Here & Now

McCoshen & Ross on Biden, Harris and Democrats in 2024

Frederica Freyberg:
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are now sparring over when and where to debate each other. What a change up just off the Republican National Convention. We had to have political panelists Republican Bill Coshen and Democrat Scot Ross back again for reaction to fast moving election news. And thank you guys for coming back to talk with us.

Bill Coshen:
Great to be back.

Scot Ross:
Thanks for giving us a locker here.

Frederica Freyberg:
Yeah, exactly. So just since last Friday, Joe Biden stepped aside and Kamala Harris stepped in. I want to go first to you, Bill McCoshen, and ask your reaction to that.

Bill McCoshen:
Well, Dems did their best to snap off any bounce from the RNC for Donald Trump. That’s for sure. I mean, you look at the point in history we’re at, we have had three seismic shifts in the last 30 days. First was the early debate on June 27th, which was fatal, really, for Joe Biden. Then you had an assassination attempt and then you have a candidate, a major candidate, dropping out with 107 days to go in the race. At no point in our 248-year history have we ever seen anything like this. So I think people ought to keep this all in perspective. How much change there that has occurred just in the last 30 days?

Frederica Freyberg:
Scot, your reaction?

Scot Ross:
Well, you know, everything that Bill said was correct. So this is what it sounds like when doves cry. You know, I mean, it is an absolute and complete turnaround for where the Democrats were both fundraising wise, enthusiasm, you know, across the board. I mean, I would not have wanted to be a part of the Monday morning, you know, July 22nd Breakfast Club with Trump having to see what they had to deal with that day because they knew. I mean, you know, Kamala Harris raised $81 million the first day. And now I think, I think by the end of the week they had about a quarter of a million between that and the super PACs.

Bill McCoshen:
Yeah.

Scot Ross:
It was, I mean, it’s an extraordinary — it’s an extraordinary show of support. But it’s also that unity with Dems like it had not been there. It had not been there.

Frederica Freyberg:
Dems are energized by the change, no doubt about it. And, you know, we’ll see if there’s somewhat of a sugar high here and that sort of melts over time. I think, you know, for the next 30 days, Republicans ought to be prepared for a tough race all the way through the fall.

Scot Ross:
Yeah, I think I could be — I mean, I’m a broken record on this, but just the historic first with Kamala Harris’s: you know, the first Black woman, the first South Asian and the first Gen Xer to be in the White House. And again, going from where Democrats had been and where the country had been, you know, we’d had a Boomer in the White House from ’93 to 2021. Then we had Joe Biden a little earlier. This is the first time this could happen. And, you know, change is always, always favors the candidate who people don’t know as much about.

Frederica Freyberg:
So I wanted to ask you, who do you think Kamala Harris should choose for her VP?

Scot Ross:
Well, I just want to say first, right off the bat, I think that it is an embarrassment of riches for the Democrats with all the great candidates, possibly, who are, you know, 4 or 5 who are being vetted right now. And I think that shows what happens when you don’t have your party held hostage by a guy like Trump for the last eight years. My choice would be Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. And the reason is because he is the best media person, other than Barack Obama, that Democrats currently, you know, currently have to deliver message and deliver the punch. And he’s also been vetted because he was not only a presidential candidate, but also transportation secretary nominee.

Bill McCoshen:
The vetting part is huge and that we’re struggling with that a little bit with J.D. Vance. He was the one candidate in the finals who had not been vetted on a national stage. Doug Burgum had run for president. Marco Rubio had run for president. So they had been vetted. And I think we’re sort of working our way through that. I don’t know who they’re going to ultimately choose. I think they’ll make a strategic call, whether it’s Mark Kelly to put Arizona in play or it’s Roy Cooper to put North Carolina in play, or it’s Governor Shapiro to put Pennsylvania in play. Those are the options I think make more sense than Buttigieg from a tactical standpoint but we’ll see. Republicans will be ready either way.

Frederica Freyberg:
You’re talking about should have vetted J.D. Vance better and you’re working your way through that. What does that mean?

Bill McCoshen:
Well, here’s where I’m at on this. I think there’s — there was an unbelievable change in this race, the landscape last Sunday. And I think we ought to reconsider where we’re at. I don’t know that we should necessarily stick with J.D. Vance. I think Donald Trump could easily ask the RNC to reconsider their vote to nominate him if there’s a candidate that gives us a better chance to win. At the end of the day, all of the campaigns are about winning. You can’t govern if you don’t win, and if they’ve got data that shows that there are candidates that may be stronger than J.D. Vance, if I’m Trump, I’m considering that.

Scot Ross:
I mean, you know, so now that the shine has come off J.D. Vance, and we’re starting to learn a little bit more about him. I lived in the Appalachian region longer than he did, and my grandmother, Grandma Beulah, would have said, you know, he pert near got away with it and he didn’t. And Democrats are going to continue to pound on him because he is the gift that keeps giving on abortion, calling it murder, saying no exceptions for rape and incest. The new recording that came out showing that he wanted abortion stormtroopers to be able to go for — made by the federal government to go from blue – red states to blue states to chase women who were trying to access their, you know, their abortion rights. You know, as far as Democrats go, nobody puts J.D. in the corner.

Bill McCoshen:
Last Saturday, Trump, I would have put at an 80% chance to win. Today, I would put it at 60%. So there has been a closure, no question about it. There’ve been six national polls. Trump’s leading on five of them. She’s leading on one. In the swing states, the only state that tightened completely was Wisconsin. It’s now tied, at least on one poll. So I think Trump’s still in a position to win this. You want to make sure Vance doesn’t hurt the ticket in any way, shape or form. Scot raised some things that, you know, that should have been discussed beforehand, but if I’m, if I’m playing to win, I’m considering all my options.

Frederica Freyberg:
I want to leave it with Scot Ross and ask you about what Kamala Harris’s entry into the race does for Tammy Baldwin.

Scot Ross:
Well, it’s huge. You know, I think that Tammy was going to prevail no matter what. But this really does a great job with sealing that. She’ll have to do the work, you know. But again, Wisconsinites are going to only vote for one Californian in the race and that’s Kamala Harris. You know, I mean, I think that Republicans woke up, you know, thought that we were going to wake up after November 5th with this red dawn all over the country. But I think, you know, with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, we are going to have a sea of blue velvet out there. And I think that’s great for the country.

Frederica Freyberg:
We need to leave it there. Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross, thank you so much.