Latest news with #Begala
Politico
6 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Democratic memo: The party's redistricting problem goes much deeper
The memo indicates that 39 of 50 states give state legislatures control over congressional lines, and Republicans have been significantly more successful in controlling statehouses since investing millions into their 'REDMAP' strategy in 2010. Following the 2024 election, seven states had veto-proof Democratic majorities, while 18 had veto-proof Republican majorities. The DLCC said failing to change that lopsided math will keep them out of power. 'It turns out that the road to power is not necessarily through Pennsylvania,' said Paul Begala, a strategist who worked for both the Clinton and Obama campaigns. 'It runs through Lansing and Austin and Albany and Frankfurt [and] Columbus.' Begala said in an interview that Democrats' current deficit in state legislatures is a result of the party's constant search for a messiah like Clinton or Obama to lead them to victory. He said that search has pushed the party to misallocate the broad resources it has at play — investing in hard-to-win high-profile races rather than thinking long-term about building power. 'I've watched this party pour $110 million into Jaime Harrison's campaign against Lindsey Graham. That was a fool's errand,' Begala said. 'How many Michigan Senate seats could we have picked up for that?' The DLCC's memo proposed a year-by-year plan to increase Democratic seats, beginning with Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2026. Four-year state senate terms beginning in 2027 are key, the memo points out, as are state house and assembly races in 2028, 2029 and 2030. Democrats have room to make gains in Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma over the next five years, Begala says. North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania are also key targets for Democrats, though they each come with hurdles, like a hostile state supreme court in North Carolina. The memo emphasized 'anchoring' — or starting with downballot races and then moving to statewide and federal races — was part of Democrats' successful strategy to flip Colorado from red to blue over the last 25 years (though the state also benefitted from a major demographic shift that benefited Democrats too). The DLCC and Begala say it's key to keep Democrats afloat in upcoming redistricting battles. Like this reporting? Subscribe to Morning Score.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Incandescent' anger at Schumer a distraction from fighting DOGE: Begala
The 'incandescent' anger directed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) from the members of his party is, in part, a distraction from fighting against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its effort to overhaul the federal government, according to CNN political contributor Paul Begala. Begala, who was an adviser to former President Clinton, said he has 'never seen the party this angry at its leader, Sen. Schumer.' 'It's incandescent. It's hard for me to describe. They're furious. And here's why. He had something very valuable. He had voted to pass the continuing resolution that Republicans could not do without them. And he traded them away for nothing,' the veteran consultant said during his Monday appearance on CNN's 'The Lead.' Schumer, the Democrats' longtime leader in the Senate, is facing pushback over his vote to help advance a House-crafted continuing resolution that ended up being adopted last week. His decision is being questioned by some of his Democratic colleagues in the chamber. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has advocated for loudly opposing Trump's agenda, told The Hill that Democrats in the upper chamber are risking ending up 'irrelevant if we don't use our power on cloture to demand that we have a seat at the table,' adding that 'we obviously have to make sure that we aren't cut out of negotiations in the future.' Begala said he and 'most' Democrats do not want a government shutdown, but argued the party caved 'without a compromise.' 'I want the government to stay open. Most Democrats do. The funding level is actually not all that bad. There was some terrible stuff they added to it. But when I came to them a month ago, seriously, this was strategic as well as tactical,' Begala said Monday. 'Tactical was bad to cave without a compromise. Strategically, he should have come to his party a month ago and said, here are our principles.' The political commentator said the Democrats in the Senate could have worked more to draw out concessions from GOP lawmakers, but the spotlight should be aimed at the DOGE, the Musk-led advisory board whose staffers have gained access to several government agencies as part of the administration's push to downsize the scope of the government workforce, cut spending and reduced waste. Begala said that, for him, such action would've been a 'crackdown' on the people 'working for Mr. Musk in destroying our Constitution.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
18-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
‘Incandescent' anger at Schumer a distraction from fighting DOGE: Begala
The 'incandescent' anger directed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) from the members of his party is, in part, a distraction from fighting against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its effort to overhaul the federal government, according to CNN political contributor Paul Begala. Begala, an adviser to former President Clinton, said he has 'never seen the party this angry at its leader, Senator Schumer.' 'It's incandescent. It's hard for me to describe. They're furious. And here's why. He had something very valuable. He had voted to pass the continuing resolution that Republicans could not do without them. And he traded them away for nothing,' the veteran consultant said during his Monday appearance on CNN's 'The Lead.' Schumer, the Democrats' longtime leader in the Senate, is facing pushback over his vote to help advance a House-crafted continuing resolution that ended up being adopted last week. The New York senator's decision is being questioned by some of his Democratic colleagues in the chamber. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has advocated for loudly opposing Trump's agenda, told The Hill that Democrats in the upper chamber are risking ending up 'irrelevant if we don't use our power on cloture to demand that we have a seat at the table,' adding that 'we obviously have to make sure that we aren't cut out of negotiations in the future.' Begala said that he and 'most' Democrats do not want a government shutdown, but argued the party caved 'without a compromise.' 'I want the government to stay open. Most Democrats do. The funding level is actually not all that bad. There was some terrible stuff they added to it. But when I came to them a month ago, seriously, this was strategic as well as tactical,' Begala said Monday. 'Tactical was bad to cave without a compromise. Strategically, he should have come to his party a month ago and said, here are our principles.' The political commentator said the Democrats in the Senate could have worked more to draw out concessions from GOP lawmakers, but the spotlight should be aimed at the DOGE, the Musk-led advisory board whose staffers have gained access to several government agencies as part of the administration's push to downsize the scope of the government workforce, cut spending and reduced waste. Begala said that, for him, such action would've been a 'crackdown' on the people 'working for Mr. Musk in destroying our Constitution.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Who the Hell Voted for… Big Balls?!' CNN Panel Melts Down Over Musk Hires
