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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the

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Speaker 1: Thing from iHeart Radio. My guest today is an author,

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Speaker 1: digital strategist, and the co founder and president of Run

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Speaker 1: for Something, an organization that recruits and supports young, diverse,

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Speaker 1: progressive candidates. Amanda Littman launched Run for Something in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 1: Since then, she has helped elect more than one five

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Speaker 1: hundred leaders across forty nine states. Amanda Littman is also

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Speaker 1: the president of r FS Civics, a five oh one

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Speaker 1: c three organization dedicated to ending the char intocracy in

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Speaker 1: American politics. Prior to launching Run for Something, Littman built

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Speaker 1: a career as a digital strategist. She served as the

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Speaker 1: email director for Hillarby Clinton's twenty sixteen presidential campaign, Not

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Speaker 1: those emails. She also served as the digital director for

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Speaker 1: Charlie Crist's twenty fourteen Florida gubernatorial campaign, and previously worked

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Speaker 1: on Barack Obama's twenty twelve reelection campaign. Amanda Littman is

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Speaker 1: also the author of two books, Run for Something, a

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Speaker 1: Real Talk guide to Fixing the System Yourself, and her

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Speaker 1: most recent book, When We're in Charge, The Next Generation's

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Speaker 1: guide to leadership. Litman has become an outspoken critic of

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Speaker 1: what she calls bad Boomer leadership and is an advocate

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Speaker 1: for a new style of next gen leadership. I was

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Speaker 1: curious to hear her perspective on the boomer mentality and

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Speaker 1: what she believes sets the next generation of leaders aparts.

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Speaker 2: I find boomer leadership to do a very good foil

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Speaker 2: for what the next generation needs to be working against.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, in what way?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: I think that there is a mentality behind Boomer leadership.

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Speaker 2: And I say this with all due respect too boomers

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Speaker 2: two gen xers always getting mad when I leave them out.

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Speaker 2: It's classic gen ICs response. That there's a certain mentality

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Speaker 2: among a Boomer style of leadership that is very beholden

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Speaker 2: to institutions. It feels like institutions are good, will be

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Speaker 2: there for them, are worth engaging with, that you can

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Speaker 2: climb a career ladder. That mental health is like you know,

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Speaker 2: for weaklings, and that you should never take a day off,

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Speaker 2: and if you do take a day off, it's none

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Speaker 2: of our business what you do with it. And you

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Speaker 2: know you don't bring your full self to work. You

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Speaker 2: are a beatbop robot when you show up and you

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Speaker 2: do your job and then you leave, or alternatively, you

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Speaker 2: bring all of yourself to work with you and you

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Speaker 2: tell me all of your problems and all of your illnesses,

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Speaker 2: And I actually don't want to know any of that

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Speaker 2: compared to what I am proposing in when we're in charge,

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Speaker 2: which is what I call sort of next gen leadership,

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Speaker 2: which millennials gen Z but really anyone can adapt, which

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Speaker 2: is authentic but with boundaries, transparent, but understanding there are

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Speaker 2: limits to transparency, effective, but also not treating people like shit.

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Speaker 2: And I think that, especially in this particular moment, understanding

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Speaker 2: that you do not have to be an asshole to

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Speaker 2: be a good boss and a good leader and a

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Speaker 2: good politician is something that we actually need to be

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Speaker 2: incredibly clear about and reiterate over and over and over again,

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Speaker 2: because if you look around the world right now, you

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Speaker 2: might come away with the misconception that you have to

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Speaker 2: be terrible to people in order to rise to the

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Speaker 2: tops of the latters.

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Speaker 1: Do you believe as I do, that we have the

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Speaker 1: patriarchy in charge of the country for so long now

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Speaker 1: and it hasn't been bested by some other group. What

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Speaker 1: appealed to me about your book run for something. Was

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Speaker 1: this idea that more and more people don't want anything

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Speaker 1: to do with politics. Yeah, the people that would make

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Speaker 1: the best senators, justices, state wide offices, nationwide offices. They

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Speaker 1: don't want anything to do with these recent generations. Do

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Speaker 1: you agree?

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Speaker 2: No, So run for something, which is the organization I

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Speaker 2: Run recruits and supports millennials and gen z running for

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Speaker 2: local office. In the last nearly ten years, we've had

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Speaker 2: more than a quarter million young people raise their hands

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Speaker 2: to say they want to run. And my favorite thing

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Speaker 2: is these are people who never thought about running for president.

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Speaker 2: They haven't planned to become United States senators and say,

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Speaker 2: we're kindergarteners. They didn't go to college majoring in political science.

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Speaker 2: They're not lawyers, they're not rich. They are totally ordinary

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Speaker 2: people who see what's happening around us and say, oh,

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Speaker 2: I actually have a responsibility and an opportunity to fix it.

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Speaker 2: And this organization has said maybe I could run for

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Speaker 2: office and they'll help me do it. I'm going to

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Speaker 2: consider this. I'm going to jump in. I think we're

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Speaker 2: at a tipping point here where to your point, there

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Speaker 2: is a lot of young people who see the political

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Speaker 2: system and say screw it. This is not for me.

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Speaker 2: But there is a group among them who are saying

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Speaker 2: this is for me, and I'm not going to wait

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Speaker 2: my turn. And I love that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, But I look at, for example, although New York's

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Speaker 1: fortunes have ebbed in terms of its relevance and its place,

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Speaker 1: not it as a spawning ground for political leadership nationwide.

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Speaker 1: But I mean just in terms of the population has

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Speaker 1: gone down, The House delegation has gone down New York, Florida,

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Speaker 1: California is forever eclipsing us, and New York is like

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Speaker 1: the fourth most populous state now. And I say to myself,

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Speaker 1: what passes for leadership in a certain states? I look

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Speaker 1: at people who go to the Senate and the House

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Speaker 1: from certain states and I go, You've got to be

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Speaker 1: kidding me. That's the person you sent to the United

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Speaker 1: States Senate. You couldn't find somebody else, man, woman, black, white,

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter, whatever age, who's more dynamic than that. The

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Speaker 1: same I think is true in New York. He's been

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Speaker 1: there too long.

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Speaker 2: If Democrats take back the majority in the House, the

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Speaker 2: Speaker of the House will be from New York City.

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Speaker 2: And if we take back the majority in the Senate,

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Speaker 2: the majority leader will be from New York City. What

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Speaker 2: happens here has national ramifications and you know, Keem Jeffries.

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Speaker 2: But is Chuck Schumer our best is really? Is Chuck

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Speaker 2: shot He says, yes, I would agree with that.

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Speaker 1: I think that she's had her time as well well,

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Speaker 1: jilib Bren. I mean nothing wrong with them as people.

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Speaker 1: I'm not judging them as people. I'm just saying they've

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Speaker 1: been there a long time, and I'm not quite sure.

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Speaker 1: When Chuck Schumber didn't stand up to the banks during

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Speaker 1: the financial crisis, it was over for me.

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Speaker 2: For me. I think part of this is that Chuck

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Speaker 2: Schumer still imagines the Republican Party as good faith operators.

