Lynch: ‘We won in red, red, red states, and we did it by running as moderates’

The midterm elections brought along a blue wave, with Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress. Congressman Stephen Lynch was reelected to his seat representing Massachusetts’ 8th District, covering parts of Boston and several nearby cities and towns. The Democrat is also a senior member on the House Oversight Committee.

He joined GBH’s Morning Edition to talk about what comes next. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Tori Bedford: Democrats are celebrating, but now it’s really time to get to work. What are your top priorities moving forward?

Stephen Lynch: Well, I think generally we have to restore trust in government. I think there’s been so much corruption, so much theft by the Trump family, by the president, by people around him that have been selling pardons. So we’ve got to start to hold people accountable right now.

Well, up until now — and up until we’re seated in January — the Republican House and the Republican Senate have given the president a pass. They’ve completely refused to hold anybody accountable. You know, we have people like Steve Witkoff out there, Jared Kushner out there, the Witkoff family, Steve Miller, Russell Vought, all behind the scenes who have never been called before Congress to answer for their actions [and] the way they’ve parlayed that power and that connection with the president into financial gain in billions of dollars.

So we’re going to bring some people before Congress, we’re gonna use the subpoena power, we’re gonna call people before Congress, and we’re gonna hold people accountable. And I think we have to do that first. Because whatever we do after that, you know, we have to restore that trust in government that we are operating within the law. And it’s not just revenge, it is actually enforcing the rule of law.

That’s what we have to be seen as doing. And I think that’s something that needs to convince the people all across America who voted for this change. Even in some of the deepest red states, people recognized this, and they spoke out, and they demanded change. So, we’ve got to keep a promise to America.

Bedford: Yeah, I want to talk about the action plan for the Democratic Party and how you plan to answer the call for balancing the anger of voters, as you mentioned, on issues like affordability, and also the accountability that you mentioned. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on “Morning Joe” that people don’t want revenge, they want to focus on accountability. So does that mean that you’ll be balancing investigating the Trump administration while also looking for accountability within the Trump administration? And focusing on these issues for constituents? What is the action plan for the Democrats?

Lynch: We’ll begin by having hearings, right? So the Republicans have completely taken a pass on all of this. We on the Oversight Committee, we do nothing. We do nothing. The only accomplishments we’ve been able to make on the Oversight Committee is when we’ve been able to get one or two of the Republicans to vote with us. And that goes to you know, the Epstein investigation and pulling Pam Bondi before the committee, Todd Blanche, pulling him. We could do none of that previously because we needed Republican votes to do that.

So this unlocks — this reactivates Congress. Because up until now, there’s been none of that going on in the House or Senate. We don’t even have the ability to bring a bill to the floor because we’re outnumbered.

Bedford: President Trump posted a picture of a red veto hat on Truth Social Tuesday night. How can you actually get any of that done if Trump does become Mr. Veto, as he’s promised?

Lynch: Focus on the American people. Put items on the floor of the House that clearly and decisively benefit the American people and answer their call for help. Put matters before the House and Senate that the public will know that those measures are meant to lift the burden off of them, to help their families. And then dare the Republicans and the president to veto them. You know, that’s one approach.

Bedford: You talked about the Republicans not being able to do anything in the House Oversight Committee. Hakeem Jeffries has also been criticized for representing a Democratic Party that doesn’t do enough to get things done. Will you be voting Jeffries in as speaker come January?

Lynch: 100%. 100%. Absolutely. And look, the numbers didn’t work for us when the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Like I said before, we could not even bring a bill to the floor unless we got some Republicans to support us. And they were afraid to do that. And look, I’m part of the the Congressional Litigation Task Force, and we’ve had to bring over 800 cases in federal court against this administration, against this president.

That’s the only venue that we’ve had access to. We’ve been unable to bring matters before the Oversight Committee, or before Congress.

Bedford: Is there a shift within the Democratic Party, though? I think it’s also been criticized — many Democratic leaders have been criticized — for just focusing on Trump and not focusing on the issues that you mentioned that voters deeply care about. I think one really divisive one right now is Israel and the Iran war. What is the strategy to pivot in that way towards the needs of constituents?

Lynch: Well, we have been able to vote on some bills that the Republicans put up. But those have been very, very few, in terms of the voting on the $3 billion or $4 billion that — every cycle — goes to the Israeli government. And you saw overwhelming opposition from that, on that bill.

So again, it goes back to: How do you get bills to the floor? And right now, and up to now, we’ve needed cooperation from the Republicans to do that. Those days are over. It’s a new day. So we will be able to bring all those matters to a head and try to confront them.

Bedford: During your primary, your challenger Patrick Roath and some other outside groups, they sought to portray you as too moderate for Democratic primary voters. We’ve seen a really progressive shift with some of these new members. How do you plan to work with the new class in Congress?

Lynch: Look, Tori, you need to look again. You need to look again. Those Democrats, the overwhelming body of new members are moderates — in Pennsylvania, across the country. The Republicans didn’t lose to far-left members and progressive members. There were seven DSA members across the country that were elected.

Look, I just spent two weeks out there, one week in Ohio 7th for [Brian] Poindexter — a brother ironworker. Cait Conley, New York 17th — I spent a week there, as well, with a whole bunch of people from Massachusetts down in Hingham and elsewhere. They ran as moderates, and they won as moderates.

You look at the Senate — [Texas Senator-Elect James] Talarico, you look in Iowa, all those states. In the House and Senate, the overwhelming number of new members are moderates, and they were focused on the things that the American people were most in need of. They talked about lowering the cost of living.

So you really got to look again at what put us in this position. We won in red, red, red states, and we did it by running as moderates.