See below for video and highlights from Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04)’s interview with Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation.”
- “I think we’re holding him to his word. This is another example of promises made, promises broken. You know, he kept telling his base in order to get elected that he was going to release the Epstein files. He made it sound like there was all kind of damaging information in there about Democrats. And then as soon as he gets in office and there is the ability to release them, he said, you know, his his attorney general says there’s nothing to see there. He says this is all a hoax. And the only thing that’s different now is that his base is starting to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. You came to us talking about the Epstein files and now you’re trying to make you’re trying to gaslight us.’ And I think he usually will look for a scapegoat. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he throws Attorney General Bondi under the bus. But this is this is classic Trump behavior.”
- “Republicans, they understand that their policies are very unpopular, that they can’t win based on the merits, but they are afraid to stand up to this president even when they disagree with what he is doing. They let him bully them. And the American people – Democrats, independents, and now even Republicans – are starting to see that these policies are harmful. And that’s why you see a majority of Americans now disapproving of the president even on issues where you would think he has an advantage like immigration. But the president and the authors of Project 2025…knew that was unpopular. They are trying to remake American government in their image regardless of what the American people think. And I think for Democrats, we need to be very clear about what is happening…empower people to speak up and use their power to push back on this president and his extreme agenda.”
- “I think the Medicaid cuts, the health care cuts in general because it is going to undermine our health care system. even if you are not on Medicaid and millions of Americans are going to lose their health insurance under Medicaid alone. But those people are still going to get sick. They’re going to go to the doctor. They’re going to get treated probably in the emergency room where it’s more expensive and costs are going to go up for all of us. So even if you’re not on Medicaid, health care costs are going to go up. and everything that we have done to try to address the health care disparities with Black America, whether it’s, you know, you’re three times more likely to die if you’re a pregnant Black woman than a pregnant White woman. We’ve gotten a lot of those people in to primary care, through Medicaid, through the Affordable Care Act. And now that’s going away. The cuts to public health funding, to cancer research, all of that is going to impact Black Americans because we’re disproportionately impacted and dying of cancer. The cuts to environmental justice programs where we’re pushing back on pollution disproportionately in Black communities. He is making it harder. These cuts are making it harder for us to address the over 300-year impact of slavery and Jim Crow that didn’t go away with a magic wand when the Civil Rights Act passed, that we were finally beginning to make some progress addressing. And now these cuts are going to pull all the rug on out from under that and set us back, not just 50 years, I worry a hundred years.”
- “The Trump administration is trying to weaponize every single tool that we have had to eliminate discrimination, racism, and its impacts, to undo that progress. And they are looking…first they’re looking, they know they can’t win on the merits of their ideas, so they’re trying to cheat to keep the House. But I think they’re also looking to bring another case to the Supreme Court to further gut the Civil Rights Act, because they think, hey, we’ve got a majority now that already has begun chipping away at the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Let’s keep going. And I think they’re either, you know, best-case scenario, they’re going to use this redistricting scheme to cheat. Worst case, they’re going to use it to further gut the Voting Rights Act.”
Also, see below for Rep. McClellan’s appearance on CNN, where she said about new polling indicating that Trump’s approval rating on immigration has gone down sharply:
“[Those numbers] don’t surprise me, because what I have seen in my own district in Virginia, in particular, early on is a dissatisfaction with the way and frankly outrage with the way the Trump administration is doing these mass deportations. In my own district in Chesterfield County, ICE is showing up at the courthouse detaining people who are showing up for traffic infractions or who have traffic infractions and are showing up for immigration cases. And it’s really affecting public safety. We are seeing our prosecutors, our police chief, our sheriff are all saying this is making people less safe because fewer people are reporting crimes, fewer people are willing to testify or press charges, even citizens who are immigrants because they are afraid of what may happen if they show up at the courthouse…We have a lot of people, a lot of immigrants in a vibrant immigrant community, including citizens, who are afraid to show up in public spaces, in the courthouse. It is making our communities left safe. We have parents who are afraid to send their kids to school, who are afraid to show up at hospitals, who are afraid to go to church, because they just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Rep. McClellan also said:
“…We know that there are a lot of people who think we need to fight harder against the Trump administration. And I think the challenge for us is making sure we are communicating what we are doing in every way that people receive information. But
what’s going to matter is what we’re doing on the ground in these districts and when we show up in these districts, meet voters where they are, talking about our vision for the future and what we’re going to do to stop the excesses of the Trump administration. You know, we’re going to win. We’ve seen that in special elections since the Trump administration. And in Virginia, we’ve got an election right now. It’s going to be a canary in the coal mine. and we are doing everything we need to do to turn that enthusiasm out, get those voters out to vote in the in the November election.”
And:
“I think generally voters should choose their elected officials and not the other way around. And I have always been a proponent of redistricting that keeps communities together and produces fair competitive results….In an ideal word, that’s exactly right; I think Republicans need to understand if they go down this path, that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. And you know, they can’t expect Democrats to sit back and let them change the rules of the game and not respond. But ideally, everybody should keep keep redistricting once every 10 years to create fair maps that allow voters to elect their representatives rather than representatives to choose their constituents…I think we need to…look at all options on the table, including lawsuits and including in some states where we can move forward doing so. If Republicans go down this path look at responding in kind.”
So yeah, Virginia Democrats made a huge mistake in passing the redistricting amendment that, effectively, unilaterally disarmed, even as Republicans in “red” states are going hog-wild redistricting Democrats into oblivion. This is really a great example of Democrats meaning to do well, but being super naive and clueless about how to actually win and wield power – and how to fight back against Republicans who absolutely understand how to win and wield power, and have zero scruples about doing whatever it takes for them to do just that.