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Speaker 2: He still sees this as a Republican Party of when

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Speaker 2: he came up in politics, where you know he and

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Speaker 2: others will say this too, like we're just waiting for

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Speaker 2: the fever to break. No, it is Trump Party all

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Speaker 2: the way down. These people do not want the government

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Speaker 2: to function. You cannot negotiate with them.

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Speaker 1: You're happy with the way things are.

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Speaker 2: They want to break it and they don't want to

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Speaker 2: put it back together. You know, Schumer has this like

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Speaker 2: shtick where he you know, he doesn't have an iPhone.

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Speaker 2: He's got a flip phone that's like his bit. I

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Speaker 2: don't find that charming. If you don't understand how people

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Speaker 2: communicate in twenty twenty six, how they're getting information, how

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Speaker 2: they consume media, how they're engaging with the world, you

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Speaker 2: are not well suited to lead in this moment.

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Speaker 1: Well, people told me back then, when the two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight, when the financial crisis was They said to me, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, Schumer's the head of the DSCC, and he's

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Speaker 1: got to raise money, and he raises money, a lot

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Speaker 1: of money from these banking people, and he can't go

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Speaker 1: too hard on them because then he's going to bite

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Speaker 1: the hand that feeds him. For the DSc. He needs

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Speaker 1: this money. He gets to handle them very tenderly. I

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Speaker 1: want to go no, no, you don't. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: see something in which you were taking a leadership role

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Speaker 1: in posing how we got into this horrible place which

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Speaker 1: we could likely be in again. We could likely be

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Speaker 1: in again. But before you started run for something, and

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Speaker 1: before you did other work, you were involved in working

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Speaker 1: for political figures. It was Obama. But I would say

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Speaker 1: the one I'm more interested in for the purposes of

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Speaker 1: this podcast is Hillary, in which you had to raise

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Speaker 1: a lot of money three hundred and thirty million dollars. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: did you like raising money?

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Speaker 2: Did I like raising I liked doing email marketing because

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Speaker 2: it's a mix of art and science. Because it's writing,

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Speaker 2: it's creative, and also it's very data driven. You get

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Speaker 2: a chance to test things, You get a chance to

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Speaker 2: learn what people respond to and the way in which

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Speaker 2: people in many ways are animals when it comes to

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Speaker 2: marketing of like, oh, if you center of a text

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Speaker 2: to make the button bigger, more people give money. Man,

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Speaker 2: we are just so primal. But it was fun and

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Speaker 2: it was also, I hope, the hardest thing I'll ever do.

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Speaker 1: What way?

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Speaker 2: I worked for two years basically one hundred dollars weeks

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Speaker 2: in the office from seven am to two am every night,

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Speaker 2: every weekend for a mission that I genuinely believed in

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Speaker 2: and a candidate I really believed in. Like I thought

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Speaker 2: every day we were going to lock the first woman president.

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Speaker 2: So we used to get these pep talks in the

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Speaker 2: office when days are really hard about how you know,

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Speaker 2: if we didn't win, feel it would be like Nazis

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Speaker 2: wood storm the streets. There would be women would lose

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Speaker 2: their rights, the right to vote would be taken back,

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Speaker 2: like all the progress we made it be rescinded. And

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Speaker 2: it felt hyperbolic at the time, like it was just

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Speaker 2: supposed to motivate us. And you know, almost ten years later,

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Speaker 2: we weren't scary enough.

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Speaker 1: Author and co founder of Run for Something, Amanda Littman.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoy conversations with political leaders who started their

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Speaker 1: career thanks to Run for Something, check out my conversation

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Speaker 1: with Michigan State Senator and US Senate candidate Malory mcmurrow.

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Speaker 3: I'm used to people underestimated me. I ran in twenty

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Speaker 3: eighteen against my Republican incumbent state senator who had won

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Speaker 3: previously by sixteen points, and even local Democrats said you're

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Speaker 3: going to get destroyed. There was something really freeing about

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Speaker 3: not having the backing of the party and just say

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Speaker 3: let's just go for it and try to run a

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Speaker 3: campaign to really connect with people in a way that

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Speaker 3: feels different. And I beat him by four points, and

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Speaker 3: now I'm in leadership. You know, I'm responsible for an

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Speaker 3: eighty billion dollar state budget. I've proven that I'm a workhorse.

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Speaker 3: I do really well when people underestimate me.

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Speaker 1: To hear more of my conversation with Mallory mcmurrow, go

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Speaker 1: to Here's Thething dot org. After the break, Amanda Littman

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Speaker 1: shares her thoughts on the twenty twenty eight Democratic primary

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Speaker 1: and why she predicts the nominee could be someone no

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Speaker 1: one is talking about today. I'm Alec Baldwin and this

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Speaker 1: is Here's the Thing. Amanda Littman grew up in Fairfax, Virginia,

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Speaker 1: but it was a young Illinois senator that would ultimately

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Speaker 1: draw her to attend college in the Midwest. Littman enrolled

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Speaker 1: at Northwestern University in the hopes of being close to

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Speaker 1: Barack Obama's Chicago base of operations. She'd be called a

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Speaker 1: day as a high school junior in two thousand and

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Speaker 1: eight when she decided to skip a day of school

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Speaker 1: to attend a student's for Obama rally.

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Speaker 2: I was hooked. I wanted to be part of whatever

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Speaker 2: he was building, which is why I went to Northwestern

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Speaker 2: for college, because I wanted to be in Chicago when

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Speaker 2: he was gonna interesting. I assumed was like he's going

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Speaker 2: to win. That's an insane thing to think interesting, And

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Speaker 2: I want to work for his campaign, and it'll be interesting.

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Speaker 1: West because you wanted to be proximate to his work.

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Speaker 2: I was not a small part of it, you know.

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Speaker 2: I also I liked the diploma program, I liked the campus,

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Speaker 2: but I wanted to be near to Schogo Grade school.

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Speaker 2: When I was a senior, I got an internship on

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Speaker 2: the Obama campaign doing online fundraising, which is what I

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Speaker 2: ended up doing for Hillary in twenty sixteen. And it

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Speaker 2: was magical, like being part of that movement, and on

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Speaker 2: the inside of that felt like being part of the

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Speaker 2: best sorority or fraternity I could ever imagine. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's how I spent my senior year of college. I'm

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Speaker 2: shocked they gave me a degree because all I did

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Speaker 2: was write my thesis and work on the Obama campaign.

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Speaker 1: I was there in Washington in seventy six when the

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Speaker 1: Carter Pete Ford and when to have his term. The

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Speaker 1: entire period of time I was there, this is back

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Speaker 1: in the old Washington when they were burning the Shah

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Speaker 1: of Iran and effigy and Lafayette Park right outside the

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Speaker 1: White House gates. Who's going to come forth two years

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Speaker 1: from now? You say, over sixty, Gavin Newsom is in

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Speaker 1: over sixty. Is he cut it for you or no.

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Speaker 2: I think that there is going to be a very crowded, chaotic,

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Speaker 2: interesting primary. It's going to make us want to throw

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Speaker 2: our phones into the river. It's going to be infuriating,

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Speaker 2: as primaries are because ultimately most of us have the

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Speaker 2: same values, Like we generally agree on ninety eight percent

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Speaker 2: of things. The two percent we don't is where it

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Speaker 2: and it gets like mean and personal and nasty. It's

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Speaker 2: why primary is. It's like a fight with your family.

