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Trump To Head To Pennsylvania For Energy, A.I. Summit; Trump Eyes 5-Seat House Pickup In Texas With Redistricting Plan; Democrats Weigh Generational Politics In AZ Primary; Arizona Primary Pits Daughter Of Late Congressman Against Gen-Z Activist And Social Media Influencer. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:30:05]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump will head to Pennsylvania this afternoon to attend an Energy & A.I. Summit. The Pittsburgh event is being hosted by Republican Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick. He's expected to announce a $70 billion investment in the Commonwealth.

Axios' Sara Fischer is here. Sara, thanks so much for being here. This is really interesting. It's just a fascinating story because this summit has tech, business, energy, political leaders, political leaders of both parties attending.

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. Yes, you have Governor Josh Shapiro, of course, a 2028 possible contender for the Democratic side. And then you have him alongside Senator Dave McCormick, a Republican Trump ally. Both of them are coming together here. Why, Dana? The big thing here is jobs.

If you take a look at what's happened in Pennsylvania, there's been so much concern about jobs being lost as some of the dirty power alternatives, coal and oil jobs move out. And what the opportunity here is, is if you bring more A.I. investment in, maybe we can bring in some more renewable energy jobs. Maybe we can bring in some more A.I. and tech jobs.

Pittsburgh has always been an industrial state, it's not -- or a city. It's not really a tech hub. And so I think everyone's coming around together to try to boost this for Pennsylvania. One thing I'll note, super competitive to land some of these contracts in this investment. It's not just Pennsylvania, it's Ohio, it's West Virginia, it's everyone in the West Belt that wants this. So it makes sense that both parties want to come in and support this effort.

BASH: Yes, no question about it. And just sort of looking more broadly as the fact that President Trump is going up there about the U.S. and where the U.S. is vis-a-vis A.I. and the race to be ahead or at least to be in competition with A.I. development.

FISCHER: Yes. So it's really the U.S. versus China. And that's the big national security argument that these tech firms, even these energy CEOs, are arguing when they say you need to invest in U.S. A.I. If you don't, China will beat us ahead of us. The big thing here, though, with China, we thought we were so ahead of

the game, Dana. We had billions of dollars of private investment coming into our A.I. companies. And then earlier this year, a Chinese model was built that trumped ours, no pun intended, built on $6 million worth of investment.

And I think it kind of spooked our entire A.I. industry to make us realize we've got to invest. But the reason this is an A.I. and energy summit, Dana, you can't just invest in A.I. by investing in data centers. You also need to invest in the energy that fuels them and the energy needed to cool them.

Remember, burning a bunch of computers all the time, that's really, really hot. And so you can't get ahead on A.I. without getting ahead on energy. That's why you have Exxon and Shell all here together, too.

BASH: Yes, and that's such an important point. So it's know-how. It's the minds that go into making A.I. run and making it, they hope, the best in the world, but then there's the actual ability to make it run. And the energy, the water that is required to make the data centers run, I mean, that's a big part of the discussion about Pennsylvania and the decision for people to invest in a place like Pennsylvania, specifically Pittsburgh.

FISCHER: There has been so many complaints, Dana, about the federal energy grid by A.I. companies and tech companies who say it's too weak and that policies are too state-focused to be able to quickly tap into the energy they need to build this stuff. And so that's why you're seeing President Trump actually come in and say, we want to change some of those policies, make it easier for you to access the grid. We want to make it more efficient for you, and we want to make it stronger.

But they can't do it without land and space. You get some of that in Pennsylvania. Like you said, incredible minds and talent of people who are going to help build up not just nuclear energy, but also renewable energy. It's going to require a ton of investment.

BASH: Yes. Well, you know what? It's nice to see that, not to sound totally Pollyanna about it, but it is nice to see in a bipartisan way across all of these industries, all of these titans getting together to do something to invest in the future of America and in areas where it will help produce jobs.

FISCHER: Totally. Especially a city like Pittsburgh that suffered.

BASH: Yes. Thank you so much.

FISCHER: Thank you.

BASH: I learned a lot from you, Sara.

Coming up, they say everything is bigger in Texas. That includes maybe an ambitious Republican effort to gerrymander that state even further than it already is. New details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:39:05]

BASH: President Trump is all in on a Texas Republican plan to redistrict the state. Now, this usually does not happen at this time. It usually happens once a decade. It has already happened this decade. But President Trump and the Texas Republican governor, Greg Abbott, they see an opportunity.

This morning on a call with Texas Republicans, the president said he thinks the redrawing districts at this time could net five extra GOP seats, which could be enough to hold the House majority in the midterms. Now, this is according to a source familiar with that call.

My panel is back with me and I have one of my favorite Texans here, Abby Livingston, to help explain this. So there is a special session and it is largely because of the flood and trying to figure out how to help the victims of the flood and to try to prevent it, that kind of thing, from happening again.

