CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: 2014 Elections

Interview

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COOPER: Yeah. Thanks very much for that. Another first, for the first time in more than a century, Republican is going to serve in the U.S. Senate for Montana. Freshman Congressman Steve Daines is moving to the Senate after victory on Election Day. He joins me tonight.

Senator-elect Daines, first of all, congratulations on your victory and enormous win, and what message do you think was being sent by voters in this Republican surge?

REP. STEVE DAINES (R ) U.S. SENATOR-ELECT, MONT.: Well, last night was historic in Montana, it is the first time a Republican has held this seat in 101 years, but the message that I heard was not necessarily that Republicans Democrats are right, it is just they want leaders back in Washington that get something done. I heard over and over again the concerns about the gridlock. The hyperpolarized environment back in Washington, and the need for leaders to rise above that and move forward with legislation, and to actually get results for the American people.

COOPER: You know, we asked, we talked to the viewers about this last night, and there is a lot of people skeptical that this is actually going to produce that, there was a column in the "National Review" titled "The Governing Trap" and it's suggesting that the best way for it for Republicans in Congress is essentially to do nothing next year. And I want to read just some what they say - they say a prove you can govern strategy will never lead to divide the party on the same Tea Party versus establishment lines, that Republicans have just succeeded in overcoming. If voters come to believe that a Republican Congress and a Democratic president are doing a fine job of governing together, why wouldn't they vote to continue that arrangement in 2016?" Do you agree with that?

DAINES: Anderson, my background before serving in Congress, and I just was elected as a freshman in Congress two years ago before running for the Senate.

COOPER: Right.

DAINES: I was a chemical engineer by degree. Engineers are trained to solve problems and not just go off and win arguments. And then I spent 28 years in business, spent some time living overseas, working to build businesses for American companies, but I think the American people want to return to some pragmatism, and to look at how do we move forward with legislation that actually starts to improve the economy and deal with the problems that our country is facing.

COOPER: Is there pressure, I mean on Republicans, do you believe, to prove that they can effectively legislate? Because for the last several years, the congressional inaction from a Republican standpoint could be put off in the fact that the Senate was democratically controlled?

DAINES: Well, as the member of the House, we passed over 380 bills, and many with bipartisan support since January of 2013 that are sitting on Harry Reid's desk right now without an up or down vote by the United States Senate. So I think we can remove that portion of the gridlock in Washington by getting the House and the Senate on the same page.

COOPER: You campaigned against Obamacare, as you know, some of your future colleagues like Ted Cruz, they are intent on pushing for a full repeal of it. Now that you have been elected to the Senate, is that a fight you intend to join?

DAINES: Well, I voted for the repeal of Obamacare in the house, but the reality going forward in the next two years is the president is not going to sign a repeal of Obamacare piece of legislation, so we need to take a look at part of Obamacare in the next two years that we can address and improve, because we are not going to get it repealed as long as President Obama is in the White House. COOPER: The fact that according to, you know, the exit polls,

Americans have negative views of the president, Congress, both parties, the federal government, the media, what does that tell you? And what isn't working?

DAINES: What tells me is that the American people in Montana is frankly not enamored with either party. And I hope we can identify two or three important areas of common ground we can come together on and move legislation quickly in the next six months that are working on behalf of the people who elected us in the first place.

COOPER: Senator-elect Daines, again, congratulations and appreciate you are talking tonight.

DAINES: Thanks so much, Anderson.

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