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Speaker 1: It sucks.

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Speaker 2: I don't know it's going to be, and I find

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Speaker 2: that to be actually very freeing. It could feel very scary.

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Speaker 2: But I think this is the first open primary really

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Speaker 2: since I've ever gotten a chance to vote, I mean

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Speaker 2: even twenty twenty, like Biden sort of came in as

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Speaker 2: the polling leader and ended with the nomination. This is

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Speaker 2: the first time where there's no clear frontrunner. It could

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Speaker 2: be anyone, and I would say, you know, fifty to

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Speaker 2: fifty chance it's someone nobody's talking about right now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, whit Mari was keen on I really I thought

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Speaker 1: she was effective and smart and all these other things

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Speaker 1: and not just a woman for a woman's sake. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I thought I'd like to see a woman become the

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Speaker 1: president because a woman was voted the president, I believe,

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Speaker 1: and I think where we would be now is very

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Speaker 1: different from where we are now if she had won.

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Speaker 1: When she lost, what did you attribute it to?

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Speaker 2: I thought it was one part, many parts, obviously sexism,

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Speaker 2: obviously a twenty year campaign to drag down her reputation.

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Speaker 2: I think there was obviously foreign interference. I think Trump

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Speaker 2: tapped into something that had been building since the Tea Party.

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Speaker 2: I think you know, the final ten days of the

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Speaker 2: call Me letter, and then you know Anthony Wiener and

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Speaker 2: the emails, all of that. Talk about the emails, I

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Speaker 2: can't talk for it makes me want to. You know,

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Speaker 2: I was Hillary Clinton's email director and I so we

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Speaker 2: have a sweatsheh. We had team sweatshirts for in the campaign,

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Speaker 2: says Hillary Clinton's other emails because I always had to

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Speaker 2: clarify not the ones they're talking out on Fox News,

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Speaker 2: like that's not the ones I'm in charge of.

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Speaker 1: It was.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think it was so many things, and yes,

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Speaker 2: of course the campaign made some poor decisions and the

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Speaker 2: process too. Every losing campaign does the same way that

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Speaker 2: every winning campaign also makes some bad decisions in retrospect.

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Speaker 2: But we came so close close. It is not close,

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Speaker 2: it's not winning, but we came so close.

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Speaker 1: It was tough. It was so tough because what a

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Speaker 1: great president she would have been.

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Speaker 2: She would have been phenomenal. Although I say, my husband

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Speaker 2: often reminds me, had she won, the Republican Party, had

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Speaker 2: they controlled the House, would have tried to impeachure by

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Speaker 2: like noon the day after inauguration. So what would you

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Speaker 2: know President Tim Kane have been like? Is an interesting

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Speaker 2: question to marinate on. Yeah, that's a good pob and

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Speaker 2: I find that version of the alternate history to be

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Speaker 2: like a little soothing. It was never going to be

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Speaker 2: easy for.

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Speaker 1: The first It's interesting you say that about no clear

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Speaker 1: front runner for twenty twenty eight, and I agree with you,

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Speaker 1: even though Newsom's name is thrown around a lot, and

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Speaker 1: I've met him a few times and I'm not quite

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Speaker 1: sure how I feel about him as president because I mean, again,

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Speaker 1: I look at the job now, one think it's almost undoable.

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Speaker 1: This marketing involved, there's image making that's involved.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's basically a nationwide branding campaign. That's what a

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Speaker 2: presidential campaign is at this point, it's a branding campaign

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Speaker 2: and policies are a part of that. But it's policies

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Speaker 2: and the way that they contribute to the brand of

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Speaker 2: the person and how you can make people understand and

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Speaker 2: see themselves in those policies. It's not most people don't

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Speaker 2: actually have a strong position on most issues. They take

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Speaker 2: their cues from the leaders and how the leaders make

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Speaker 2: them feel. And yes, part is an affiliation and how

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Speaker 2: the person communicates and the story that they tell, and

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Speaker 2: of course their identity like all of that sort of

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Speaker 2: play is a role here. So just to say there's

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Speaker 2: like a broader internal Democratic party debate about oh we

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Speaker 2: need a progressive or a moderate or that's not the

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Speaker 2: access upon which people are operating anymore. They want someone

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Speaker 2: who is willing to fight, and who is authentic and

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Speaker 2: knows who they are and what they believe.

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Speaker 1: Someone who's willing to go down in flames in their

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Speaker 1: first term risk a second term. Nothing more important to me.

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Speaker 1: If I were a president, sit there and I go,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to do this first term like it's the

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Speaker 1: second term, got it. I'm not going to throw everything

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Speaker 1: to the wind and see, I want to win. I

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Speaker 1: want us to accomplish these things environmentally and blah blah blah. Now,

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Speaker 1: the idea of coaxing people, of summoning people to want

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Speaker 1: to run for office themselves and get into the whole

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Speaker 1: civics thing about that is something that's not new. I mean,

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Speaker 1: when I was in college and I was in the

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Speaker 1: Young Democrats of g W and blah blah blah. Everything

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Speaker 1: was about when you leave here, when you leave here

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Speaker 1: with your degree or your professional degree, are you going

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Speaker 1: to go home and run for office? What are you

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Speaker 1: going to do? And you have formed your variant of that,

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Speaker 1: how did you get involved with that and why?

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Speaker 2: So About a week after election Day in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 2: I'd started hearing from people I'd gone to high school

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Speaker 2: in college with, Hey, Amanda, I'm a public school teacher

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Speaker 2: in Chicago. If Trump can be president, it seems like

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Speaker 2: fucking anybody can do this. What do I do if

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Speaker 2: I want to run for office? They keep cutting our

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Speaker 2: budgets and I want to fight back. And at the time,

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Speaker 2: this is November twenty sixteen, I didn't have anywhere you

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Speaker 2: could send them, like the state Party would probably not

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Speaker 2: answer your emails. If you're a twenty six year old

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Speaker 2: public school teacher. That wasn't what the DNZ did. They're

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Speaker 2: just like there wasn't an on ramp. And the more

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Speaker 2: that I thought about that, and the more that I

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Speaker 2: kept getting these emails and seeing it online, the more

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Speaker 2: I realized, like, that's actually a problem we need to

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Speaker 2: solve if we're going to fix a whole bunch of

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Speaker 2: other problems in the Democratic Party and our democracy. So

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Speaker 2: I reached out to a whole bunch of people with

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Speaker 2: an idea, what if we start an organization to solve this.

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Speaker 2: I am unemployed and very sad, and with like a

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Speaker 2: coping mechanism in the form of an interesting project. One

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Speaker 2: of those folks became my co founder, Ross Morales Rocqutto.

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Speaker 2: We wrote a plan, we built a website. Hayes no

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Speaker 2: Hayes wife and I worked together on the campaign, so

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Speaker 2: she connected me with him, and he'd been like chewing

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Speaker 2: on a very similar idea for a little while. He

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Speaker 2: was managing a congressional campaign in California at the time,

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Speaker 2: and I was sad at home. So we wrote a plan,

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Speaker 2: we built the website, and we launched Run for Something

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Speaker 2: on Trump's first inauguration day. We thought this is going

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Speaker 2: to be small. We're going to get a hundred people

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Speaker 2: in the first year. This is going to be my hobby.

