Politics with Amy Walter: Washington Tests Biden’s Calls for Unity

President Biden’s campaign message of unity is being tested in Washington during his first full week in office, particularly because Republicans and Democrats don’t seem to agree on what unity means. The scars from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol are still fresh, a second impeachment trial is looming in the Senate, and Republicans and Democrats are seemingly miles apart from agreeing on a new COVID-19 aid package. Meanwhile, disharmony is evident among members of the GOP as Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz flew to Wyoming to campaign against GOP Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach former President Trump. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Senator Mark Warner, spoke with Amy Walter about whether or not Biden’s calls for unity will be ignored.

In 2020, almost 30 states expanded access to absentee ballots and early voting to make voting easier during the pandemic. As a result, states saw a record-breaking number of requests for mail-in-ballots. And while Republicans have historically relied on absentee ballots, former President Trump’s attacks on voting by mail meant that more Democrats took advantage of the early vote option, while many Republicans opted to vote in person on Election Day. Today, Republican state legislators in swing states like Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and Pennsylvania are pushing for new voting restrictions in the aftermath of a Biden win. Grace Panetta, senior politics reporter at Business Insider, describes the unintended consequences of restricting voting rights.  

Every ten years, the U.S. government conducts a census that determines how many seats each state will receive in the House of Representatives. This data is used to redraw congressional and state legislative district lines. The most recent census results have been delayed by the pandemic and a legal battle regarding whether or not undocumented immigrants would be included in the final count. Republicans and Democrats have long sought to draw districts in their favor, but tolerance for hyper-partisan gerrymandering has waned considerably over the last decade. Dave Wasserman, House editor for The Cook Political Report, describes where the latest redistricting efforts stand and which states stand to gain additional seats.