[12:40:01]

As part of that, because they're all there, they thought, oh, we have a big majority. Let's try to redraw the lines in order to give Republicans more safe seats.

ABBY LIVINGSTON, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: So my sense was this was going to happen before the flood even happened.

BASH: OK.

LIVINGSTON: So that was my understanding. I am not the least bit geographically biased as a seventh-generation Texan, but if they implement a five-seat aggressive tact, that is going to make Texas the single most interesting state in the midterms between that and the Senate race. And if -- I'd heard rumors, it might be two seats, it might be five.

Two seats they could do very simply and go through South Texas, which is trending toward Republicans, and take out two incumbents or Democratic held seats very easily. But this means they've got to go to the suburbs. And Trump has struggled in the Texas suburbs. He did actually pretty well last November in the Texas suburbs. But this could be different.

And midterm years are very different in Texas than presidential years. And so, the refrain I hear among Democrats that has been -- that Playbook said out loud the other day was, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And so some of these Texas Republican incumbents are going to have to give up Republican voters to --

BASH: Right.

LIVINGSTON: -- endanger a Democrat. And they're going to have to run for the first time in their careers in a general election, many of them. BASH: Right. So meaning it could hurt some of the incumbent Republicans. The fact -- if they give away some of their GOP land, so to speak, it could hurt them. And as you're answering that, I just wanted to show our viewers see what the breakdown is as we speak of Republican held seats in Texas versus Democrats.

Go ahead, Abby.

LIVINGSTON: It depends on how far they go. And so it might just mean some Republican members have to raise money for the first time and run in a general election for the first time. But some of them could be embattled if they go super far into this. And so I think that -- and one other point that I think is key, one of the things that fueled Beto O'Rourke's rise in 2018 was these competitive House seats underneath him.

You had campaigning for the first time, advertising in the first time in some of these big cities.

BASH: Yes.

LIVINGSTON: And so this, John Cornyn, if he wins the nomination, he's a pretty good general election candidate. But there is a lot of party building underneath this Senate race if they go ahead with this.

BASH: Yes. I mean, it's so fascinating because I actually did a big story on redistricting after the census, which is when all of the state legislatures and all of the states, no matter -- depending on who's doing it, looks at the lines and they redistrict. And Texas is a place that we went to look at. And it's an incumbent protection program.

So Republicans run things in Texas. They protected their own. But Democrats were also kind of in on it. They were fine with protecting their own and making the blue seats even bluer. Having said that, let's go over to California, because Gavin Newsom is looking at what's happening in Texas. And he said, "Two can play at this game."

Now, he's responding to Punchbowl, which first reported on what's going on with Texas. And by that, he means if we can put up the congressional delegation from California, there are only nine Republican held seats, 43 Democratic held seats. But many of those Republican held seats tend to be swingy and kind of hard for Republicans to hold.

It is a Democratic governor, a Democratic legislature in California. They could try to do this. It's a little more complicated because there's an independent commission.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this to me screams, you know, Trump special in terms of Texas. They work harder -- I mean, work smarter, not harder, right? We don't need to necessarily get all the seats. We -- let's rejigger this a little bit. And then we don't have to work harder in other places.

And we get the seats we want from an area that we believe is safe. Also, let's get this done now. And maybe it'll affect people in the future, but that's not really our problem. Let's get through the midterms and get through the next two years after that.

The California thing is interesting. I really do think that one of Gavin Newsom's qualities that make him such an interesting character in terms of politics is he has really figured out how to needle the Trump team in a way that no one else on the Democratic side has. Nobody else gets to them --

BASH: Yes.

HOLMES: -- and gets the game the way that Newsom does.

BASH: Yes.

HOLMES: So this idea, that's something that's going to drive them nuts because here they are, again, work smarter, not harder. Well, now they're looking at this and saying, well, actually, that could cause some problems for us.

BASH: It could. Again, it's a little bit harder in California.

HOLMES: Right.

BASH: Gavin Newsom obviously realized pretty early on that he's going to be President Trump's foil. And he said, OK, I'm in.

HOLMES: Yes.

BASH: Everybody stand by. The Democrats' latest generational test is underway right now in Arizona. The House special election is pitting the daughter of a late congressman against a social media influencer and activist who could be the first Gen Z woman from there in Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DEJA FOXX, ARIZONA CANDIDATE: My name's Deja Foxx. We're here at the Hotties for Harris New York Fashion Week party. And I want to know, what does it mean to be a hottie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hotties think. Hotties think about their actions. And hotties think carefully about who they want to vote for.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

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[12:49:37]

BASH: She says she's not a Rockefeller. She's just a Grijalva. Those are the words of Adelita Grijalva. She is the daughter of somebody who was in Congress for two decades before he passed away earlier this year. She wants to fill his Arizona seat in the House of Representatives, but she is facing some pretty stiff competition. Voters are voting right now, and it's the Democratic Party's latest litmus test on lots of internal debates, including the generational one.

