Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Today: Trump And Speaker Johnson Campaign In Texas; Johnson Barnstorms Toss-Up Districts In Bid To Hold House; Republicans Privately Worry "Trumpapalooza" Will Be A Bust; 27 New Measles Cases In Maryland Since Mid-July, All Unvaccinated; Could A Democrat Win Iowa Governor's Race For First Time In 20 Years? Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 27, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Can President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson hold him in Texas? They're both there today, trying.

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

Texas has long been the Democrats' white whale, and this year it's also the Republicans' bulwark. President Trump will visit the Lone Star State today to help the Senate seat red -- keep the Senate seat red rather with a long-awaited fundraiser to boost his hand-picked candidate, that's Ken Paxton, who really needs help raising the money.

And House Speaker Mike Johnson is visiting four districts central to holding on to the House for Republicans. All four were redrawn last year to help the GOP's chances, and they are now seats, the president won by double digits in 2024, but they are looking a bit competitive. Johnson said today, he's hoping another big Republican moment in Texas, which is going to happen in two weeks, will make the difference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): OK, so we're going to do a midterm convention, September 9th and 10th. First time in history any party's ever done this. We're going to Dallas, Texas. You all could have been anywhere in the country, and we're going to have everybody there two nights of earned media on national television. The president's going to look right in the camera and say, I am on the ballot. OK, because even though his name isn't right, his administration, his legacy, the American First agenda is, we got to get people to turn up. This is one of the toughest races in America. You all know. We got to fight hard, is it? We cannot take this for granted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My terrific panel is here. Isaac, we heard the president last week say, pretend I'm on the ballot. But to hear the House Speaker just this morning in Texas say that the president is going to use this convention that they're putting together to look into the camera and say, I am on the ballot, pretend I'm on the ballot, is not ratcheting it up a little bit. EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, and certainly something that Democrats would love to hear. They want Donald Trump to be on the ballot. They want this to be in large part a referendum on Donald Trump. They think that in that case, they for all of their continuing internal divisions will be in good shape going into November. It is striking, of course, that Mike Johnson and Donald Trump have to be anywhere near Texas, 60 plus days from the election.

This is -- we spent all of last summer with them redistricting these seats so that they wouldn't be competitive at all. That there is a Republican struggling in a Senate race in Texas is crazy. Kamala Harris did worse than any presidential candidate in Texas going back three or four presidential cycles. There was this Democratic dream, as you reference, to turn Texas blue. They used to call it battleground Texas to 2028. That was the whole plan. After 2024, they thought it was over, and now suddenly it's competitive there.

BASH: What, which is kind of part of the argument that they're making about, you know, make this about President Trump. You're right. Democrats are thrilled with it, but Republicans understand that it helps their base, which is somewhat depressed. Let's start with the Senate race there, because Ken Paxton, the president is going to help him raise money, and it's because Paxton really needs it. Just listen to what he says about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: You go to kenpaxton.com and help us because we need help. I was at $0. He was, you know, he just raised $30 million. I do need help at kenpaxton.com to raise that money so we can compete with him on TV. We're a little behind on the TV. He's gotten on TV. He started in July. I'm catching up. We need as much help as we can get from around the country to win this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, it's interesting because this was the main point of anxiety for many Republicans back when Paxton was facing Cornyn, right? That if you had Paxton actually win and Trump back Paxton, he's a candidate that has a lot of baggage, and it was likely going to require even more money in fundraising.

BASH: There is no cash in that baggage.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. That's right. That's right. And then that money that the president or the RNC might put forward, right, or the president's super PAC and his advisor super PAC and the RNC might put forward, that can't go to other races as well. So, we are seeing what many Republicans were worried about when it comes to Texas, sort of come to fruition --

DOVERE: We haven't seen the president put that and put any of the money that he is --

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. That's right. And that's a big question moving forward too, right? There's a massive windfall there with MAGA Inc. but increasingly you are hearing some Republicans anxious, wondering when is this money going to actually come, right, and will it come?

