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Inside Politics

What's Next For Democrats After Summer Of Divisive Primaries?; 79 Days Left: Will GOP Welcome Trump On The Trail? Interview with South Dakota Independent Senate Candidate Brian Bengs; Dems Elevate Latinos and Indigenous Voters to 2028 Stage; Corn Dogs and Pork Chops: Politicos Flock to Iowa Fair. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 16, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:48]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Independents' day.

Another week, another mixed message for Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got a lot of work to do.

ZELENY: We'll check in on a place where their brand is so toxic. They're hoping independent candidates can seal the deal.

Plus, save the date. As the 2028 Democrats start laying plans, their party reshuffles the primary calendar. Will it boost progressives or moderates?

And, political chops. A time honored tradition at the fair where Trump's political career once took off? Now, is he unsettling his party?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll never apologize. I did the right thing.

ZELENY: INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): Good morning. And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Jeff Zeleny, in today for Manu Raju.

It has been a jam-packed summer filled with a string of messy Democratic primaries, and it's been shining a spotlight on a very pressing question: Is the direction of the Democratic Party any more clear with those races in the rearview mirror? Now, left-leaning progressive candidates are clearly gaining steam, most notably in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed narrowly clinched his party's nomination in a must win Senate race. But in Wisconsin, a very different story, where a Democratic socialist lost her bid for governor, leading the establishment to breathe a sigh of relief with David Crowley, the nominee for governor in a top battleground.

So what has the Democrats divisive summer taught us about their upcoming fall fights and beyond?

To explore that question, I'm joined by a trio of excellent journalists: Jasmine Wright of "NOTUS"; "Politico's" Dasha Burns; and Bloomberg's Nia-Malika Henderson.

Good morning, everyone.

Well, so much to discuss about this, but wow, what a summer.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, what a summer. Listen, change is in the air. That is what we're seeing in these primaries. Incumbent House members who've been on the ballot haven't really fared well.

And you've had people like El Sayed win in Michigan, a different story, obviously, in Wisconsin. I think one of the stories about that race is she sort of ran a terrible campaign.

ZELENY: Francesca Hong.

HENDERSON: Francesca Hong.

DASHA BURNS, HOST, POLITICO'S "THE CONVERSATION WITH DASHA BURNS": Candidate quality matters.

HENDERSON: Candidate -- yeah. And that's sort of a truism in politics. And so she came up short. The establishment there really led by the governor, struck back and David Crowley was able to win.

So I think that is a lesson. The other lesson is the party is moving to the left. There is a generational schism. There is an ideological schism. And people want attitude and boldness. And people who meet the moment with a message that moves the country in a different way.

ZELENY: For sure. If we look a little bit deeper into these results, just from the past couple of weeks in Michigan and Wisconsin, it also shows this is still a divided Democratic Party, a big tent, there's no doubt, but the Michigan results much narrower than people thought. And in Wisconsin as well, narrower.

But look at the other -- I mean, 160,000 Wisconsin voters chose someone else. That was an unusual contest. But, Dasha, as you look at all of these, I mean, have these divisions sort of shined a light on the -- what's next for the party, or have they simply highlighted the challenges?

BURNS: I think they've highlighted a number of things. First of all, it's not necessarily a clear cut socialist takeover of the Democratic Party, as Republicans are trying to message, but it's also not the establishment winning the party back.

Voters are saying, "I want change. I want you to fight. I also want to believe that you can actually govern."

And what's interesting about both Wisconsin and Michigan is that they had the highest Democratic midterm primary turnout in decades.

And so this fight within the Democratic family, the family fight, might actually be like encouraging people to come out and getting more voices to the table rather than suppressing it.

ZELENY: And, Jasmine, as you talk to people at the White House, that clearly must be a notable just this surge in enthusiasm. I mean, Democrats have set records in most states in terms of number of voters coming out.

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, certainly that's why you saw the polls specifically in Wisconsin. But even some of those internals that we saw in Michigan not able to actually capture how Democrats felt in the state in the -- in the -- in the vote totals because of this massive surge.

