Democratic strategist James Carville and Republican strategist Karl Rove discuss upcoming elections with FOX News host Martha MacCallum.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: James, your thoughts as you look at this new Wall Street Journal polling and you hear just that one example from Stephen A. Smith? JAMES CARVILLE: Well, there’s no doubt. Look, I’ve been very critical of the party. I’ve called it a bunch of bad names even in the New York Times, but Virginia cometh, okay? And that’s gonna, and that will, the Democrats don’t like the party because we’re losing. And I love Stephen A. He knows a lot of how to evaluate athletic talent. There’s a, and Karl would agree with this, there’s a ton of Democratic political talent waiting in the wings for 2028. I am not remotely worried about that. Not remotely. And I think Virginia’s gonna, it’s gonna be big. Spanberger’s gonna win by 10 or more. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. MACCALLUM: So let me ask Karl, you think that Virginia turns the tide and we’re putting up right now some of the future Democratic leaders, many of whom James has talked about in the past, so do they have a future when you look at this, at this wall of faces who are currently serving, Karl? KARL ROVE: Yeah, well look, there are gonna be several geological ages that are gonna come and go before the 2028 presidential contest gins up. But if you look at these polls, the Democrats are in bad shape because among all voters, voters don’t like what the Democrats are selling today. And then among Democrats, there are a lot of Democrats who are angry that they lost in 2024. They’re saying, what kind of people are we that we lost to these knuckleheads? And then you also have a lot of Democrats who are upset today with their party by being ineffective in countering Donald Trump. So that makes for a bad situation for the incoming party, but actually for the out of power party. But let’s not kid ourselves. We also need to consider the issue of motivation. Democrats, if you look inside these polls, are more motivated about voting in 2026 than are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. And two-thirds of independents think that the idea of a trifecta GOP control, White House, Senate, and House, is bad for the country. So if you look at history, the Republicans cannot take the 2026 midterms for granted. The out-of-party power gained in the 22 midterms, the 2018 midterms, the 2014 midterms, the 2010, the 2006. You have to go back to 2002 to find one of the two, one of the two midterm elections since the end of World War II in which the White House party gained seats in the Congress in that election. I happen to have been in the White House. That was a difficult thing to do. The Republicans could not take the dire circumstances of the Democrats for granted. MACCALLUM: No doubt. We’re seeing a lot of Rahm Emanuel lately, James. I’m wondering what you think about that. And when you look at these faces, who do you think is the strongest? Because we heard Governor Newsom say in the intro, in a soundbite in our intro, you know, that he said, you know, you got to give it to Trump. What he what he has is strength. And people do respond to that. And, you know, I’m looking at Tim Walz at the center of this screen who doesn’t exude that. And, you know, we haven’t seen a lot of that on the Democrat side of the aisle. CARVILLE: Well, Rahm’s one of my best friends. I probably talk to him every day for the last 30, 35 years. I don’t want to think about how long it is. And he, you know, I don’t consider it a part, but he projects certainty and clarity when he speaks. And he’s a very important voice in the party. I don’t have any doubt about that. But I think the hand-wringing, while I agree that the image of the party is at an all-time low, there’s a there’s a bucket load of talent coming online. And I don’t think people quite realize how deep our bench actually is. I think it’s extraordinarily deep. And I would put Rob certainly as one of the people on it. MACCALLUM: What about these midterms, Karl, as we start to sort of look ahead to them a bit? Neera Tanden, who was just, you know, in front of Congress the other day talking about the viability of Biden in his final part of his presidency, says, look, we can really make hay with the issue of immigration and the way that people are being treated who came into this country. Do you agree? You know, what what turn do you think they need to take if you were to give them advice, which I know you’re not in the business of? ROVE: Yeah, well, look, I’m not certain her, you know, she she started out in the right place saying the president Trump was right to emphasize border security and Democrats were wrong. But where she ended up in that article was suggesting that the answer is to offer amnesty. No, no. This is an issue that Trump has won. In fact, the Democrats ought to stop talking about it. If you look at the polls, the more success that Trump has had in handling border security, the less important it is as an issue. So why bring it back up an issue that naturally works to his advantage? Find out something new that works to his disadvantage and the Democrats advantage. James is right. They got a lot of talent. Let’s see how any of that talent makes itself seen and heard in the 2026 midterms. Count me a little bit cautious about them being able to. MACCALLUM: You know, James, you’ve talked about, you know, them wasting time on some of these issues around trans sports and all this stuff. What substantive thing would you like to see them focus on? Because perhaps immigration is the one. And in what way? CARVILLE: The big, beautiful bill cutting veterans benefits, closing rural hospitals, raising three point four trillion dollars on a national debt. I mean, when you have something simple in a gift like this to contrast yourself, you would be stupid to talk about immigration or talk about bathrooms or track meets or anything else. You just define yourself that we don’t think this is born in the right direction for the United States. And the numbers are overwhelming. It would support that. But if we keep talking about this other nonsense, we’re going to lose our focus. When you have a gift, take it.

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