Bill Clinton's former chief strategist has laid into Elon Musk and his young DOGE goon squad during a spicy debate on CNN. Paul Begala was jostling with Republican strategist Brad Todd on CNN's The Source, with anchor Kaitlan Collins, Wednesday night. The pair butted heads over Musk and President Donald Trump's style in gutting federal agencies. Whilst he agreed in principle that federal spending needed to be slashed, Begala urged Mr Trump to go 'the constitutional route.' Todd then suggested Democratic hypocrisy, pointing out that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other Democrats had turned a blind eye to the courts over Roe v Wade abortion rulings. That's when things got tasty between the two men, with Begala blasting: 'It's just not true! Democrats gave up the White House when the Supreme Court ruled against them in Bush vs Gore.' Anchor Kaitlan Collins then clawed the issues back into the modern day and the CNN contributor shifted his focus to America's unelected 'first buddy,' the Tesla and SpaceX chief, and his young minion with the cringe-worthy moniker. He was speaking specifically about a Trump executive order that decrees that the Department for Government Efficiency can force federal agencies into firing four people for every new hire. 'Who the hell voted for Mr. Musk?' Begala raged. 'Who the hell voted for—excuse the phrase—a guy who calls himself Big Balls? A 19-year-old kid going in there and trying to fire cancer researchers and scientists and teachers and agricultural specialists. It's, it's appalling.' According to The Washington Post, 'Big Balls' is thought to refer to Edward Coristine, who now works as a 'senior adviser' in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Technology. The role comes in addition to Coristine's work at the Department of Government Efficiency. Concerns about Coristine go beyond his banal nickname. A Bloomberg report revealed last Friday that the teen was once fired from an internship at Path Network after an internal probe found he leaked sensitive information to a competitor. It comes after a federal worker claimed that his colleagues were having one-on-one meetings with Musk's young team to justify their jobs. The man, who spoke at an event hosted by the Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam in Leesburg, Virginia, last week, said: 'In the last week, we had Elon Musk in our building, and after he visited the building, called for a 50 percent cut of the entire agency. 'My colleagues are getting 15 minute one-on-one check-ins with 19, 20, and 21-year old-college graduates asking to justify their existence.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Who the hell voted for Big Balls?' Former Clinton adviser rages at Musk's teenage DOGE hire
A former political adviser for President Bill Clinton laid into Elon Musk and one of Musk's young Department of Government Efficiency staffers the tech billionaire hired to gut federal agencies. Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, raged Wednesday evening on The Source hosted by Kaitlan Collins about the teenage adviser who is known by a cringe-worthy nickname. Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school grad, college dropout and DOGE worker known online as 'Big Balls,' is now listed as a senior adviser at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Technology. 'Who the hell voted for Mr. Musk?' Begala asked during the heated discussion. 'Who the hell voted for – excuse the phrase – a guy who calls himself 'Big Balls,' a 19-year-old kid going in there and trying to fire cancer researchers and scientists and teachers and agricultural specialists? It's appalling.' Coristine was reportedly fired last year from an internship after he leaked information to a rival firm. Begala, who appeared on CNN alongside Republican strategist Brad Todd, said earlier in the segment that he agreed with DOGE's mission to cut federal spending, but not the way Musk team is going about it. 'I have a pro tip for President Trump: If you want to reduce the federal workforce, maybe a good idea, try going the constitutional route,' Begala said. The former adviser said that the Clinton administration reduced the federal workforce by passing the Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994 in the Senate, which he said resulted in the lowest headcount of 'any president since Eisenhower.' And 'we still took care of special needs kids and our veterans and created 30 million new jobs,' Begala said. 'So you can do this, but you've got to follow the Constitution.' Many of the DOGE staffers have been scrutinized due to their lack of experience or proximity to Musk's other businesses. It's unclear any of them have been vetted. Coristine, who dropped out from Northeastern University to work in Silicon Valley and who once interned at Musk's brain implant company Neuralink, is one of seven relatively young men identified by Wired as part of Musk's incursion into the federal government with reported access to millions of Americans' personal financial and medical information. Bloomberg reported Coristine was previously fired from a cybersecurity internship after being accused of leaking company secrets to a competitor, though he claimed to have "never exploited it.' An unidentified federal worker claimed at a recent town hall meeting in Leesburg, Virginia that seasoned federal workers have been forced to justify their jobs in 15- minute sessions with '19-, 20- and 21-year-old' Doge staffers with little or no work experience of their own. Donald Trump has stood by Musk's young hires. 'I'm very proud of the job that this group of young people, generally young people, but very smart people, they're doing,' Trump said last week. 'They're doing it at my insistence. It would be a lot easier not to do it, but we have to take some of these things apart to find the corruption.'
