00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is Chantel Smith, partner at Tusk Strategies. Chantel, thank you so much for joining me again.
00:13Thank you for having me.
00:15Republicans won in two special congressional elections in Florida over the week, but there
00:21is a silver lining here for Democrats. The Republican candidates won by much slimmer
00:26margins than the Republican incumbents did back in November. So what do you make of the news?
00:33I don't make anything of the news yet. I think it's too early to make anything of the news.
00:38Yes, Republicans performed not as well as Trump did in November, but we're in, you know, we're
00:44in, I guess, April now. And, you know, though the administration has made some drastic moves
00:51in terms of their policy, I don't think yet we know how the American public as a whole feels.
00:58Yes, Democrats were enthusiastic. Yes, Democrats raised more money in Florida.
01:03But we had the same momentum in November. And how did it turn out for Democrats?
01:08So I don't think I think it's way too soon to put anything into these results.
01:14And that's a really interesting point, because I talked to a GOP strategist and he said,
01:18hey, we were sweating until the results came in on Tuesday. But it's still a win. It's still a
01:24very comfortable win. And those districts are still reliably red. And then I talked to the
01:29Florida, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, and she said that this was a historic
01:33overperformance. It's showing Democrats tossing away President Trump's agenda.
01:38You're shaking your head. So you're thinking I think that's a little overblown.
01:43Yeah, I think this is just like, you know, party,
01:48party wishful thinking. Yes, I think Democrats right now as a whole, we've discussed this,
01:53they need to feel good about something. So maybe this is the rallying cry, like, hey,
01:58I know it seems weary and bleak. But look, we are making strides. We did win in Wisconsin.
02:03So you know, yes, we're on the up and up. But I still think it's way too early. We need to
02:10see the impacts of some of these policies, like really see the impacts on the economy.
02:15You know, immigration, we just need to see more. I think as American public there hasn't been Oh,
02:20there's been some polling, but not overwhelming polling that shows that Trump's in trouble,
02:25and that the American people are just, you know, done with him. He's still a very powerful
02:31president. And as there's a famous saying, like a win is a win. So you know what, they still have
02:37the majority in the house. It's slim majority. I think that Trump, I think the President has
02:41made the decision to pull Elise Stefanik's appointment. But at the end of the day,
02:48they're still in power. Yeah, and to your point, a win is a win and millions of dollars were poured
02:54into both of these races. There was an op ed in Bloomberg that came out entitled this Democrats
02:59wasted donors money in Florida. This came out on Wednesday. And it said this instead of lavishing
03:04huge sums on special elections, they have no chance of winning. Democrats need to invest for
03:09the long term in the sunshine state. And a Democratic strategist was quoted in this column
03:14calling the millions Democrats spent on these races, donor abuse and an unethical use of
03:19resources. What's your thoughts on spending all this money in races? That? Yes. Did they
03:24close that gap? Yes. But is there still a big gap? Also? Yes. You know, I think it's
03:31it's not the it's not the route I would apply. Florida has always been I can't remember like
03:39since what I think since Bush, Florida has been a Republican. It you know, back in the day,
03:45it used to be, you know, maybe a swing state. It has been fully read. So I think they said in
03:50one of the races was 12 million dollars raised for the Democrat nominee. And I think the
03:58Republic. I mean, I'm sorry. Yes. Twelve million for the Democratic nominee and one million for
04:03the Republican. Twelve million dollars on what you lost by four. I don't see that as a win.
04:09I think people are going to have fatigue of the Democrats consistently asking for money
04:15and losing in races that they shouldn't be performing in any ways. Focus on this. Focus
04:23on swings, swing states that basically can be winnable. Florida is not a winnable state.
04:29So I think it's this abuse. And I think people are going to get sick and tired of giving money,
04:34especially in this economy. We just have the tariffs. Everything's about to get real expensive.
04:40People are going to be more judicious and how they give donations. I know I'm being more judicious
04:45and that's going to have long term implications on the Democrats. So they should be mindful of
04:51the money that they are spending with that in mind. I mean, when you're talking about these
04:56tariffs, everyone's saying every economist is saying Americans will have less disposable income.