[08:05:10]

Of course, the people at the White House are watching this. They're watching everything that's happening on the Democratic side as they try to put the pieces in place. On the Republican side, I think people at the White House feel a bit relieved to know that after the midterm primaries, what is true, for the most part, is that the president's endorsement is fundamentally the most important thing that you can get in the party. And they will wield that power in No -- come November.

But on the Democratic side, you're seeing so many of these party issues unsettled. Now, when you talk to officials in the Democratic Party, frankly, they're just happy that they got through some of these bruising primaries. But of course, what could be more difficult was what comes after November, when some of these questions perhaps are settled, those age generation questions, the Israel -- anti-Israel sentiment in the party, what happens after that when they actually have to coalesce and put together an agenda for 2028?

ZELENY: It's such a good point. And as we've been having conversations with voters in Michigan, Wisconsin states all across the country, what they're saying is so clear to this question is really not resolved versus a progressive establishment. They simply want to win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM EICHINGER, WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I don't think they're just fed up with Trump. I think I think they're also fed up with their own party for not going out and doing something bold and creative.

ED FREER, WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Very progressive. I vote a lot on the Democratic side. They got a lot of work to do.

PETER GUNDER, WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC VOTER: My view is as centrist or more centrist candidate can reach out more broadly.

KAREN NEFF, WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I don't think there's anything wrong with being a Democratic socialist, but she's come out so strong that I think she's going to scare people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY : And the voter there in Madison, Karen Neff, was talking about Francesca Hong, and clearly that is what was happening at the end of this race. It was the electability question. But looking ahead to Michigan, that is a must win seat for Democrats.

This new Fox News poll has some warning signs for Democrats in terms of his race with Mike Rogers.

But, Nia, look at this independent number here. It's -- it definitely shows where Abdul El-Sayed must gain some ground here among independents. What's his challenge?

HENDERSON: Listen, his challenge -- I'll just be blunt. He is -- he's other, right? He's a Muslim.

They're going to run against him as he's the sort of scary figure. Where is he from? Where is he really from? Where are his real leanings?

You know, he's not a Democratic socialist, but they're going to, you know, sort of tie him to that wing of the party as much as they can. You know, this is a very white state. It's an older state.

Sure. There, you know, there's Detroit and there's some African Americans there as well, as well as Arab Americans. I think it's something like three percent Arab American.

But he has got real, real challenges. He sort of has to get out of the sort of online hall of mirrors, probably focus a bit less on Israel, probably not be as trollish as he has been online and sort of this like, oh, I'm going to challenge you to a football game. I think he actually did that with Mike Rogers. Average voters don't want that.

ZELENY: I mean, clearly, his campaign is trying to introduce himself as others candidates are as well. We noticed these two ads that have a bit of a trend of what these candidates are trying to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where did Abdul El-Sayed come from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE & FEMALE: Here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where his grandparents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We helped raise him. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He became a doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He always wanted to help people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: This is my pawpaw.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Jimmy is my grandson.

TALARICO: As a Baptist preacher in south Texas, he taught me to follow the two great commandments. Love God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And love your neighbor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So clearly turning to their grandparents there to do what, Dasha? What's the point?

BURNS: I actually think this is a really interesting strategy because as we talk about one of the central fights here, one of the central divides, which is generational, right? What I think these ads are trying to say is I'm generational change, but I'm not rejecting your generation or past generations. And it's giving roots, right?

Something that voters do look for. I mean, I think the more that that candidates can actually localize these elections rather than nationalize, the more successful they will be. So, if Abdul El-Sayed, if James Talarico, if any of these guys, they focus in on what voters in their states, in their districts want, which right now we know is the economy, it's not an argument about Israel.

It's not an argument about football. It's an argument about, can I pay my rent? Can we build more housing? Can we afford groceries?

And guess what? Their grandparents are worried about that too. And they're worried about that for their grandkids. And so, it kind of ties all of this stuff together and says, don't, don't be so scared of me. I'm not -- I'm not going to freak out your grandma.

