Democrats Set To Vote On New House Leader Tomorrow; Interview with Rep. Tim Ryan
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: House Democrats set to vote tomorrow on who they want to be their next leader. Our next guest is challenging Nancy Pelosi for that post. Joining me now is Democratic Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan. Nice to see you, Congressman.</s>REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: Good morning.</s>CAMEROTA: Before we get to the vote tomorrow, I just want to ask you about what's happening in your home state. You know the breaking news that there's been this terrible attack at Ohio State University. From what you know, do you believe this is a terror attack?</s>RYAN: Well, first and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families that are at Ohio State. I mean, this is just a tragic act in such a great town, such a great college campus, you know, just a few days after the great Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry, so the whole state's still in shock about what happened. I think we've got to let the investigation play out. Clearly, there's -- it sounds like there was some rhetoric and some posts that point in the direction of something very nefarious, but I think we have to let the investigation play out.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman, one more point before we get to your race and that is that as soon as tomorrow the Ohio Senate plans to vote on a bill that could possibly allow concealed handguns on college and university campuses. Do you think that's a good idea?</s>RYAN: You know, I really don't. You know, I think that college campuses and other areas need to be safe havens and I -- and I get it. I understand the other side of the argument, but there are certain places that I think need to be kind of insulated from guns, and I think places of education and higher learning are those places. But, you know, again, that's in the Ohio Senate's hands right now.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes. OK, so when we spoke last week -- when you were here in our studio, at that time your bid was considered somewhat of a longshot to unseat Nancy Pelosi. How's it looking today?</s>RYAN: Well, I think a lot of people are going to be surprised tomorrow. We have a lot a support. We keep rolling out members of Congress who are supporting us. We rolled out two more last night -- Stephen Lynch from Massachusetts, Dan Lipinski from the Midwest. We have two more coming today that I think people will be excited about. And I've been making calls, you know, all week, since I left you in New York. And people are excited for some change, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to lead the caucus if they so choose. I think we need a change. Again, we're at the smallest number we've had in our Democratic caucus since 1929. And we've really got to ask ourselves when we walk out of the room tomorrow, what are we going to tell the American people? That what happened on Tuesday and what we've not been able to do since 2010 is OK? We're going to keep going down the same path? Or, will we have a new messenger, a new message, a new brand, and a new Democratic party?</s>CAMEROTA: So what's your biggest beef with Nancy Pelosi's leadership style?</s>RYAN: Well, you know, we're not winning. That's the main beef I have. I come out the sports world and played a lot of sports growing up. I'm from northeast Ohio. We keep score and we're not winning. I just don't think it's acceptable for us to say losing 60-some seats since 2010 is OK. We're slaughtered all over the -- all over the country. Thirty-three governors, two-thirds of state legislatures. Obviously, everything in Washington, D.C. is now Republican and we want to be in a position to be able to implement our ideas as Democrats. And it's not, you know, just getting in, but it's we have certain things we fight for. Pensions, making sure people don't privatize the Medicare program, making sure kids don't get thrown off their health insurance. These are very important things to Democrats but if we don't have the levers of power there's not going to be anything we can do other than complain about it. And I think we need to make a strategic decision to go in another direction. Very respectful of Nancy Pelosi and all of her accomplishments, but I think it's time to go in a new direction.</s>CAMEROTA: But why do you think Democrats have lost their way. Specifically, what have you all done wrong?</s>RYAN: Well, we don't have a robust economic message and we don't have to give up our progressive values on progressive issues. Those, of course, are a major part of what we stand for as Democrats, but if we don't have a robust economic message, we don't have a message that ties all of the different interest groups together. And if you want to run a successful campaign -- a campaign with a lot of juice, a lot of magic to it, and we've all seen those campaigns happen, you've got to have a theme. A robust economic theme in policies that tie everyone together. And look, if you're black, brown, white, gay, straight, man, woman, you want a good job. You want a job that pays, you want increased wages, you want a good pension, you want health care benefits, you want security. And you don't want to have to work 80 hours a week and miss your kid's soccer game or miss your kid's school play. These are fundamental to everyone in the country and if we don't have a message that really, really puts that out there, we lose. And that's what's been happening and that's why we are where we are right now.</s>CAMEROTA: So, as you and I speak, right now, it's 7:36 Eastern, what do you think your numbers are? I mean, if you think we're going to be surprised tomorrow what do you think the numbers are?</s>RYAN: We are within striking distance. We've got a lot of support and lot of people that are -- that are helping us. As I said, we keep rolling out endorsements. Marcia Fudge, who actually ran the Democratic National Convention for us in Philadelphia, was chair of the Congressional Black Caucus -- very, very popular in our caucus, is supporting me and came out last week. So we've got some key endorsements that are moving people into our -- into our camp. And again, we've got to continue to make the case to our colleagues in the next 24 hours that what's the world going to look like when we walk out of that room on Wednesday, you know? What are we -- what are we going to tell all the Democrats? What are going to tell all the Americans that told us they wanted change?</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>RYAN: That we weren't going in the right direction. I feel like we really need to tell them we've got to move in another direction and, you know, I'm the one that's there to help provide that voice. And I know I can go anywhere in the country and campaign for Democrats on the issues we talked about a little bit earlier --</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>RYAN: -- and I'm excited to be able to do that. I'm excited to help create what can look like a very, very new Democratic Party.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman Tim Ryan, we will be watching. Thanks so much for taking time for</s>NEW DAY. RYAN: Thanks for having me.</s>CAMEROTA: Chris.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. If you've been paying attention to the transition for the presidential administration you'll notice there's a lot of drama surrounding it. Is the president-elect intentionally choosing his administration like a reality show and, if so, is this a good sign for the country? Some big brains on the transition, ahead.