Democratic members of Congress took the stage during the third night of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, calling on voters to give their party control of the House of Representatives in the November election.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were among the lawmakers who noted the stark contrast between the types of policies they wanted to pursue and those of the Republican Party.
“The parable of January 6 reminds us that our democracy is only as strong as the courage and commitment of those entrusted with its care,” Pelosi said. “And we must elect leaders who believe in free and fair elections, who respect the peaceful transition of power.”
Pelosi urged voters to reject the ideologies and violence that led a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol more than three years ago as lawmakers sought to confirm the Electoral College vote for President Joe Biden.
Pelosi recalls that once federal law enforcement officers left the building and lawmakers returned, they were able to complete their task.
“In this election, we are called to do the same; to come together, to reject autocracy, to choose democracy,” Pelosi said.
“And we will do that by electing a Democratic House with Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House,” she added. “By electing a Democratic Senate. By electing Tim Walz as Vice President of the United States. And by electing Kamala Harris as President of the United States.”
Jeffries said that in the United States, if someone works tough and follows the rules, “they deserve to earn a living.”
“You deserve an affordable place to call home. You deserve to educate your children in a great public school that is free from gun violence. And you deserve high-quality, affordable health care, and you deserve the chance to retire one day with grace and dignity,” Jeffries said.
“Yet too many people across our great nation struggle to live paycheck to paycheck, and as a result, the American dream is out of reach,” he added.
Democrats who control the House, Senate and White House, he said, will look for ways to “fix our broken immigration system and secure the border,” “strengthen police-community relationships” and “continue to combat the climate crisis with the urgency of the hour.”
A slim majority of the Republican Party
Republicans have a particularly slim majority in the House of Representatives and hope to expand that in the next Congress. But Democrats, who have 212 seats, need only a net gain of four members to become a majority.
Experts closely monitoring the 435 House of Representatives races say the election outcome could be different.
Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates 22 seats in the draw, while Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics I categorize 19 races that can be won by either a Democrat or a Republican.
Democratic lawmakers speaking at the Democratic convention Wednesday night said a blue Congress would lead to votes on reproductive rights, expanding the child tax credit and investing in the middle class.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz urged voters not to let the rest of the country follow the path her home state has taken under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Today in Florida, state policy requires children to learn racist lies about the so-called benefits of slavery, books are banned, teachers are censored, and our LGBTQ+ community endures endless state-sponsored hate,” she said. “Today in Florida, as we grapple with record-breaking heat and rising seas, extreme MAGA Republicans have removed climate change from state law. Today in Florida, a near-total abortion ban threatens women’s health and lives.”
Earlier in the day, Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, and Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, issued a joint statement expressing outrage that a book about women in the United States Senate was banned from a Florida school library.
“We were stunned to discover that Florida State has decided to remove Nine and Counting from its New College book collection — a book we co-wrote with our Senate colleagues to tell our stories as female senators at a time when we were far fewer in number, to help inspire the next generation of women to enter public service,” Murray and Collins said in a statement.
They say banning books is “contrary to our constitutional values and the idea that our universities should be places where free speech can flourish and all perspectives are heard.”
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Pa., chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a U.S. representative from Washington state, said at the DNC that giving the party control of the House of Representatives could prevent baseless challenges to Congress certifying the presidential election.
“A Democratic majority means lowering costs and growing the middle class, expanding the child tax credit and making it permanent, protecting reproductive freedom — and yes, a Democratic House of Representatives means Speaker Jeffries will certify in 2024,” DelBene said.
Immigration reform
Democratic lawmakers also sought to debunk Republicans’ narrative that Harris is not the right person to handle immigration and border security issues.
Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a speech that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers were trying to apply the border “as a political opportunity to exploit, not as a problem to solve.”
Escobar has sharply criticized Republicans for blocking a border security and immigration package that was being negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators but stalled after Trump signaled he did not want the issue to be bypassed in the election.
“Republicans have nothing but demonization and bluster,” Escobar said. “Democrats have solutions. With Kamala Harris as president, we can deliver on America’s promise. We can strengthen legal pathways to immigration. We can secure our borders. And we can treat with dignity those who seek a better future within them.”
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy — one of three senators who negotiated the border security bill after GOP leaders insisted another round of aid to Ukraine was needed — said that if Harris is elected, she would resume efforts to push the legislation through Congress.
“Trump killed that bill,” Murphy said. “And he did it because he knew that if we fixed the border, he would lose his ability to divide us, his ability to stoke fear of people who come from different places.”