ZELENY: Right. And the White House and Republicans clearly have been trying to brand all of these Democratic candidates. The president talks about communists.

[08:10:00]

But there's also a trend emerging in Republican ads trying to suggest all Democrats are the same.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Socialists are taking over the Democrat Party. You used to know.

AD NARRATOR: Denise Powell made her name in New York City and Los Angeles, a political operative for the far left dark money machine trying to transplant her radical left policies. Here.

AD NARRATOR: Socialist Amit Shah, he's with AOC, Ilhan Omar, the Squad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, look, they're trying to effectively paint a broad brush. All Democratic candidates there. Is that the best option the White House has at this point, do you think?

WRIGHT: It might be. I mean, especially when you look at the prices. I mean, we actually explored this in our newsletter, whether or not the right saying that Democrats are socialists and communists is kind of the new argument that the left employed when we talked about democracy in 2024, which I think for a lot of voters fell flat because it wasn't connected to their everyday lives, it wasn't connected to the economy.

And so, you actually had some officials on the right after Zohran Mamdani's win in New York saying communism, socialism, attacking Democrats. And that perhaps will not be enough. We need to stand on affordability, but we're not actually seeing Republicans do that right now. And I think it was actually in one of your interviews that that that that was said.

And so, I think that there is this idea that you can get the American populous to get on your side on these big tent issues about socialism and communism. And it might work a little bit, but does it work more than affordability? I'm not quite sure.

ZELENY: There's no doubt.

BURNS: Can they make grocery bills less scary than socialism?

WRIGHT: Exactly.

ZELENY: I mean, that certainly is one of the many questions.

President Trump is dipping his toe into the campaign waters. But do Republican candidates actually want him to dive in? We have new reporting on his plans.

Plus, a rematch. There's a new battle brewing between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:17]

ZELENY: And Republicans have a question that they must answer before the midterm elections in just 79 days. Will they welcome a largely unpopular president onto the campaign trail?

Here's a taste of what President Trump said while appearing in New York on Friday alongside the GOP candidate for governor, Bruce Blakeman, with his attorney general and FBI director in tow. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In 2025, we achieved the single largest reduction in violent crime in American history. The communists want to turn America into a third world country, into a hellhole of crime and filth. For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a country, really, it's the number one state sponsor of terror in the world.

We don't want to have them have a nuclear weapon. I'll never apologize. I did the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: A tiny little bit more for gasoline. You have a sense that that may be coming in a Democratic ad near you.

I mean, Dasha, is this what Republicans want to hear from their president?

BURNS: I was watching those clips and I was like, point one. Okay, that's right, point two. Good. That's what -- that's what your strategists want you to say. And then points three and four. Oh, there it goes off the rails. I mean, this is the challenge in deploying Trump on the campaign trail is he is going to do what he's going to do.

Listen, I think that you're going to see him really surgically deployed, right, in those areas where people -- where Republicans really want that base turnout, he does turn people out. And when he's not on the ballot, there's serious concern that those sort of disaffected voters, those low propensity voters that he won in 24, won't come out.

So, I think they're going to send him. But when it comes to like places with voters that need to be persuaded or suburbs or swing areas, I think that's where you're going to see some surrogates instead because of exactly what you just showed there.

ZELENY: I mean, sources are telling our White House team here that Trump finally has the green light to go ahead. Let's take a look at a passage from our White House team story this weekend. Said he loves to travel, but he hates to travel, said one of his advisers.

Trump has recently told his closest aides that he wants to be out more stumping for GOP candidates, but advisers acknowledge his enthusiasm could evaporate just as quickly. We'll see how long that lasts, the adviser said. Once he's traveling, he's like, why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENY: I mean, Jasmine, you work at the White House every day you know --

BURNS: So classic, so classic. WRIGHT: Yeah. Look, there's -- the conversations I've been having

with Republican strategists around the White House have been twofold. When is the president going to be more focused on the midterms, and when is he going to start spending his huge --

BURNS: Never.