BASH: Right. And there's money, and then there's -- which usually is related, not always. And then there's just standing in the polls in this Senate race. Talarico, the Democrat currently, according to the University of Texas poll, which was released earlier this week, is at 42 percent, and Paxton is at 39 percent. Again, this is in Texas.

[12:05:00]

Tia, I want to turn to some of the House races, and Isaac's important point about the House speaker is in the state of Texas, even in just kind of a regular year, a year that didn't include major redistricting in order to make districts even more red and more and more secure. But he is there, and he is -- this morning, he is campaigning with De La Cruz -- Monica De La Cruz, and there are several others he's campaigning with. And it's because I think we have -- there you go, we have the polling up there. It's definitely not a sure bet at all for several of these Republicans.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yeah, it's quite interesting. It shows the limitations of trying to draw your way into a majority, but it also shows the limitations of some of Trump's policies that really play to, you know, your white MAGA base, honestly.

But there are voters who supported Trump maybe in 2024, thinking of the Latino voters in Texas, who are now being turned off somewhat by his immigration policies at the border, for example, which is why you see those border districts or South Texas districts in particular being targeted, where Democrats say, hey, we think the Democrats are -- the demographics are now in our favor with a lot of those Latino voters who once supported Trump now saying, hey, I'm regretting that a little bit.

So, I think Republicans are -- because they're trying to remain loyal to Trump, particularly Speaker Johnson, they are being forced to either not read the room or ignore what the room is telling them, and especially when it comes to certain voters that, again, are swingy. And yes, Trump had them on their side -- on his side in 2024, but that momentum has turned significantly because of his -- the economy, the foreign wars, and his immigration policy.

BASH: Yeah, it's true. You said Donald Trump once had support in Texas among these Latino voters. It was a year and a half ago, I mean, it wasn't even that long ago.

DOVERE: That's the data that they used to draw these districts at this point --

BASH: Sure, exactly.

DOVERE: --and that's what seems to have come back to bite them. BASH: Yeah. And let me just put up on the screen what we were looking at was the map. Let's put some of the polling that we have in the -- I guess, I think we have three of the competitive Texas House races. You see, obviously the Democrats are in blue, the Republicans in red. In all three of these, Isaac, you said it. They were drawn to favor Republicans in current polling, doesn't have the Republican winning like at all.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, that's right. I mean, to all of this that we're speaking to does speak to a bit of a predicament for the Republicans moving forward, right? Especially when you look at that polling, which is tied to, I think, economic frustration across the country and the president's low approval numbers, and that's, do you double down on the president and putting him on the ballot, so to say, to try and energize the core MAGA base?

And when you speak to some, you know, advisors of the president, they think that they can get MAGA voters who haven't voted previously to the polls. But does that then come at the risk of alienating some of the independents, some of the constituency groups that you've noted that went to the president just in recent years, does that risk alienating them, right?

There's an interesting thing here where the president's name has been a potent force in Republican politics. Recently, we've seen some mixed results with some of his back candidates, and you have to wonder if that name is now being associated increasingly with an unpopular war, with rising prices, with questions of sort of his political strength, is he now a liability for some of these cases?

BASH: And let's swing back to where we started this conversation, which was Mike Johnson reminding people that they're having this convention in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Our colleagues Adam Cancryn and Kristen Holmes have a story about Republicans worrying that Trump's midterm convention will flop. I've heard people say, why are we doing this? What's going on? said Reb Wayne, a Texas-based Republican consultant. It was a good idea at the time, but as we've gotten closer to it, I'm not sure it's going to serve much benefit.

MITCHELL: Yeah. Because from what we've read the little that we've, you know, learned about the midterm convention is that it's going to be very Trump focused. He's expected to speak both nights. It's expected to be all about, you know, the things that he's done that he thinks are great and selling them to the public and aligning candidates. If there are candidates who take the stage, it'll still be kind of in relationship to Donald Trump.

[12:10:00]

And so, I think there are a lot of Republicans who worry about the optics of that. They also worry, I think, about, you know, the fact that the logistics don't seem to be going great in a lot of rank-and- file voters, a lot of rank-and-file party activists feel left out, and so they worry about empty rooms or who's going to fill the room. And so, there are just a lot of questions that I think a lot of them are like, we wish we could stay away, but they still might not be able to because of the Trump factor.

