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Speaker 1: think the statewide candidate from Iowa that I've interviewed in
Speaker 1: the last year, it is Zach Walls. He is a
Speaker 1: Are you still a state Senator, Zach? Or you form
Speaker 1: state Sure?
Speaker 2: We actually used star serving from the state House. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is my eighth and final year in the Iowa Senate.
Speaker 1: So this is, So would this be the year you'd
Speaker 1: be running for reelection.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2: So yeah, the state Senate seat and the US Senate
Speaker 2: seed same cycle here in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: So we're going to hold on to it.
Speaker 2: We had a good Democratic candidate and actually don't believe
Speaker 2: Republican has filed. But you're exciting things happening and say legislature.
Speaker 3: Too happy to chat about that.
Speaker 1: Well, look, let me just quickly give the one episode
Speaker 1: Zach Wall's running for the US Senate. This is the
Speaker 1: open Senate seat that Jany Erntz decided not to seek
Speaker 1: reelection in. It is a competitive primary. You've had Josh
Speaker 1: Trurick on the podcast a few months ago. I've also
Speaker 1: had the guy that's going to be leading the top
Speaker 1: of the Democratic ticket, Rob sand on here as well.
Speaker 1: Because a as people know who listened to me, you
Speaker 1: know that i was one of my home states. I
Speaker 1: was joke. I was not born and raised there, but
Speaker 1: I was raised Iowa. My first savings account was with
Speaker 1: the Waterloo Savings and Loan, yes when those existed. And
Speaker 1: I also believe that Iowa is the is the test
Speaker 1: is the Petrie dish for Wave or not Democrats win
Speaker 1: multiple races in Iowa, we're in the middle of a wave.
Speaker 1: If not, I think it's a different situation. So that's
Speaker 1: another reason why I've spent some time with Iowa candidates.
Speaker 1: Zach Walls, Welcome to the podcast. One sweek.
Speaker 3: Good to be her.
Speaker 1: Kind of already chimed in because I asked you to,
Speaker 1: so anyway, it's all right, we don't form all around here.
Speaker 3: All good.
Speaker 2: Well, look, I'm excited to be here. You're absolutely right.
Speaker 2: We've got a lot cooking in Iowa. As you mentioned,
Speaker 2: my friend Rob sand running for governor. I think we've
Speaker 2: got a real chance at flipping that race, which is
Speaker 2: super exciting.
Speaker 3: We've got two and I think maybe a third and.
Speaker 1: Well I think it's three of the four waves territory.
Speaker 2: If we start seeing some good numbers out of Iowa
Speaker 2: four on election night, people forget this. You know, obviously,
Speaker 2: Steve King.
Speaker 1: I'm not buying that opium that you're selling there.
Speaker 2: I'm saying it is about step and it was a
Speaker 2: unique case, but we came within a couple of points
Speaker 2: back in twenty eighteen, and I think you know what
Speaker 2: we always like to remind folks eighteen first Trump midterm.
Speaker 2: I will won three of the four US House districts,
Speaker 2: we won three of the five state wide offices, and
Speaker 2: we came within spitting distance of flipping the governor's mansion
Speaker 2: that year. And we just did not have a Senate
Speaker 2: race on cycle in twenty eighteen, and so we got
Speaker 2: a really unique opportunity here. You did, of course mention
Speaker 2: Joan E. Earnstrapping out. You know, she had, of course
Speaker 2: revealed her healthcare plan of waiting for people to die
Speaker 2: in June, which it turns out was not a very
Speaker 2: popular position with most Iowa voters. And then when she
Speaker 2: dropped out in August, that was about a week after
Speaker 2: a poll came out showing me actually leading her in
Speaker 2: a general election matchup.
Speaker 3: And so we think there's a real opportunity here.
Speaker 2: And I'm happy to chat about my likely report looking opponent,
Speaker 2: Ashley Hens into I had a couple.
Speaker 1: Sure, I get that. Look, you won't say this. It
Speaker 1: is not surprising to me that two people who were
Speaker 1: not supportive of Donald Trump in twenty twenty four at
Speaker 1: the start of the presidential cycle, Kim Reynoldson John Earns,
Speaker 1: both somehow find their way not running again in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. I maybe time will tell how connected those
Speaker 1: two things were. But let me start with you. Look,
Speaker 1: you you have you're you're pretty young, and yet you
Speaker 1: have been in the public eye for some time. And
Speaker 1: you went viral when you testified about your family when
Speaker 1: it looked like there was a movement in the state
Speaker 1: of Iowa to somehow make your family illegal for and
Speaker 1: that did not happen. But you've been in the public
Speaker 1: eye for some time. Did you always know you were
Speaker 1: going to be in politics? Was there ever another lane
Speaker 1: you thought about going into when you're at the University
Speaker 1: of Iowa.
Speaker 2: So I was actually studying civil and environmental engineering. When
Speaker 2: I was at the University of i was going to
Speaker 2: go build bridges. Today we're at the Ironworkers Local sixty
Speaker 2: seven hole here in Des Moines. I was really proud
Speaker 2: to win not just their endorsement, but they actually made
Speaker 2: me a member earlier this year, dues paying member. And
Speaker 2: so even though the work that I've done as an
Speaker 2: adult has definitely taken me in some different directions. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, when I was a sophomore in the video
Speaker 2: that speech went viral. You know, Look, no one ever
Speaker 2: wants to find themselves in the position of having to
Speaker 2: defend your family from you know, powerful people in the government.
Speaker 2: But when that was what I had to do, that
Speaker 2: was what I had to do. And I think part
Speaker 2: of that for me. Check you asked about politics, You know,
Speaker 2: I learned at pretty early age that politics was interested
Speaker 2: in me. I will never forget the experience I was
Speaker 2: in the eighth grade and I am going to date
Speaker 2: myself a little bit here, but it was the two
Speaker 2: thousand and four election cycle. In my first homework assignment
Speaker 2: for my social studies class is to watch the speeches
Speaker 2: at the on TV of the two thousand and four
Speaker 2: Republican National Convention and then to go back to class
Speaker 2: the next day and to talk about it. And I
Speaker 2: will never forget what it was like watching some of
Speaker 2: the most powerful people in our country address the nation
Speaker 2: and talk about these raging wars in the Middle East,
Speaker 2: in Iraq and Afghanistan, the global war on terror, and
Speaker 2: then in the very next breath talk about the threat
Speaker 2: to our way of life from this radical state Supreme
Speaker 2: Court decision in Massachusetts and the so called gay marriage
Speaker 2: and realizing as a thirteen year old that they are
Speaker 2: talking about my family and going into class the next day,
Speaker 2: wanting to speak up and set the record straight, but
Speaker 2: being scared, being scared of being judged by my peers,
Speaker 2: a target of our government.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: And when my courage you know, failed me that day,
Speaker 2: you know that shame has has stuck with me. And
Speaker 2: that was exactly why in twenty eleven, when I had
Speaker 2: the chance to do the thing that I did not
Speaker 2: have the courage to do seven years earlier, to go
Speaker 2: fight for my family, I knew I had to be there,
Speaker 2: and so I had no idea that someone was going
Speaker 2: to record it with the flipcam, or that the video
Speaker 2: was going to go viral, or that it would.
Speaker 1: We didn't. We didn't really planned when they go viral.
Speaker 1: Back then, there wasn't There wasn't.
Speaker 2: No, I mean, politically doesn't really go viral. At twenty eleven,
Speaker 2: that not nearly the same same way. I mean, it
Speaker 2: became remembering, right, it was the most watched political video
Speaker 2: that year, and like the second place ad was like
Speaker 2: a like a Rick Perry thing, like I don't remember
Speaker 2: what exactly it was, but.
Speaker 1: That was the.
Speaker 3: Fence and like he's his jacket or I don't know,
Speaker 3: it's a long time ago.
Speaker 2: So I don't really remember, but yeah, you know, and
Speaker 2: I learned a lot from that experience and I and
Speaker 2: most importantly that when you are able to find that
Speaker 2: courage to speak up and speak truth to it helps
Speaker 2: a lot of other people find courage too. I heard
Speaker 2: from so many people after that it made a difference
Speaker 2: in their family and their lives, and just learning that
Speaker 2: at an early age it was a big lesson.
Speaker 1: How concerned are you that your parents' rights are at
Speaker 1: stake again?