WRIGHT: -- chest money and the attention? That's their fear, of course, that's their fear. And so, I think you're starting to see some of these questions perhaps be answered, at least here and there.

The White House at one point said that the president is expected to be traveling multiple times a week for the midterm elections. We haven't yet seen that so far. Right now, I think he is averaging kind of like one trip every ten or so days on domestic policies.

Of course, people inside the White House want him to focus more on that. So even if he's not out there stumping with candidates, at least he can be somewhere else talking about the economy. But the question is, what can you say about the economy and saying you're just going to pay a little bit more at the pump is not necessarily motivating.

ZELENY: I mean, that is still ringing in the ears, but I cannot forget this quote from Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, who last year promised the president would be everywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSIE WILES, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We're going to put him on the campaign trail, too. Typically, you -- in the midterms, it's not about who's sitting at the White House. It's you localize the election and you and you keep the federal officials out of it.

[08:20:01]

We're actually going to turn that on its head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.

WILES: And put him on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Well, he's on the ballot, Nia. Is that good or bad?

HENDERSON: Yeah. Listen, it's bad.

And listen, Trump is 80 years old. He is in his interior decorator phase, right? He wants to be at the White House thinking about ballroom renovations, thinking about the Kennedy Center takeover. And he doesn't -- he doesn't want to travel.

BURNS: The arch.

HENDERSON: Yeah. The arch as well. Hopefully that never sees the light of day. But yeah, that's what he wants to do. Listen what I don't know, we saw

that clip from him in New York was Mike Lawler there.

Did he want to appear on stage with Donald Trump? He, of course, is in this swing district. And yeah, I mean, if you're Mike Lawler, if you're one of these Republicans that has to persuade, as you were saying, then you don't want him out there. But the other thing is he is the only person who can gin up that base of voters, some of whom are disaffected at this point by Donald Trump as well.

ZELENY: And the question is, is he ginning up voters on both sides?

HENDERSON: Yeah.

ZELENY: I mean, he probably is. But there's also more primaries. We're not quite done.

And the White House is watching all of these, obviously very carefully. But just coming up this month, the Alaska senate primary, obviously very interesting with that South Carolina special election, the president is all in on supporting Darline Graham, who's running now against Congressman Ralph Norman.

And Nikki Haley, the president's former top advisor and fan. And she's supporting Ralph Norman here.

Dasha, do you think that we will see President Trump make a stop in South Carolina before that runoff next week? Or how's the White House watching this?

BURNS: It's a great question because of Lindsey Graham. I think we could potentially see him go there. But again, the travel piece remains a big question mark.

I mean, I sat down with Speaker Mike Johnson in Arizona. He has been to like 18 states over the course of the last month, like stumping like crazy and very delicately doing this dance of talking about the economy and trying to convince voters that, like, don't worry so much about this big thing over there in the Middle East.

Darline Graham has Trump's endorsement, Ralph Norman has Nikki Haley's endorsement, which for MAGA voters is not interesting. But this is really a battle of like Trump's endorsement power versus sort of a more traditional conservative establishment candidate.

ZELENY: It's going to be so fascinating to watch. Alaska also is, it's the 50th state, obviously, but with a very unusual primary.

Take a look at the ballot here that Alaska voters are going to see this week. Not one Dan Sullivan, but two Dan Sullivan's and Mary Peltola as well, the Democrat candidate there.

Over the weekend, the Peltola campaign said thanks, but no thanks to Kamala Harris. Look at this. "The New York Times" is reporting that s she said no thanks to Kamala Harris's support, who st out a fundraising note basically over the weekend. Jasmine, you logged a lot of miles --

WRIGHT: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

ZELENY: -- with Vice President Harris.

What do you make of that saying we're good?

WRIGHT: It's certainly interesting. I mean, look, this is not a race in which a lot of people across the country know about, but perhaps they will now. I've talked to a lot of voters over the last two years, since that 2024 election, who say they may not want Kamala to run again, but they do still in some ways feel that she got an unfair shake because of the circumstances of her run after Biden dropped out and, you know, 107 days.

