CSPAN - Washington Journal Chuck Rocha
Aired: 2026-04-07
Duration: 12:59


=== Crisis of Affordability (04:11) ===

[00:00:00]  1976 so matter today in our own communities because equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness all begin with food.
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[00:00:16]  C-SPAN, bringing you democracy unfiltered.
[00:00:24]  I'll look now at what's coming up live today on C-SPAN.
[00:00:27]  At 1 p.m. Eastern, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch announces developments in federal fraud cases.
[00:00:33]  At 3 p.m. Eastern, the Stimson Center will hold a discussion on European relations with North Africa.
[00:00:39]  A little bit later today at 4.30 Eastern, we'll hear from NASA officials as they give an update on the Artemis II mission.
[00:00:48]  Washington Journal, joined now by Chuck Rocha.
[00:00:50]  He is founder of Solidarity Strategies to talk about Democrats in the midterms.
[00:00:54]  Chuck, welcome to the program.
[00:00:56]  Good to be here.
[00:00:57]  All right, so let's talk about the midterms.
[00:01:00]  Democrats are hoping for a blue wave in November.
[00:01:04]  They've picked up 30 seats since 2024 in state legislatures.
[00:01:09]  It's important to note that's not federal.
[00:01:11]  Republicans have not picked up any.
[00:01:13]  Talk about that.
[00:01:15]  So that shows a momentum of dissatisfaction that we see across the country.
[00:01:21]  But a special election is a different than an off-year election, but it's also good for your listeners to know that an off-year election is much different than a presidential election.
[00:01:30]  What do I mean by that?
[00:01:31]  In a presidential election, which we went through in 2024, there was a giant turnout.
[00:01:35]  Donald Trump, and I give Donald Trump a lot of credit, he got a lot of people to show up who weren't regular voters.
[00:01:40]  In an off-year election, which we're heading into, normally about 35 to 40% of the folks who participate in a presidential election do not come back.
[00:01:48]  So it's the base of both parties and the most active people.
[00:01:51]  And it's more about turnout than it is persuasion.
[00:01:53]  And you kind of know who they are from year to year.
[00:01:56]  And what you've described in the state rep races are special elections that have just happened because somebody retired, they gave up, something happened.
[00:02:02]  And then you have even more of the base of the base show up in a special election.
[00:02:06]  And so what you see there is more of a motivation right now by Democrats, which is a great sign for us headed into the midterm along with history.
[00:02:14]  History that we're fighting right now is normally the party that comes into power.
[00:02:18]  The other party normally picks up seats.
[00:02:20]  And that's went on throughout history.
[00:02:21]  It's only been twice in the history of our great nation where that didn't happen.
[00:02:24]  So Republicans not only are...
[00:02:27]  But one time was during a war, right?
[00:02:28]  Absolutely.
[00:02:29]  Yeah, one time was during a war.
[00:02:32]  You mentioned that people are frustrated with Republicans.
[00:02:35]  I want to show you two numbers.
[00:02:37]  And this is a poll by Pew on American frustration with political parties.
[00:02:42]  Those frustrated by Democrats are at 75%.
[00:02:46]  Frustrated by Republicans, 64%.
[00:02:48]  Still high, but not as high as that top number.
[00:02:51]  Republicans control everything in Washington, D.C.
[00:02:53]  They control the presidency, the House, and the Senate.
[00:02:55]  So it's easy to make them the FOIA because they're in charge of everything.
[00:02:58]  You can be mad at Democrats, and you have your right to be mad at Democrats, but Democrats aren't controlling any lever of power.
[00:03:04]  So right now, you have a bunch of Republicans that are mad because of what they're seeing with the wars, but even more Democrats that are mad and they're not in charge.
[00:03:11]  So they're looking for a way to lash out.
[00:03:13]  And this upcoming election and the special elections that you mentioned are just two of the things that we're seeing.
[00:03:17]  So what are the key issues Democrats are going to be running on this cycle?
[00:03:21]  There's a new poll out by Gallup of just this week that talked about a quarter of all Americans that they talked to have skipped meals to make sure that their children ate.
[00:03:31]  They were the same quarter of people who said that they were looking at turning their thermostat down just so they could afford their utility bills.
[00:03:38]  What you see is a crisis of affordability, and I think that's where Democrats are going to focus.
[00:03:42]  Well, you've had this administration, and I heard a lot of your callers earlier talk about the war, talk about what's going on overseas, all of the things that's been going on in the Oval Office with one world leader after another, which is an important part of the presidency.
[00:03:55]  But right now, every voter that I talk to are really hyper-focused on what's happening in their neighborhood with their prices, with the price of gasoline, the price of groceries.
[00:04:04]  That's what I hear over and over from voters all around the country.
[00:04:07]  Is there a bigger crisis of affordability now than there was during the Biden administration?

