Wasserman Schultz on How DNC Will Use Trump in House, Senate Races

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said the larger turnout for Republican candidates during the primary season won’t count in the general election when you consider proportionality and the “train wreck” element.

Dem turnout numbers are down from when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in the 2008 primary, but Wasserman Schultz insisted this isn’t a matter of dampened enthusiasm.

“First of all, you have one of our candidates that, you know, came within 10,000 votes in Mississippi in terms of turnout. And overall, you know, the Republicans with four candidates had 400,000 people. You had 200,000 people turn out, this is in Mississippi and, you know, for our candidates. So, really there’s a proportional argument to make,” she told CNN this morning.

“But there is a intense, chaotic, reality TV show playing out on the Republican side. So, you know, it’s kind of like a train wreck. You know you shouldn’t watch, but you can’t help yourself. And so, there is a certain element to that,” she added.

“At the end of the day, when we have a nominee on both sides of the aisle, I’m very confident we’re going to have a united party. Our candidates have been, you know, not only civil, but complimentary of one another and the Republican field has been hurling insults and tomatoes and talking about spray tans and the size of hands and their manhood.”

Wasserman Schultz said the GOP is “in free fall,” and the DNC expects to reap the down-ballot benefits.

“I mean, I have colleagues on the Republican side in Congress who are freaking out at the possibility of Donald Trump being their nominee, and with good reason, because we are going to tie every single competitive race, every one of those Republicans that are on the margins to do they believe that we should ban an entire religion from this country? Do they think that we should kick 11 million people out of the country who are simply here to make a better way of life for themselves? Do they agree that we shouldn’t disavow David Duke or the KKK?” she said. “These are all things that their front-runner, the guy who is hurtling towards their nomination, is espousing. And we’re going to be asking, do you support your nominee? If you do, then you obviously support what he stands for.”

The chairwoman vowed that after the contest between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is resolved, “the last thing on earth” Democratic voters are going to do “is support Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.”