(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Rahm Emanuel was the tactician when Democrats last wrested control of the House of Representatives from Republicans, in 2006. He plotted strategy for the next two years in setting the stage for the election of President Barack Obama, to whom he became chief of staff. Earlier, he was a top aide to President Bill Clinton and a three-term Congressman. Now he’s the second-term Democratic mayor of Chicago.
Emanuel held forth for half an hour last week in his City Hall office on how he wants Democrats to wield the power they gained in the November midterm elections, when they picked up 40 Republican-held seats to seize a House majority. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:
ALBERT R. HUNT: What was your takeaway of 2018 and the implications for challenging President Donald Trump’s presumed re-election effort in 2020?
RAHM EMANUEL: It gave us a unique opportunity to solidify our gains in the suburbs. They are most important for congressional growth. Trump will try to use his troops to find wedges. We have to have a legislative agenda that allows us to solidify the urban/suburban agenda. We also did well in the more rural small-town areas. Going forward, if we show up in those places and have an economic agenda that’s relevant, we’re going to lose, but we’re not going to lose as badly.
Another takeaway is, look at our wins in state races in Minnesota, in the Kansas gubernatorial, and in Michigan, Wisconsin. It was very fundamental: health care and costs, funding education, investing in infrastructure, the blocking and tackling of government. The candidates were substance driven, less sizzle, more substance. If they want entertainment, it’s in D.C. You want to get the work done, you know your state capitol and that was a relevant takeaway, and matters, as we look to a nominee.
AH: The states are very important but the face of the party short term will be Democrats in the House. The last time this happened, after you delivered the 2006 election, what did you do in those next two years that’s applicable today?
RE: When we confronted President [George W.] Bush, kids’ health care, the idea that you were going build up Iraq but not build America, began to create and pave a way for Obama. We talked about corruption. We passed major ethics lobbying reform legislation.
AH: Parallels today?
RE: Without a doubt. Trump’s ethical swamp is worse than any period where we had a fox governing the chicken house.
AH: You’ve said one objective of congressional Democrats should be to drive a wedge between Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. What are the two or three best opportunities?
RE: When you look at the money Mitch McConnell gets from the drug industry, he’s not into prescription drug-price controls. I think Donald Trump is. Look at where Mitch McConnell always is on the side of health-insurance companies. Donald Trump is somewhere else. Look at infrastructure. Donald Trump wants something big. Mitch McConnell is in another place. Look, my view is that Trump is looking for 10 to 15 Republicans who might vote with him and with Democrats on some of these issues. He’s open to this game, and the game is creating dissonance among Republicans, which weakens them for 2020.
AH: Does it worry you that Democrats on the left will try to go too far or too quickly on impeachment, a single-payer government-run health care system and moves to abolish the immigration and customs agency?
RE: You’re not wrong to say that the left may try to go farther, and I would counter and say sometimes that moderates could go too short. You have to figure out where that balance is.
AH: What should be the Democrats’ approach to taxes? The rich and businesses are going to have to pay more, and we probably can’t afford a huge middle-class tax cut. Or would Democrats be committing political suicide if they don’t agree to one?
RE: I have a theory. Tell me if I’m right, but people won’t take new taxes just for government. If they got something new out of it, they may pay something new.
So, they’re not just for fixing potholes, but for new roads. On the larger tax thing, what will happen when we cross that line with the trillion-dollar deficit that has to be dealt with? Nothing would be better than trying to force the Republicans to walk back their tax cut.
AH: Gun control?
The Brady Bill was about making sure people with criminal records can not have access. The assault-weapon ban was about making sure that gangs that use those types of weapons don’t have access.
Two, the only people who should speak about this in our party are those who are from the military or law enforcement. We have people that have served in Iraq, people that served in Afghanistan, people that have a career in the armed forces. Put them front and center on this point. Put them on point. They have a legitimacy to this discussion. You have a political tool, you have a political asset, deploy it to a political advantage on legislation.
Nothing would make me happier than having a member of the National Guard go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump about public safety.
AH: Other big issues?
It’s not an accident that states are doing this: Tennessee, Oregon, Kentucky, Arkansas. People like free, and it really spoke to something bigger than just free. It spoke to your kids, saying we understand the pressure you’re under, it’s not just who goes to the computer science school, the University of Illinois. It signals that everybody has a chance in the future.
AH: For 2020, should Democrats look to someone outside of Washington? A governor? A mayor?
RE: Look at Clinton. Look at President Jimmy Carter and look at Obama. All former governors or state officeholders. Then look at the ex-senators: John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. The three who did win were not from Washington, and they were below the age of 50. The three who lost were seen as part of Washington, part of the establishment
I want Donald Trump to own his Disneyland-on-the-Potomac.
Democrats won races for governor and lieutenant governor and took control of the state House of Representatives.
A Democrat won in an overwhelmingly Republican state.
Democrats ousted Republicans from the offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
Democratic candidates prevailed for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and U.S. senate.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed by the Justice Department, is investigating whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to affect the 2016 presidential race.
The deficit for the current fiscal year is projected at $985 billion and is expected to exceed $1 trillion next year. It has gone up in each of the two years of the Trump presidency.
The 1993 Brady Bill established a waiting period and a background check before purchases of handguns. The assault weapons ban, enacted the following year, prohibited the manufacture of semiautomatic weapons for civilian use. It expired in 2004.
Four years ago, Emanuel instituted free tuition for Chicago students in community colleges. Living expenses were not included.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net
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Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.
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