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Virginia Voters Approve New Map That Could Net Dems 4 Seats; Trump Says Gerrymandering "Not Good" After Pushing For It; New Poll: 70 Percent Disapprove Of Trump's Handling Of Economy; Trump Political Operative To CNN: "Way Too Soon To Declare Defeat"; Redistricting Wars Could End In A Virtual Draw. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 22, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: And a special thanks to Bill for that report. He mentioned that the tourism is slowing down a little bit up there in the Arctic area of Norway. Tourists want to go there.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yeah. No, absolutely. And I also thought it was interesting what he said about the polar bears, that it was thought ten years ago they would be extinct. They are adapting, but slow to adapt. I'm glad he didn't have any run ins with polar bears while he was there.

BLITZER: That's important as well.

BROWN: Really not.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media at @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn.

BROWN: And we'll see you back here tomorrow morning and every weekday morning at 10 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Democrats run the GOP's play and score big. What's the White House's next move? Well, President Trump's top political strategist is right here to tell us.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Democrats already felt good about their odds of winning back the House this November. Last night's redistricting win in Virginia is pushing their optimism into overdrive. Voters approved a new congressional map that could flip four red seats nationwide, after fights with maps across the country, coast to coast, Democrats may net one additional seat with Democratic gerrymanders in California and Virginia, offsetting Republican gerrymanders in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina.

This did not seem to be in the president's vision for the plan when the White House pressured Texas' Republicans to redraw their maps last summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Texas, how many more seats do you want the Republicans to draw?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then what if California, New York, Illinois and other blue states decide to do this?

TRUMP: Yeah, well. That's OK too. But five. I think we'd get five. And there could be some other states. We're going to get another three or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Well, here's where we are today. It could be, could be, essentially a wash for Republicans. The only state that is still very much TBD is Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has promised a new map that could give the Republicans three more seats, which could put Republicans two seats ahead of where they are now going into Election Day.

Joining me now is James Blair, President Trump's 2024 political director who is overseeing the Trump political operation heading into the midterms. Thank you so much for coming in.

JAMES BLAIR, 2024 TRUMP CAMPAIGN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Thanks for having me.

BASH: It's good to see you. So, Virginia is a purple state. What is your diagnosis for why you and Republicans failed to push back the Democrats redistricting plan?

BLAIR: Well, first I would reframe that in Virginia. So, this is a state in November of 2025 that went by 15 points to the Democrats for governor and about eight points for attorney general. Last night, this was a three-point race. That's actually a three-point over performance of the Trump 2024, historic performance in Virginia.

So just as a baseline for all the Democrats crowing this morning. If Republicans perform anywhere near on average the way they did in Virginia last night, we not only add seats to the Senate, but we add seats to the House, and we have a historic midterm. It was very close last night.

There's a backlash to the fact that they were not honest, and the same is going to be true in November. They don't have policies to run on. They don't have a vision to run on. We're going to make them litigate the question of their policies in November. And again, if it turns out the way it did last night, Democrats are not going to win the majority in either chamber.

BASH: But it is a win. I mean, if just -- if you use that sort of paradigm and look ahead to November, if Republicans almost keep control of the House, it's still a loss.

BLAIR: Yeah. What I expect is that when all of this redistricting sort of continues this cycle, is that there will be a narrow advantage for Republicans. I think that's the reality. And what's really important is Democrats started this like years ago, and they do it through the courts. They take a different tactic, but they've gone through, and badgered and jury shop. I mean, in Utah, last week, NBC reported that there may have been an improper relationship between the League of Women Voters, plaintiff lawyer and the judge that ruled on the maps for the League of Women Voters.

BASH: Gerrymandering is a very deep, very real bipartisan issue and problem. I'm going to get to that in one second just to push back on that, but I want to stay on Virginia for one second. MAGA Inc., the super PAC that supports the president, did not spend any money in this redistricting fight. Republicans were massively outspent by Democrats, two to one. You're sitting on more than $300 million in cash. Why didn't you spend any of it?

