WEBVTT

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GEOFF BENNETT: Well,
Pennsylvania is shaping up
to be a critical country.
State in this presidential

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election, with both the
Trump and Harris campaign
spending considerable
time and money there.

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Congresswoman Madeleine
Dean represents the state's
Fourth District. That's a

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suburb of Philadelphia.
And she joins us now.

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Great to have you
back on the program.

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA):
I'm delighted to be here with
you on this exciting night.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Well, look, when
we last spoke in early July,
you were among those Democrats

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who was supporting President
Biden, even as party
leaders were at the time
privately suggesting he

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exit the race. You said
he defeated Donald Trump
once and that he had the
record to do it again.

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I wonder what you
make now of the way in

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which this party has so quickly
coalesced around Kamala Harris.

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: Well, and
I do stand by Joe Biden. What
a record of accomplishment,

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50-plus years. And I am
delighted to see the kind of
response that he gets tonight.

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It will blow the roof off
this place, I'm certain.

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GEOFF BENNETT: As they
start the sound check
here as we're speaking.

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REP. MADELEINE
DEAN: Exactly, yes.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: But
-- and all the lead-up
speakers before him.

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But I was also clear-eyed about
the challenges ahead of us. And
I expressed that to my caucus,

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as well as to the campaign.
I stand by the president
and all of what he has done,

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all the accomplishments,
I will say, alongside
a Democratic Congress
and a Democratic Senate.

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Think of all the bills that we
have passed that he spearheaded
and signed into law that changed

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our economy, grew jobs.
So I'm just delighted with
where we are. The enthusiasm
is palpable back in

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my district, in the Fourth
Congressional District,
suburban Philadelphia.
And delighted to be here.

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This is my first convention.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Really?

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: Yes.

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GEOFF BENNETT: So, what
do you expect we will
hear from President Biden

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tonight as he makes the case
for Vice President Harris
as the party's nominee?

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: I
think we will hear more
of the accomplishments and

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the record that they have
set. And you can talk number
one about the economy. And we

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have seen Donald Trump and
J.D. Vance try to talk about
the economy. They have put

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forward Project 2025. They have
put forward the notion of big
tariffs and mass deportations.

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That will be incredibly
inflationary. Every economist
tells us that. So they will talk

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about the economy. They
will talk -- he will talk
about the accomplishment

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of growing 15-plus million
jobs, bringing inflation down,
bringing manufacturing back,

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bringing the Safer Communities
Act into law, which is actually
saving lives from gun violence.

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It's just such a stark contrast
of going back to something
that was incredibly dark

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and caustic to our democracy,
as capped off by January
the 6th, as you well know,

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just a very criminal,
corrupt set of norms for
the former president.

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We're not going back, as my
granddaughter says, who's 3.
We're not going back. We're

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going forward for the
American people, for my
children, our grandchildren,

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for the economy, for the
environment, for education, for
women's rights, for freedom.

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GEOFF BENNETT: All of the
enthusiasm, energy, unity
on the Democratic side,

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is there a risk that that
masks the fact that this is
still a competitive race? And,

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as one Democrat today
told me, this is Donald
Trump's race to lose.

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: I
absolutely think you're
right. We mustn't get
overly enthusiastic,

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and so rose-eyed glasses that
we think that this is going
to be a cakewalk. It is not.

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And my district, suburban
Philadelphia, is going
to be the place to watch.
Pennsylvania will be

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the Keystone State again.
We have to dig in. We
have to do the work to
protect our democracy,

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to grow our democracy. And what
a better place to do it than in
the birthplace of our democracy?

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So I'm also clear-eyed about
that. This is not just such
enthusiasm that you win

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a presidential race this way.
We have to dig in and do the
work and tend to our democracy.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Are Democrats
in a better position to hold
the House -- or, rather,

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win the House, in your
view, with a Harris/Walz
ticket than they were with
a Biden/Harris ticket?

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN: I
feel the enthusiasm. And
one of our worries was
that there was -- perhaps

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people would sit out the
election, particularly the
congressional elections,

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not knowing the difference
between a majority and
a minority and what
difference that makes.

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Take a look at the difference
that it has made this Congress
as Democrats went into the

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minority. We passed six
massive big bills when we were
in the majority. This year,

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the Republican majority can't
get out of their own way.
You saw what they did in

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terms of having a speaker.
You saw what they have done in
terms of passing budget bills.

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They let us go home a week
early in this incredibly crucial
cycle because they couldn't

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get their own members to
do the work of passing
budget bills with a
seriousness about governing.

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GEOFF BENNETT: You represent
a solidly Democratic

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district President Biden
won by some 24 points back
in 2020. In many ways,

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what happens in your district is
a case study for how Democrats
might vote across the country.

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How are they responding
to Kamala Harris and
to the policies she's
put forward so far?

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN:
Well, I have been doing a
number of canvass launches
and helping people get

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their literature together,
picking up their signs
and getting their turfs
to go knock on doors.

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And I will tell you I have
met person after person.
One man, in particular,

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he said -- he walked up to
me and he said: "I'm not
even sure that I know you,

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but I know you're my
congresswoman. I am 59
years old. I have never
put a yard sign up.

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I have never contributed
to a campaign. I have
never knocked on a door
for a candidate. I'm in."

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That's really the feeling we
are getting in our district.
People are in. They want

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to do the work of democracy
because they recognize
how important it is.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Democratic
Congresswoman Madeleine
Dean, thanks so much
for being with us.

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REP. MADELEINE DEAN:
Thanks for having me.