that's changing, which year we do local elections and might it be a one year term?

Well, it turns out not to be the case.

Jenn Townsend, is the parent and town supervisor now for a full, full term.

And she is with us.

So congratulations.

You had a stress free night.

You didn't even have an opponent.

Welcome back to the show, Jenn.

Thank you for being with us.

Thank you have been great to be here.

I just briefly wanted to ask you if you were surprised.

You know, we talked a year ago, but you had a lot of work to do to learn the job, to get working and then once again run another campaign.

But you didn't get an opponent.

And Kevin Barry in Penfield didn't have a really a serious challenger.

We didn't necessarily see competitive races.

Why do you think that was?

I think there's a few things.

One is a quick turnaround.

So one year later you got to organize and get somebody else running.

It's hard to run against somebody when they haven't, got a track record that you can attest to.

You know, having only been there for a few months, someone's really got to, show that you're incapable of doing the job.

But I also think that for us in parenting, it was not a dramatic, it was dramatic in the sense it was a sea change.

But we all really got along through the transition.

We worked together, and, people really got on board with, you know, staying on track for parenting and pulling the politics out of it.

And I feel really lucky in our community that we're we've been in a little bit of a bubble with that where we've all been able to move forward with it.

And so I don't think there was that divisive momentum here, to draw people on this election.

And so a year ago, when you and I talked, it was this wow moment.

You had won.

You had made this big splash in a place that had been Republican for a long time.

You had a lot to learn.

What have you learned most in the last year about governing?

Oh, gosh, so much.

I think one of the biggest things I've learned, though, is that people don't expect you to be perfect.

They just expect you to be accessible and and really honest with them, responsive and competent, and that, you know, you don't have to have all the answers.

You don't have to have everything right.

But they want to know that you're listening and that you're acting in their best interest, even if it's not the thing that they're advocating for.

And so that's been one of the bigger challenges, but also one of the biggest things that I've learned, where, you know, the days of trust me, we got it covered up here.

Don't worry about it.

We're going to get it taken care of.

Those days are over, I think, for good in politics and for good reason.

Because as public officials, we need to explain ourselves, explain why we're doing things, why we're acting on behalf of our community in a particular way.

And that's okay.

People have the right to expect that of us.

And so people who are going to hold public office today have to be able to to do that, to answer to people and to explain how they got to where they are.

And I've learned when I'm able to do that, honestly, with, residents of parents, and even if it's not something that they necessarily wanted to hear, they have respect for that and understand 30s is part of what I think I'm hearing from you actually reflect some of what we saw at the national level, which is that it doesn't matter your party if voters view you as working for yourself and as corrupt in some way, there is a penalty to pay and that goes all the way down to the local level.

Would you agree with that?

Absolutely.

100.

Oh yeah.

They want to know that you're there for their town regardless of what letters in front of your name.

And I truly believe that people have the ability to trust that if you put that forth in everything you do.

Well, I want to thank you for making the time just to call the program and check in with us, because who knew a year ago what was going to happen this year?

It's been a fascinating year to watch, and now you get a full term in the next time we talk to you, we'll be talking about some really interesting parochial local issue.

And I look forward to that too.

Madam supervisor, so thank you for making it to the.

Thank you very much.

That's Jenn Townsend, supervisor in the town of parent.

And if you go back a year ago, we were talking about these earthquake stories and parenting and Penfield and Grease where Democrats hadn't won in decades.

And now they're cementing some of those wins as part of what was one of the biggest days in Democratic politics ever in this country.

And a tough, tough day for Republicans going forward.

We've got a lot to talk about.

We're going to take your comments and your ideas about the presidential campaign in 2028.

That starts now.

What happens with the Supreme Court?

Why did the Latino vote move right and then left?

What's going on in so many different ways?

You'll be part of that conversation for now from all of us at Connections and WXXI.

Thanks for joining us.

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Thanks for watching.

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