3 Washington members of Congress talk strategy ahead of Trump presidency

In the month since the election, a new reality has sunk in. Former President Donald Trump will shortly return to the nation’s highest office with a broad mandate. Republicans will control the White House and both branches of Congress.

That will put most members of Washington’s 12-person congressional delegation — all but two of whom are Democrats — in the minority. Indeed, most fiercely oppose much of what Trump and his allies stand for.

So how do they intend to respond to his administration? What strategizing is taking place? And how do Democrats move forward?

Three current and incoming Democratic U.S. representatives talked with The Seattle Times about what they’re seeing, hearing and doing as they prepare for a new Congress, starting Jan. 3, and Trump’s second administration, beginning Jan. 20. They are Adam Smith of Bellevue, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee; Seattle’s Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus; and Emily Randall of Bremerton, newly elected to Congress in November.

They didn’t always agree.

The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.

Adam Smith calls for Democrats to rebrand

What’s the atmosphere been like in D.C. since the election?

“It’s been a tense couple of years — not knowing. Trump’s running. What’s that going to mean? What’s going to happen with the House? So oddly, at least in the short term, there’s a little bit of relief. The fight’s over.

“A fair number of Republicans are gleeful. There’s a fair number of Democrats who are deeply freaking out. And then there are a lot of folks on both sides of that who aren’t either gleeful or freaking out. We’re just trying to prepare.

Smith puts himself in that last category, and said he also is focusing on rebranding the Democratic Party. “I think we need to rethink our policies, our messaging, our politics and our coalition.”

How so?

“Well, I’ve been trying this for a while. I remain concerned that extreme left policies are undermining Democrats’ ability to effectively govern. Our criminal justice system in King County is a disaster. Now, my argument is it’s a disaster by design, because the defund (the police)/abolition movement has far greater influence on policy decisions in the county and the state than I think most people realize.”

Among the policies Smith cites are county diversion programs for people charged with certain crimes, usually low-level nonviolent offenses, that allow defendants to avoid incarceration by working with community organizations on root causes of their behavior. Smith characterized those programs as having “no transparency and no accountability.”

How exactly are you preparing for Trump’s administration?

“Mostly it’s going back through and seeing what he said and what he’s planning to do.” Smith said he intends to reach out to Trump’s national security team and already works closely with U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, the Florida Republican who the president-elect picked to be his national security adviser. Waltz currently serves with Smith on the House Armed Services Committee.

“What are they going to do in Ukraine? What are they going to do in the Middle East?”

Smith also wondered whether Trump will, as promised, use the military to carry out mass deportations. Roughly 11.7 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S., according to the Center for Migration Studies, several hundred thousand of whom are thought to live in Washington.

Smith said he doesn’t have answers to any of those questions yet.

It seems voters have given a message about border security. They want a tougher approach. Would you agree?

“Absolutely. Allowing too many immigrants to come in was a huge problem, and they (voters) want that reduced.”

Still, Smith said he doesn’t believe voters want to deport all undocumented immigrants in the country, and said he’s going to advocate for a middle ground — one that reduces chaos at the border but recognizes that unauthorized immigrants are vital to the economy and broader society.

Do you think you will be able to work with members of the Trump administration or will it all be fighting back?

“I don’t know. That could go in any one of 1,000 different directions.”

Pramila Jayapal says Democrats have temporary leverage

What has the mood been like in D.C. since the election?

“Obviously, this election did not turn out the way we hoped.” Still, Jayapal said, “we have leverage.”

Temporary leverage, that is. That’s because of several recent and future departures of Republican members of Congress. Matt Gaetz of Florida, initially tapped by Trump to be U.S. attorney general, resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, has said he will step down from his House seat on Jan. 20, when Trump takes office. The advisory position does not need Senate confirmation. Rep. Elise Stefanik, whom Trump picked to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, does need Senate confirmation for that role. The New York Republican will leave Congress if she gets it.

Until special elections are held to fill all those seats, possibly taking several months, the Republican to Democrat count is 217-215. That means Republicans can’t even lose one vote, Jayapal pointed out. A tie results if they do, and whatever bill is up for a vote will fail.

So you may have some leverage the first few months but it will be very small. How are you preparing for the new administration?

“One thing is the lame duck. We have a month where we still have majorities in the Senate and obviously the White House, and so we’ve been pushing the Senate to confirm as many judges as possible and also National Labor Relations Board appointees. That would be very helpful to protecting workers and unionizing across the country.

“And then we’re pushing the White House on a whole list of executive actions.” Those include certifying the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the U.S. Constitution. The ERA is a 1970s-era proposal that would guarantee equal rights for women. Washington ratified it in 1973, around the time a slew of other states did the same.

