CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell

Interview

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[20:22:04]

BLITZER: Democrats may have won back the White House. But if Republicans and the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell maintain their grasp of the U.S. Senate, President-elect Joe Biden's agenda potentially could face some serious gridlock.

Democratic congresswoman of Michigan, Debbie Dingell is joining us right now.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. The Democrats won the presidency but you lost seats in the House of Representatives, several seats. The Senate remains up for grabs right now. There'll be some runoffs in early January in Georgia. So what lessons, main lessons, do you take away from what happened?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Well, for starters, I'm asking my colleagues not to be judgmental. But we need to understand why so many people did vote for Donald Trump. And I think we still -- look, we won Michigan. I told you it would be tight. And women voted quite frankly in very significant numbers. Black women and white women. But we didn't get all the union workers back. So I think it's going to force us to work together.

We're going to have to bring all parts, our Democratic Party who is not as united as I wish it could be some days. And it's going to force us to listen to each other and try to find ways to get some really important things for the American people done.

BLITZER: Yes. The president-elect, he managed to recreate that so- called blue wall, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, winning all three of those states. And I'm just looking at the latest numbers we're getting from your state of Michigan. Biden won in Michigan, 50.5 percent to 47.9 percent. He won by 147 -- almost 148,000 votes. Hillary Clinton lost Michigan in 2016 by 10,704 votes.

So what did Biden do right in Michigan and Hillary Clinton do wrong?

DINGELL: So I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think that there was an enthusiasm gap four years ago. And certainly Joe Biden knew that and started paying attention to all three of the states that you just talked about in far more detail. Four years ago, trade was a major issue. This year, I would say there were two issues that people voted on. The economy and COVID. Well, people were not happy with the way that President Trump handled COVID.

But women have -- I can't tell you. I mean, remember the weekend after the inaugural when a 60-year-old woman stopped, we had 20,000 people in the (INAUDIBLE) in Ann Arbor for the Women's March four years ago and I think that's when a lot of this started to build. What you actually saw on election day, say, I've never been involved in politics. I didn't vote this election. I'll never do that again.

I just think in the end the way women have a lot of issues that they are the caregivers. They haven't liked the way that COVID has been treated.

[20:25:02]

Many of them have had to leave the workforce. Many of them are the frontline workers that aren't getting the attention, being paid what they need, don't have equipment that they need. And I think that that's ultimately what delivered Michigan.

BLITZER: There is a serious divide in the Democratic Party, as you well know, Congresswoman Dingell. Your colleague, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed it here on CNN earlier today when she spoke to Jake Tapper.

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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): There are at least an inhouse caucus very deep divisions within the party, and I believe that we need to really come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart. You know, as you mentioned, we have a slimmer Democratic majority. It's going to be more important than ever for us to work together and not fight each other.

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BLITZER: A lot of -- several Democrats, Democratic representatives, moderate Democrats, they lost their bid to Republicans in the election. Your majority in the House of Representatives is dwindling, even though you still maintain a slight majority.

How divided is the Democratic Party in the House right now?

DINGELL: Well, I was really glad to hear her say that. And I agree with her. I think we're going to have to bring people together. You know, I have already -- I come from Michigan, the auto industry, environmental issues, CAFE standards, are going to be very important. Green New Deal didn't have labor at the table four years or two years ago. I'm sorry. I went to AOC months ago and said, we've got to put everybody at the table.

We've got to talk about jobs and the goals of the Green New Deal are right. But how do we reach that common ground? She's very open to that. You know, I think that we cannot be divided. Republicans, that's what Donald Trump has done for four years, try to pit us against each other. I think that there is no better person to be president of the United States than Joe Biden right now because he has a history of working across the aisle.

He knows how to listen. He knows how to build coalitions. And we all have to be part of trying to bring this country back together and quite frankly, delivering on some really critical issues that we have not addressed and need to get addressed quickly.

BLITZER: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thanks so much for joining us.

DINGELL: Thank you.

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