- Ted, welcome back.

So here we are, it's early May, we are six months away from the November election.

- Hard to believe.

Yeah.

- Right?

And we're starting to see more people announcing they're running for office.

- Yeah, and the biggest race on the ballot in Rhode Island this year, other than, of course, the presidential is the U.S. Senate race.

And no surprise, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is indeed running for a fourth term.

He just kicked off his campaign officially.

- Yeah, so Whitehouse first had that position back in 2006 when he defeated Lincoln Chafee, a Republican at the time.

We should also keep in mind there was a large national anti-Republican wave occurring.

It was a very close election between Whitehouse and Chafee.

Of course, ultimately Whitehouse won and he's had a much easier time winning reelection since then.

- Yeah, I'm sure viewers will remember, Michelle.

That was an epic battle in 2006 between Chafee and Whitehouse, because control of the U.S. Senate was going to hinge in part on what happened in Rhode Island.

Since then, you know, Whitehouse, he has been a bit of a polarizing figure, at least compared with Jack Reed, Rhode Island's other senator, of course, another Democrat.

His approval rating's always been a little lower than Reed's, but he still won reelection convincingly previously.

He won with over 60% of the vote in both 2012 and 2018.

And so I think, Michelle, that's a big reason he's seen as such a heavy favorite to win another term this fall.

- So Whitehouse will face two Republican challengers: State Representative Patricia Morgan and Warwick Republican Ray McKay.

They'll face off in a primary this September.

As you said, though, Whitehouse is the heavy favorite to win.

And one of the reasons is because he already has $3.6 million in his campaign account.

Of course, his opponents don't have that kind of money.

So Ted, Whitehouse was recently asked, "Look, why do you feel the need to raise that much money when clearly your opponents don't have that kind of cash in the bank?"

What did he say?

- Yeah, his response was interesting, Michelle.

He said, quote, "There's always a possibility that some of the creepy out-of-state, right-wing billionaires who I've significantly irritated could throw money at Rhode Island out of revenge and punishment.

So we need to be prepared."

And- - Do you see that happening?

- You know, I do think it's possible, I will say, because Whitehouse has made some powerful enemies over the years.

You know, if you think of some of the big issues he's been very outspoken on: Supreme Court reform, climate change, money in politics, he's often pretty harshly criticizing some very rich people on the right, who he argues are using their money to kind of shift the conversation on these issues in their own direction.

Now, Whitehouse has plenty of critics who argue that, you know, his sort of view that it's all about dark money and that's what's causing this is kind of conspiratorial, and actually it's just conservatives view these issues differently from Whitehouse, but Whitehouse, he does not see it that way.

He really believes money's at the root of all of this, and he thinks the people mad at him could try to use that money to make trouble for him this fall.

- Well, and that came to a head recently on the Senate Budget Committee, where Whitehouse sits as chairman, Republicans, like Senator Mitt Romney, have repeatedly criticized Senator Whitehouse for devoting too much time on the Senate hearings talking about climate change.

He's already had more than dozen hearings devoted strictly to climate change.

And Romney is saying, "Look, you need to spend more time talking about taxes and spending."

But Whitehouse is clearly not intimidated by Romney.

- No.

I mean, he looked a little peeved listening to Romney's lecture in that committee hearing where Romney took aim at him.

But Whitehouse argues that, you know, while, yes, you know, this might, at first glance seem like an issue for the environmental committee.

For example, climate change is gonna have a huge effect on the federal budget over time due to more natural disasters, the costs of mitigation, and all the rest of it.

And so he argues it is very much a budget issue, even though everyone knows, also, he just cares a lot about climate change regardless of which committee he's leading.

So it's been interesting to see him just sort of mix it up with the Republicans on that issue and, yeah, not back down at all.

- At the same time that he was having that pushback with Republicans, he also scored a major bipartisan win.

Talk with me about that.

- Yeah, Michelle, this got less attention than I expected, but people remember that big Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan aid bill that took months and months to get through Congress, but finally, recently passed the House and got signed into law.

Well, one of the ways that got passed was actually, included in it, was a bill Whitehouse had co-authored with an Idaho Republican senator called the REPO Act.

And this bill would allow Western countries to seize the assets of Russians, sell them off, and give the proceeds to Ukrainians to help to fight the war.

It was a little controversial, but it also had some strong support in Congress.

And in the end, Republican house speaker, Mike Johnson, actually added this REPO Act to the broader bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, because he thought it would win GOP votes and help to get it through Congress.

So just an example of how Whitehouse also at times does know how to strike a bipartisan deal, even though he's very willing to be, you know, a partisan warrior on some of these other issues.

- Absolutely.

Thank you so much, Ted.

This has been really insightful.

- Good to be here.