Debate around the ERA went silent for decades, but the proposal has for some taken on new urgency amid the overturning of Roe v. Wade and a brand of hypermasculinity that has fueled Trump’s campaign. Virginia became the 38th state to pass the ERA in 2020, arguably giving it the support it needs to be certified.

But legal questions remain, including around long-since past deadlines for ratification and five states rescinding their former approval.

Jayapal said she and allies have also been urging Biden to use his pardon powers as broadly as possible in federal death penalty cases. And she said they’ve been working with immigration officials to issue or extend as many protections as possible, including asylum, work permits and renewal of two-year permits for people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Let’s stay on immigration for a minute. Border security is something that resonated with voters. How are you responding to that message?

“I’ve always believed border security is an important part of immigration reform.” But she added, “I don’t think border security on its own, without reforms of the legal immigration system, will solve the problem because I actually think the number of people that come to the border is interrelated with the lack of existence of legal pathways.” In other words, if people can’t get in legally, they’ll come illegally.

“We have to create legal pathways that recognize the needs of our country, our families and our economy.”

Any other types of preparations and strategies?

Jayapal said she’s preparing to go after corporate monopolies she believes are responsible for price gouging and inflation. “This may actually even be a place where there’s some appetite within the Trump administration to work on this.

“But I’m very clear-eyed that most of what we’re going to be doing is launching a big resistance.”

You’ve talked about looking at the election results with humility. I spoke with Adam Smith, who said the extreme left has taken over the Democratic Party. What, so far, has your introspection led you to?

“That is just not accurate,” Jayapal said of Smith’s view. “If you look at the data, what you see is the reason Kamala Harris lost the popular vote is because in blue states across the country, our base did not turn out.

“Democrats got fewer votes than before because we went way too far to the right. We didn’t show a clear contrast. We didn’t show we were angry about the fact that people’s working wages haven’t increased over the last 30 years and all of the benefits of the economy are going to the wealthiest. We didn’t make it clear the Democratic Party is still a party of peace, not war.”

Emily Randall feels optimistic

You’ve been spending time in D.C. What’s the mood like there?

“You know, I was most surprised by how optimistic I felt at the beginning of orientation (last month, for new members of the House). After the election, I did not feel that way. But the incoming class of Democratic members of Congress is really inspiring and diverse. I know we have a lot of fights ahead of us, but I wouldn’t choose another team to be on.

I think being in the minority can be really unifying for the Democratic Party. We’ve already seen some signals of progressives and moderates standing together.”

Tell me more about how you see progressives and moderates standing together because it looks like there’s pretty sharp debate over the direction Democrats are going in.

“We didn’t have a full caucus discussion yet about the direction of the party.” But Randall said new Democratic House members generally want to focus on issues constituents care about: the costs of housing and health care, and access to living-wage jobs.

“Those are the things that so many of my new colleagues have heard from their neighbors and that I certainly heard here.”

You have more working-class roots than some other members of Congress. Your father worked for the naval shipyard. You were the first in your family to go to college. A big point of discussion among Democrats is how to appeal to the working class. Do you have any insights?

“I think what everyone wants is for politicians to show up and listen to them … and not tell them what we think they need.”

To that end, two counties in your district went for Trump, Mason and Grays Harbor. What did you learn about what folks there want and how are you prepared to represent their interests?

“A lot of what I heard, doorbelling in Shelton and Hoquiam, was around the cost of living and who people believe would have solutions for them. It’s really compelling if someone says that they’re going to lower the cost of gas and you’re struggling to be able to keep gas in your tank.

“I also think Democrats haven’t run really successful campaigns in Grays Harbor and Mason counties, that they’ve been written off as Republican districts.”

“And so one of the things I’ve talked about … with the folks I’m hiring is: How do we make sure we have a strong presence in Grays Harbor County, whether we have a district office or whether we have mobile office hours or whatever makes sense? How do we have a presence so that people know I’m there working for them, that I want to hear what’s on their mind, that I care about the issues they care about.”

“I think that’s how we keep pushing forward, by showing up in communities that feel underrepresented.”

At the same time, you’ve talked about constituents wanting you to play defense against the Trump administration. What exactly does that mean to you? How are you preparing?

“I think a lot of ways that I’ve prepared have been as a legislator. We here in Washington have done a lot to Trump-proof our state.”

Randall cited the creation of a Medicaid “look-alike program” for undocumented immigrants that don’t qualify for the federal health program serving low-income people. She also referred to the state’s so-called shield law protecting abortion patients and providers from out-of-state civil and criminal legal action.

Looking ahead, she acknowledged Congress may have a limited role on some issues, particularly those Trump pursues by executive action. But she said she would help shine a light on impacts of potential policies she considers harmful, like further restricting abortion access.

“I also think it’s my job to work with anybody I can.” She recently attended a local event with Democratic and Republican lawmakers aimed at increasing STEM education, and sees that as one area of possible bipartisan cooperation.