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I mean there's been a push by some
Speaker 2: of these far right groups trying to reverse essentially the
Speaker 2: Obergefell decision from twenty fifteen. And you know that's not
Speaker 2: just about same sex marriage. I mean they're clearly coming
Speaker 2: for reproductive rights. They see that as a piece of
Speaker 2: further eroding protections around IVF and fertility treatments, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: I look, I think it's absolutely a concern, and I
Speaker 2: think it's a part of why so many Americans have
Speaker 2: felt like, you know, they need someone who's willing to
Speaker 2: fight for them and their families. And in this campaign,
Speaker 2: you know, the issues that come up the most we're
Speaker 2: on the campaign trail, definitely the economy, but also the
Speaker 2: corruption that we see in Washington, the self dealing in
Speaker 2: this administration, and I think frustration frankly with the establishment
Speaker 2: of both parties that people have experienced for a long time,
Speaker 2: and it was part of why Donald Trump won in
Speaker 2: Iowa and consecutive elections. But I think the other thing
Speaker 2: that's a real concern is definitely, you know, fear for
Speaker 2: the future of our country and or democracy. We hear
Speaker 2: that all the time, and it's something that we need
Speaker 2: to take really seriously.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to.
Speaker 2: You.
Speaker 1: I remember a friend of mine would describe Iowa as
Speaker 1: the Oregon of the Midwest, and I said, what do
Speaker 1: you mean by that? And I and this person said, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's very Midwestern. You know, it's meaning that it is,
Speaker 1: you know, as the President might say, it's central casting, right,
Speaker 1: like you know, the bridges are correct, the landscape is correct.
Speaker 1: It feels you know that Romney once said the trees
Speaker 1: are all the right height when he went to Michigan,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of like a but but I understood
Speaker 1: what he meant. Right. You go to Iowa and you're like, yes,
Speaker 1: this is what what Bridges of Madison County was based on.
Speaker 1: I get it. I see it, but there was It's
Speaker 1: not just Iowa nice that's there, but there really is
Speaker 1: a you keep to your business, We'll keep to our
Speaker 1: business type of mindset. Do you still think that exists?
Speaker 1: It feels like in parts of rural Iowa, And maybe
Speaker 1: this is an east west divide and that Eastern i
Speaker 1: was in one place, Western I was in another, or
Speaker 1: or maybe it's just the rhetoric that said, do you
Speaker 1: still feel that? Or do you think this threat to
Speaker 1: the rights of of your parents, for instance, really is
Speaker 1: just more a bunch of activists, it's not actually what
Speaker 1: the average Iowa things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question, Todd. I think there's two
Speaker 2: sides of that coin. There's a there's one side of
Speaker 2: the coin that is you take, you know, mind your
Speaker 2: own business. The other side of the coin is that
Speaker 2: you look out for each other. And I will tell
Speaker 2: you you still see examples. I think of both of
Speaker 2: those things quite a bit. You know, in twenty eleven,
Speaker 2: far before marriage equality was a sentineled issue, that resolution,
Speaker 2: that amendment to war State Constitution that I was speaking
Speaker 2: against it did not right. And this was you know,
Speaker 2: four years still before the Oberga Felt decision at the
Speaker 2: US Supreme Court, and today you look at the numbers
Speaker 2: are super clear. Vast majority of islands are.
Speaker 3: Still pro choice.
Speaker 2: Are people who again marriage equality no longer a controversial
Speaker 2: issue at all in the state of Iowa. In those
Speaker 2: things on the other side of the coin, you know,
Speaker 2: I had certainly seen our share of natural disasters. I
Speaker 2: remember in two thousand and eight going down to sandbag
Speaker 2: along the Iowa River as those floodwaters were rising. In
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, grabbing my chainsaw after a straight line windstorm
Speaker 2: decimated the community of Cedar Rapids and getting debris off
Speaker 2: the ground there. Flooding that continue used to be a
Speaker 2: persistent challenge in other parts of the state. It is
Speaker 2: my first year in the legislature twenty nineteen. There were
Speaker 2: some really bad floods in western i over that year,
Speaker 2: and I will never forget going to the state House
Speaker 2: when I drive in one morning and there was a
Speaker 2: convoy And now these are from Ohio, but it's that
Speaker 2: same Midwestern ethic you're talking about. Convoy of pickup trucks
Speaker 2: basically bringing hey to farmers who needed to feed their
Speaker 2: live stock and who had basically been wiped out, and
Speaker 2: just taking care of each other. And looking out for
Speaker 2: each other. And so when people sometimes ask, you know, like, well,
Speaker 2: why has Donald Trump had success? And I for me,
Speaker 2: this is not theoretical. So when I won in twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen for my state Senate district, I had three counties,
Speaker 2: Johnson County, which is where I live, all of Cedar County,
Speaker 2: and then a slice of Musketine County. What Cedar and
Speaker 2: Musketine County have in common is they voted for Barack
Speaker 2: Obama in twenty twelve and Donald Trump in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: And I won all of Cedar County in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: So there are a lot of Obama Trump walls voters. Well,
Speaker 2: I knock on doors and talk to these folks, you know,
Speaker 2: to learn about, you know, issues that they were worried about,
Speaker 2: concerns that they had. And then also if this came up,
Speaker 2: you know, you votter for Donald Trump two years ago,
Speaker 2: you're voting for me, Like what's going on? What people
Speaker 2: would usually say to me is basically, I don't agree
Speaker 2: with Donald Trump on every issue, but I believe that
Speaker 2: he cares about me in my community. I don't agree
Speaker 2: with you, Zach on every issue, but I believe that
Speaker 2: you care about me in my community, and I think
Speaker 2: that that is a thing that I would still really value.
Speaker 2: And I think that is something where you look at
Speaker 2: what is happening in the state right now, that is
Speaker 2: a very clear contrast with Ashley Hinson, who has been
Speaker 2: a rubber stamp for an agenda out of this White
Speaker 2: House that is almost uniquely bad for a state like Iowa. Well,
Speaker 2: so I think that's that's something that's worth worth itting.
Speaker 1: I want to dig in there a little bit because
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time in eastern Iowa in
Speaker 1: twenty one, in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, I
Speaker 1: think it was twenty twenty three into this because I mean, look,
Speaker 1: there is no state home to more Obama to Trump
Speaker 1: counties than Iowa. You know, it's something I think half
Speaker 1: of all the counties in the.
Speaker 3: Country, it's only about a third. It's only a third.
Speaker 1: Only a third, still a lot for one state, you know,
Speaker 1: one state with four congressional districts, right, A big chunk
Speaker 1: is in Eastern Iowa. Now, Eastern Iowa has always been
Speaker 1: the more labor union heavy part of the state. So
Speaker 1: this really is labor union members. You're you're with the
Speaker 1: Iron workers, and the leadership of many of these labor
Speaker 1: unions are Democrats, and you know this full well, but
Speaker 1: the rank and file much more independent, right, some some
Speaker 1: some Republicans, some Democrat. But they're frankly, I think, very
Speaker 1: skeptically the same reason why they're in a union, because
Speaker 1: they're skeptical of corporations. I think they're a bit skeptical
Speaker 1: of politicians for the same way. And Trump, in some way,
Speaker 1: I think was more seemed to be more on the skeptic,
Speaker 1: you know, viewed, viewed some of these people the same
Speaker 1: way they did, right, versus a Hillary Clinton who felt
Speaker 1: like part of the establishment. Mhm. But it's you know,
Speaker 1: this is persistent. How do you get that voter back?
Speaker 2: Well, so you get the nail on the head. So,
Speaker 2: I mean, I think there's a few things about Iowa
Speaker 2: that we always are trying to remind people of. Number One,
Speaker 2: when you look at those swing counties, those pivot counties,
Speaker 2: if I'm remembering correctly, there's thirty one of them, and
Speaker 2: twenty three are in eastern Iowa and a slice of
Speaker 2: the other ones that are not Eastern Iowa, kind like
Speaker 2: North Iowa and North Central Iowa area. And so if
Speaker 2: you think about where are the place is where we
Speaker 2: have lost ground, where we need to win people back.
Speaker 2: It is counties like Cedar County, which I represented for
Speaker 2: my first four years in the legislature. Went to a
Speaker 2: lot of town hall meetings. I was often the only
Speaker 2: Democrat on the panel right, you know, for legislative forums
Speaker 2: or updates. You know, knocked a ton of doors, been
Speaker 2: to cattleman's meetings and farm bureau meetings and.
Speaker 3: Board of supervisors and school boards. And again, what I hear.
Speaker 2: In these communities is a sense of they feel like
Speaker 2: they've been forgotten, that the establishment has not been there
Speaker 2: to fight for them, even though they work hard, they
Speaker 2: played by the rules, and they just want a better
Speaker 2: future for their kids and their grandkids and not have
Speaker 2: to lose those kids, not usually to Miami in your case,
Speaker 2: but to places like Colorado or Minnesota or Illinois sometimes.
Speaker 2: And so that is something that I hear, and that
Speaker 2: really goes across the political spectrum. What Donald Trump did
Speaker 2: really effectively in twenty sixteen was talk about the failures
Speaker 2: of the establishment to build an economy that worked, especially
Speaker 2: in the Midwest. A lot of folks on the coasts
Speaker 2: did not realize that in twenty sixteen, we were in
Speaker 2: the middle of a regional recession and the most of
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, right, And so I think the message that
Speaker 2: then Secretary Clinton had just did not feel like it
Speaker 2: really resonated with a lot of people here.
