Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville says democracy is on the line, and the next time his party takes power in Washington, D.C., it should implement an aggressive agenda that includes eliminating the filibuster and expanding the U.S. Supreme Court.
“If the Democrats win the presidency, the Senate, and the House in 2028 — which is not impossible — they are just going to have to unilaterally add Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as states,” Carville said in a recent interview.
“The Constitution gives Congress power over federal elections. I don’t think they can redistrict, but there are things they can do. They’re going to have to do it. They may have to expand the (U.S. Supreme Court) to 13 members.”
Former 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke voiced similar sentiments over the weekend, telling a group of progressives that Democrats must grant mass amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants.
“The next time we win power, we’re going to drive that car like we stole it,” O’Rourke said to cheers. “We’re going to legalize every Dreamer, every Dreamer’s parents, every hard-working (undocumented immigrant) doing backbreaking work that makes this country so godd**n great in the first place — even greater.”
On gerrymandering, O’Rourke added: “Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those aren’t the rules. There are no refs in this game — f— the rules — we are going to win whatever it takes.”
The question is whether New Hampshire Democrats like U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas agree.
If Pappas wins the 2026 U.S. Senate race, he would be in Washington when the next president is sworn in. If that president is a progressive like former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Vice President Kamala Harris, or California Gov. Gavin Newsom — all of whom have expressed support for proposals such as expanding the Supreme Court or granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. — Pappas could be in a position to vote on them.
NHJournal asked Pappas if he agreed with Carville and O’Rourke and what his positions are on those issues. He declined to respond.
However, the four-term congressman has already voted for or publicly supported several of the progressive proposals.
Pappas has long supported amnesty for undocumented immigrants. He voted for a bill granting a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, DACA recipients, and other classes of undocumented migrants.
He also voted in 2021 to statehood for the District of Columbia, and supported a bill to make Puerto Rico a state if its citizens approved it via referendum.
Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico has stalled in the U.S. Senate, where 60 votes are required to end debate under the filibuster rule. Pappas’ stance on the filibuster has been inconsistent.
Both U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen have voted to end the filibuster. In an interview with WMUR in April, Pappas would not rule out voting to do the same. But in a follow-up interview, he expressed support for the rule, calling it “an important tool to be able to stop bad policy from being able to go through Congress.”
In 2021, Pappas said he opposed expanding the number of Supreme Court justices, though he declined to answer NHJournal’s questions on the topic this week.
While Carville did not specify what federal authority might be used to control state elections, Pappas has already voted for legislation overriding state control of elections — including banning voter ID, mandating early voting, and requiring no-excuse absentee balloting, among other federal rules.
Both Republicans running for U.S. Senate, former ambassador Scott Brown and state Sen. Dan Innis (R-Bradford), oppose those proposals, denouncing them as extreme.
“One of the many problems with today’s Democratic Party is they are hellbent on ripping away the fabric that made this country great: hard work, individualism, and the belief that anyone can get ahead if they put their minds to it,” Brown told NHJournal.
“I’m running for Senate because we’re only one bad election away from this extremism taking us in a direction we didn’t sign up for, don’t want, and can’t stop. If Chris Pappas gets elected to the Senate, he will be in Washington for the next 40 years, voting for extremist policies espoused by his party’s leaders, like packing the Supreme Court and growing the size of the federal government.”
In a weekend interview with Breitbart, Brown said, “Pappas makes AOC look like Rush Limbaugh: (supporting) men and boys in women’s and girls’ sports, open borders, sanctuary cities — you name it.”
Those policy proposals could also come before the U.S. House, where Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D) is running for reelection and Democrats like Stefany Shaheen and Maura Sullivan are campaigning to replace Pappas.
The only candidate to respond to NHJournal’s inquiry was attorney and Airbnb executive Christian Urrutia.
“As I have said from the start of this campaign, we need to credibly address the affordability crisis in this country and ensure everyone gets a fair shake. That should be at the center of everything we do. It is at the center of my candidacy,” Urrutia said.
“Democrats need to fight a lot harder to fix this country. I support D.C. statehood, reforming the Supreme Court — that includes term limits and ethics standards — and stopping politicians from picking their constituents. We can do a lot better. We just need the courage to fight for it.”