05:02And to your point, that could be less disposable income than they could give to a campaign. Then
05:06they can donate. So knowing that, I mean, what should Democrats be doing when it comes to the
05:12midterms here? And I know we are miles and miles away from the midterms, but can they learn
05:16anything from these races? I think you can learn from these races is this being more strategic and
05:22when you're spending your money. Look, I think in the presidential campaign, there was outpouring
05:26of fundraising that went to Vice President Harris. But we didn't really see anything because she lost
05:33in all these swing states. And I am a huge Kamala Harris supporter. However, I think they could have
05:40been more strategic, maybe reduce the size of swing states you go for, maybe being strategic
05:44and doing one or two. Look at the numbers. Look at who comes out to vote. Look at your get out
05:49the vote operation. Right now, I don't think that Democrats need to spend or like, you know,
05:55really fundraise. I'd work on fundraising and getting money. But I would also work on you can
06:00do things to disrupt the Republicans without spending money. You don't need to throw it all
06:04in special elections. We just saw Cory Booker do a historic, I don't know, 25 hours or I don't know,
06:10he beat the record for filler busting. There are things you can do that don't cost money.
06:15And I think the Democrats need to internally get their house in order, figure out how they're
06:20spending the consultants, they're spending their money on and how they're going to get people to
06:25feel that they're talking about working class issues and helping the working class.
06:30Let's talk about that, because aside from on the same day that the Florida special elections
06:35happened, Cory Booker was on the Senate floor giving that historic speech for marks for 25
06:41hours, over 25 hours, breaking that record, not even leaving to go to the bathroom. So how do
06:46Democrats what can Democrats then learn from that type of that type of politicking? Yeah,
06:53I think that take it back to basics. Resistance doesn't have to be expensive. Resistance can be
06:59not think about the civil rights movement. Think about when you know, in the 60s and 70s,
07:04when people were really like fighting, fighting the power, they didn't have money. It wasn't
07:09millions of dollars thrown in campaigns, it was grassroots. And what the Democrats need to read
07:14realize is that there's a disconnect with the working class and people who create the movement,
07:20the movement can't be created from top to bottom, it has to be created bottom up. And I think once
07:26we realize that once they realize that as a party, they can figure out ways to be strategic,
07:31get grassroots and the people involved. And then let the let the enthusiasm bubble up. But you
07:38don't manufacture enthusiasm through paying consultants and spending money on political ads.
07:44I think this is a really interesting conversation here, because you're really
07:48not impressed by that gap closing here. You're impressed with
07:53Do you think Democrats them when they say this is historic, we are overperforming?
07:58Do you think that they really believe that they're lying? They're misguided? I mean,
08:02what do you think when they say that? Look, I do. I think they're happy to see
08:07Democrats overperforming in areas that they didn't perform well in November. Yes, that's great. But
08:14then you have to ask yourself, well, why are they overperforming now? Is it because it's a better
08:18candidate? Is it because, you know, better candidates where they feel more aligned with?
08:23Do you feel maybe there's been a switch in messaging? Or maybe the president's actions
08:27are what's causing that? You have to first figure that out before you can claim victory.
08:31And if you don't know why there's a greater performance by the Democrats,
08:34you can't say it's because they just love the party and what the party's doing is right.
08:38There has to be some real deep, you know, soul searching to figure out what's going on within
08:44the party. And I'm not impressed because all politicians caught, we are taught as consultants.
08:51And I think politicians know everything is historic. Everything is great. You're using
08:57terminology just to basically catch someone's eyes. But in reality, instead of losing by 30
09:03points, you lost by 14 points. It's still a loss. I wouldn't be proud. I mean, that I had a
09:10conversation just about the Florida special elections. And I said it reminded me of my
09:14pickleball game over the weekend. The first game, I lost nine zero. The second game, I lost nine
09:19three. So you can see a slight improvement, but it's not enough. It is still a blowout loss.
09:25Do you think it's bad messaging then to be celebrating a loss, but a loss by less?
09:31It's a creative it's creative messaging because the average person, the average person is not in
09:37the average person. It's not paying attention to what's happening in Florida, Wisconsin.
09:40The average person cares about what happens at home, what happens in the local community
09:44and how politics impacts them. I think it's I always say it's creative messaging.
09:48If my husband runs a race and he comes in third place, but there were only three people,
09:52it's a loss. But when you say I came in third place, it sounds like it wasn't a competitive
09:56race. So I applaud them for thinking creatively, because if I'm not paying attention to politics
10:02outside of my bubble, it looks like, wow, there is some momentum. But they've got to figure out
10:08how to get the momentum internally from the people and keep it for two years.
10:13And do you think that they can keep it then from this week? You're looking at
10:17some Dem wins here with that win in Wisconsin with the Supreme Court seat with Cory Booker
10:23breaking that record, capitalizing on that. Do you think that these wins minor as you make them?
10:28Do you think that this is a flash in the pan moment or can you
10:31capitalize them as a Democrat to start shifting the tide?