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Speaker 2: We had a thousand people signed up in the first week.

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Speaker 1: What do you attribute that to?

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Speaker 2: Partially it was the right idea for the right time. Partially,

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Speaker 2: we you know, I'm a digital strategist by trade. We

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Speaker 2: built a very easy way for people to engage. The

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Speaker 2: branding was good, the story was good, that the you know,

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Speaker 2: the vibe was good. But mostly I think people were

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Speaker 2: hungry to do something and they wanted to do something

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Speaker 2: they felt like could matter. You know, we had eighty

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Speaker 2: thousand people raise their hands in twenty twenty five. We

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Speaker 2: had more people sign up in the last twelve months

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Speaker 2: than we did in the entirety of Trump's first term.

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Speaker 2: They're looking around and saying, there aren't leaders here that

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Speaker 2: are doing the work I see that needs to be done.

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Speaker 2: There aren't people who excite me. My community is struggling.

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Speaker 2: If I don't run for office, if I don't get

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Speaker 2: involved in this way, nothing is going to get better.

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Speaker 2: I find it to be so inspiring. It's I've been

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Speaker 2: able to do this work for almost last decade, and

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Speaker 2: that every week, and we have elections basically every week,

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Speaker 2: and every week we win, and then every day I

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Speaker 2: get in my inbox the stories of the people we've

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Speaker 2: helped elect who are cutting the cost of insulin, getting

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Speaker 2: free lunch for kids in schools, building more housing, you know,

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Speaker 2: passing gun safety laws in unusual places. It's just it's

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Speaker 2: a reminder that actually democracy is good and government can

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Speaker 2: work when you get really good people in it.

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Speaker 1: So Daniel Squadron and Melissa Walker from State's Project came

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Speaker 1: to take the show recently, and I'd gone to some

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Speaker 1: salons of there it's at somebody's home in my building

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Speaker 1: once and then i just went to another one that

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Speaker 1: they had, and I'm very admiring of the two of them.

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Speaker 1: And do you see some kind of overlap with the

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Speaker 1: work we do.

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Speaker 2: We work closely with them and with every other organization

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Speaker 2: that works on these state and local offices, because we

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Speaker 2: only work with people running for a state house, state senate,

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Speaker 2: city council, school board, library board, American River Flood Control

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Speaker 2: District trustee, like the kinds of local positions that make

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Speaker 2: up the building blocks of democracy.

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Speaker 1: Is it safe to say that when Mom Donnie won,

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Speaker 1: you were glad because you were glad somebody else didn't win.

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Speaker 2: I was delighted. Okay, yeah, I was delighted. I did

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Speaker 2: not like Cuomo. I wanted a mayor who won spoke

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Speaker 2: to the problems that I, as a millennial mom of

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Speaker 2: two in Brooklyn, really experiencing the housing crisis as a

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Speaker 2: renter is personal. Free childcare huge, huge part of my expenses.

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Speaker 2: In fact, you know, him getting us two K might

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Speaker 2: make me have another kid. The idea that you can

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Speaker 2: make a difference in your city with a leader that

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Speaker 2: is inspiring, who I don't agree with on every issue,

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Speaker 2: but who I believe what he's He believes what he's saying,

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Speaker 2: and I believe he's going to try, and I believe

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Speaker 2: that when he fails, because he will certainly fail on

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Speaker 2: some of his promises, he'll be able to communicate that

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Speaker 2: in a way that brings the people along with him.

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Speaker 2: Like that is so powerful. And I will say after

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Speaker 2: he won, especially in that primary in June, we saw

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Speaker 2: ten thousand people raise their hands to run for office.

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Speaker 2: The two weeks after. It was our biggest organic candidate

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Speaker 2: recruitment moment in the history of the organization.

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Speaker 1: Describe the point of contact, the point of engagement, between

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Speaker 1: you and these people. They contact you and seek resources

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Speaker 1: to help them in guidance of how to run for office,

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Speaker 1: depending on what kind of an office it is.

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Speaker 2: So it sort of depends. We find people, we ask

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Speaker 2: them to sign up to run for office, We do

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Speaker 2: text message recruit them. We recruit them. So we do.

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Speaker 2: We work with partners. We do cold calling, we do

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Speaker 2: cold texting, We do ads, we do events, we do

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Speaker 2: social media. I wrote Run for Something, the book we

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Speaker 2: Had to Run for Something podcast. We have all kinds

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00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,040
Speaker 2: of ways in which we reach people and say have

435
00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 2: you ever thought about running for office? When they say

436
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,960
Speaker 2: yes or maybe, we then have a whole bunch of

437
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,680
Speaker 2: programming for them to get them onto the ballot. So

438
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:55,520
Speaker 2: we have the Run for Something Community, which is an

439
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 2: online space you can talk to other people thinking about running.

440
00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,480
Speaker 2: You can do one of two training tracks, I'm running

441
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:02,840
Speaker 2: this year or I'm thinking about running someday down the

442
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,800
Speaker 2: road because it's a slightly different focus. You can join

443
00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 2: one of our monthly intro calls, or we talk through

444
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,280
Speaker 2: the same basic questions every first time candidate has. You

445
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,439
Speaker 2: can talk to one of our volunteers and once you

446
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,199
Speaker 2: have filed to get on the ballot, which we have

447
00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,439
Speaker 2: guides to help you figure out how to do. You

448
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,200
Speaker 2: can apply for our endorsement. Our PACK does endorsements specifically

449
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,000
Speaker 2: of folks forty and under running for those local offices

450
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,760
Speaker 2: for the first time you PACK, I'm sorry. It doesn't

451
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:28,240
Speaker 2: mean I don't think you shouldn't run if you want to.

452
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 2: It just we might not be the right org to

453
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,400
Speaker 2: help you. But I think for us, we really try

454
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,439
Speaker 2: to help people with everything that isn't the stuff that

455
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,600
Speaker 2: you like. They have innately, but.

456
00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,040
Speaker 1: If you recruit them what I want to go through

457
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,840
Speaker 1: a path here, a very simple path, which is that

458
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,480
Speaker 1: if you recruit them and they decide they want to

459
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,800
Speaker 1: participate with you and engage with you, then what happens

460
00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,679
Speaker 1: to man you help them run for office?

461
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:49,200
Speaker 2: Absolutely?

462
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,120
Speaker 1: How many people have you I'm not saying you've kept

463
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,280
Speaker 1: track of this, but I assume you have. How many

464
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 1: people have you engaged with this way who've run for office?

465
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 2: In one so we track winners and losers of our

466
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,360
Speaker 2: endorsed pools. I've endorse more and four thousand campaigns. We've

467
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,239
Speaker 2: helped elect sixteen hundred and fifty three across forty nine

468
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 2: states plus DC, mostly women and people of color, all

469
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,320
Speaker 2: millennials and gen z to state and local offices, many

470
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:13,879
Speaker 2: of whom are now running for higher office. So we

471
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 2: have really built the bench of the Democratic Party. You know,

472
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 2: people like Mallory McMorrow in Michigan.

473
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:19,640
Speaker 1: You had her on the show.