Speaker 3: And if you look at the people who.
Speaker 2: Have one in Iowa, including her husband, Bill Clinton, who
Speaker 2: ran on an anti establishment message in the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 2: you look at Barack Obama's success in two thousand and
Speaker 2: eight and twenty twelve, and of course Donald Trump in
Speaker 2: some respects epitomizes this anti establishment message because he was
Speaker 2: running not just against the Democratic establishment, he was also
Speaker 2: running against the Republican establishment. I mean, you remember him
Speaker 2: being on that debate stage attacking the other Republicans who
Speaker 2: were there, attacking George W.
Speaker 3: Bush and others.
Speaker 2: And I think in John McCain famously, I think that
Speaker 2: that you approach that mentality from Trump spoke to a
Speaker 2: lot of those same kind of swing anti establishment minded voters.
Speaker 3: And as we have been.
Speaker 2: Traveling across the state, I will tell you there are
Speaker 2: still a lot of real frustration with the establishment. You
Speaker 2: see what's currently happening in our economy. You see the
Speaker 2: lack of progress and things like campaign finance reform, and
Speaker 2: those are things that voters. You may not be able
Speaker 2: to explain all the ins and outs of exactly the
Speaker 2: problems with a super pac or a C four or whatever,
Speaker 2: but they know that the system has been rigged against them.
Speaker 2: And that's actually why today we did our first major
Speaker 2: policy roll out, and it was all about ending that
Speaker 2: rig system, taking on the corruption, and speaking directly to
Speaker 2: the concerns the voter have because they understand there's a
Speaker 2: connection to what has happened in our politics and what
Speaker 2: is happening in our economy right now.
Speaker 1: And ask you this, So, why are you doing this
Speaker 1: as a Democrat? Why not do what Dan Osborne's doing
Speaker 1: in your neighbors in neighboring state and Nebraska run as
Speaker 1: an independent? I mean I asked this question of Rob
Speaker 1: Sam early on and he basically said the only reason
Speaker 1: he wasn't running is an independent is ballot access and
Speaker 1: that maybe he would be more comfortable a being able
Speaker 1: as an independent, not because you get put in a
Speaker 1: partisan box and no matter what you say here, it's
Speaker 1: vote counting once you get into a legislature. You know this,
Speaker 1: you were in leadership, you know what you'd like to
Speaker 1: do and what you can do are two different things.
Speaker 1: And you know it is that the old saying you
Speaker 1: campaign in poetry and govern in pros, right, it is
Speaker 1: it ain't it ain't easy translating a change message to
Speaker 1: a change agenda.
Speaker 2: Well, Chuck, here's what I would tell you. I've been
Speaker 2: a Democrat my whole life. You know, in two thousand
Speaker 2: and four, I remember being that scared kid did not
Speaker 2: see somebody, you know, fighting back against the threats that
Speaker 2: I could see to my family. And look, I didn't
Speaker 2: totally understand like that this wasn't a debate, right, these
Speaker 2: were conventions and not debates, and like so I didn't
Speaker 2: really understand, like why there wasn't a response or whatever.
Speaker 2: And like I understand that whole thing now better. But
Speaker 2: what I will tell you is that since the New Deal,
Speaker 2: this has been the party that has fought for workers rights,
Speaker 2: has fought for civil rights, has fought for women's rights.
Speaker 2: That is who we are as a party. And I
Speaker 2: think the more focused we are at getting back to
Speaker 2: those core values of what makes the Democratic Party the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party, the faster we are going to be able
Speaker 2: to rebuild trust with voters who we have lost, and
Speaker 2: that was part of why Chuck. When we launched this
Speaker 2: campaign and I was asked point blank, would you support
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer for leader, I said no, because Senator Schumer
Speaker 2: is someone who has said on television that it is
Speaker 2: fine if our party rights off rural voters and blue
Speaker 2: collar voters, because for each one of those votes we lose,
Speaker 2: we'll pick up two more in the suburbs. And like
Speaker 2: that math might work in New York, even though I'm
Speaker 2: not really sure it does, it definitely does not work
Speaker 2: in Iowa. And frankly, that is not the Democratic Party
Speaker 2: that I want to belong to party all America.
Speaker 3: No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2: And and and again then you know some people wonderable
Speaker 2: like wire Democrats losing ground in rural places like Iowa.
Speaker 2: You know, I mean like to me, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's it's pretty straightforward. And so you know,
Speaker 2: I did not hesitate to call for new leadership in
Speaker 2: the party. Now that's not always easy. I think it is, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, directly tied to the fact that there's now
Speaker 2: millions of dollars from a Chuck schumerlink super pac spending
Speaker 2: against me in this race. But that doesn't change the
Speaker 2: core conviction that I have, which is that there are
Speaker 2: so many Iowa families who feel failed by an establishment.
Speaker 2: Who uh if you have an economy that again, it's
Speaker 2: working great for the billionaires, for the big corporations, but
Speaker 2: so many working class, middle class retired on islands cannot
Speaker 2: make ends meet.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And there is a deep understanding that what is happening
Speaker 2: in our economy is directly tied to the brokenness of
Speaker 2: our politics, and so we need new leaders, we need
Speaker 2: new vision.
Speaker 3: And that is what this campaign is all about.
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Speaker 1: tell you one thing you hear pop up. And sometimes
Speaker 1: it's an excuse from somebody who wants to claim their
Speaker 1: middle of the road, and they really aren't. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean what they say isn't a valid point. And
Speaker 1: the point would be the problem is Democrats worry too
Speaker 1: much about the identity of others and not my pocketbook
Speaker 1: that when they get to Washington, they're worried about trans issues.
Speaker 1: They're not worried about how we're going to make ends
Speaker 1: meet and how we're going to bring back manufacturing. And
Speaker 1: I know that it's easy to say and on all
Speaker 1: these things, but you know how it gets. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: Kamala Harri's got put in a box on this and
Speaker 1: they couldn't get out of it. On these cultural issues,
Speaker 1: how do you avoid it?
Speaker 2: So I think it's really important to understand that the
Speaker 2: progress of what happens are in our economy and our
Speaker 2: progress on questions around civil rights or social issues, those
Speaker 2: often go hand in hand. Right, People, I think, generally speaking,
Speaker 2: in my experience, are much more open to thinking about
Speaker 2: new ideas on civil rights or social progress or whatever
Speaker 2: the question is if they feel economically secure themselves.
Speaker 3: Their kids, their grandkids.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a coincidence that you saw, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously a massive expansion of the middle class in the
Speaker 2: post war period, and simultaneously you saw significant progress on
Speaker 2: civil rights. And I think that when Democrats lead with
Speaker 2: a focus on ensuring that we have an economy that
Speaker 2: works for everybody and not just people at the very top,
Speaker 2: and people feel economically secure, they tend to be more
Speaker 2: open to that social change. When they see Democrats trying
Speaker 2: to advocate only for social change without addressing enough what
Speaker 2: is happening in the economy, it's like, well, hold on,
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily have a problem over here, but I'm
Speaker 2: struggling right now, and you've got to fix this first
Speaker 2: before we start worrying about these other things over there. Now,
Speaker 2: what I will say is I don't believe that we
Speaker 2: should be throwing people under the bus or anything like that.
Speaker 2: What I do think we need to do as a
Speaker 2: party is be much more concrete, and that we talk
Speaker 2: about building an economy that works for working class, middle class,
Speaker 2: for tired people, having clear ideas about how we challenge.
Speaker 3: Corporate power and corporate greed.
Speaker 2: We see the massive wealth and income and equality in
Speaker 2: this country. That is a threat, frankly, I think to
Speaker 2: our democracy and certainly to the future of future generations,
Speaker 2: and I think that has to be the number one
Speaker 2: priority that we are focused on. And the reason why
Speaker 2: we rolled out the anti corruption agenda today is because
Speaker 2: to build that economy that works for us, you have
Speaker 2: to start by going at the heart of the corruption
Speaker 2: of big money, special interest money, dark money in our politics.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you, Chuck, I have seen the impact
Speaker 2: of that influence firsthand in the Iowa Stay Legislature. My
Speaker 2: very first year is twenty nineteen. There were these large
Speaker 2: data state companies that came into Iowa started purchasing mobile
Speaker 2: home communities, trailer parks, and then jacking up the monthly
Speaker 2: lot rent in those communities, so you own the trailer,
Speaker 2: but you have to pay a monthly rent to say
Speaker 2: in that community.
Speaker 3: Exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, these companies were increasing the costs in these community
Speaker 2: They were buying it by fifty percent, sixty percent, seventy
Speaker 2: percent in some cases from one month to the next.
