We'll have more from this forum on education policy and innovation coming up this evening.
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Live coverage starts at just after 6.30 p.m. Eastern here on C-SPAN.
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We've been chatting with you all morning long about the results of election 2024 and what happens next.
We do know in terms of what happens next that President Biden is set to speak from the Rose Garden today, 11 a.m. Eastern, to address the election results.
You can watch that on C-SPAN, C-SPAN.org, and the free C-SPAN Now app.
We also know that there's still a few races left to be called for Senate races, and it's 38 House races left to be called for a focus on what's happening in the House in the 119th Congress.
We're joined by Julie Grace Brufke of Axios, Capitol Hill reporter via Zoom.
Julie Grace Brufke, first, when do you think we will know the results of those final 38 races, or at least when we can say who will be controlling the House in the next Congress?
Well, good morning.
So I've spoken with some operatives and they've all noted that particularly in California, it takes a long time to count some of these.
And we saw during the midterms last time around that some of them took weeks.
But talking to those operatives, Republicans feel like worst case scenario, they lose one seat and are feeling optimistic that they pick up a couple.
And a lot of the Democrats I've talked to have been kind of pessimistic about their odds in a lot of those races.
And Republicans seem to be on track for keeping the House majority.
And Democrats would have needed to net four seats to take the House majority of this cycle.
At where it stands right now, Republicans have net about four seats.
Is there enough seats left in play to even try to overcome that hill for Democrats at this point?
Now that there's a few in those California races, people are watching Arizona, but right now, in a lot of those seats, Republicans are leading with a large percentage of those votes in.
So while it's not out of the realm of possibility, it's kind of looking highly unlikely at this point in time.
On the House side, as you were watching election results, what was the most surprising race for you?
What was the biggest storyline?
And if we just focus on the House as many storylines that had to focus on the presidency and the Senate as well, what were you watching in the House?
Having talked to a lot of GOP leaders, and I was down with Mike Johnson on election night.
I think some of the big bellwethers that they were looking at were Virginia.
They were worried about that Jen Kiggin seat and she managed to hold on there.
And Don Bacon was another big one where Democrats kind of saw that as a sure thing there.
And he ultimately managed to pull that out.
So they're feeling good right now.
And as they're looking at these outstanding races, they're feeling pretty confident.
We saw the leaders last night.
Most of them kind of put out their letters asking for support to stay in their same leadership races.
And they're going to have those elections next week.
So they're feeling good about where they are with the majority.
How much confidence is there that the current leadership slate of House Republicans will be the same slate that will lead Republicans in the 119th Congress?
Now, all the members I've talked to so far on the Republican side said, I mean, they're feeling good about things right now.
And if they do hold a majority, things are looking like they'll likely stay in place.
Now, if any of those members, there's been talk of Lee Stefanic potentially getting tapped for the administration, and there could be a race over that.
But it seems right now Trump's kind of standing behind Speaker Johnson.
And it seems like Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer will probably stay in their positions as well.
So it'll be interesting to see how he kind of, I know they want to change some of the rules packages to raise the motion to vacate among a couple other things there to kind of tamp down on the chaos seen during this Congress.
So we'll see kind of how that factors in whether any conservatives rebel on that front.
But right now, everyone kind of I've spoken with expects a less chaotic speaker's race on the floor in January.
So not a 15-round speaker vote this time around?
So, I mean, we'll see.
Never say never.
But right now, everybody I've talked to is saying they kind of want to be able to go in unified, and they see Trump is behind Johnson right now.
And that's kind of the state of play at this point in time.
What about the Democratic slate, Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team?
Are you expecting any changes in the 119th Congress?
I think that they're pretty much also going to kind of stay in place there.
I haven't really heard any pushback from Democrats on wanting to oust him after it's going to be a close majority.
I think Democrats are still going to have a large role in kind of getting some of these big priorities.
So I think they're going to kind of have to work together given the margins.
So it looks like that things will kind of stay in the same state of play in terms of who's on the top of both parties next Congress right now.
And then in terms of immediate legislative goals for House Republicans, if they're the ones who it seems likely will take over the House or will continue with control in the House in the 119th, what are the top legislative priorities?
What are they going to start with?
Well, I know that leadership has been kind of working with Trump officials for months to kind of craft a legislative agenda for the first 100 days.
They're really hoping to tackle border legislation, which has kind of been a heavy lift for them in the past and kind of a hard issue for the entire conference to get around.
And they managed to get some legislation out of the House during this Congress, but it ultimately died in the Senate.