474
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:21,920
Speaker 2: She's phenomenal. We were her first endorser when she ran

475
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 2: for state Senate back in twenty eighteen. James tell Rico

476
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 2: down in Texas, one of our alum Zach Walls in Iowa,

477
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,359
Speaker 2: Alexis Hill in Nevada, Ethan Corson in Kansas, Rure Roman

478
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,800
Speaker 2: in Georgia, Francesca Hang and Wisconsin, and then currently serving

479
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 2: in Congress, Christian Menafie who's in Houston, Yasamine and Sorry

480
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 2: in Arizona, Sarah McBride and Delaware. These as you're a.

481
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: Part of the country where this plays more than other

482
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,359
Speaker 1: parts in a region or a state for that matter.

483
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 2: No, it's pretty commensurate with population. We have people signing

484
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,400
Speaker 2: up with us in all fifty states. The only state

485
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,919
Speaker 2: we haven't won an election is Idaho. Although this is

486
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:56,840
Speaker 2: the year, I feel very good about it. And we

487
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,600
Speaker 2: have built a model that is tight on values but

488
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 2: flex in policy, which means we can in the same

489
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,200
Speaker 2: night in twenty twenty five, as an example, elect you know,

490
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,639
Speaker 2: a DSA affiliated candidate to the Atlanta City Council, Kelsey Bond,

491
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 2: young renter activist who was really pushing from more green

492
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,159
Speaker 2: space and transit justice and all those things. At the

493
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 2: same night, we helped elect a former Republican who had

494
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:19,639
Speaker 2: left the party after January sixth and one in a

495
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,439
Speaker 2: county that Trump won seventy thirty in rural Pennsylvania, Andrew Harbough.

496
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 2: We built a machine that can do both.

497
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 1: Now, let's just confine ourselves to the run for something

498
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: period of your career when you began.

499
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 2: Which is like, what year was a twenty seventeen.

500
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,560
Speaker 1: Twenty seventeen, so it's seven, it's nine years ago, so

501
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 1: nine years ago, which is a considerable amount of time

502
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. Do you look back in

503
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 1: retrospect and there were things you assumed, there were things

504
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,439
Speaker 1: you had hoped for or even took for granted, And

505
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 1: it's different than you thought it was. How's the work

506
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 1: you're doing different from what you've conceived it would be

507
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:54,320
Speaker 1: when you started.

508
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 2: I didn't think it would be this big like it is.

509
00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:58,560
Speaker 2: I thought it would be harder to get people to

510
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 2: run genuinely, you know, part of my shields like, yeah,

511
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 2: we thought we'd get a hundred. I really thought we'd

512
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,359
Speaker 2: get a hundred people, and we would struggle to get

513
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 2: one hundred people in that first year. The fact that

514
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 2: people are so eager to do this meant we've had

515
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,199
Speaker 2: to build systems very differently. We've had to scale the

516
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 2: organization very differently. I also have been equal parts surprised

517
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 2: and disappointed at how fundraising for the work has gone.

518
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,879
Speaker 2: Surprised that, like nine years in, we're still here. That

519
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 2: is honestly shocking to me. And disappointed because the work

520
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 2: is working. The impact is so clear. You can like

521
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 2: literally measure the outcomes that we have done, both quantitatively

522
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,159
Speaker 2: and qualitatively. You know, nine years ago it would have

523
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 2: been unimaginable for a state party to put out ads

524
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 2: recruiting people to run for office. Nine years later, the

525
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 2: Florida Democratic Party had billboards up across the state, do

526
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 2: you want to run for office? Sign up here. We've

527
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,360
Speaker 2: changed what it means to ask people to run. We've

528
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,119
Speaker 2: put running for office as much a part of the

529
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 2: civic vocabulary as vote or volunteer and yet man to

530
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 2: Democratic donors not like to fund what we're doing. Really,

531
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 2: it's been harder than I expected. It's been harder than

532
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 2: I expected.

533
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 1: Because they want the money used to go straight to

534
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: a party.

535
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 2: They wanted to go to a party, or they want

536
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 2: to go to a federal candidate, or they want to

537
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,679
Speaker 2: become an ambassador, or you know. Love what you're doing.

538
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,399
Speaker 2: I think it's so important, But this year we have

539
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,760
Speaker 2: to flip the House. This is not the year for infrastructure,

540
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 2: or this is the year we have to win the

541
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,400
Speaker 2: White House. This is not the year for local. If

542
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 2: it's never the year for infrastructure, if is never the

543
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,399
Speaker 2: year for local, if it is never the year for

544
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,120
Speaker 2: pipeline building, we will keep being in this mess, year

545
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 2: after year after year.

546
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 1: Author and co founder of Run for Something, Amanda Littman.

547
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,879
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a friend and be

548
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 1: sure to follow Here's the thing on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,

549
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back,

550
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,679
Speaker 1: Amanda Littman talks about the future of the Republican Party

551
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: without Donald Trump and the opportunity that creates for Democrats.

552
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:10,439
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty eight, I'm Alec Baldwin, And this is

553
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 1: here's the thing. With the twenty twenty eight presidential election

554
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 1: on the horizon and the next president facing a long

555
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: list of daunting tasks, I was curious to hear Amanda

556
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: Liptman's opinion on the much needed remedy for American governance

557
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: in a post Trump world.

558
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 2: If we have a democratic Congress and a democratic Senate

559
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 2: and we can break the filbuster and we have people

560
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 2: really ready to govern this say twenty eight, So let's

561
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 2: say like we have full control trifecta government and we

562
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 2: can do things. I would do massive campaign finance reform.

563
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 2: We got to change the way money interacts with politics.

564
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 2: And that's not just like how much you can give.

565
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 2: That's you know, thinking about how outside groups can engage

566
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,159
Speaker 2: receiving this this year with you know, AI companies and

567
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 2: outside special interests just flooding races with very confusing messaging

568
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 2: in a way that really takes away people's power. So

569
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,639
Speaker 2: that's one I would wildly changed. There's can be kind

570
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 2: of a hot take. Have we changed the pay of

571
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 2: elected officials? I am that doesn't feel like the top

572
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,359
Speaker 2: priority for a lot of folks, but I would do

573
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,639
Speaker 2: it as much as possible for as many offices possible,

574
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:15,639
Speaker 2: state legislatures wildly underpaid members of Congress also actually really underpaid. Agree,

575
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:17,679
Speaker 2: I think you will get better people, You'll get.

576
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: More working class under paid.

577
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, you will get more.

578
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,199
Speaker 1: More and better. One hundred thousand dollars a year to

579
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,440
Speaker 1: be president right when there's guys that are people would

580
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: think that they would want to buy that office who

581
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: are making four hundred thousand dollars a day.

582
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like we should pay these positions to be competitive

583
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,199
Speaker 2: so they're not incentivized to do insider training. And you know,

584
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 2: I think so you change campaign structures, you change the

585
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,199
Speaker 2: way people engage with the system, then I would do

586
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,960
Speaker 2: as much as you can around tech regulation while you can,

587
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,679
Speaker 2: because I think that we are looking forward to an

588
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: environment where you've got AI doing massive like labor force implications,

589
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 2: You've got tech in schools, you've got social media companies

590
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 2: that are literally rotting people's brains, and there's really smart

591
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 2: people thinking about how you can engage in these social

592
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 2: media tools in a way that better fortifies the information

593
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 2: ecosystem that will also serve to make our democracy a

594
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:04,679
Speaker 2: little bit stronger.