And so -- and so, I think for a part of the Democratic Party, this is just not appreciated. It's on -- it's unclear whether or not it's going to be helpful for Mary Peltola's national profile. But at a certain point, Democrats need to win, right? That is the -- that is their viewpoint. That is certainly Kamala Harris's viewpoint on a lot of these races. And so, if rejecting something like this is going to help her win in the end, you know, what can people say about it?

BURNS: And again, Peltola is trying to localize this race. She doesn't want to be associated with any national Democrats.

ZELENY: Fish and faith is what she wants to talk about.

WRIGHT: Right.

BURNS: That's right.

ZELENY: And one more primary on our radar this week is the Florida primary. And because they changed their House districts earlier in the year in the redistricting wars that seem like a different election cycle ago, there are all kinds of different maps.

Take a look at this in Florida 19, how many former members of congress are running in this Republican primary? It is really a extraordinary there. Madison Cawthorn, of course, a former member from North Carolina, so many others. The president has endorsed a Catalina Lauf there.

But -- and on the Democratic side, in a different district, a very fascinating race going on with Debbie Wasserman Schultz is running in a new district.

BURNS: Yes.

ZELENY: Look at that screen there. And she is obviously a longtime member of Congress, but she's running in a district that doesn't exactly look like her.

BURNS: Yes, yes. There you go.

ZELENY: So what do you make of this?

HENDERSON: Well, listen, the CBC is not happy with this. And, you know, the CBC is facing basically a slaughter -- slaughtering of their membership. I think it's at 61 now. They could lose something like 19. And there you have Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

ZELENY: Because of the redistricting.

HENDERSON: Because of the redistricting. And she wanted to run in this race. She could have run in another race.

And so, yeah, there is a lot of anger towards her. We'll see what that looks like when folks cast their ballot, whether or not she's able to sort of use, you know, she's got a lot of money, she's got some name id as well. But again, the CBC is side-eyeing her because, you know, she could end up having this seat. And it's just going to complicate their membership.

ZELENY: On Tuesday night, that will be one to watch. There's no doubt about it in south Florida.

Okay. Not red, not blue, just you. That's the message my next guest, an independent senate candidate, is wearing proudly on a pin. He's part of a red state trend where Democrats have cleared the way for like-minded independents to run for Senate. I'll ask him why he thinks they can pull it off.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:32]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN HOST: Now, South Dakota is hardly friendly terrain for Democrats these days. The Mount Rushmore State hasn't sent a Democrat to Washington for more than a decade. So that's why Air Force veteran Brian Bengs, an Independent, thinks the time has come for South Dakota to send an Independent to the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BENGS (I), SOUTH DAKOTA SENATE CANDIDATE: Independent candidates are our only real shot at saving the country. Senate control will keep flipping between Red and Blue until there's an Independent caucus big enough to interrupt the pattern.

The survival of the party became more important than the survival of the people, the community, the family, the human being.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And he isn't alone. In two other red states -- Nebraska and Idaho -- Democrats have also dropped their Senate bids and are urging voters to support the Independent.

And Brian Bengs joins me now from South Dakota. Mr. Bengs, thank you very much for being here.

You ran for Senate in 2022 as a Democrat, but this year you're running as an Independent. Are you really an Independent or worried about the Democratic brand in your state?

BENGS: Well, I'm actually worried about good government. I was -- I registered as an Independent when I turned 18. So back when George H.W. Bush was first running for president. And I registered as a Democrat to run as a Democrat when I saw that the party was setting up to let John Thune, the current majority leader, or the United States Senate, just coast to reelection, seemingly with no competitor.

So I thought somebody had to do something, and I was somebody. And, you know, I took the reins.

ZELENY: But you are running with the backing of the Democratic Party, which helped push out your former Democratic rival. Does that cause any suspicion among voters about what side you align with?