So I think they'll kind of try and move forward with that now that they hold control, they'll hold control of the Senate.
And tax cuts will be another big thing to watch out for.
And that energy regulation.
So I think they're going to try and cut back on some of that.
So those are kind of the big things to watch right now.
And you mentioned Republicans talking with Trump administration officials.
What is the relationship like between Speaker Johnson and President Trump?
We know that Speaker Johnson flew from his home district to be at Mar-a-Lago in time for that Donald Trump victory speech late on Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning.
What does the relationship look like between the two men right now?
So we saw all of leadership fly down there.
And Trump's comments following his win were very supportive of Mike Johnson.
He's acknowledged multiple times that it's been kind of difficult waters for Mike Johnson to navigate given the slim majority.
But right now, it kind of seems like he's fully standing behind him, which should help him in the leadership race.
Julie Grace Brufke is Capitol Hill reporter at Axios.
You can follow her on X at JulieGraceB.
And we always appreciate your time on the Washington Journal.
Thank you for having me.
About 50 minutes left this morning, and a reminder about that 11 a.m. statement from President Biden from the White House Rose Garden, his address to the nation in the wake of election 2024.
Make sure to tune into C-SPAN at 11 a.m. Eastern to watch that c-span.org and of course the free C-SPAN now app.
And now back to your phone calls for the remainder of our program today.
Phone lines split as usual, Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
The numbers are on your screen.
And this is Pamela waiting in Dayton, Ohio.
Republican, go ahead.
Yes.
Yes.
I voted for President Trump.
And the reason why I voted for President Trump is because Harris was incompetent.
She would not answer the questions that were asked of her.
She talked around them, talking about coming from a middle-class family.
She has lied also, and so has Biden.
And the threats that they made, when you stand on a podium and you tell people that he needs to be brought down, that's not a very good representative for our country.
You don't threaten just like Biden said somebody needed to take him out.
That was a threat on Trump.
And that is why Trump had so many shooters shooting at him is because of the Democratic Party.
I had never seen so much hatred in Congress with the Democratic Party in all my life.
That's Pamela.
This is Rebecca, Taylorsville, North Carolina, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
Doing well.
I am Colin.
I am a Democrat in North Carolina, and I voted for Josh Stein for governor.
He's our Democrat governor.
And I could not vote for Kamala Harris.
I voted for Donald Trump.
I had to vote my conscience.
I had to vote for someone based on what I thought was best for my family, for my business, for the economic situation with the country.
I did not vote for him because I think he's a good person.
I didn't vote for him on his personality.
I voted for him because the people who are surrounding him are the best that there is in the country.
You know, we've had an issue with leadership not being the best that our country has to offer.
And I feel like he is finally putting people in positions that will allow us to have good leadership, a skill set that belongs in those positions.
And Rebecca, who are just having those people you're thinking about?
RFK Jr., for example, he's going to take on big pharma and the food supply issues.
Ron Paul, Elon Musk, taking care of the financial issues we have with the country.
Those people are known for doing good in those fields and for being representative of those fields.
And I think it's about time we have people in position that are qualified, not just people who have the money to be in those positions or have the clout and the lobbyists backing them.
So I voted for Trump.
A lot of my friends didn't.
A lot of women are shocked that I would vote for him.
There's some concern that Trump took away women's rights.
He didn't.
He gave those, he didn't have anything to do with it.
Number one, I don't know why he gets the rep for that.
He didn't.
The Supreme Court made the decision that that would go back to the states and therefore given the people the democratic right to have their state allow what they wanted.
The power is now back in the hands of the people.
And that's a true democracy.
Even if you don't like what the people do, even if you don't like what they say, what they choose, that's a democracy.
That's what we want.
And that in this country has been changed and taken away from us by representation that doesn't always speak for the voice of the people.
Rebecca, are there other social issues that you think should revert back to states deciding individually and not this country nationally?
I think a lot of things need to go back.
I think, you know, I believe that there are, you know, a lot of things that are decided by the federal government shouldn't be.
You know, medical issues is a big one, obviously, since, you know, with women's issues.
I think that, you know, some things, it's hard because a lot of things I feel are basic human rights, and those things are being decided by government.
And I don't think they should be.
But how you get government out of it, in my opinion, is you take things back to the state.
You give the power back to the people.
Then the people get to make those decisions.
You know, they're, you know, trans people being in women's sports.
That's an issue that the federal government shouldn't be taken on.
I think that's something that should be individualized, the power of the people.