595
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been immersed in campaign finance reform and

596
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 1: always adhere to that old line, that tired old line,

597
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 1: which is that if the Sumime court says cash is money,

598
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,199
Speaker 1: then he would the most cash speaks the loudest. And

599
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,359
Speaker 1: I really believe this is the lynchpin of all the

600
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: problems in this cuntrure. You've got to be able to

601
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 1: have people who aren't rich or not the friends of

602
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: the rich run for office and beholding for the rich.

603
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,360
Speaker 1: So I agree with you that that's really the most

604
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:31,199
Speaker 1: critical thing in the world. We're among the most critical

605
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 1: in this country. REP.

606
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,640
Speaker 2: I would also add jerrymandering. I think there's some structural

607
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 2: I would say broader structural changes to elections, to like

608
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 2: voting rights, but I think those connected, Like you want

609
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 2: to fix the structure of these institutions, you can change

610
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 2: how people engage with them. Then you'll be able to

611
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 2: get really meaningful policies around housing, around reproductive health, around equality,

612
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 2: around climate. Like you got to change the institutions first,

613
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,199
Speaker 2: because right now they are broken. We're not going to

614
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 2: get effective governance in the next two twenty twenty six,

615
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:58,800
Speaker 2: twenty seven. We're not going to get good governings.

616
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 1: I can't see we're we're going to gain much ground

617
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: in the court because I think that I think that

618
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: Clarence Thomas will resign right before the buzzer with the

619
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 1: Trump leaving, so they'll leave that open to this Republican

620
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: unless they lose the majority. That's a different ballgame. I mean,

621
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 1: the number one thing for me is that you wonder

622
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 1: would Thomas even resign now this summer because there's the

623
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,159
Speaker 1: fear that the Democrats will take over both houses in

624
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 1: the fall, which will hurt him. But I'm very worried

625
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: about that, and I'm very worried about how, if possible

626
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: to repopulate the court.

627
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 2: There's really compelling arguments about court expansion. There's really compelling

628
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 2: arguments about term limits and other ways you could do

629
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 2: reformation here. I think we need a president who is

630
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 2: not beholden to the way we did things yesterday dictating

631
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 2: the way we do them tomorrow, because the way we

632
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 2: did them yesterday has meant today sucks well.

633
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: I also would love to have somebody articulate for me

634
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: some examination. It just might take a lot of hours

635
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 1: and a lot of effort, and that is to understand

636
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: how things got the way they are right now, the

637
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: way they are right now in terms of policies, but

638
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: the hatred and the bio and the partisanship on this level,

639
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: and I'd love to find that how can this be

640
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 1: changed where And you even have people running for office

641
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: who kind of take an oath. Yeah, I'm not going

642
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,400
Speaker 1: to go in and buy into that, you know, any

643
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 1: meaning where everything is will just screw them on the

644
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 1: other side of the aisle reflexibly.

645
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 3: You know.

646
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 2: I think there's an opportunity in twenty twenty eight for

647
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 2: a really compelling communicator to make a case for America

648
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 2: being a place where you can know and trust your

649
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 2: neighbors again. And you could tell a story about that.

650
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 2: We've seen that over the last year, like in Minneapolis.

651
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 2: Neighborism is what has gotten people through these crisses in

652
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 2: Los Angeles and Chicago, in Portland, through these climate crisses,

653
00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 2: through the fires in LA You're seeing people step up

654
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 2: for their neighbors in a way that is so meaningful

655
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 2: and moving. And I've been joking it's like mister Roger's Resistance,

656
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 2: where people really do want to feel like they can

657
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 2: trust and love and care for the people who are

658
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 2: near them. There they're neighbors, they're fellow citizens. They're villow

659
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,400
Speaker 2: community members. You don't have to be a citizen, but

660
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 2: fellow community members. And there are so many things getting

661
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 2: in the way of that, from social media to housing,

662
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 2: to cars, to public safety to schools. There's a lot

663
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,719
Speaker 2: of ways in which you could pull policies into that.

664
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 2: But I do think there's an opening. I think Mom

665
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 2: Donnie actually got at this a little bit, where you

666
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 2: can create a country where you can feel free to

667
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 2: be in community with others.

668
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: I wonder what you think about the notion, which is,

669
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: you know, everybody seems to whether it's through some fatigue

670
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: from reality or just in general, they don't ascribe to

671
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: Trump what he's really capable of. What do you think

672
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: about him co opting the midterm election this year.

673
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 2: I think it's certainly scary. There's things that he can't do,

674
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 2: and I think it's worth always being really clear. You

675
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 2: can't cancel elections. The federal government does not run elections.

676
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 2: He sends ice to polling stations. Isn't enough ice agents,

677
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 2: There's not competent enough. And also I think that there

678
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,440
Speaker 2: is a real danger in what they are doing because

679
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 2: Democrats would crawl over broken glass to vote in this

680
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 2: midterm election. Their voters are low propensity voters, people who

681
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 2: are unlikely to vote, and unless they are given a

682
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 2: really good reason, if you make it even a little

683
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 2: bit harder for them, they're going to stay home because

684
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 2: they're already not liking what Trump is selling and what

685
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 2: the Republican Party is doing. I do think that there's

686
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 2: real concerns to have on the state and local level,

687
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 2: especially in some of these Republican states, but I prefer

688
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 2: to operate in this moment. There's really smart people across

689
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 2: the party who are doing contingency planning, preparing lawsuits, preparing

690
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 2: safety plans. I want to focus on my particular spear

691
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 2: of influence. Let's prepare to win. Let's prepare to win,

692
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 2: and then prepare to govern as much as we can.

693
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: I think, as much as I'm horrified to even consider this,

694
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,120
Speaker 1: let alone say it, I think that Iran is going

695
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 1: to be the final denu mall for him. I think

696
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 1: the Iran, even though it's horrible and I'm I'm sick

697
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 1: and that he did that. I have a lot of

698
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 1: people attack me online and sit they go, well, you

699
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 1: know what about a free Iran? And I want to go, well,

700
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 1: let's hope there was another way to have a free Iran.

701
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 1: We don't have to, don't We don't have to turn

702
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: all of the Middle East into an ash in order

703
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,320
Speaker 1: to achieve our policy goals. But I do think that

704
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 1: Iran is not going to be over quickly in a

705
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 1: way beyond them just stating it is and claiming it is,

706
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 1: We're going to be over there for a while to

707
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 1: control Lebanon. I mean, it's just it's insane what they've

708
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: this beive they've kicked. But I think it's also going

709
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: to lend to his demise. I think he's going to

710
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 1: lose the mid term because of Iran. Well, that'll be

711
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: the straw that breaks because of Iran. He'll lose the

712
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: mid term, and he'll lose the long term election the

713
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: general the Republicans because of Iran. I think Iran is

714
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 1: something that's got some silver lining. I hate to say that,

715
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 1: but for us politically.