10:36I think you start shifting the tides. I think the moment where Democrats can shift the tide
10:43to seeing how these tariffs impact people. The economy is the number one issue for Americans
10:48right now. They don't care about anything else. So I think seeing the impacts of the tariffs,
10:52I saw that China is doing a counter tariff on us. So seeing how that impacts goods that we buy
10:59every day, that's going to be the thing that maybe changes the momentum for Democrats.
11:04But again, is how do they take advantage of it? Are they creative? Is it gimmicky stuff?
11:10Or is it real stuff to be like showing people and educating how they can fight back? So it's
11:15to be determined for me. I'm not you know, I don't want to claim victory on anything.
11:20I think a win is a win. And you have to give the Republicans
11:24credit for winning and maintaining their majority.
11:28My final question to you, then, is how do Democrats capitalize on this tariff news
11:33here? Because I was asking a Democratic congressman, hey, do you think this is
11:38a political death sentence for Republicans, these tariffs, the way they're shaking out,
11:42the way the markets are reacting, the way Americans are responding, the way the world
11:47leaders are responding? And he said, I don't really care about the political messaging here.
11:51I care about how it's going to impact the American people. How do you think Democrats
11:55take this moment? We should be educating people about the tariffs, understanding why groceries
12:02cost more. Why is your used automobile going to cost more? You know, they need to educate.
12:09You know, on Fox News right now, they're educating their population like, hey,
12:13this is a commitment. You know, we have to like it. It's going to be, you know,
12:16increased prices. But there's a reason, because in the long run, we're going to get money and
12:20there's going to be a return in our investment. What are the Democrats saying to counter that
12:24messaging? I always watch both sides. I'm not seeing anything to counter it. I'm hearing the
12:30tariffs are bad. Well, what's our solution? What are we going to do as a party? How do we fight
12:35back? You know, you're not hearing that. You're not hearing anything right now. And that's the
12:40problem with Democrats. And I know I sound like a broken record, but I still don't feel the movement
12:46is at the ground level. And until it gets there and until everyone starts going to the local store,
12:52feeling the pain and then saying, hey, this is, you know, community town halls, forums,
12:57getting people involved. Right now, there's like some cognitive dissonance and people just
13:03tuning out of politics. And that's where the Democrats need to get them back involved and
13:07engaged. And as a voter, especially I know voters think, how is X, Y or Z going to impact
13:14me directly, whether it be my wallet, my livelihood, this, that or the other.
13:19So it sounds like you want to see Democrats speak directly to a voter.
13:24This is how tariffs are going to impact you. This is going to be the cost of drinks. This
13:29is going to be the cost of food, something like that to make it more realistic.
13:34Yes. There's so many things going on. You know, you hear them talk about Social Security. You
13:39hear them talk about Medicaid. These are things that impact everyday people. Everybody was told
13:46when you were born, you once you're working age, you work. This money goes to the federal
13:49government. When you retire, you're going to have that money. That's in jeopardy right now.
13:55The tariffs are costing everything to go expensive. So if everything costs more,
13:58do I have to work more? If I have less money for my kids and my family, what does that mean for me?
14:04We are at a turning point in terms of our economy. I think tariffs have been done,
14:09universal tariffs have been done three times in history. The two prior times caused recessions.
14:15This is the things that we should be talking about. We're not talking about it as a party.
14:20So my hope is that they start talking about it, they educate and that's how you start building
14:24the momentum. And economists have been saying, hey, these tariffs are bringing us dangerously
14:30close to a recession. I mean, in 2008, do you think it would behoove Democrats to bring up
14:37the memories of 2008, 2009? Do you think people really remember just how bad a recession is and
14:43how badly it impacts you? I think people forget what's not, forget what's not in front of their
14:50nose and you have to remind them. Remember how bad it was to buy houses? You remember the interest
14:54rates? You remember the market plunging? You don't remember the stocks plunging? Like we're
14:58seeing it on Wall Street right now. Wall Street's very volatile. We're showing signs that this
15:03economy is nervous and anxious. And I think either Trump starts realizing it and his advisors say,
15:11hey, we need to course correct. And if he doesn't course correct, Democrats need to take advantage.
15:17Will they do it? I don't know. Never know with them.
15:22Well, Chantel, depending on how it shakes out in a few weeks, I hope you can come back on with me
15:26and discuss exactly what has happened, how Democrats have responded, what you want to
15:31see from them. Chantel Smith, thank you so much for joining me. You are welcome back anytime.
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