You know, some, I don't think that the majority would have the same voice that the federal government would for those things.
Rebecca, I think that.
You said you voted for Donald Trump for yourself and for your business.
What line of business are you in?
I work in transportation.
I own a brokerage, a freight brokerage.
And I feel like the transportation industry has been hit really hard over the last four years.
You know, I've watched the rates do not match what they should be.
You know, you've got drivers out here who are running at nearly a cost because the competition is out there and people are taking, they are so afraid not to have work that they're taking things for rates that they normally wouldn't just so that they can survive.
What sort of freight do your truckers run?
They run dry goods, refrigerated goods, heavy haul equipment, things of that nature.
And, you know, everything that runs this country goes on the back of a truck.
All your groceries, all your clothing, all your toiletries, your shampoos, conditioners, pharmaceuticals, everything goes on a truck at some point.
It's either the product that is used to make it or the final finished product coming from the manufacturer to a facility to distribute it.
It all goes on those trucks.
What is the one thing, the top thing that you think Donald Trump will do to help your industry?
I think he will reduce fuel prices.
I think he will make sure that the prices in the stores come down based on his tariffs and things that he's going to implement.
I think if there are more manufacturing facilities in the United States, there'll be more in work.
And therefore, there will be less of a competition for each individual load.
Say if you've got 10 trucks in one area and there's no industry there, those trucks have to travel out 100, 200 miles to find a load.
And you have mass competition for those loads.
So people, you know, your companies that have those loads, they're not paying very well.
So the trucks have to take what they can get just so they can get to an area where they can get better at paying freight.
And I think a lot of that has to do with the manufacturing jobs not being in the country.
And then one more question on tariffs.
There are folks who disagree with tariffs who say that's just going to be passed on to average Americans.
That it just means they're going to be paying more prices, paying higher prices for the things that they want and need.
What is your response to that?
Why?
I disagree with that because I think what will happen is those tariffs, you're already paying that stuff.
People don't realize you're already paying taxes over and over and over again by the time you get a product.
So you have people who are taking those jobs overseas because we can't compete with the prices that they're paying for the workers overseas.
But how you get those jobs back is you put tariffs.
Okay.
So every country in the world, you know, free market country anyway, they have tariffs.
So I can't go to China and sell mass sell my product without having to pay a huge tariff.
But they can come here and not have to pay that.
So I think what there's so much incentive right now for the United States businesses to go overseas and build their companies that they, you know, and then what they're doing is they're shipping it back here.
They're taking it to a distribution center.
They're, you know, doing one thing to it and then they're marketing it made in America.
But it's not.
And I know this because I work in the transportation industry.
I bring it from the port to the facilities.
Then we pick it up again with a different carrier and take it somewhere and they market it made in America when I know it wasn't.
If you have a tariff on products that are sold that are made in another country and you, you know, you get around those loopholes that allow people to put Made in America on their branding that's not made here, number one.
Number two, if there's a tariff, it will be more economical for people to put their businesses here instead of overseas in another country.
You know, NAFTA has taken all the jobs out of these small towns.
I've seen it.
Bel Air, Ohio, Robbinsville, North Carolina, those two towns, they've lost their manufacturing and they've really went downhill because of it.
Andrews, North Carolina used to be a wonderful little town.
It's a beautiful valley out there.
They have no manufacturing jobs.
They can't even keep a McDonald's open in this little town.
And it's because the jobs that were there, like the Lee plant was there, it closed.
It went overseas.
You know, because there was so much incentive, economical incentive with NAFTA for these jobs to go overseas.
Rebecca, I've got to get to a few more colors, but thanks for chatting.
I appreciate it.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Chrissy, Chesapeake, Virginia, Republican.
Good morning.
You're next.
Morning.
How are you doing?
Doing well.
I just wanted to say that I did vote for Donald Trump, and I was hoping that his first acts will be to unite the country.
And I pray that the media will allow our country to heal by kind of supporting coming together.
Now that the election's over, I hope that both parties can work together and that we will stop whipping up division amongst the people.
Chrissy, what could the media do to support coming together?
I think that they're gaslighting.
I think that they're using words like Hitler, fascism, all these different things.
And I think that's terrifying people.
I think that majority of people find themselves somewhere in the middle, like the caller before me, Rebecca.
I think we have a lot of common ground.
We have a lot of differences too.
But I think a majority of Americans look at things the same way.
And if we can find that common ground and start promoting that, and just if the media could report the facts, not their opinions on the situation, but the facts, I think most Americans can come together and find that common ground.