[12:50:08]

Among the challengers, 25-year-old activist and social media influencer Deja Fox. She would be the first Gen Z congresswoman if elected in September.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ADELITA GRIJALVA, ARIZONA CANDIDATE: When you grow up Grijalva, you learn how to fight and who you're fighting for. That's why my parents named me Adelita. It means fighter, and I've been on the front line since my first memory through today.

FOXX: This moment demands new leaders who aren't afraid to stand up. I'm Deja Foxx. I don't have a legacy last name or big donors, but I approve this message because this moment calls for more than a politician. We deserve a fighter.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: And we're back here with our panel. What is your sense in talking to Democratic sources about what this is really going to mean? And we should also sort of set the table by saying this is a very blue district. So it's likely whomever wins the primary will be the next member of Congress.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: This is an exciting space to watch because it says a lot about the party. One of the greatest liabilities right now in Democratic politics seems to be experience. And I think that what you see from voters is almost a desire to overcorrect for Biden being forced on them.

Really a desire for a new generation of leadership. But listen, Grijalva really fits the profile of this district. She is a proven progressive, a former county supervisor. So you can't necessarily or you can't at all really make the comparison with Andrew Cuomo and Mamdani. But there is a generational difference. And Deja Foxx has very specific talents that really cater to a need the Democrats need in this moment, and that is being able to effectively communicate online.

BASH: Yes, OK. And just also to be clear, Grijalva is 54.

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Yes.

BASH: So it's not like we're talking about a 70-year-old person --

RASCOE: No, we're not talking -- yes.

BASH: -- which tends to be when you talk about generational politics, particularly when talking about the United States Congress, that's what you're discussing. But there's a difference between 54 and 25. RASCOE: Yes, I mean, she is not some elderly candidate, you know, right? Like that's not what she is. But I do think there is this moment right now where you have a lot of concerns with Democrats with who do they want to be? What is the identity? And they want action and youth. I think this will be an interesting test of it because she, you know, Foxx has these online skills.

Does that get people to the polls? Like on this random day, on this, you know, this special election, does this get people to the polls? I think that's the question. I think with Grijalva, you have that legacy. But, I mean, sometimes legacy can be a good thing. And also, I think name recognition still helps some as long as people aren't thinking, you know, about sex scandals and things like that, right?

MCKEND: And we should stress that this is not a conservative, you know, progressive divide. Both of them, if elected --

BASH: Right.

MCKEND: -- would govern or, you know, vote the same way in Congress.

BASH: Right. You know, such an important point, Eva, because this is about some of the other divides within the Democratic Party. Like I said, generational. But also, is it somebody with no experience but a lot of energy versus somebody who does? Yes, I mean, legacy cuts both ways. But currently, in this snapshot of a moment, the recent history shows that legacy is not necessarily a plus when it comes to Democratic primaries.

LIVINGSTON: We have seen dynasties struggle over the last 10 years, especially on the Democratic side, most recently with Andrew Cuomo. Grijalva in this race is the de facto incumbent. And I think because of her name, because she's held office, and because of her endorsements. And so I think that's more important than age.

If she loses this race, I have to think that some elderly Democratic incumbents are going to think about retiring. But what I'm most interested if she wins it, what is the margin? Because there's a viable other candidate in that race and if she only wins a plurality of that, I just think that that -- what is happening is there are too many candidates joining these primaries to challenge the incumbents. And some of these incumbents may sneak through.

BASH: Yes.

LIVINGSTON: And so it's a very interesting situation.

BASH: You know, I'm glad you mentioned that because we have been showing the candidates on the screen. And there are more than the two we've been discussing. Another is Daniel Hernandez, who was actually the intern of Gabby Giffords. This was her district at one time.

He helped save her life. And he's running now. There are -- because there are others who are maybe more prominent and getting more traction. We're not hearing as much from him. Bringing this to the national debate inside the party, one of the individuals who is supporting Deja Foxx is David Hogg, who made a lot of waves at the DNC.

HOLMES: Yes.

BASH: He was vice chair -- back to you -- of the DNC and then left because he said, we need younger people to challenge those who are perceived as part of the democratic establishment.

[12:55:21]

HOLMES: Yes, look, this is exciting. This is the beginning of us getting into 2026. This is the litmus test. This is putting everything, and obviously, you know, things change before that election. And not everything can be hinged on one election. But this is the beginning of us starting to understand the repercussions of the last four, eight years.

And Donald Trump and what he has done in the first x amount of months that he's been in office, it's also Joe Biden and four years of that. It's the election in 2024. So we're about to start seeing all the things we've been discussing about what the people believe.

BASH: I could not agree with you more. This is very, very exciting. I'd love talking to all of you about it.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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