Speaker 2: In this one company from Utah, by three parks in
Speaker 2: my district, proposing these massive increases. I was absolutely outraged
Speaker 2: by what I heard from my constituents, and so, you know,
Speaker 2: in might sound old fashioned. I went to my Republican
Speaker 2: colleagues in the State Senate and I said, look, I
Speaker 2: know that I just got here. I know that we
Speaker 2: don't agree on every single issue, but you cannot tell
Speaker 2: me that this is a question of left versus right,
Speaker 2: or this is right versus wrong right. And so we
Speaker 2: actually got a by Parson group together. We hammered out
Speaker 2: a compromise that we could all agree on that gave
Speaker 2: my constituents and islands all over our state real protections
Speaker 2: under Iowa law. We passed that bill through the IO
Speaker 2: was Senate forty eight to zero. We sent it over
Speaker 2: to the House of Representatives. I was told this is
Speaker 2: a done deal. Who would possibly.
Speaker 1: Vote against this unanimous Senate? Yeah.
Speaker 2: Two days later, get called over for a closed door meeting,
Speaker 2: and I will never forget this.
Speaker 3: Go into that meeting.
Speaker 2: There's a conference table with on one side of the
Speaker 2: table a Republican representative who was sympathetic to what we
Speaker 2: were trying to do. On the other side of the
Speaker 2: table was the lobbyist representing those big companies. And he's
Speaker 2: kind of smirking at me because sitting next to him
Speaker 2: holding my bill, shaking her head. Was then state representative,
Speaker 2: now congresswoman, now my Republican opponent for this US Senate race,
Speaker 2: Ashley Hinson, and Chuck I was in the room and
Speaker 2: I watched as she killed my bipartisan bill as a
Speaker 2: favor to that lobbyist who I found out later had
Speaker 2: bundled some money for her re election campaign, and who
Speaker 2: I found out after that was representing some of those
Speaker 2: donors who would go on to become big supporters of
Speaker 2: her campaign for the US House. So when we talk
Speaker 2: about this connection between what is happening in our economy
Speaker 2: and what has happened to our politics, I have seen
Speaker 2: it with my own eyes.
Speaker 1: It's one of the better story that's one of the
Speaker 1: better narratives I ever because I think this is the
Speaker 1: hard thing about I mean, the amount of people in
Speaker 1: my world that I have suddenly brought up campaign finance
Speaker 1: reformed to me, and I'm talking people on the right
Speaker 1: like that. I'm hearing from that. I never would have thought.
Speaker 1: I'm very friendly with the former governor of Ohio, John
Speaker 1: Kasick lately, and he goes man, we got to have
Speaker 1: campaign finance reform. I said, Oh, Glad, to know that
Speaker 1: you're here here now, you know, it's given him a
Speaker 1: little grief about it, But I think it's we somehow
Speaker 1: we got too obscene really quickly. Right. There was always this, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's always money in politics. Yeah it's the mother's milk.
Speaker 1: But we are at we are at this sort of
Speaker 1: astronomical level. And you know, I've always said the least
Speaker 1: corrupt institution legislature in the country's Congress, because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of liballs on it. And the further down you
Speaker 1: go on the legislative food chain, the more likely you're
Speaker 1: going to see whether it's a city council and zoning
Speaker 1: laws getting bought or it's a legislation. Sure, the scene
Speaker 1: you just described because we don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: watch talks right at the state legislative and at the
Speaker 1: local level the way we used to. But here's your problem.
Speaker 1: The courts have said money a speech. What do you
Speaker 1: do we amend the constantation? Look like yep, yeah, and
Speaker 1: so yo. Look, you know the Supreme Court has said
Speaker 1: what it has said. I think that was a bad decision,
Speaker 1: but if that's what it takes, then by god, that
Speaker 1: is exactly what I skinned. What does this look like,
Speaker 1: what does a constitutional amendment on campaign money? Is it
Speaker 1: about disclosure? Is it about limits?
Speaker 3: So I think it's about both.
Speaker 2: So you have the superpacks that can take unlimited amounts
Speaker 2: of money, and then you have the dark money groups
Speaker 2: that five on one C fours that can take anonymous money,
Speaker 2: and then the C fours can spend money on the
Speaker 2: super packs.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember, actually just.
Speaker 2: Watched this again recently because we were working on this
Speaker 2: anti corruption plan that we released today and if anyone
Speaker 2: wants to check that out, it's on our sub stack.
Speaker 2: And I think you can go to my website at
Speaker 2: zach Walls dot com slash plan and we're going to
Speaker 2: be rolling out all of the various pieces there. But
Speaker 2: you So I went back and I watched them with
Speaker 2: Stephen Colbert from the Colbert Report when they started Stephen's
Speaker 2: super Pac and then Stephen's Shell Corporation with the C
Speaker 2: four stuff. I mean, it is it is outrageous what
Speaker 2: is possible and what is currently happening. And I think
Speaker 2: it is really important to understand that the corruption that
Speaker 2: we are seeing, the influence that we are seeing now, look,
Speaker 2: it's not always as transparent as you know, a bribe
Speaker 2: that is taking place right that you see in some places,
Speaker 2: but you you definitely do see effects of you know,
Speaker 2: that money shaping the outcome of elections. You see it
Speaker 2: shaping the outcome of primaries. Is I just mentioned there's
Speaker 2: millions of dollars being spent in our primary and actually
Speaker 2: just yesterday a Republican super pac announcement they are going
Speaker 2: to be spending twenty nine million dollars on television in
Speaker 2: the state of Iowa in November, which I actually think
Speaker 2: is a very good sign in terms of the fact
Speaker 2: that this race.
Speaker 3: Is very much implied.
Speaker 1: It's on the radar, yeah, one percent. But are you
Speaker 1: going to accept money from a Democratic super pac if
Speaker 1: you're the nominee? I mean, I mean, look, here's what
Speaker 1: I would say to tell them to stay out.
Speaker 2: I from my perspective, I think that you were going
Speaker 2: to see massive spending on this offside. This is the
Speaker 2: super packs, right, You're spending on the hard side. When
Speaker 2: you look at our campaign talking about like right now,
Speaker 2: we have raised more money than anybody else. We have
Speaker 2: done it without taking a dime of corporate pack money.
Speaker 2: We have done it by talking to individuals and people
Speaker 2: are really resonating with this message, not just on the
Speaker 2: campaign contribution side, but on the political piece as well.
Speaker 2: So this is a fun little story. My campaign was
Speaker 2: the first one to receive a grassroots contribution from Iowans
Speaker 2: in all ninety nine counties. Our ninety ninth county was
Speaker 2: Wright County, wrighd Up in North Iowa. Not a Democratic county.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a county that Trump carried by
Speaker 2: almost forty points in twenty twenty four. Twenty five bucks
Speaker 2: from a guy named Gary. Gary's a retired small town
Speaker 2: lawyer and president of his local school board, Vietnam veteran,
Speaker 2: and Gary's a registered Republican. And when Gary got us
Speaker 2: to magic number ninety nine, I called him up. I
Speaker 2: got to know him a little bit. We did not
Speaker 2: have a relationship, you know, before he chipped into the
Speaker 2: race and he got us to this milestone. But what
Speaker 2: Gary told me was that he, you know, first of all,
Speaker 2: he really appreciated my stance of public education. President of
Speaker 2: his local school board. That matters a lot to him,
Speaker 2: and I'm a strong support of public schools. And what
Speaker 2: Gary also said was that he loves seeing a young
Speaker 2: person step up. You mentioned my age at the beginning.
Speaker 2: I'm thirty four years old to be thirty five on
Speaker 2: the election day, which is old enough to run for
Speaker 2: the US And we did double check the constitution, but
Speaker 2: Gary also loved way clear well separate story feel on
Speaker 2: that one. But Gary loved our anti corruption message. And
Speaker 2: so when we turned in our nominating petitions to get
Speaker 2: on the ballot here in Iowa a few weeks ago,
Speaker 2: state lasses you need to have thirty five hundred signatures,
Speaker 2: we had ten thousand, and you'd have nineteen counties with
Speaker 2: one hundred signatures or more. We had thirty one, and
Speaker 2: because of Gary and his wife, Susan Wright County, we
Speaker 2: had one hundred and seventy four signatures.
Speaker 3: We literally have not.
Speaker 2: Been able to figure out the last time that a
Speaker 2: Democratic candidate for the US Senate had more than one
Speaker 2: hundred signatures from Wright County. By the way, you did
Speaker 2: mention Rob, so I will say we had more signatures
Speaker 2: from Right County than Rob Sanded.
Speaker 3: Not that it's a contest, but that was something to me.
Speaker 2: When we talk about this message resonating with the voters
Speaker 2: like Gary, who we need to win in November in
Speaker 2: order to defeat Ashley Hinson, I'm telling you that is
Speaker 2: something that is resonating.
Speaker 1: But here's the trap that campaign funding rhetoric gets set sometimes,
Speaker 1: and it may be an unfair trap, which is you
Speaker 1: don't like it, but you know that this is the way.