BENGS: Well, the -- Mike Rounds is going to try to portray me as a Democrat. And I would note that I'm not running with the backing of the Democratic Party in the sense that they have formally endorsed me. They have declined to endorse me.

So, there's plenty of Democrats that are unhappy with me because as you point out, like, oh, you were a Democrat.

I was an Independent in disguise. You know, Mike Rounds is going to try to lay me a Democrat in disguise. But I've been an Independent with the exception of the 13 months that I registered to run as the Democratic nominee.

Learned quite a bit then and more confident than ever that Independents is the answer to fixing what ails America.

ZELENY: I mean, you are one of several candidates in the Midwest and the West running as an Independent. And you say that you hope to deny a majority to either party. What do you mean by that?

BENGS: Yes, because the Senate is so closely divided between Team Red and Team Blue, if you can get just a handful -- a handful of Independents in there that denies either team a majority, then we become the fulcrum through which if you want to move anything through the Senate, you're going to need it, need us. And there's going to be a price for that.

And we want good government reforms. For example, a national ban on gerrymandering would be something that we would pursue.

But the other opportunity would be if Team Red and Team Blue would work together, which they will not do, they could bypass us, but that would be a win unto itself.

ZELENY: So you're saying if Democrats narrowly won the majority, you would not caucus with them? BENGS: No. I plan to caucus with the Independents. And right now I'm

not planning to vote for majority leader for either John Thune or Chuck Schumer, because at this point, I'll probably vote for Dan Osborne.

ZELENY: But that means that you would give up your committee seats potentially as well. Is that an argument that you have to make to South Dakota voters that this could effectively water down their representation in the state?

BENGS: No, I'm actually going to water up their representation in the state, to turn a phrase again, by virtue of if we get multiple Independents into the United States Senate, we become the power bloc.

So it is a new concept that we're trying to sell here. And if I was just running by myself and me alone as an Independent, yes, you would be right. But because there are more, and I anticipate more of us will be elected then we become the power bloc.

ZELENY: Obviously, in a state like South Dakota, which I think President Trump won by 63 percent or so, there are a lot of Republicans there.

[08:34:49]

ZELENY: To win you clearly need to win over some of these Republican voters. Why would they back you over Senator Mike Rounds? And is it frustration with Trump policies that you are hoping for to win over some of that support?

BENGS: Well, my big focus from the start has been on the corruption of our government, big money controlling our politics. And so when I go out and I talk to people and I say, you know, I asked them, do you think our government is functioning as the founders intended, as the Constitution is designed?

And typically they're going to chuckle and then they say, no. And then I'm able to engage them with the conversation. Do you think big money is controlling our elected officials in the sense that they're doing what people who write them large checks want more so than us lowly voters?

And basically to a person, of the thousands of people I've talked to -- left, right, and the middle -- everybody agrees that's a problem.

And I'm billing myself as a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, old-school Republican who believes in busting up corporate monopolies, getting big money out of politics, and having billionaires pay a higher tax rate than their secretaries. And people agree with me on that -- left, right, middle.

ZELENY: You also have a long record of military service here in the U.S. Air Force and the Navy as well. Moving to foreign affairs here, do you believe the Iran war is winnable?

BENGS: Well, we -- I'll preface this by saying that the war should not have taken place. But at this point, the way we got into this without Congress voting, using their authority to declare war or to declare authorizing military action, then, we've kind of handicapped ourselves going into it.

So could it be won? Ultimately, but the price you're going to pay if you want to win it again, we don't know what the definition is of winning, that's the biggest problem. And that would have been fleshed out in advance if Congress had done its job.

But the price that we're going to pay in blood and treasure to win, what I assume is the goal here, I don't think we're willing to pay that -- the American people are willing to pay that.

So when you haven't sold the war in advance, the objectives and what the end game is, then no, I don't think so.

ZELENY: You also have talked a lot about data centers. Do you support a moratorium on building new data centers in South Dakota?

BENGS: Well, I've come out strong against data centers. I would not want one within two or three miles of my house, certainly. And I know a lot of people don't.