DOVERE: But it reminds me a little bit of in December of last year in 2025, the president went to Pennsylvania to do what was supposed to be a curtain raiser from talking about the economy into the midterm year and what it was going to be. And he gave a speech that went all over the place. He talked about all sorts of other stuff. The headlines out of it from the Pennsylvania local papers were about him, talking about all those other things, not about the economy for the most part.

And that is the -- always the danger of Donald Trump being at the microphone for Republicans is that you don't know what he's going to talk about and what -- when they want to have voters focused on what has been happening for them economically and whether they can see some way to credit Donald Trump with improvements to the economy, even with grocery prices going up and gas prices going up and all these other things that we know about.

What is the likelihood that Donald Trump stays on message on the economic benefits he's given people?

BASH: I'm going to take that as a rhetorical question.

DOVERE: Yeah. And I think so.

BASH: Don't go anywhere. Coming up, measles is on the rise across America and now linked to two new deaths. A senator whose state is battling an outbreak joins me next. And still ahead, a landmark settlement for Meta. But what does it actually mean for children? Will they be safer? I'll speak to a Republican governor leading the fight against social media companies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: A disease that was declared eliminated in the U.S. is now surging. This week, Pennsylvania health officials announced two measles associated deaths, the first in the U.S. this year. Both people were unvaccinated. One was an infant. Measles also has hit 44 other states and Washington D.C. and that includes Maryland, where officials have declared outbreaks in three counties with 27 new cases since last month.

Joining me now is Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks of the state of Maryland. Thank you so much for being here.

SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS (D-MD): Thank you.

BASH: So, 27 new cases of measles in your state of Maryland, apparently among unvaccinated people. Do state officials know why they were unvaccinated, and are they all from a particular concentrated community? ALSOBROOKS: Well, what we know is that we're seeing a serious surge in these measles cases. This is something I've been discussing since last year. When we've seen the outbreak of measles across our country now, going from 285 cases just in 2024 to over 2,777 cases, and we can tie it directly to the horrific leadership of Secretary Kennedy.

What we have seen is disinformation, misinformation, the conspiracy theories that have frightened families and parents who are making decisions for their children. And so, we have a large number of unvaccinated individuals, including, as you mentioned, children who are dying from a disease that we had eliminated. We put on an elimination status as a 2,000 in our country, and now we're seeing the resurgence of measles.

No one should die of measles in 2026, and so we're seeing in Maryland up from three cases now to just 27 cases this summer. It's horrific, and it's completely preventable. It should not have happened, and it is directly tied, I believe, to the misinformation and disinformation coming out of HHS.

BASH: So, as we just heard you say, you definitely have been blaming the HHS secretary. Maryland does allow parents to opt out of vaccine for religious reasons, which is why I asked you if you know why these individuals chose not to be vaccinated. Three counties with outbreaks, and I'll put them up on the screen here: Cecil County in Maryland, St. Mary's County in Maryland, Carroll County in Maryland. 3.6, 3.5, and 2.6. Those -- that's the religious exemptions that are taken, and statewide, it's just a little over 2 percent.

ALSOBROOKS: Yes. Well, you know what, I don't take issue with parents making decisions for their children, even if it's on a religious basis. What I do take issue with is them not having accurate information about the safety and efficacy of these vaccinations that have been proven to be safe and effective now for generations. What we've heard directly from this secretary is this misinformation about dead fetuses contributing to MMR that there are the substance of it.

It has to do with dead fetuses and other information that has been disproven by doctors and researchers and others who we can trust. And so, what I have really focused on is making sure that families know that unfortunately we can no longer trust the information that has been given. Trust your physicians, trust even the state officials, but that is what we can do, is prevent families from having false information.

BASH: But you are still comfortable with Maryland, allowing exceptions, meaning, you know, Maryland's not the only state that allows exceptions. In fact, most do, but some don't, but you think -- we think that the policy, the rule in Maryland should remain as is.