Speaker 1: You know, the old saying you can't go to you
Speaker 1: can't come armed with a knife to a gunfight. And
Speaker 1: you just mentioned all the money that's going to be
Speaker 1: I mean, are you if you get this nomination, do
Speaker 1: you think Chuck Schumer super pack is suddenly not going
Speaker 1: to be interested and helping you? Maybe he will? Do
Speaker 1: you tell the look I mean, not to be an already?
Speaker 1: Do you accept the premise that this is the way
Speaker 1: the system works now and you're going to get their
Speaker 1: super pac money all over the place, left, right and center?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean, look at the state of Illinois.
Speaker 1: The progressives had super PACs on their back. The you know,
Speaker 1: crypto people, the AI people, they come in all shapes
Speaker 1: and sizes. They support progressives, they support centrists. Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, Chuck, how do you do got the question? Yeah,
Speaker 2: here's what I would tell you. I'm sure that there
Speaker 2: may be outside interests in you know, our race. We're
Speaker 2: coming into the general election in November, I think, because
Speaker 2: this is going to be one of the most competitive
Speaker 2: US and races in America, and there's a very good chance.
Speaker 2: So this is fifty one in a potential majority. And
Speaker 2: what I would tell you is if outside groups get involved,
Speaker 2: you know, that's their decision. It will have zero impact
Speaker 2: on my belief that we have to change the system.
Speaker 2: And it will not change the fact that on my
Speaker 2: first day is United Senator, I will co sponsor an
Speaker 2: amendment to our Constitution to overturn Citizens United, get dark
Speaker 2: money out of our politics, get corporate money out of
Speaker 2: our politics, and get super.
Speaker 3: PACs out of our politics. That has to change.
Speaker 2: And you're totally right that there are both sides that
Speaker 2: are using these different vehicles, and that fact being what
Speaker 2: it is, it will not change in any way, shape
Speaker 2: or form. The fact that this is a core belief
Speaker 2: that I have. It is a belief that I'm running on,
Speaker 2: and I believe it is the first step to actually
Speaker 2: reversing what is happening in our economy so we can
Speaker 2: actually build an economy that works for everyday people, because
Speaker 2: those are the people that I'm here to represent, not
Speaker 2: super PACs, not billionaire donors. I'm here to fight from
Speaker 2: my constituents the same way that I did. Is that
Speaker 2: freshman state senator fighting for my folks who lived in
Speaker 2: those communities. And by the way, I can not give
Speaker 2: a rass ass if they were regial Republicans, independents, Democrats.
Speaker 2: They were my people and they needed a champion. And
Speaker 2: I remember being that scared eighth grader wishing that there's
Speaker 2: been somebody fighting for me. That's exactly what we're going.
Speaker 3: To do with the US Senate.
Speaker 1: Hey, tell me about your stint as a legislative leader.
Speaker 1: It seems as if that wasn't the best ending. And
Speaker 1: what did you learn? I mean I look at it.
Speaker 1: I look at at it as a it's tough to
Speaker 1: be the change agent and then like all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're you're hurting the cats. It's tough to do both.
Speaker 1: What did you learn from it? And how will it change?
Speaker 1: Let's assume you're elected US senator. How will it change?
Speaker 1: How is it going to change? How you behave as
Speaker 1: a US senator, how you interact with you know what,
Speaker 1: what did you take away from that experience that will
Speaker 1: color how you go go forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So for folks who were listening or tuning in
Speaker 3: what have you like? It was not something so.
Speaker 2: I was the Senate Minority leader for two and a
Speaker 2: half years, three legislative sessions.
Speaker 3: It was not something that I ever thought I would do.
Speaker 2: Uh. The woman who had been the leader when I
Speaker 2: was elected decided halfway through my first term two years
Speaker 2: in that she did not want to be in that
Speaker 2: position anymore.
Speaker 1: Uh, for reasons that I became let me, let me,
Speaker 1: let me. It sucks to be in the leadership in
Speaker 1: the minority. I don't care what legislature later in. So Uh,
Speaker 1: the empathy, I totally get. Nobody's had one hand. Being
Speaker 1: in the minority. You get to just throw spitballs, that's true,
Speaker 1: But when you're the leader in the minority, there's this
Speaker 1: weird expectation that you can somehow get stuff done, and
Speaker 1: then you have to remind everybody we're in the minorities.
Speaker 3: But anyway, so so so so, I mean a few
Speaker 3: thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: So so, it was not something I ever thought I
Speaker 2: would do, not something that I coveted. Right, people in
Speaker 2: the caucus came to me and asked me to do
Speaker 2: this when the former leader decided she did not want
Speaker 2: the position anymore. You know I have you know, I
Speaker 2: saw firsthand, you know, the experience or you know that
Speaker 2: she had had. But I knew this was not going
Speaker 2: to be easy. But it was like, look, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm young, I want to work hard. Had success as
Speaker 2: a fundraiser. I represented a district that had pivot counties
Speaker 2: in it, So I think I knew had a good
Speaker 2: ability to commune gate with voters who we needed to
Speaker 2: win back, and so signed up to do it. And
Speaker 2: I will tell you, Chuck, I was a little surprised
Speaker 2: at what I discovered when I became the leader. It
Speaker 2: just sold Will Rogers line that I'm not a member
Speaker 2: of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat, And I became.
Speaker 1: Underly stood what that meant, right, Yeah, I mean and
Speaker 1: like and like, look, you know you're the line a lot,
Speaker 1: but you're like, what does that really mean?
Speaker 2: I was a part time legislature so you know, people
Speaker 2: fucking has set their expectations appropriately, but being a caucus
Speaker 2: leader is not a part time job. But just the
Speaker 2: level of this organization that I saw, you know, we
Speaker 2: did not have like a clear strategic plan to get
Speaker 2: back to the majority.
Speaker 3: A lot of the staff who I.
Speaker 2: Was now overseeing, you know, and again I was like
Speaker 2: twenty seven, twenty eight years old, like didn't have job descriptions,
Speaker 2: didn't have clear goals, didn't see kind of how we
Speaker 2: all fit into this bigger picture, and so like a
Speaker 2: lot of what we were trying to do in the
Speaker 2: very beginning was just like getting this might sound basic,
Speaker 2: but like clarity of like what are we're trying to
Speaker 2: do here, what's the vision, what are the goals, what's
Speaker 2: the message it's going to get us there? And then
Speaker 2: literally building, rebuilding the infrastructure, rebuilding relationships with labor. I mean,
Speaker 2: you mentioned that earlier as a place of where we've
Speaker 2: had some weakness. And one of the things that I
Speaker 2: learned very quickly my time in that leadership role was
Speaker 2: that the experience for a lot of the labor leaders
Speaker 2: who to your point, most of them are still Democratic,
Speaker 2: but they really felt like the Democratic Party, you know,
Speaker 2: in our state had not done a good job of
Speaker 2: fighting for them, of showing up for them, being there
Speaker 2: supporting them, you know, and like I didn't have good
Speaker 2: access to lists of people who I should be reaching
Speaker 2: out to, events that I should be going to. I
Speaker 2: mean this and again this is all really basic stuff,
Speaker 2: But at a certain level, that's kind of what politics is, right.
Speaker 3: It is all really about organizing.
Speaker 2: And showing up and connecting with people and meeting people
Speaker 2: where they are, And so that was something that I
Speaker 2: made a real point of emphasis. And you know, as
Speaker 2: a result of that, I think there have been some
Speaker 2: national observers who have been like, oh, I thought Walls
Speaker 2: was the gay rights guy, like, why does he have
Speaker 2: a lot of labor support, And it's it's just because
Speaker 2: I grew up in a labor household. My mom, Jackie,
Speaker 2: was a union nurse. That union contract was incredibly important
Speaker 2: for us when my mother, mom Terry, was diagnosed with
Speaker 2: MS and going through a really really hard time with
Speaker 2: our disease. So I learned it at an early age
Speaker 2: the difference that labor made for us and the ability
Speaker 2: to have a collectively bargained contract. And as leader, I
Speaker 2: really made it a point of emphasis to rebuild those relationships,
Speaker 2: to show up, to understand the issues, and to go
Speaker 2: to bad for people. And the one last thing I
Speaker 2: just want to stay because I think it is an
Speaker 2: important point. Even when you're in the minority, even though
Speaker 2: it is more difficult to pass legislation, you can still
Speaker 2: get wins more often than you might think, and constituent
Speaker 2: service is really important even if you're in the minority.
Speaker 2: If you have a constituent who's dealing with an issue
Speaker 2: and they reach out to you, and even if you're
Speaker 2: in the minority, you send an email or make a
Speaker 2: phone call to an agency head and ask them like, hey,
Speaker 2: why is this not happening, people will still get it right.
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Speaker 3: That's what people expect from their elected officials.