But I don't necessarily want to stand in the way. If a local community wants a data center, as long as there's a popular vote that says, yes, we welcome it, I would support it.

But short of that, yes, I'm not going to be supportive. So I'm going to join the governor of Texas in saying, yes, maybe we should put a hold on this.

ZELENY: And I just have to ask you, since you were born in Iowa, you live in South Dakota right now. I mean, back in the day, not that long ago, Democrats represented -- Democrats had a senator from Iowa, from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska -- my home state as well.

What has happened to the Democratic brand as you talk to voters out there? And do you believe that -- that things have changed forever? Is this a phenomenon in the Trump era? What's your assessment of that?

BENGS: I would say, uh, modern media environment. So my experience, well, going back to 2022, I would walk up to people, up to people wearing Trump hats. I knew what the end was going to be, but it was at least entertaining to do it.

So engaging South Dakota voters, coming up to them and saying, hey, I'm going to guarantee with 100 percent certainty that you and I will agree on at least two, but probably three big things.

And then I'd run down my list, boom, boom, boom, typically it was all three. We get to the end and I say, can I count on your vote in November?

And the first words out of their mouth were, so what are you? And then when you say, well, I'm a lifelong Independent, but I'm running as a Democrat. I'll never vote for a Democrat, sometimes with an expletive in there,

and that was it. We had just agreed and had a good conversation on big issues.

And then they did not want to talk to me anymore and said, I will not support you because of the letter beside your name. That is the problem.

ZELENY: Right.

Well, sir, thank you very much for joining us this morning. We'll keep an eye on your and other Independent races out there in the middle of the country.

Have a great day.

BENGS: I appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me.

ZELENY: Coming up next, trading in the snow of New Hampshire for the sunshine and palmetto trees in South Carolina and the chillis of New Mexico.

Democrats have a brand-new primary calendar for 2028 that prioritized the party's diversity. Which candidates have the most to gain? That's next.

[08:39:35]

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ZELENY: It's official. The Democrats' 2028 primary calendar is now set. The Democratic National Committee voted yesterday to make South Carolina their first primary state, knocking New Hampshire out of first place. Nevada is now second, followed by New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia.

Now, Democrats say they want their first states to be more diverse, more like the makeup of the country rather than Iowa or New Hampshire, which of course are overwhelmingly white. But the switch could also have major implications.

My panel is back.

Nia, obviously you're from South Carolina. South Carolina delivered this for Joe Biden.

[08:44:47]

ZELENY: What could it do in the future in terms of this divide between kind of different factions of the Democratic Party?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL AND POLICY COLUMNIST: Listen, I mean, you're going to have to drill down on African-American voters in South Carolina. And that means centrism (ph), right?

I mean, if you think about Iowa, the caucus there, that's much more sort of activist wing of the party. It's obviously much whiter than South Carolina.

You know, you think about South Carolina. It delivered for Joe Biden, also delivered for Barack Obama, right? And that sort of slew of southern states.

But it's definitely a different Ideological makeup down there, as well as the racial makeup as well being different.

ZELENY: Such a good point about Obama. You and I both remember this because we covered that campaign. But he didn't start to rise in South Carolina until he won the Iowa caucuses.

So it's always been these puzzle pieces that are going to look slightly different.

And New Mexico, certainly a different state here in the calendar. Let's look at some of the demographics and the issues in New Mexico the Democratic presidential candidates might be facing there.

It's the -- it definitely has an economic -- some economic challenges. It's 50th in the nation for hourly earnings growth. The 49th for academic test scores, 43rd for life expectancy.

Almost half of all voters in New Mexico are Latino. And Native American voters also are very important and big and might be a registration opportunity for Democrats.

Jasmine, as you think about this, I mean, you covered a lot of primaries, but New Mexico is not one of the places you've been. What could this do for the campaign?

