Supporting (or Opposing) the President's Iran Deal Is Complicated Politics

With Congress due to vote on the Iran nuclear weapons deal when members return from their summer break later this month, most members from New York and New Jersey have now declared how they will vote.

Senate delegations from both states have split evenly down the middle on the deal, with senior senators Charles Schumer and Robert Menendez going against the administration, while junior senators Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand have come out in support of President Barack Obama.

Hank Sheinkopf has worked for Democrats and some Republicans, but isn't working for any particular official or organization in this debate. He said it's always difficult for members of the president's own party to side against him.

But, Sheinkopf said, the lawmakers who did are still likely to come out unscathed.

"They have to deal ultimately with the people that donate to their campaigns, and the people they represent," he said. "Those relationships in some cases will need repair. And that's a process that politicians certainly understand."

In this interview, WNYC's Jami Floyd talks with Sheinkopf about what factored into lawmakers' decisions, and whether their votes are likely to change before the official tally is taken.