Speaker 2: And like the only the last point I want to
Speaker 2: make on this, because you alluded how it didn't end well.
Speaker 2: As you can tell, I had a lot of ideas
Speaker 2: for like what we needed to do, and like the
Speaker 2: fact that it was not actually okay to just be
Speaker 2: comfort being in the minority, because the stakes are incredibly high,
Speaker 2: the laws that were being passed and our and my
Speaker 2: views certainly were terrible for our state. And winning back
Speaker 2: the majority was not optional. It was not something that
Speaker 2: we would get to next cycle. We needed to really
Speaker 2: embrace the urgency that we were doing. And I always
Speaker 2: believed in leading my example, I would never expect somebody
Speaker 2: to work harder than me if they worked, you know,
Speaker 2: as a part of my team. So I took that
Speaker 2: work really, really seriously. But it meant that we had
Speaker 2: to step up our game. Whether you were on the
Speaker 2: leadership team, whether you are a rank and file member
Speaker 2: of the caucus, whether you were staff, did not matter
Speaker 2: to me. We had to elevate our expectations. You asked
Speaker 2: what I learned. I knew that making change was hard.
Speaker 2: I learned just how hard it was as a result
Speaker 2: of that experience, I probably should have been more intentional
Speaker 2: about communicating my vision in a way that spoke to
Speaker 2: members of my caucus. But the reality is that part
Speaker 2: of it was just I was willing to push people.
Speaker 3: I was willing to.
Speaker 2: Say that our party had to do a better job
Speaker 2: of showing up in the communities that we had not
Speaker 2: been present in. And like, frankly, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1: But I mean, for you, that's epathy for in this.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, no, because he and I'll tell you
Speaker 2: this as one of I think it would be, I'd
Speaker 2: be like maybe the fourth or fifth senator in the
Speaker 2: caucus who has served in a leadership role, right, he
Speaker 2: has been around long enough that he should have had
Speaker 2: a much better understanding of the leverage that he did
Speaker 2: and did not have. And I just go back to
Speaker 2: the shutdown fight as an example of not meeting the
Speaker 2: moment the first Well, so both of them, because they're
Speaker 2: deeply connected. Because in March, when they gave them the
Speaker 2: votes to keep the government open, they knew the clock
Speaker 2: was set to September thirtieth, right, they knew that was
Speaker 2: the next that they had coming. At what point did
Speaker 2: Senate Democrats put forward their counter offer to keep the
Speaker 2: government open. It was like the second week of September.
Speaker 2: They missed the entire summer recess. They could have been
Speaker 2: barnstorming all over the country. They could have been in
Speaker 2: states like Aye right now, not Chuck Schumer, but other
Speaker 2: folks right could have been campaigning in Iowa right But
Speaker 2: because they couldn't figure out what they were actually asking
Speaker 2: for until less than three weeks before the shutdown deadline,
Speaker 2: you get into this this you prolonged shutdown, having missed
Speaker 2: your best opportunity to communicate with the American voters ahead
Speaker 2: of time.
Speaker 3: And then it was you know, the ACA subsidies, which by.
Speaker 2: The way, are totally worth fighting for, which is why
Speaker 2: throwing the towel in on them, And they still haven't
Speaker 2: taken a vote on that, and said, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 3: To me, just like illustrates that he's clearly not up
Speaker 3: to the job.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about being a US senator and you guys
Speaker 1: get the majority. Yeah, because I think this is a
Speaker 1: real open question, which is what do you do with
Speaker 1: the president? Where do I I don't want to put
Speaker 1: words in your mouth. Do you work with him or not? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Of course I mean, so look, here's the thing with
Speaker 2: Donald Trump. I mean, and we're recording this on April seventh.
Speaker 2: There are some events that are happening today.
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're referring to. By the time
Speaker 1: miss airs, hopefully it's just yet another crazy thing he tweeted.
Speaker 1: And we're literally moving on to the next I mean,
Speaker 1: there's every chance that there are six tweets between now
Speaker 1: and when this airs that are almost as crazy as
Speaker 1: the two that you were referring to at the moment.
Speaker 1: Totally right.
Speaker 3: And I have not been fully briefed, and I haven't
Speaker 3: been some development today.
Speaker 1: Who knows what's happened since we started talking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look at your phone.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're like Jesus, here's what I would
Speaker 2: tell you, Chuck, as a member of the State Senate,
Speaker 2: as a freshman legislator who's from and Johnson County is
Speaker 2: the most progressive county in the state of Iowa.
Speaker 3: That is one percent true.
Speaker 2: I approached the job really simply showing up finding places
Speaker 2: where I could find common ground with my Republican colleagues,
Speaker 2: because that's what they are. My first floor speech was
Speaker 2: not a barn burner about you know how evil the
Speaker 2: Iowa Republican Party is It was about a man I
Speaker 2: had met the night before during one of the polar
Speaker 2: Vartexas that had hit our state, who was homeless, was
Speaker 2: trying to get to where he needed to go. As
Speaker 2: able to help him out just a little bit, And
Speaker 2: it was to me, again, as a freshman legislator, when
Speaker 2: we can make a difference, we have a response. Its
Speaker 2: ability to make a difference, and if that means working
Speaker 2: across the aisle, then that's absolutely what we'll do.
Speaker 3: So if Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: Has ideas that are good for the state of Iowa,
Speaker 2: of course I'll be willing to work with him the
Speaker 2: same way that I've worked with my Republican colleagues and
Speaker 2: the Senate to pass that bill that killed What's something
Speaker 2: There's two that I would say that I've talked about publicly.
Speaker 2: You know, he had I forget if it was a
Speaker 2: social media thing or if you got asked a question
Speaker 2: about it, but it was about private equity purchasing homes
Speaker 2: and the effect that's having on young people being able
Speaker 2: to buy homes. If I said, if he wants to
Speaker 2: work on that, I'll be happy to work with them
Speaker 2: on it. And then the more recent thing was about
Speaker 2: anti monopoly work within the beef livestock packing space. Like
Speaker 2: that is another place where again, if he is actually
Speaker 2: serious about, you know, any of that work, I would
Speaker 2: be happy to work with them. The problem is the vast, vast,
Speaker 2: vast majority of things that this administration is put forward,
Speaker 2: like I said earlier.
Speaker 3: Are almost uniquely bad for Iowa.
Speaker 2: I mean, Ashley Hinson rubber Stand voted for the tariffs
Speaker 2: four different times, having devastating impacts not just on our
Speaker 2: ag economy, on manufacturing, on everyday consumer products, I mean,
Speaker 2: you name it. Voted for the Medicaid cuts that in
Speaker 2: Medicaid is a lifeline for rural hospitals in this state.
Speaker 2: And voted for ending investments in clean energy, the result
Speaker 2: of which is that energy costs are already going up
Speaker 2: and are going to continue to go through the.
Speaker 3: Roof the ACA subsidies.
Speaker 2: I mean, all of these things right, and the fundamental
Speaker 2: problem is that the challenge in beef, livestock processing, meat
Speaker 2: packing of four companies calling the shots. That same trend
Speaker 2: is playing out in industry after industry after industry after industry.
Speaker 2: I'll give you just one example. We were in Southwest Iowa,
Speaker 2: Caste County in Atlantic, which is the county seat roundtable
Speaker 2: discussion with community leaders there from a wide variety of
Speaker 2: different backgrounds, and one of the things that emerged in
Speaker 2: that conversation is the fact the price for a new
Speaker 2: fire engine that community turns it out in this state
Speaker 2: and in fact in this entire country has tripled over
Speaker 2: the last decade. And the reason that has happened is
Speaker 2: because a single private equity company has consolidated forty percent. Well,
Speaker 2: was previously a very competitive manufacturing sector. So not only
Speaker 2: have they consolidated almost half of that industry, which is
Speaker 2: jacked up the price three times and ten years, the
Speaker 2: wait list has more than doubled. And fire trucks are
Speaker 2: not an optional expense for a community, right And I'm
Speaker 2: not just saying this, by the way, because my two
Speaker 2: year old is obsessed with fire trucks, which he is.
Speaker 2: But you think people are They feel like, well, why
Speaker 2: are my property taxes going up? Well, one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why your property taxes are going up is because
Speaker 2: your property taxes are padding the profit margins for this
Speaker 2: private equity company that is getting rich off your money,
Speaker 2: holding up essentially and taking hostage.
Speaker 3: They manufacturing not just a.
Speaker 2: Fire trucks, but street sweepers, sewer vacs, you name it, right,
Speaker 2: and that is corporate greed and the failure of this
Speaker 2: president and frankly of leaders in both parties to really
Speaker 2: challenge that corporate power, that consolidation. That is part of
Speaker 2: what voters are so angry at and why there is
Speaker 2: so much You know, I think grassroots support for our
Speaker 2: campaigns as we are talking about it, and it is
Speaker 2: resonating with people.