And hopefully, the parties can come together and find that common ground, not fight each other on policies.
Chrissy and Virginia, Bill, District Heights, Maryland, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good to hear you guys.
The Democrats, I'm a Democrat throwing through.
The Democrats dropped the ball on this election by not focusing on economic achievements.
President Trump, President-elect Trump, was licking his chops when Fidel dropped out of this race because they knew that Kampala was not going to be elected.
We had a female that was just as qualified as Kamala a few years ago, and they didn't elect her to the office.
You know what I'm talking about?
So this thing is about, Trump didn't win this race because he's such a perfect guy and this, that, and the third, he was perfect for the job.
No, he's the convicted felon.
He hasn't been sentenced and has won conviction so far up in New York.
This is a lot involved in this.
And it's not as cut and dry as him winning all these states.
They didn't want to vote a woman in office, much less an Asian American, black American woman.
The bottom line.
Thank you.
Dallas, Texas.
This is Harvey Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, John.
I want to thank you for taking my call.
And most important, the fact that you, of all the moderators, listen, I think, the most to hear people out, and I appreciate that.
I'm an 81-year-old retired physician.
I'm in a minority.
I'm a white male who's Jewish.
When I was younger, I voted for John Kennedy because he represented the youth movement.
I didn't vote for personality this time.
I voted based on the issues and the platforms and policies.
You know, if George Carlin were alive, he would talk about the word salad.
We had affirmative action for students' rights in college.
Now we have DEI.
But what I'm looking at is not an opinion, but I'd like to see positive contributions.
One, I was appalled before this election was finalized, that we spent over $20 billion on election.
When you have our veterans, when I watch the commercials on TV without any limbs, and we treat them with less respect than we do others trying to come into this country illegally.
I would like to, and I've had the privilege to travel around the world.
The Canadians had it right.
Only 90 days of campaigning and 30 days before the election, nothing.
I think people have a brain that if they use it, they can do their own research and they can make their decisions.
I don't need my local newspaper to take a stand and tell me how to vote.
So I'm looking at those kinds of issues.
And the last thing I want to say is I don't mind having a Democrat or Republican administration.
What I mind is something more important.
The dominance of Islam spreading through the world.
And it's right here in our government.
And so whether you have a Republican or Democrat, if we don't look at organizations like CARE that have infiltrated our college campuses, Would you ever vote for a Muslim?
Yes, I would.
Yes, I would.
So, how does that square with what you just said?
How did it square?
Because there's such a thing as radical Muslim or radical Islam, and you have moderates.
Do you know anything about the Quran where you've read to see what your choices are in their world?
You either convert, you're a domini, and you pay a tax, you subjugate, or you die.
Those are the three choices, and this is what radical Muslim Islam is teaching.
Harvey, what do you say to folks who point to the Old Testament and the New Testament and find parts of the Old and New Testament that talk about violence and parts that they disagree with?
Well, this is how our history has gone.
We're a Judeo-Christian country.
We have principles.
In fact, I heard a lecture, people use the term nationalism like it's a dirty word.
One of the greatest nationalists was Moses.
He believed in the land of Israel.
He believed in one common language.
If it wasn't for that scenario, Judaism would not have survived through the centuries where all these powers tried to impose upon them.
They stuck to their faith, which is another thing.
I think our country has to get back to their faith.
We had it too good in this country, too good.
Be appreciative for what you have, not what you want.
And again, I like to look at issues for building and making things more positive.
And we can have all the opinions when they call in for the various reasons.
Again, I voted for the policies.
What I'm looking for is a healing process.
I lost part of my family members because we had a difference in opinions to the point we don't talk about politics.
That's Harvey in Texas.
Philip is next in Jackson, Mississippi.
Independent, good morning.
Sean, you have really got yourself in trouble today with listening to all of our comments because basically we're all individuals and we all have an individual perception on the madness that's going on.
But my perception has been...
It's not trouble, Phillip.
It's a privilege to be able to do it.
See, that's a good point.
It should be.
But, John, be honest.
How can it be a privilege in this world when we had so many things that we have to accomplish to keep it going?
And staying out of war, that would be a big help reducing pollution so that climate change doesn't affect us all.
But my real point in calling is that we don't really sit down and talk to each other.
We're talking to the phone, but not to each other.
Now, my big, I guess, score in life is what I wanted to do was to be a race relations consultant that could bring people together to talk so that we can iron out the realities, the truth, from the mistruths and misinformation.