Tennessee carves up majority-Black district

I mean, the irony isn't lost on us that this is the place where people marched, fought. Many gave their lives or certainly shed blood for more representation. And here, decades later, having gotten a second district in this state, more representation for that community, it may now get taken back. I mean, that has to sit really badly with a lot of people around here. Yeah. No, look, people are not excited about it, not excited about that possibility. But I do want to be clear. Look, we're very confident in Alabama's congressional maps and that they will turn out the exact way they are now. Again, the congressman says he's confident the Supreme Court won't explicitly allow Alabama to do what Louisiana and these other Southern states are doing. We wait and see. Decisions could come today, could come tomorrow. May not come for a few more days after that. Louisiana will act in the coming days. Mississippi and South Carolina are also making plans to eventually redraw their maps, if not in time for this year, Caitlin, then for the 2028 elections. I was just going to say, I mean, the ripple effect across the country is stunning. But also, the midterms are just months away, and all of this coming to a head. Speaking of the midterms, I know you're in Alabama now. But our viewers should know, earlier in the week, you were out in Iowa doing some reporting on one of those big matchups up there. What did you find? What did you hear? Well, we were there because the vice president was there, in essence, kicking off his midterm campaigning for fellow Republicans. And this is a state that, in the past, has been controlled by Democrats. Right now, for the last decade, by Republicans. There are open governor's races, Senate races, and at least three of the four House races are expected to be competitive. So there will be a lot of attention on the Hawkeye State. One of the Democrats running for US Senate is Josh Turek. He's a state representative from the conservative western, mostly Republican part of the state, but he's a Democrat. He's a paraplegic who was in the Paralympics four times on the men's basketball team. So we played some hoops and asked him some questions. Here's part of the conversation. You're running in a state that Democrats would like to win, back, but you are not North Carolina. You're not Maine. You're not Ohio. You're not Alaska. Right now, you'd be considered a reach state for your party. You're going to need a lot of money, though, to make this happen, right? Yeah. You're not wrong on these. However, I'll disagree on the reach. I think Iowa is absolutely in play. I think the polling indicates that as well. Rob Sand-- Why is it taking everyone so long to realize that then? Iowa flies under the radar. You look at a state that Republicans have won for the last decade. Last time we were able to have somebody in the Senate was my hero, Senator Tom Harkin. And people look at us as a red state, but I say we're not a red state. We are a commonsense state that has masqueraded more red than what we are. 30 years, we elect Senator Harkin. We are a state that twice voted for Obama, three times for Trump. Got more Obama-Trump counties than any other state in the union. And in Trump's last midterm-- and to me, in my opinion-- been traveling the state for the last nine months-- significantly more energy now than even then. We won three of the four congressional races. I think people forget that. And then even in 2022, which was a bad year to run as a Democrat here, we were only 1 and 1/2% away from having three of our six statewide officials being Dems. I've heard you talk about being a prairie populist. What does that mean? Oh, I thought they were both going to go in.

Yeah, well. Prairie populism, to me-- Senator Harkin, my hero, also considered himself a prairie populist. It's somebody that is fighting for the middle class, fighting for the workers, fighting for small businesses, fighting for rural communities, for small family farms. It's we really do have a have and have not society right now, and we need more individuals that are going out there and fighting for the little guy, fighting for the middle class. That, to me, is what true populism is. It's always your north star being, what is best for the middle class, for the workers? And so for me, I feel like I have my north star is always, What is best for Iowa? What is best for Iowans? and what is best for the middle class? So again, State Representative Josh Turek in a June 2 primary with Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls. A good example of what it means to be a Democrat in 2026, how to win a race. We'll be tracking this one, Caitlin. But as you know well, observers believe Iowa could very well become one of the more competitive Senate races and help determine the balance of power in the Senate after November.

All right, Ed O'Keefe, thank you for your reporting. It was notable you didn't have the camera right on your shot there, so you had he not outed you for not making it, we would never have known. Good job, my friend. A few were made. A few were made. Not all of them.

OK. I'll take your word for it, but we'll have to roll the tape on that one. [LAUGHTER] All right, don't give up your day job. We'll see you soon.