Speaker 1: Look the frankly, very simple way that this primary is
Speaker 1: being described as you're the Sanders Warren candidate and your
Speaker 1: primary opponent is the is the sort of Schumer mainstream candidate.
Speaker 1: Fair description or unfair description?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Look, I mean I don't really think of myself as being,
Speaker 2: you know, a far left or far right person. I
Speaker 2: think most Iowas really see themselves as being people who
Speaker 2: look at the issues and trying to figure out their position.
Speaker 2: I was really honored to have Senator Warren's endorsement for
Speaker 2: this campaign, and in fact, Jockey goes back to what
Speaker 2: we were talking about a few minutes ago. You know,
Speaker 2: she and I first met back in twenty nineteen when
Speaker 2: she was running for president, and it was at the
Speaker 2: same time that we were having back then. I did
Speaker 2: YEP in September of that year, and you know, she
Speaker 2: you know, we I'm doing battle with these big companies
Speaker 2: that are coming in screwing over my constituents, and of
Speaker 2: all the folks who were running for president, she was
Speaker 2: the one who took the most interest in figuring out
Speaker 2: what was happening on the ground and how do we
Speaker 2: fight back. And so she came and she toured communities
Speaker 2: right and talked to my constituents and heard from them,
Speaker 2: and it was actually really really special for me. She
Speaker 2: she let me know this a few weeks ago that
Speaker 2: in this goes exactly to your question. And the bipartisan
Speaker 2: housing bill that has moved through the Senate is now,
Speaker 2: i believe, heading to conference at the House. There are
Speaker 2: two provisions in that bill that were a direct result
Speaker 2: of the work that we did together back in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: And that bill, as you know, passed it things like
Speaker 2: eighty five to ten or something, and it was it
Speaker 2: was a very bipartisan bill.
Speaker 3: And so this fundamental question is about who are you
Speaker 3: fighting for and who do you wow? Right as I
Speaker 3: was us, Senator Chuck Schumer is not going to have
Speaker 3: leverage over.
Speaker 2: Me, right, And so when my constituents are saying, hey,
Speaker 2: this is what we need you to fight for, and
Speaker 2: I've got leadership saying hey, we need to do this,
Speaker 2: I know who I'm siding with every single day. And
Speaker 2: I'll tell you one of the most popular things that
Speaker 2: I'm running on is term limits. That is not something
Speaker 2: that is a kind of stereotypically democratic or progressive idea,
Speaker 2: but to me, it's something that I just I experience.
Speaker 2: Seeing my time in the legislature, I've seen what happens
Speaker 2: when good people stay for too long. I think it
Speaker 2: is much worse when bad people stay for too long.
Speaker 2: And so from my perspective, having that rotating the crops
Speaker 2: right in Iowa, we know that's good for our soil.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably pretty good for Congress too.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 1: I just hate I'll tell you where I come. My
Speaker 1: issue with term limits is due to what's happened in
Speaker 1: most state capitals, right where there are most and this
Speaker 1: is something that I think is a I think what
Speaker 1: the rotating crops line is fantastic. By the way, I
Speaker 1: love that line.
Speaker 3: You know who's I did borrow? I did borrow from
Speaker 3: my friend Tom Bill Sack.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Oh look at that and old Bill Sacks, you
Speaker 1: know who's not term limited lobbyists. And one of the
Speaker 1: one of the things, yeah, I hear you on that.
Speaker 1: One of the things that happens, especially with part time legislatures,
Speaker 1: is that you just described the problem for a part
Speaker 1: time legislature. You you have the demands of a full
Speaker 1: time constituent service. You know, you've got to figure out
Speaker 1: these bills. Some of them are quite complicated, and you're
Speaker 1: literally on your own and you have to have a
Speaker 1: job on the outside in order to support you know,
Speaker 1: everyday life and all this, and the lobbyists have all
Speaker 1: sorts of resources and the last and losing that institutional knowledge.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's the it's the lobbyists that
Speaker 1: sometimes dictate the legislation because they've been around longer than that.
Speaker 1: That's my only concern with with.
Speaker 3: With term limits.
Speaker 1: And I get it because trust me, it's too popular,
Speaker 1: not wrong, Like everybody wants that they're tired of these people.
Speaker 1: You look at Jesus, Chuck Grassley's been there how long? Right,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: I've bat My mom turned seventy last year. She was
Speaker 2: not even three years old when Chuck Rasse.
Speaker 1: Was now eligible to run for president.
Speaker 2: Does she know this, Yeah, Chuck, I've totally heard that
Speaker 2: this argument too. We don't have term limits in Iowa.
Speaker 2: The lobbyists have plenty of power. The packs have plenty
Speaker 2: of power, right, and so from my perspective, that is
Speaker 2: part of a broader agenda. And I'd say the kind
Speaker 2: of quark and pieces of that are, you know, overturning
Speaker 2: citizens United cracking down in the dark money, the unlimited money,
Speaker 2: term limits, and then also banning members of Congress from
Speaker 2: being able to own trade sal stocks while they're in office.
Speaker 2: And the key thing on all three of those, Chuck,
Speaker 2: is I'm leading by example. I have made a promise
Speaker 2: I will only serve two terms if elected, following the
Speaker 2: soon to be bipartisan tradition set by my predecessor Joany Ernst.
Speaker 2: I have, as you we talked about earlier, we are
Speaker 2: not accepting corporate pack money in this campaign. And that
Speaker 2: is something that again I think resonates with people because
Speaker 2: they can see what happens.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Ashley Hinson, by the way, has accepted more corporate pack
Speaker 2: money than almost any member of the United States House
Speaker 2: of representatives and that is saying something. And then the
Speaker 2: final pieces that have also made a personal promise not
Speaker 2: to own, trade, sell stock, cryptocurrency. More recently now these
Speaker 2: prediction markets that are obviously getting a lot of attention.
Speaker 2: We address all of that in my proposal that we
Speaker 2: released today, and I will hold not just myself but
Speaker 2: my wife and my staff to that same standard because
Speaker 2: leadership starts by example, and I think that's part of
Speaker 2: what is also resonating with people online gambling.
Speaker 1: Look, states are looking for new ways to get money
Speaker 1: without raising taxes, which is why the vices right, whether
Speaker 1: it's legalization of cannabis, legalization of sports gambling, legalization potentially
Speaker 1: these betting markets, there's a societal concern, right, and that
Speaker 1: toll where's the balance? Where are you on these things?
Speaker 1: I believe has mobile gambling is it? Is it great
Speaker 1: revenue for the state? Has it been worth it? And
Speaker 1: where do you come back? By the way I say this,
Speaker 1: I enjoy gambling. I'm not going to said I'm not
Speaker 1: a I'm not, but there's a you know, we all
Speaker 1: know there's there's moderation. There's nothing wrong with moderation sometimes
Speaker 1: on some vices nobody's saying to drink a botle of
Speaker 1: wine a night. Nobody is saying, you know, make fifteen
Speaker 1: bets a night. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, look, here's what I would tell you
Speaker 2: when I was legalized online sports betting. This is back
Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen, my first year in the legislature.
Speaker 3: I voted no.
Speaker 2: There was a biparson group of Democrats Republicans support it,
Speaker 2: and a bipartison group of Democrats Republicans who.
Speaker 1: But this isn't a clean left right issue, is it?
Speaker 1: It really is not? It felt was it a more
Speaker 1: small town big town splitous?
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean so for me, so I represent
Speaker 2: at that time Coralville, which is where I live in
Speaker 2: some Iwa City neighborhoods, and then I had rural Johnson County,
Speaker 2: all of Cedar County y Musketine County. So I had
Speaker 2: actually a very wide I mean I had communities that
Speaker 2: were two hundred people and that represented parts of Iowa City,
Speaker 2: which is about eighty thousand people, but especially representing part
Speaker 2: of the University of Iowa. I was really concerned about
Speaker 2: the fact that people were going to be able to
Speaker 2: bet on amateur athletes in the university College setting, and
Speaker 2: I was really worried about the impact.
Speaker 3: And this is also separate. But now the amateur athletes
Speaker 3: from we can.
Speaker 2: From an I and all all that, all that stuff
Speaker 2: as well, and like that's a separate hour long conversation.
Speaker 1: We're not going are promise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but what I would tell you is that, you know,
Speaker 2: after it passed, even though I voted no, like I
Speaker 2: downloaded DraftKings a couple of years later, and you would
Speaker 2: put a little bit of money on you know, I'm
Speaker 2: a big Packers fan, so you know, I bet on
Speaker 2: the Packers more than the Hawkeye, like a good like
Speaker 2: a good island.
Speaker 1: My father grew up in that part of Iowa. He
Speaker 1: came away a Packers fan. That's what you do.
Speaker 2: My mom still has these stories of watching Bart Starr
Speaker 2: and the black and white TV and the Ice Bowl
Speaker 2: and all its its.
