Yesterday, NPR’s All Things Considered featured a segment on DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos about her plans to fortify and expand our new Democratic Majority by focusing on the kitchen table issues that voters care about the most. Reporter Kelsey Snell reported from Chairwoman Bustos’ district in Western Illinois as she listened to concerns about how the cost of health care and the need for investments in our infrastructure are much more top of mind for voters than the drama coming from the White House. As a successful Democrat in a district President Trump won, Chairwoman Bustos is advocating for a strategy of focusing on issues that matter to all Americans.
Below are several takeaways and quotes from the segment.
NPR: House Democrats’ Campaign Chief Says Focus On Kitchen Table Issues, Not Impeachment
- Voters in northwest Illinois have a lot of questions for their congresswoman, Democrat Cheri Bustos. They want to know about rail plans around Moline, federal transportation dollars and health care costs. If there’s one thing she says they don’t usually ask about, it’s her thoughts on impeaching President Trump.
- “We’ve got to stay focused on making a difference in people’s lives. And if we do that, that’s how I think we’ll be successful.”
- Like many of the 40 most vulnerable House Democrats elected last year, she knows what it’s like to run in Trump country. Her message to those embattled freshmen is that they can keep their jobs by connecting directly with their voters instead of spending all of their time talking about Russia and the president.
- “I believe in running your campaign and running your governmental office as if you are mayor of that region,” Bustos said. “That means you don’t forget where you come from and you take care of the needs that are in front of you.”
- It’s a strategy she’s been practicing since she was first elected in 2013. When Bustos goes home to her district, she makes a point of getting out and talking to voters at a personal level that is uncommon for many members of Congress. Like when she spent a recent morning learning to operate the checkout and touring the pharmacy at a Walgreens near her hometown in East Moline.
- It was her 82nd time learning a job in her district through a program she calls “Cheri on Shift.” She’s driven a fork lift and changed an air filter on a locomotive. On shift 83 she helped operate a wheelchair lift at a para-transit organization in rural Galesburg. She was invited to give it a try after the organization’s director Dedra Manon saw Bustos in a grocery store and approached her about a visit.
- Bustos says voters in districts like hers just want to see Washington function. She says she’s confident that Democrats can hold their majority in 2020 if they keep listening to voters and try to pass laws that directly impact the requests they get at home.
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