716
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 2: Well, and I think once Trump loses the midterm, he

717
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 2: is really a lamb duck and the Republican Party without

718
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 2: Trump has no uniting like vision. This is I think

719
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 2: something we're not talking about enough, at least on the

720
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 2: Democratic side, where their primary is going to be as

721
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 2: much of a shit show as ours is, and it's

722
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 2: going to be way nastier because they're going to be

723
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 2: trying to like out racist, outbigo out you know, maga,

724
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: the one or the other. But none of them can

725
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 2: sell maga the way that Trump does because they don't

726
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 2: have his you know, forty five years in the public eye.

727
00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 2: They don't have his brand as a businessman, whether justified

728
00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 2: or or not. They don't have the charisma that he has,

729
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 2: even though not my cup of tea. But without him,

730
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 2: the Republican Party is going to fight among themselves. I

731
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 2: don't think it's going to be fun to watch necessarily,

732
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 2: but I do think it creates an opportunity because.

733
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 1: It a finger pointing. I mean, I look at them.

734
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: I mean this is a weak analogy maybe, but it's

735
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,120
Speaker 1: like the cockplit of a plane, and once the pilot

736
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 1: is removed, meaning Trump, there isn't another pilot on board

737
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: the planet. Where have you seen a legislature dominated by

738
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 1: women or people of color or one that is closer

739
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 1: to what you advocate for? What did they achieve and

740
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: what did they get right?

741
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 2: There's a couple of state legislatures that are our majority

742
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 2: women in New Mexico and Nevada in particular, and New

743
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 2: Mexico just passed universal childcare huge. The Saint Paul City

744
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 2: Council is actually entirely women, majority women of color, almost

745
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 2: all women under the age of forty five, and we

746
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 2: have seen them really rise to the occasion over the

747
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 2: last year. You know, as ICE has taken taken over

748
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 2: the cities in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Saint Paul

749
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 2: City Council has been out there are doing like protection

750
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 2: efforts in a way that is really meaningful and really

751
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,960
Speaker 2: supporting local organizers and grassroots movements. I think we just

752
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,840
Speaker 2: saw Virginia pass paid family leave thanks to impart a

753
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,919
Speaker 2: woman governor and an incredible bunch of women in the House

754
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 2: of Delegates. You know, when women take off as good

755
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 2: things happen. I'm not saying every woman is good christ

756
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 2: you know, bad, but women who's surprising surprising number of

757
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 2: bad women. Yeah, well, you know, the patriarchy needs its showhorse,

758
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,840
Speaker 2: I guess is the expression is. But we've seen really

759
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 2: good women take over and do things a little bit

760
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,200
Speaker 2: differently and pass laws that while they shouldn't just be

761
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 2: women's responsibilities directly make a difference for women, for families,

762
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:43,720
Speaker 2: for kids in a way that's really powerful.

763
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,759
Speaker 1: What's the state that breaks your heart in terms of this,

764
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: what's the state that really do you think gets it wrong?

765
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: What's your guests Louisiana?

766
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking Louisiana, Mississippi, even Texas a little

767
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,799
Speaker 2: bit like Texas had you know, Anne Richard's Texas has

768
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,439
Speaker 2: incredibly ballsy women for lack of a better expression, women

769
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 2: who can really kick ass and take names. I suspect

770
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 2: at one point we will have another woman governor, women's

771
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 2: stay legislators in Texas where there's opportunity.

772
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, what was among the ones that was most gratifying

773
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 1: to you? A campaign that you were involved with, someone

774
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 1: you helped and guide it.

775
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 2: It's one of my I have many many favorites, but

776
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 2: I would say one of the ones that I come

777
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 2: back to a lot is in twenty twenty three, we

778
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 2: were running a campaign and we still are to get

779
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 2: people to pro democracy, people to run for local election

780
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,720
Speaker 2: administrator roles, so positions that actually oversee elections like county clerk,

781
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 2: county commission, county recorder, those kinds of roles, And we

782
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 2: were specifically doing it in a bunch of targeted counties,

783
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,200
Speaker 2: one of which was Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It's around Harrisburg.

784
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 2: We did a bunch of texting and cold calling, and

785
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 2: we found this guy justin Douglas, who was a former

786
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,359
Speaker 2: pastor who'd been fired from his church for being too

787
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 2: welcoming to LGBTQ congregants. He's a CrossFit athlete. I have

788
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,319
Speaker 2: been working with the homeless community in the area. And

789
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,000
Speaker 2: he was like, no, not me, not me, but I

790
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 2: mean I know someone not me, And we're like, ooh, no,

791
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,640
Speaker 2: you dude, it's you. We got him to run for office,

792
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:58,400
Speaker 2: and he was running against a Republican who'd been in

793
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 2: office for a very long time. He was outspent I

794
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 2: think ten to one, twelve to one, something insane like that.

795
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 2: He was knocking doors, making calls, doing billboards. His actual

796
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 2: campaign premise was on the fact that I leave a

797
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 2: dozen or more folks under the county jail system had

798
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 2: died under the care of the county, and he wanted

799
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,840
Speaker 2: to combat that neglect that they had done in the

800
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,760
Speaker 2: county commission. He ultimately flipped that seat by one hundred

801
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 2: and forty four votes in November twenty twenty three, won

802
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 2: that election, flipped control of the County Commission for the

803
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,400
Speaker 2: first time since World War One, and was able to

804
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 2: make huge changes both on the way that they oversee

805
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,440
Speaker 2: the county jail system, but also the election administration. And

806
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,840
Speaker 2: he's now running for Congress in that district where he

807
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 2: can flip a seat red to blue. So I think

808
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 2: that's an amazing example. Like he's not he's got like

809
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 2: big gauged years tattoos all over. He's like not the

810
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 2: kind of guy you typically see in politics, but he's

811
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 2: so deeply caring about community and speaks from a place

812
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 2: of faith. And can I give you one other So

813
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 2: earlier this year, in twenty twenty six, you may have

814
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 2: read about Taylor Ramett, who flipped a seat in the

815
00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 2: Texas State Senate that Trump had won by I believe

816
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 2: seventeen points. Run for Something got Taylor to sign up

817
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,560
Speaker 2: back in twenty nineteen. He came through our pipeline, He

818
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 2: joined our calls from time to time. He was part

819
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 2: of our community when he ultimately ran in twenty twenty five.

820
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 2: We were one of his first national endorsers. When he

821
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 2: came in first in that primary or that general election,

822
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 2: but not quite far enough to win outright. It was

823
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,759
Speaker 2: beyond my wildest dreams. And to see him win that

824
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 2: general election at the end of January, to flip a

825
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 2: seat that was so far off the radar that most

826
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,759
Speaker 2: other organizations didn't even consider it, and to see it

827
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,279
Speaker 2: happen because we invested for six years in thinking about

828
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 2: long term talent cultivation, Like that's what it's all about.

829
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:40,640
Speaker 2: That's the point. That's why we do this. We get

830
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:42,399
Speaker 2: people to sign up to think about it, We stay

831
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 2: in their ear, we stay in relationship with them, and

832
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,359
Speaker 2: then maybe a year, maybe three years, maybe five years later,

833
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:48,959
Speaker 2: they can win in a long shot race.