BLAIR: Well, from my count, what I can see on the public reports is the aligned no group spent about $40 million and I don't think that the numbers have really been accurately reported, but that's what I can see through the public reporting. So, I think there is a pretty well funded no effort. The Democrats unloaded, you know, $60, $70 million whatever it was. And again, their results should concern them.

[12:05:00]

One of the districts that they, you know, redrew, if it sticks, and we'll get to that in a minute in the courts. One of the districts they redrew, voted no last night, narrowly. And two of the other districts they redrew barely voted yes, like by less than half a point and less than two points respectively. These are not slam dunk districts for them. They unloaded a lot of cash, and they're going to have to fight for them in November if they get past the courts.

The Virginia Supreme Court still has to rule here. This is illegal, what they did under their own state law. A lower court judge already said that, and the Supreme Court let the referendum go on, but they still have to rule on the merits. And if they do the right thing, they will rule that this was an illegal action for this cycle.

BASH: Just going back to the very large war chest that you are sitting on, you know, on behalf of the president and the political team, $300 million. Is your plan to zero that out for the midterms? Are you going to spend that money on Republicans on the ballot?

BLAIR: Well, I'm certainly not going to broadcast our battle plans to the other side through the media. But what I would say is that I don't think that Republicans will be at a spending disadvantage in this midterms, which has never been the case before. And in fact, I firmly expect they will have a significant spending advantage, not just through things the president has done, but through the other groups and committees. The House is doing really well raising money. The Senate is doing really well raising money. The RNC has $120 million cash advantage on the deals -- BASH: Yeah. But you well know because I'm sure you hear it far more than I frustration among Republicans that you all have so much money and you haven't spent it yet. You're saying that you will spend that money that giant war chest, and the president isn't saving it for some of his own projects.

BLAIR: Again, I will save the president's announcements for the president, but I think the president has been very clear with the leadership of the House and the Senate that he is going to be supportive in their races. He helps them raise money independently, in addition to, I expect very much he will spend in the race, and I'll leave his announcements to him.

BASH: Let's talk about Florida. You have very deep roots in Florida politics. There's probably no one who knows the map there better than you. How aggressive should Governor Ron DeSantis be in redrawing the maps there now?

BLAIR: I haven't been involved in the Florida process. I don't know what the conversations are. I see --

BASH: So, what do you think?

BLAIR: I see what I -- I see what I read in the press. I think that Ron DeSantis has drawn the maps before. If he chooses to go forward, he will draw them in a way that is compliant with the law and we'll see what happens.

BASH: That was a definitive non-answer.

BLAIR: That's the best answer I got.

BASH: How come?

BLAIR: Again, I just think that I would not want to presume what the governor is going to do. I don't talk to the governor. I've not talked to those folks about it. But again, like I said, I think their track record shows that they know how to draw maps in compliance with Florida law and the Florida constitution, and we will see what they do next week. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of attention on it. I imagine, after last night.

BASH: If he called you and said, James, what should I do? You would say?

BLAIR: I don't think the governor would call me about that. And you know, if he did, I would say, governor do what you think is right.

BASH: All right. I want to play something just going back to the point you made about gerrymandering in general. I want to play something that President Trump said at a tele rally for Virginia on Monday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (voiceover): Democrats want to go out and overrule those district lines in the service of their own partisan gerrymander, and you're talking about, I don't know what you know -- if you know what gerrymandering is, but it's not good. Just rely on it, it's not good. Not fair, not good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What? That was my response and I think a lot of people's responses to that. Not that he's not wrong. I mean, anybody who cares about good government will say that gerrymandering is not good for democracy. But this is a redistricting war, mid-decade redistricting war that started in Texas with the president's pressure and your pressure.

BLAIR: No, it started in New York last cycle, when they tried to do it, and then they got knocked out in the courts, but they still did some. It continued in Utah, where the judge shopped in the case I was just referencing. It continues in Wisconsin, where they have three times been thrown out by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

BASH: The president was very aggressive about wanting this to happen, and you were too. I think you were -- correct me, if I'm wrong, you were working very hard with Republican officials in Texas to try to bank as many seats as possible before the midterms.