=== Bridging Racial Divides (08:48) ===

[00:04:11]  Inflation was higher in the Biden administration.
[00:04:15]  But prices have not come down.
[00:04:17]  And food prices.
[00:04:18]  Absolutely.
[00:04:19]  So why is it now a big issue for Democrats than it wasn't before?
[00:04:23]  It's a couple things.
[00:04:24]  One is they were promised by this president that he would bring prices down on day one.
[00:04:28]  Prices have never come down.
[00:04:29]  When folks hear that you're going to do something about inflation and people say that they're going to fix that, stopping inflation fixes it, but that's not what they think.
[00:04:38]  They think that prices are going to come down to pre-Biden, pre-COVID prices, and they just haven't, and they've continued to go up.
[00:04:44]  And now you have a president and a Congress who says, maybe we need $1.3, $1.5 trillion to pay for this war when we don't have money to pay for health care.
[00:04:53]  He just said last week for daycare and things that people have to worry with every single day.
[00:04:58]  Seems to be a giant disconnect.
[00:04:59]  Well, let's hear what President Trump said yesterday at that press conference when he was asked about the deadline for ending the war in Iraq, and then I'll get your response in Iran.
[00:05:07]  Your messaging on the war has moved from the war is coming to an end to war going to be bombing Iran to the Stone Ages.
[00:05:14]  And we've heard a range of those kind of messages.
[00:05:18]  So which is it?
[00:05:19]  Are you winding this down?
[00:05:20]  Are you asking for the state?
[00:05:21]  I can't tell you.
[00:05:22]  I don't know.
[00:05:22]  I can't tell you.
[00:05:23]  Depends what they do.
[00:05:24]  This is a critical period.
[00:05:26]  They have a period of, well, till tomorrow at 8 o'clock.
[00:05:31]  I gave them an extension.
[00:05:32]  They asked for an extension of seven days, right?
[00:05:35]  I said, Steve, give them 10 days.
[00:05:40]  10 days is up actually today, so I gave them 11, I guess, indirectly.
[00:05:45]  I thought it was inappropriate the day after Easter.
[00:05:47]  I want to be a nice person.
[00:05:50]  They have till tomorrow.
[00:05:52]  Now, we'll see what happens.
[00:05:54]  I can tell you they're negotiating, we think, in good faith.
[00:05:57]  We're going to find out.
[00:05:58]  We're getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended because it affects them also.
[00:06:06]  A lot of people are affected by this.
[00:06:08]  But we're giving them till tomorrow, 8 o'clock Eastern Time.
[00:06:14]  And after that, they're going to have no bridges.
[00:06:18]  They're going to have no power plants.
[00:06:21]  Stone ages, yeah.
[00:06:23]  Stone Ages.
[00:06:24]  What's your reaction to that, Chuck?
[00:06:26]  Well, I think if you care about the Iran war, if that's your number one issue, you want to hear a solution.
[00:06:31]  And he's saying he's negotiating, he's giving days.
[00:06:34]  But what I find with voters, with folks who plan on voting in the upcoming election, this war is not one of their priorities.
[00:06:41]  And the only thing that they see in reflection to this war is the price of the gasoline that they're paying for and that they're reminded of each week when they go to the gas station or the price of their utility bills.
[00:06:51]  I keep going back to that because I run campaigns for a living.
[00:06:54]  And when I talk to voters, the Iran war or what's going on with negotiations or if they have a nuclear bomb or not is not the number one thing on their agenda.
[00:07:02]  The number one thing on most working families is, what am I going to pay for things this week and what am I going to have to, to that Gallup poll, cut off or not eat today to make sure that my kids eat.
[00:07:12]  If you've got a question for Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist, you can go ahead and start calling in now.
[00:07:17]  Republicans are on 202748-8001.
[00:07:20]  Democrats, 202748, 8,000.
[00:07:22]  And Independents 202-748-8002.
[00:07:26]  I want to ask you about the so-called double haters, the people that are frustrated with both parties.
[00:07:31]  What impact do you think that they'll have in the midterms?
[00:07:34]  They probably have the biggest impact because what we just spoke about is this is a turnout election for the midterms.
[00:07:39]  We know the people who love Donald Trump.
[00:07:41]  We know the people that are Democrats who hate Donald Trump.
[00:07:44]  But there's a group of folks in the middle who just want their government to work.
[00:07:47]  They want their government to get out of their way.
[00:07:49]  And they want prices to come down.
[00:07:50]  Those are the people that will really determine the number of congressional seats either party would need either to retain power or to pick up power.
[00:07:57]  So I'm most focused on them.
[00:07:59]  And that universe is getting better, bigger.
[00:08:01]  And let me finally say this.
[00:08:03]  Of registrations right now, especially with young people, especially with young Latinos, more folks are registering as independents than either party because they are frustrated with both parties.
