How Will Gun Politics Impact the Midterms? (Ft. Semafor's Burgess Everett)
This week, we're previewing how gun politics may impact the upcoming midterm elections.
To do that, we have Semafor's Burgess Everett back on the show. He serves as the publication's congressional bureau chief. And he's one of the most knowledgeable political reporters out there.
He also broke news of the most recent Giffords $10 million ad buy. He said they're going after vulnerable Republicans, but not necessarily all of them. Everett said the group plans not to attack some of the remaining Republicans who backed the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, like Maine Senator Susan Collins.
He said guns aren't playing a major role in the election on either side of the aisle, though. Democrats are focused on opposition to President Donald Trump, and many purple state candidates don't seem to feel pressure to moderate on issues like gun policy. Trump hasn't done much to tout the pro-gun accomplishments of his second term either and skipped the issue entirely during his midterm convention.
Still, the issue could tip some key races. And Everett said it's sure to get some focus in the next Congress. If Democrats do control both houses after the election, he said there's an underrated chance that they and Trump could strike a deal on some kind of gun bill--they almost did back in 2019 after all.