BLAIR: Again, let's talk about what goes on. Marc Elias, I think Democrats have probably heard of him, has been suing in the state of Wisconsin for two cycles now. I think three times it's been rejected by the existing Wisconsin Supreme Court. And right now, he called, you know, governor, he was called a special session to do something about gerrymandering, or whatever.

But the fact is, the map that they take umbrage with in court was drawn by the governor on orders of the liberal Supreme Court. So, they're trying to re-trade something that they themselves did in service of getting more Democrat seats. This is not new. And what I would say is --

BASH: It's not new.

BLAIR: How is the president's comment different than the ads President Obama was running?

[12:10:00]

BASH: I'm not -- I'm not saying that he's not wrong. I'm saying, he's right. But the difference is that, or the contradiction appears to be that he and you as his political director were very aggressive. And I hear what you're saying about Democrats and Republicans being off the charts, not good on this when they control various legislatures and various states. But this is a mid-decade redistricting push specifically to try to offset what you think will be losses in November.

BLAIR: No. This is about bringing fairness to what has been done to Republicans and Republicans being represented around the country. If we want to take it all the way back to the 2020 census, there was an over count and an under count.

As reported by the Census Bureau itself in its post enumeration survey in 2022, there is litigation on the fact that they introduced new novel data methods, and 100 percent of the under counting was in red states, and 100 percent of the over counting was in blue states. So blue states got more representation than they were actually due based on the count. And red states got less representation than they were due based on the count.

This is not my opinion. This is the opinion of the Biden Census Bureau in 2022. There is a long history here --

BASH: So, that's what this read -- this mid-decade redistricting is all about the census in 2020?

BLAIR: There is many things. There's steps all along the way, also their suit a blue strategy. This is about Democrats being able to do. And again, what's important, what they did in Virginia and in California is illegal under their own state laws. Now, if we had known that, you know, judges will just let them break the law, maybe we would have a different consideration.

BASH: I want to move on to a couple of questions about the midterms more generally. But as you well know, Democrats in Congress have tried and failed to make it, so that there's no gerrymandering at all, and have a federal law to eliminate this kind of gerrymandering and Republicans have opposed it. Have you changed your mind?

BLAIR: Here's what I would ask. I would ask if Democrats are willing to put the citizenship question on the ballot, so that American citizens are counted for congressional representation, which is the constitutional appropriate way, which was done until 50 years ago, which we fought out in the courts, and there, you know, ultimately will be a ruling on before 2030.

If we want to have a conversation about fairness, let's have a conversation about fairness. Illegal immigrants and people who come here three months a year are not due congressional representation. But that is the practical application, the outcome of what Democrats require of the system.

BASH: I do want to ask about a new poll from the Associated Press. James, it shows 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Trump's handling of the economy. That includes 37 percent of Republicans. 76 percent, that's three quarters of Americans don't approve of how the president is handling the cost of living, including half, half of his fellow Republicans. That's a very, very big number and a very big problem for this president.

BLAIR: I've not read that poll specifically, so I can't comment on its numbers, but hear what I will tell you.

BASH: But it's not -- it's not unlike other polls that's what you're seeing.

BLAIR: I will talk about trends writ large. When you ask the voters, who do you trust more on the economy, Republicans or Democrats? Republicans have the narrow edge. Who do you trust more on inflation, Republicans or Democrats? Republicans have the edge down the list, crime, border security, illegal immigration, the main issues that people are voting for. Republicans still maintain the edge. And the midterms are going to be about, who do you trust more to deal with these issues that they care about, Republicans in Congress or Democrats in Congress?

BASH: James, you know better than I. The midterms are historically a referendum on a president and certainly this president.

BLAIR: That's certainly what they --

BASH: And I know -- and I know that -- I know our -- my colleague Adam Cancryn has some new great reporting about a meeting that you and some of the other political advisors to the president had. Saying that, rather than make this a referendum on the president, you're going to try to make it about a choice between Democrats and Republicans. I've been around a long time. I know lots of White Houses have tried that. Why do you think you're going to be successful?