[00:08:13]  Well, let's talk about Latinos specifically.
[00:08:15]  So in 2024, President Trump won 48% of the Latino voting bloc.
[00:08:21]  A March YouGov poll shows that his approval rating among Latinos is down to 22%.
[00:08:29]  Talk about that.
[00:08:30]  The Latino vote may be the most consequential vote in the U.S. right now because they're swinging back and forth.
[00:08:36]  It used to be we talked about soccer moms or these blue-collar hard hat steel workers.
[00:08:41]  Right now, because Latinos are becoming such a growing part of the electorate, and this is mainly second and third generation English speakers, my grandparents came here as immigrants.
[00:08:49]  These folks were looking for an outlet because they're not tied to either party.
[00:08:53]  And you saw them swing dramatically for Donald Trump.
[00:08:55]  But now in the last four or five elections, you've seen them swing back.
[00:08:58]  And I'm talking about elections in Virginia, New Jersey, the Miami Mayor, and what just happened in this Texas primary in March.
[00:09:05]  Why do you think that is?
[00:09:06]  I think because they're most impacted by this economic downturn that we're seeing and this anxiety because they haven't been here as long.
[00:09:13]  And this is a key point that lots of people miss.
[00:09:16]  The average age of a Latino voter is 12 years younger than a white voter or a black voter.
[00:09:21]  So they're more transient.
[00:09:23]  They're more likely to be a renter, to not have been here that long, and just be younger.
[00:09:28]  So they're just affected more when the price of ground meat goes up than somebody who's got a better job.
[00:09:33]  All right, let's talk to callers and start with Joan in New Jersey, Independent Line.
[00:09:37]  Joan, you're on the air.
[00:09:40]  Hi, good morning.
[00:09:40]  How are you?
[00:09:41]  Thank you for coming on this morning.
[00:09:44]  The one thing I want to talk about, and I've called here before and I feel like I get cut off every time I try to have this conversation.
[00:09:52]  And I heard another caller call in on Sunday with the same topic around racial resentment and the Democratic Party having this stigma of being the party that's sort of the giveaway party.
[00:10:07]  Like the Democrats are the one that gave away affirmative action, gave away food stamps, gave away equality, DEI, all these different things.
[00:10:17]  I don't think the Democrats are allowing and giving the other half of the country the grace and the acknowledgement to talk about these issues and letting them know it's okay because it does come across as racist when there are folks that feel that way,
[00:10:33]  that they don't like DEI, that they don't like to see the advancement of black people, that they don't like to know that they're black women or black men that have jobs that were historically a white man's job, right?
[00:10:48]  And there's a lot of hate and resentment in this country around that.
[00:10:52]  And if the Democrats do not start having that conversation and making it okay for white people who are resentful for the different type of programs that came about to make to kind of level this country out and also remind them this country is no way leveled.
[00:11:10]  There is still a lot of people that have not that are minorities and people of color that are still one or two percent of doing better than we were in the 60s.
[00:11:23]  But for some reason, there is a temperament in this country that's willing to support white nationalism to bring back the days of when they felt they were supreme.
[00:11:36]  But it's this hidden sort of like, we can hide behind MAGA and Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and all these people with these hateful policies because they're pushing that agenda for us.
[00:11:49]  All right.
[00:11:49]  Because we're too ashamed.
[00:11:50]  Joan, we got it.
[00:11:51]  Let's get a response.
[00:11:53]  I think Joan brings up a great topic.
[00:11:55]  And I'd remind Joan and lots of folks is that I'm a political consultant.
[00:11:58]  So I run campaigns for a living.
[00:12:00]  And it's probably the least diverse space in America.
[00:12:03]  Even more least diverse than the C-suite of corporations.
[00:12:07]  Because real power lies in the folks who actually run campaigns.
[00:12:10]  And what do I mean by that?
[00:12:12]  That means they're close to a senator or they're close to a governor or they're close to a congressman.
[00:12:16]  Over history, to Joan's point, most minorities, black or Latinos or Asian folks, have been left out of that.
[00:12:22]  So my firm...
[00:12:23]  Of running campaigns.
[00:12:26]  And or being the CEOs of the consulting firms.
[00:12:29]  Here's the underbelly that nobody talks about.
[00:12:31]  And if you're listening, nobody talks about this on TV very often, is the folks who actually are the strategists behind these campaigns are the power brokers.
[00:12:38]  And that is a white male and white female dominated area to where my firm, which is one of the only 100% minority owned and operated, is less than 1%.
[00:12:47]  So we've been trying to make space for people of color in consulting as the, we just talked about this Latino diaspora is becoming such a huge part.
[00:12:55]  The black diaspora has been such a historic part.
[00:12:57]  So I've been saying if you want to reach black and Latino