Speaker 1: So I don't get all these way too many Vikings
Speaker 1: and Chiefs fans have encroached in Iowa. I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 2: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope nope. But what I
Speaker 2: would tell you is that, you know, you definitely do
Speaker 2: see the dark side. And I think you know the
Speaker 2: discussion of like, well, if Democrats, you know, oppose betting,
Speaker 2: is that going to You're going to lose young men.
Speaker 2: And I think it completely miss it, completely misunderstands. And now, look, gambling,
Speaker 2: to your point, can absolutely be enjoyable when responsible, and
Speaker 2: like I've certainly you know, enjoyed a hand of blackjack
Speaker 2: or two, and it certainly can be fun. And putting
Speaker 2: a little action on the game certainly does increase the
Speaker 2: stakes for sure. The challenge and the reason why, whether
Speaker 2: it's crypto or online betting or now some of these
Speaker 2: prediction markets. So many young people men and women, but
Speaker 2: men because of dystosterone and higher you know, appetite for risk,
Speaker 2: what have you. You know, a lot of young men
Speaker 2: do not feel like they have economic opportunity in their future.
Speaker 2: They worry about this world that they are growing up
Speaker 2: in where there's this massive and growing disparity between people
Speaker 2: who have what seems like an infinite amount of money
Speaker 2: and an uncertain future for themselves or their families. And
Speaker 2: so you know, their interest in crypto or gambling or
Speaker 2: prediction mark it's fundamentally it is all speaking to the
Speaker 2: exact same thing, which is fear for their economic futures
Speaker 2: and that is the thing that Democrats need to be
Speaker 2: focused on, because what is happening in these things is
Speaker 2: a symptom of a much deeper and frankly in some respects,
Speaker 2: more disturbing disease. The one thing I would say, though
Speaker 2: I didn't have the chance to read it quite as
Speaker 2: close as I would have liked, there was a big
Speaker 2: cover story in The Atlantic by Mickay coppin. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I know that his writings is really high quality. But
Speaker 2: I would just tell you, you know, I have not
Speaker 2: close personal friends of mine, but you know, close people
Speaker 2: who I'm close with who have themselves lost friends due
Speaker 2: to gambling addictions and suicide and some of these things.
Speaker 2: And it is a really unique addiction because of the
Speaker 2: fact that it does not always manifest physically. It often
Speaker 2: involves a lot of secrecy, and so there are some
Speaker 2: really unique things that I do think we need to
Speaker 2: take a much closer look at. And again going back
Speaker 2: to its connection into the NIL and the amateur athletics,
Speaker 2: to me, like that makes me very uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Uh, And the addiction on that's got to be settled
Speaker 1: on a federal level.
Speaker 2: You guys, got I think, I mean, I think so
Speaker 2: probably yeah, I know that there's some separation of power
Speaker 2: stuff with federal and state government there too, but fundamentally right,
Speaker 2: I think the broader issue and this is what Democrats
Speaker 2: need to be addressing more effectively, which is what we're
Speaker 2: trying to do and lead by example again in this campaign,
Speaker 2: is have those concrete ideas about what's happening in our
Speaker 2: economy so that people don't feel like they have to
Speaker 2: bet their life savings or what little money they do
Speaker 2: have trying to get enough money to escape the you know,
Speaker 2: quote unquote permanent underclass. Uh.
Speaker 3: And I think that's something that speaks to a lot
Speaker 3: of people. You see, you have a two year old.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how is uh? Everybody probably told you when you
Speaker 1: had your when you had your kid that you know
Speaker 1: your life was going to change forever, and you're like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah whatever. Now, how how do you take those comments?
Speaker 3: It is the best part of my day.
Speaker 2: You know, my wife is travel for work this week,
Speaker 2: so man solo dad duty, which, while running for the
Speaker 2: US Senate is not.
Speaker 3: You know, the easiest for sure.
Speaker 2: I've also been you know, look, having two grandmas, who
Speaker 2: are you know, fifteen minute drive away and Eli is
Speaker 2: their first their first grandchild certainly a huge help to
Speaker 2: this campaign. I'm very glad that there's an FEC exemption
Speaker 2: for inkind contributions because my parents are definitely way past
Speaker 2: the federal limits. You know, we haven't even I mean, Chuck,
Speaker 2: I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the fact
Speaker 2: that my childcare costs as much as my mortgage and
Speaker 2: we have one kid, and that is something that we
Speaker 2: hear doesn't matter for an A bite.
Speaker 1: Should be bipartisan. I mean, jd Vance is for the
Speaker 1: childcare tax credit. It seems like this is something that
Speaker 1: has bipartisan support. I don't know why this got dropped
Speaker 1: as a Democratic priority, being.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Chuck, I would tell you I've seen
Speaker 2: in my own life. So this is right back in
Speaker 2: the beginning of the campaign, I had a friend from
Speaker 2: high school called them Jeff, who had moved away for
Speaker 2: a while. I'd come back and I learned that he
Speaker 2: was in Des Moines, and so I just shot him
Speaker 2: in text. Today it's been a while, I would love
Speaker 2: to see you. Can we sneak in a fifteen minute
Speaker 2: coffee to sketch up a little bit and so, you know,
Speaker 2: first ten minutes just talking about life, in the last
Speaker 2: five minutes, says, you know, Zach, I get all your
Speaker 2: texts in your emails, and Jeff's a conservative Republican.
Speaker 3: You know, It's like, I don't agree with.
Speaker 2: You on a lot of what you have to say,
Speaker 2: but I will tell you this, you are one hundred
Speaker 2: percent right about the cost of childcare. And then he
Speaker 2: talked to me about how he and his wife want
Speaker 2: to start a family and they either of them want
Speaker 2: to quit working, but they literally cannot afford the combination
Speaker 2: of rent and childcare.
Speaker 3: And then Jeff said, and again this goes back to.
Speaker 2: My Gaary story earlier, Zach, I love your anti corruption message,
Speaker 2: the term limits, banning stock trading, you know, getting the
Speaker 2: big money, the corporate money out.
Speaker 3: That really speaks to me. And so look, Jeff's not going.
Speaker 2: To be voting in our Democratic primary, but he's gonna
Speaker 2: be voting in the general election. And I think the
Speaker 2: fact that you've got a message that is resident, you know,
Speaker 2: with more than just my high school buddies, but with
Speaker 2: people I think across the state.
Speaker 3: That's part of why we're so excited about this race.
Speaker 2: And I would have fortud not be doing my job
Speaker 2: if I didn't make sure your listeners know that if
Speaker 2: they want to join a grassroots campaign, they can go
Speaker 2: to Zach Walls dot com to learn more and make
Speaker 2: a grassroots contribution today, Zach, it's.
Speaker 1: Been good to get to know you here. What's it
Speaker 1: going to take for Iowa football to go to that
Speaker 1: next level? The they're like in the really really really
Speaker 1: really good what's the take to get to Ohio State?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Look, man, I'd say two things. And it's funny.
Speaker 2: It's you just a little parallel with the caucus leadership thing.
Speaker 2: You can't be comfortable being a ten and one team.
Speaker 2: You're ten and two, like you You you got to
Speaker 2: move past this idea that.
Speaker 1: You know, getting satisfied with nine and three and ten.
Speaker 2: That's that's that's That's what I'm saying is like, at
Speaker 2: a certain level, you have to change your expectations that
Speaker 2: you set for yourself. And I have nothing bad to
Speaker 2: say about Kirk Farrance's time in Iowa. He's been a
Speaker 2: legendary coach for US at most wing ast he.
Speaker 1: Did covered the past last year.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, look, I do think and to some extent, right,
Speaker 2: I mean again, our athletic director being willing to make
Speaker 2: the tough call to let his son go.
Speaker 1: Not easy, coach, you got to you gotta let go
Speaker 1: of your son.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Beth has done great things for Hawkeye athletics and
Speaker 2: one of the you know, and look, the McCaffrey family
Speaker 2: are our friends of mine. Friend and Margaret have done
Speaker 2: a lot of incredible work in our community and their
Speaker 2: they're work supporting efforts against cancer. So I don't have
Speaker 2: a bad word to say about Fran or his time
Speaker 2: at Iowa either. But what I will tell you is
Speaker 2: everybody saw what Beth saw and Ben McCollum this year,
Speaker 2: and so I think the future is very bright for
Speaker 2: Hawkeye basketball, both men's and women's. And uh, I think
Speaker 2: that we've got, you know, some good things on the horizon,
Speaker 2: but fundamentally just sets. It begins with a leader who
Speaker 2: is willing to say the way things are is not
Speaker 2: the way that they have to be, and sometimes it
Speaker 2: means making Jack.
Speaker 1: I'm impressed you took a question about Iowa football brought
Speaker 1: it back on message. We're trying there.
Speaker 2: You go.
Speaker 1: Be safe on the trail. Good to get to appreciate it.
Speaker 3: M HM.