Transcript: Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 16, 2026

The following is the transcript of an interview with Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, a Democrat, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 16, 2026.

ED O'KEEFE: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We turn now to Pennsylvania State Representative Chris Rabb. He's the Democratic Party's nominee in the third district of Pennsylvania. That includes parts of Philadelphia. He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Representative, you're not Congressman yet, but Representative, thank you for being here this morning. We appreciate it.

ED O'KEEFE: --and part of the reason why we wanted to have someone like you here, given that you are the Democratic nominee, but also a member of the DSA, what is a voter getting from a Democrat and a member of the DSA like you that they aren't necessarily getting from a Democrat like Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who we had on earlier?

REP. RABB: That's a great question. I listened to that segment, and it seems like we have a lot in common. We're against corruption. We want to fight for working people. We want- we believe that health care is a human right. These are things that we want- increased wages. I support a living wage for all. So I think we have a lot more in common than people would think.

ED O'KEEFE: But when he says that socialism is a failed experiment, what's your response to that?

REP. RABB: Well, I imagine he supports Social Security. In a purely capitalistic free market system, we would have no Social Security. We would have no Medicare. We would have no Medicaid. We would have no public education. We would have no interstate highway system. We would not have firefighters. These things are things that are brought to us by different- different views that have molded us into the nation we are today. It's not one thing. This is not a purely capitalistic society. There is capitalism in China, in Finland, everywhere. Like this is something that we have to understand is a mixture, and it is an evolution. Pure capitalism has never worked. Communism is not something that we've seen effectively work. What are we doing to make sure that we are moving in the right direction, though? That we are transforming this nation so that it can take care of everyone. How is it that we have our first trillionaire and we still have veterans who are unhoused?

ED O'KEEFE: You know, our news poll out this morning shows that most Democrats have a positive view of socialism, but among all Americans overall, just 35% do. You've- you've- you've you've made the argument here so far, but I'm curious: what do you do to try to win over skeptics, the two-thirds of the country who doesn't think this is a good idea?

REP. RABB: Well, I wasn't running for socialism. I was running for the people of the third congressional district who want a fighter, and that's something that is more important than the labels that are used in polls because the poll didn't define socialism. The poll didn't define capitalism. The poll didn't define free market system or free enterprise. It didn't do those.