BLAIR: It's not about making it a referendum on the president or not. It comes down to the policies that President Trump and the Republicans have put in place. Every Republican in the House short of Thomas Massie, voted for the biggest working families tax cut in history, and people got big tax cuts.

BASH: But people aren't feeling it.

BLAIR: I disagree. The New York Times is reporting about how people are feeling it. Now, will numbers catch up to that and some of the polling you're referencing? I think probably. But at the end of the day, we came in and we inherited a four-year mess, four-decade high inflation, not four-month high, four-decade high inflation. And voters have memory of that. And the question is, do we want to go back to that, or do we want to go forward and finish this job?

Put more money back in your pockets. Every Democrat in Congress is on record for a $4 trillion tax hike. Every Democrat in Congress is on record for zeroing out funding for border patrol period, zeroing out all immigration enforcement. They are out of the center of the electorate. And I believe when that's litigated for the voters, they will choose Republicans.

[12:15:00]

BASH: I am having sort of a flashback to sitting and talking to Joe Biden political aides when they would tell me about the data, saying that people's feelings would catch up to it, and whether you're going to defy gravity is going to be, you know, a big question this November because it certainly didn't work for that.

BLAIR: I said, we'll see. We all know the history of the midterms. We're not ignorant of the history of the midterms, obviously, right? But it's way too soon to declare defeat. Republicans are in the fight. We have a record to run on, unlike the Biden administration. We have them on the record, unlike the Biden administration, and again, our party holds the edge on the issues that voters care about them.

BASH: James Blair, we will have a lot more to talk about as the months tick towards November. Thank you so much for coming on. I hope you come back.

BLAIR: Thanks for having me.

BASH: OK. And coming up. Our reporters take us inside the Virginia results and the White House's midterm strategy going forward. Plus, we're going to talk to one of the remaining Democrats in one of the most heated governor's races in the country, California.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back. You just saw my conversation with President Trump's top political operative. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters to talk about what they see coming up in the midterms, not to mention last night's vote in Virginia. Jeff Zeleny?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, there's obviously history that awaits any president. James Blair is well aware of that. President Trump is very well aware of it because he lived through the 2018 midterm elections. But I thought very interesting at the very end of the interview of that first block. He said, it's way too soon to declare a defeat.

So, Republicans are going to fight hard here. There's no doubt about it. Certainly, trying to spin these Virginia results. I think the big takeaway here is, though, that is the White House actually acknowledging the problems that are out there for them. Is he just deflecting and saying, giving the, you know, political answers, or are they like some previous White Houses and actually not aware of how people are hurting?

That was one of the issues, great question about the Biden administration because there was a lack of awareness, Bidenomics, who thought that was a great idea. So, I think that the question is, how much is the president actually hear about the real challenges? And that is, I'm not sure, but James Blair knows the real challenges.

BASH: He does. And he said, look, we know history. I'm a student of history. I understand how it usually works in a midterm for any president, Democrat or Republican. But to your point about what the numbers are, there's the economic numbers, and then there is where the president's standing is right now.

I'm going to put back up what I referred to with him, this latest AP poll from your shop. Seung Min, disapproval of President Trump's handling of his job as president, 67 percent, two thirds disapprove, cost of living 76 percent, that's three quarters, the economy 70, 67 for Iran, 59. And then look at the right in red. Those are his fellow Republicans, usually for him, those are very high numbers for approval, low numbers for disapproval. And it's not where they are right now.

So given that this is going to be a test, as I said to him at the end of that interview, of whether or not the president now can be different from his predecessor in convincing people that they feel better or that there is something better on the horizon than they actually feel when they go to the polls.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Right. And it's also going to be a test of whether this Trump White House can make the midterms a choice election, rather than the referendum that it usually is on a president. Because if it is a referendum, then it's going to be a very difficult task for them, considering what we -- considering the poll numbers that you put up there from the Associated Press.

But also just what we've seen in terms of the primary so far, the energy coming from Democratic voters and the turnout in these primary races, which is why, I mean, there was one point where James talked about, got a little bit into the contrast point where he was talking about what Democrats would do for voters versus Republicans.