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I think it opens up a whole new arena for Democrats to craft some language around this. Obviously, we know that the Latino vote was a big problem for Democrats in 2024. It was a significant shift over to President Trump because he was talking about immigration, because he was talking about affordability.

That's something that Democrats say that they want to get back to. I think you're seeing them prioritize affordability in the midterms. So it does open up another -- a new horizon for Democrats to try to hone their message for a group of people who they believe is a -- is an important part of their coalition.

I'll just say about South Carolina. I mean, I think you're seeing -- you're hoping or you're seeing Democrats hope to have the same outcome that we saw in Wisconsin, which is that the black more conservative, although, you know, I think you can go back to David Crowley's bona fides. Candidate rises in difference to a DSA-style candidate.

And so I think you're seeing them try to rewrite the map, them trying to put who they believe are the Democrats' biggest or best voting bloc, which is Democratic women.

Some Democrats, excuse me, black Democratic women first. But of course, you're going to see these kind of new horizons with New Mexico and perhaps other places down the map.

ZELENY: And as we know, New Hampshire is not first there. State law says they have to be. We will see what actually happens with that.

But Dasha, I want you to watch this video of the California governor in Michigan. He paid an early visit to Michigan this week to see Gretchen Whitmer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: -- in front of my face. I'm a little more thoughtful of the words I'm going to choose.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Wow. Ok. All right. So you are running.

WHITMER: Shut up. You are a pain.

NEWSOM: It's kind of -- come on. It's fun to be on the other side of the mic.

WHITMER: So how early into next year did you -- do you declare your candidacy for president?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So he was in Michigan for a reason. But how does the calendar like this affect someone like Governor Newsom?

DASHA BURNS, POLITICO WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF: I mean, it requires a different kind of skill set. And what Democrats have done with this new calendar is actually given some key coalitions, some of which they have started to lose their due -- whether that's black voters, Latino voters, working class, labor, right. And Democrats that are trying to run for president are actually going to have to do really well with all of those.

And Gavin Newsom, interestingly, in Michigan, made a few missteps. Like he didn't visit some key members of the Black Caucus there that that he should have.

He didn't talk to Debbie Dingell. She says she feels like it's because she's a car girl. And of course, that's really important there. So it's going to take a different skill set.

ZELENY: There's no doubt the biggest change we have seen. Thank you very much.

The famous Iowa State Fair is underway. Which political figures are headed there this year? That's next.

[08:48:57]

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ZELENY: Across the country Ferris Wheels are spinning, livestock is on display, and everything from Oreos to corn dogs are being fried and consumed.

From Indiana to Iowa to Wisconsin, the quintessentially American tradition of the state fair is underway this weekend.

There are time-honored events featuring carnival rides, food on a stick and, in the case of Iowa, a playground for political candidates.

For decades, presidential hopefuls from both parties have paid a visit to the fairgrounds in Des Moines, an early stop on the road to the White House.

It's a chance for candidates to connect with voters who have long enjoyed an outsize role because of the state's early spot on the nominating calendar. And for voters to size up the field and measure authenticity.

And it's long been a place to test retail political skills while trying not to drop critical support or anything else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm afraid to tell you I love hot dogs and hamburgers, but I -- whoa, there goes one. I'll leave it down. Leave it, leave it. Leave it, leave it, leave it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a five seconds. Don't care. It's a five second rule.

[08:54:48]

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I'm happy to be at the Iowa state fair. I got -- how you doing, sir. Good to see you. Got to flip some pork chops and eat some Iowa pork, which is fantastic.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I think the best way to describe this is a little slice of heaven.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And that was then-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, now running for Ohio governor, giving his best Eminem impression back in 2023.

Now, President Trump visited the Iowa fairgrounds last summer but decided against a return this year. Although a handful of his cabinet members are heading to Iowa to campaign with the state's top GOP candidates hoping to keep Iowa red.

Even though 2028 may seem like a long ways off, by next summer, the Iowa state fair lineup will almost certainly offer clues for who is eyeing the presidential race just around the corner.

And that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's

guests include Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

Thank you again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

[08:55:53]

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