The Future of the Democratic Party

In the premiere episode of Think Tank with Steve Adubato, Steve Adubato moderates a dynamic panel of political experts who share their unique perspectives on the future of the Democratic Party in New Jersey and the nation. The panel also examines the range of different ideologies within the party, the impact of the 2018 midterm elections on Congress and the polarizing impact of issues like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

Guests include:

Senator Vin Gopal (D) – NJ, Majority Conference Leader
Dr. Gene Cornacchia, President, St. Peter's University
Tara Dowdell, Founder & President, TGD Speakers & Tara Dowdell Group
Brendan Gill, Founder and CEO, BGill Group and Democratic Strategist

5/11/19 #101

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome to the premiere edition of Think Tank. I'm Steve Adubato. In fact, we're coming to you from the Agnes Varis NJTV Studio. This is, in fact, the premiere edition, as I said, of Think Tank. This particular program focuses on the future of the Democratic Party, particularly as both parties move into the 2020 election for Congress, the, president, it's gonna be fascinating. Four fascinating people to talk about it first, it is my honor to welcome State Senator Vin Gopal, who is the Senate Majority Conference Leader, Tara Dowdell is Founder and President of the Tara Dowdell Group, Brendan Gill is a Democratic strategist and President of the BGill Group, and finally, Gene Cornacchia, President of Saint Peter's University. Good to have you all with us, with different perspectives on the Democratic Party. Let me start with you Tara. How united, or how divided, is the Democratic Party, in your view, at this point in the Spring of 2019? Well I think the Democratic Party is united around the concept of making sure that Donald Trump is a one-term president. So I think that is a really tremendous uniting force for the party. I think overall the party is united. Are there fissures around different campaigns competing? Yes. Because that's a natural thing. Presidential campaigns? Presidential campaigns, to be clear. Yes. And that's a very natural thing when you're competing to be the nominee. There's going to be some fights right? There's going to be some blows, but I think overall from a policy perspective, and particularly a big-picture policy perspective, I think there's a lot of unity within the party for the big picture. You know, I want to challenge that in this way. You know, the whole question of the New Green Deal. This is a... yes, there's some politics in Think Tank, I want to be clear. But it's mostly about public policy with people in the New Jersey-New York area talking about national issues that affect us. But I have to be clear. On the New Green Deal, when Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez put out the New Green Deal, I did not see a lot of Democrats coming together and saying, "We're on board on this." Gene, did I get that wrong? No, you didn't it..."