But again, in a midterm that is always a very difficult challenge. I was also very struck by the points earlier on in the interview about the spending, particularly in Virginia, because that was a concern that I got. I'm sure you guys heard from Republicans that the Trump apparatus was sitting on tons of money and had spent nothing on the effort.

Now you don't want to nationalize the election, and I get that strategy, but there was some quiet gumbling about what is he going to do with all this money. And the fact that he said the president is going to spend in the coming months, we'll watch just to see what happens next.

BASH: I mean, that's been a huge issue.

KIM: Yeah, that's right.

BASH: This giant war chest.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, James Blair is clearly dancing around the issue. He was saying, I'm not going to preview what we're going to do. I mean, come on. You're talking about spending money like, it's not as though we're asking for a play by play. Are you going to spend money in the race or not? He danced around that question, kind of eventually alluding to President Trump spending some of the money, but they're being very cagey on purpose.

And I do want to go back to what you and Jeff were just discussing, which is, who knows that the economy is an issue? President Trump might not know. It is unclear. When you hear him talk, he seems to be frustrated with the fact that Americans keep saying they're struggling when he thinks the economy is doing well.

But there are at least two people in that White House, one of them James Blair, who just left the White House to run this apparatus. And the other is the Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, who has been all over this, saying, this is a huge problem. Iran is a huge problem. Iran is a huge problem because it is leading to higher gas prices. Higher gas prices are something that now we have to fight against. When that was the one thing we had going for us when it came to affordability. They are very aware of those poll numbers. And, you know, you hear them saying, oh, we don't look at those polls. They're not right.

[12:25:00]

The one part of that poll that's going to stand out to anyone in that White House is the part about the economy. That is what they are looking most closely at. They see that that is what got President Trump into office. They also know that is likely what's going to help Republicans lose in the midterms.

BASH: Yeah, no question. Let's talk a little bit more about the redistricting fight that's happening and particularly what we saw last night in Virginia, which was a win for Democrats. First, just the current status of the redistricting efforts in many of these states, what the total is. Right now, we expect it will be plus nine for Republicans, plus 10 for Democrats, a virtual wash after all of these fights in all of these states.

And what I want to ask you about Jeff, is the concern that is quiet right now by some Republicans that the changes in the maps, even and especially in Republican states, could dilute the Republican vote in what were really solidly Republican seats, so that people who are not necessarily wouldn't be concerned about losing to a Democrat, maybe are now because they've lost some of the Republican constituencies.

Let me just read what Hakeem Jeffries said about this in a statement last night, and this is looking ahead to Florida. If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pickup opportunities from Democrats, just as they did with Trump's dummymander in Texas. We will aggressively target for defeat, Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Gimenez, Kat Cammack, rather, Anna Paulina Luna, Laure Lee, and it goes on to the other Republicans in Florida. We're prepared to take them all on, and we're prepared to win.

I know our colleague Manu Raju just caught up with Gimenez, who said that he's worried about that.

ZELENY: There's no doubt. I mean, if you water down the our side, the our share of this district, it makes their races more competitive. So, this will certainly come into play in Florida here. There is no doubt about it. I mean, there is no such thing as a safe Republican seat unless you probably are in a district where the president won by more than double digits, not just 10 percent, and so that is why this Florida thing is at issue.

I thought what James Blair said about Florida, effectively not saying much at all, was fascinating. He said, I would not want to presume to tell the governor what to do. Since when. I mean, this White House is, as Florida --

(CROSSTALK)

ZELENY: Well exactly. They do not want to take ownership of this Florida situation, but it's harder in Florida to redraw the masks. You simply can't just do it to willy nilly there, but they can probably get a couple seats out of Florida. But at the end of the day, this whole redistricting gambit has largely been a wash, and it has fired up Democrats.

BASH: And I just want to clarify what Carlos Gimenez said to Manu. He said that he doesn't like the idea of redistricting. He didn't specifically say that he was worried about his own chances for reelection.

Don't go anywhere, guys. Up next. A new deadline for Iran. We have new reporting inside President Trump's push to restart negotiations.

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