Dem shares major concern that could lead to 'open field running for the Republican Party'

Rep. Jim Himes told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night that the fate of the filibuster is a top concern if President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next year with Republican control of both chambers of Congress. “What I do worry about, is if that's the situation, I don't have much doubt that Donald Trump is going to make a phone call on day one and say, ‘You guys get rid of the filibuster,’ and if they get rid of the filibuster, of course, it is open field running for the Republican Party,” he said. “There's going to be a lot of nervous Republicans if Donald Trump really lets his freak flag fly and goes extreme – you know people like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania are gonna say, ‘Wait a minute this is the end of my career if you do this stuff,’ so again there's nothing good about this from the standpoint of a Democrat but there are moderating factors in play.” Himes also told Cooper that Trump’s promise of instituting mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants "is something that could get underway pretty quickly” once Trump assumes office. “So yeah, that’s a concern.” Himes easily won reelection to a ninth term Tuesday night in Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District, beating out his Republican opponent by more than 20 percentage points.