[12:20:00]

ALSOBROOKS: Again, I do not take issue with parents making decisions for their children, but I think that they ought to have accurate information when they make those decisions. I understand, as you mentioned, some religious exceptions. The truth of the matter is, for the safety of not only those children but other children who have a right to be in environments where they are safe and sound, this is really important.

And we have seen a horrific trend now in our country, where these conspiracy theories that Secretary Kennedy has espoused now for decades have harmed, I believe, our public health systems and caused these families who have to rely on public officials to give them good information. We now see that fewer and fewer are having their children vaccinated and there's just widespread confusion, I think, as a result of this disinformation.

BASH: Just a little bit more about what you are learning about the cases in Maryland. Maryland's health department says some of its first cases in July involved people who traveled to another U.S. measles outbreak. Do you know whether they traveled to Pennsylvania, for example, and then came back.

ALSOBROOKS: I don't have that information, but again, up from three cases to 27 in our state. This is -- this constitutes for us a crisis, which we will address. Luckily, we have Governor Wes Moore. We have a Department of Health that does believe in science and the efficacy of vaccinations, and so we'll continue to urge families to have their children vaccinated and urge them to protect themselves against not only measles, but we have to look at the fact that cyclospora.

Now, we have -- people don't even know what to eat, whether or not it's safe to eat salad, and it is because of the dismantling of these systems that have been in place through HHS to provide the safety that people need to prevent foodborne illnesses, measles. We've seen just so many other issues.

BASH: Well, so you have a bully pulpit, but you also have a position on an important committee in the United States Senate, the committee that oversees HHS and the CDC. You and others say that RFK Jr. should be fired, assuming that the president is not listening to Democrats on issues like that. What tools do you have in committee now to maybe try to push back on or redirect some of these surges, including in your state?

ALSOBROOKS: Well, you're right. I was the first senator to call for Secretary Kennedy to be fired or removed. Unfortunately, he has proven me right all along the way. I believe I have more than a bully pulpit. I have a responsibility, the same responsibility that he has to provide good information to the public. And you ask, what can we do about it? Senator Wyden and I have put together a document where we have now kept track of every single decision made by RFK Jr. and HHS.

Much of it has to do with the dismantling of research, clinical trials, and other things that have harmed the American public. And we have done that because we know the day will come when we have to rebuild what was broken through HHS. And so, that is one of the things we're doing is really keeping an accurate and ongoing accounting of all of the decisions, the vaccination panel that he promised, by the way, under oath that he would not.

He told us that he had no intention of dismantling this particular the ACIP panel, which he promptly did. He said he didn't fire working scientists. He told me this in a hearing, a lied to my face because he had -- in fact, fired about 3,000 working scientists. So, keeping track of all of the lies, the bad decisions that have been made because there will come a day where we're going to build, rebuild what was broken, and when we can once again, trust the word of public officials in healthcare in our country.

BASH: Senator Alsobrooks, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

ALSOBROOKS: Thank you so much. Thank you.

BASH: And if you build it, will they vote? Could Iowa be on the verge of something that hasn't happened in two decades? We have new reporting from the Hawkeye State, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: A Democrat hasn't won the Iowa governor's mansion in 20 years, but the Cook Political Report just moved the governor's race there from toss-up to lean Democrat. CNN's Jeff Zeleny traveled to the Hawkeye State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone over here, kick us off. Pick a note and go.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Rob Sand is asking Iowans to sing in one town after another. An act of patriotism to soften the partisan divide.

ROB SAND, (D) IOWA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Wouldn't that be what politics is like all the time? You get Democrats, Independents, Republicans in a room together, and you say, we agree.

ZELENY: He's trying to do what no Democrat has done for two decades in Iowa, win a governor's race. Do you have to distance yourself from your party to win in a state like Iowa?

SAND: I don't know. I just tell people what I think. Sometimes I agree with my party, sometimes I disagree. They might not like Democrats in general, and many Iowa Democrats don't like Republicans in general. But at the end of the day, again, they're willing to hear you out.

ZELENY (voiceover): Just how willing is the question? But as Sand nears his goal of hosting 100 town halls across Iowa, one thing is clear, he has plenty to say about both parties.