STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Congressman Kevin Kiley of California has switched his party status. He was Republican and is now independent. Kiley is a victim of gerrymandering. You'll recall that Texas changed its congressional map, then California changed the map, and Kiley's California district in the Sierra Nevada mountains and Sacramento suburbs was cut into six different pieces. That was going to make his reelection harder and here's what he did.
How blue is the district where you're choosing to run for your next term?
KEVIN KILEY: Well, my old district was actually kind of a toss-up district. This new one is bluer. But, you know, it has, I think, a history of electing folks of very different partisan stripes. And, you know, at the end of the day, like, if you look at most offices in this country, whether it's mayor, city council or school board members, district attorney, sheriff, these are all nonpartisan offices. People don't approach it from the perspective of, what party are you? They approach it from the perspective of, OK, how do we come together to solve problems?
INSKEEP: I should remind people, in any given election, you've got Republicans, you've got Democrats. You also have a lot of independent voters, often more than there are from either party. And you will have this nonpartisan primary system, a runoff system, in California, right?
KILEY: That's right. Yeah.
INSKEEP: Are you changing your politics in any way, any of your positions?
KILEY: No. I mean, this reflects the way I've approached the job from the beginning of my tenure. And in particular, you know, as I've seen how just deeply rooted the partisanship is in Washington, D.C., I've really tried to find ways to build bridges and to chart a different course. So, you know, I was the only member of my party at the time who was there trying to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. I was one of just a few, a few weeks ago, who tried to reclaim the authority of Congress when it comes to trade policy and tariffs. And so I think this is more just a reflection of the way that I've approached the job. And that's, I think, why in the past I've gotten support from Democrats, Republicans and independents in my district.
INSKEEP: As I understand it, you're going to continue to caucus with Republicans. Would you explain for the laymen what that means on a day-to-day basis in Congress?
KILEY: Yeah, so the way things are set up now is you basically have to - even if you're an independent, you essentially have to choose to associate yourself, for administrative purposes, with one party or the other. Otherwise, you can't serve on committees, and you can't really be a fully functioning member of the House. And so, because I was elected at the beginning of this term as a Republican, it makes sense to, for that administrative purpose, continue for the remainder of this term to caucus that way. But I think it's something that we need to change. I think that if you want to just be an independent without associating yourself with either caucus, you should be able to do so.
INSKEEP: You just said for the remainder of this term. Suppose you win election as an independent. Who will you caucus with then?
KILEY: Well, I think the thing to, you know, do from a perspective - from the perspective of being truly independent is to say that, you know, I'm not going to prejudge that. I'm going to look at it at the time and decide what's best for my constituents.
INSKEEP: If the House were to remain closely divided, one of your very first votes would be among the most important, the vote for speaker of the House. Are you not committed to voting for Mike Johnson or whoever the Republican nominee might be for another term as speaker?
KILEY: Well, we don't even know who the candidates are. And depending upon how the remainder of this year goes and who the candidates are and where the country is at, you know, I'll take all of that into account in deciding what's the best thing for the folks I represent.
INSKEEP: Could you envision voting for any Democrat for speaker?
KILEY: I would never rule anything out. I mean, I think that, again, if you're going to be approaching this job in the way that I think we should, that isn't all about partisanship, then you should never rule anything out. You should never rule a bill out, voting against it just because of who the author is. You should instead look at, OK, what are the merits of the argument here? And what effect is it going to have on the folks that you represent?
INSKEEP: How do you think this Congress has done in being an independent voice, speaking up for the institution and the people they represent and holding the president to account when necessary?
KILEY: Well, I think we need to do a better job, honestly, of fulfilling our responsibilities under Article 1. But I should add that that's not just an issue with this particular Congress. I think that we have this long-standing trend in the modern history of our country where Congress has ceded more and more of its authority to the executive branch. And part of the problem is that when you have, you know, Congress controlled by the same party as the White House, it's been all too willing to do that, sort of putting partisan goals ahead of our institutional responsibility and our responsibility to protect the American system of government. And it's another manifestation of this problem where partisanship has just become too much the dominant paradigm in our politics.
INSKEEP: California Representative Kevin Kiley, pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.
KILEY: You bet. Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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