834
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 1: How do you find candidates specific to a play like,

835
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: for example, do you look at people and go, we

836
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 1: need more candidates in Alabama? You do? We do you

837
00:37:58,360 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: factored that it?

838
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,040
Speaker 2: We do. We think about this in a couple lens as.

839
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:02,720
Speaker 2: One is, we want people who are interested in running

840
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,239
Speaker 2: for office, like you got to have some self motivation here,

841
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 2: because it's really hard. You got to know why you

842
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 2: want to do it, why voters should want you to win,

843
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: which is different than why you want to win, why

844
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 2: should someone else want you to win? What are you

845
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 2: going to do for them. You need to be able

846
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,439
Speaker 2: to understand good point, like, it's not glamorous, it's not fun,

847
00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 2: it's gonna be really hard. You're gonna put your life

848
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 2: through a under a microscope, So you got to want

849
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,000
Speaker 2: to do it. And we should be asking in more places.

850
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:27,120
Speaker 2: We should be really intentional about asking people who are

851
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,880
Speaker 2: traditionally left out of the system. So we've actually identified

852
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 2: a dozen states where we think in five or six

853
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 2: years they could become battlegrounds or if we don't do

854
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 2: the work, they want to be off the map entirely.

855
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 2: Some of those Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Idaho, Ohio,

856
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:48,839
Speaker 2: North Carolina, Florida, places where not yet, but I would

857
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 2: love to think about it because I think there's opportunities

858
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 2: in these places where, you know, if we don't do

859
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:55,800
Speaker 2: the work, especially what Run for Something does of recruiting

860
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 2: and supporting local candidates, like in six years, especially post redistricting,

861
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 2: it's not even though we won't have multiple options, we

862
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,719
Speaker 2: won't have a path to victory. We got to keep

863
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,480
Speaker 2: everything on the table now.

864
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: When people want to help you, when people want to

865
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,799
Speaker 1: embrace the work you're doing, and assist you in any way.

866
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 1: Is it just only funding or can they offer you

867
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 1: something else? So? Can I come and give acting lessons

868
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: to political candidates?

869
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 2: You absolutely could. We have a whole mentorship program where

870
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 2: people can sign up. They can give their services, their

871
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,839
Speaker 2: skills to candidates for free. We ask you to charge

872
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,000
Speaker 2: people anything because most of our candidates are not full

873
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 2: time candidates. They're working people with jobs and this is

874
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 2: what they do outside of their job. We don't charge

875
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 2: candidates anything for our help as much as we can.

876
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 2: So yeah, we have ways you can volunteer, ways you

877
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,279
Speaker 2: can help make calls. Ways you can work directly with

878
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,960
Speaker 2: the campaigns. If you want to knock doors, make calls,

879
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 2: whatever did you want to do? We have ways that

880
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 2: you can help.

881
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 1: I think to myself back then, it seemed like there

882
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,920
Speaker 1: was something to root for. I mean, did I like

883
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 1: Kamala Harrise? I didn't want you about like or whatever,

884
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,200
Speaker 1: but I worried about her. I had a friend of

885
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: mine this is not me, but I had a friend

886
00:39:58,320 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: of mine lean over to me at a fundraiser for

887
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 1: her one This is years ago in the nevers. She's

888
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,240
Speaker 1: a little two four to one five. For my liking

889
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: you know, kind of northern California, like unabashed, unshielded liberalism.

890
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:11,759
Speaker 1: Is that going to sell right now? Maybe not, you

891
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,800
Speaker 1: know when we found that it didn't. But I really

892
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 1: really look now and it comes to this thought, and

893
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 1: that was, do Americans really just have the government that

894
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: they deserve right now?

895
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 2: I hope not. I think we're at a tipping point.

896
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 2: Like you know, you got to get to rock bottom

897
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 2: before you can get better. I do think Trump two

898
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 2: point zero is hopefully rock bottom, and it's going to

899
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 2: be uncomfortable to get out, you know, like you go

900
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 2: to the gym, you work out, your muscles are sore

901
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 2: after growth is painful. I look at the next generation

902
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 2: of leaders that are coming up. Both ones that run

903
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 2: for something has helped, but also you know, countless others

904
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:51,160
Speaker 2: across the country, these mayors, these state legislators, even these governors,

905
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 2: who make me think democracy can work and there is possibility.

906
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,400
Speaker 2: You know, I often joke I am an optimist in

907
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 2: spite of this all, but also I do this because

908
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:05,480
Speaker 2: I'm an optimist, because I believe that better things are

909
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,799
Speaker 2: possible and change is possible. And when I've seen what

910
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 2: our leaders have done, even in spite of all of

911
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,399
Speaker 2: the bullshit over the last decade, I have to think

912
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:15,040
Speaker 2: that it's going to get better, and I'm gonna do

913
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,799
Speaker 2: everything I can to make that sound no doubt about that,

914
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,400
Speaker 2: for better or for worse, or die trying, I suppose,

915
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,960
Speaker 2: but I really, I do believe because the people who

916
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 2: are stepping up to lead now are not settling for

917
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:27,640
Speaker 2: the status quo.

918
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,000
Speaker 1: I just went to a meeting with Hokel about something

919
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 1: involved in my mother's charity of breast cancer charity in

920
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: New York, and we went to go meet with Hochel.

921
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:36,720
Speaker 2: And I was blown away, pleasantly surprised.

922
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 1: You meet her and she's dynamic and smart and on it.

923
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,400
Speaker 1: And I thought, seeing her in the press as you

924
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,640
Speaker 1: perceive her through that prison or through that lens, it's

925
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 1: so diminishing. And I met her when we sat with

926
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:48,160
Speaker 1: her for like an hour or forty five minutes, and

927
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 1: she was just so engaging and smart. I walked out

928
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:51,759
Speaker 1: of there going I'm her fan.

929
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,399
Speaker 2: Now, well, I'm the really good candidates, the ones who

930
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 2: are gonna be able to thrive in the next couple

931
00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:57,279
Speaker 2: of years. Are there going to be the ones who

932
00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:59,799
Speaker 2: are so good at using the Internet that they can

933
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:01,600
Speaker 2: make you feel the way that you feel when you're

934
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,160
Speaker 2: in the room with them, that they can create that

935
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,759
Speaker 2: parasocial connection that they can connect. I mean, like mom,

936
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 2: Donnie's really good at this, but he's not the only one.

937
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,839
Speaker 2: Tall Rico is good at this. Mcmarrow Mallory is really

938
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:11,880
Speaker 2: good at this. There's a number of others for whom

939
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:14,320
Speaker 2: you feel the same way, whether you're watching their Instagram

940
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:16,880
Speaker 2: story or sitting around a table with them. And those

941
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,160
Speaker 2: are the people who can really use the tools of

942
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:21,759
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six to lead in twenty twenty six.

943
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:28,359
Speaker 1: My thanks to Amanda Littman. This episode was recorded at

944
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 1: CDM Studios in New York City. Were produced by Kathleen Russo,

945
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:37,280
Speaker 1: Zach MacNeice, and Victoria de Martin. Our engineer is Isaac

946
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:41,240
Speaker 1: Kaplin Woolner. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the thing is brought

947
00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 1: to you by iHeart Radio

948
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:01,400
Speaker 2: Two.