Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hey
Speaker 1: with smarties, Welcome back to another episode of Work in Progress.
Speaker 1: Today's guest is someone that I absolutely adore. I've watched
Speaker 1: her from afar for a very long time, and her
Speaker 1: leadership has been so impressive to me, perhaps crystallizing when
Speaker 1: her husband, none other than Minnesota Governor Tim Walls was
Speaker 1: selected by Vice President Kamala Harris to be her running
Speaker 1: mate on the twenty twenty four ticket. Gwen Walls is
Speaker 1: an American educator and public school administrator. She is the
Speaker 1: thirty ninth and current first Lady of Minnesota as the
Speaker 1: wife of said Governor Tim Walls. And Gwen is fascinating
Speaker 1: to me because she is a teacher and an advocate,
Speaker 1: and she gives me the kind of energy and a
Speaker 1: conversation that I just know would have made her my
Speaker 1: absolute favorite teacher in high school. She began her English
Speaker 1: teaching career in Western Nebraska, which is where she met Tim,
Speaker 1: and throughout her career, Gwen has taught in public, alternative
Speaker 1: and migrant schools, which has shaped her vision for education.
Speaker 1: She served for more than two decades as an administrator
Speaker 1: and coordinator in the man Cato area public schools working
Speaker 1: to eliminate the achievement gap and strive for more equity
Speaker 1: and access within education systems because Gwen knows that a
Speaker 1: strong public education system, which she considers to encompass from
Speaker 1: birth through senior citizens, is critical to empowering every person
Speaker 1: and for her every Minnesotan to succeed. Throughout her life,
Speaker 1: Gwen has worked passionately to build a more just and
Speaker 1: equitable world, from teaching at prisons and promoting criminal justice
Speaker 1: reform to advocating for the lgbt TQ plus movement. Gwen's
Speaker 1: desire to learn from and work with others to advance
Speaker 1: meaningful change is her guiding principle, which makes her an
Speaker 1: absolutely perfect guest for work in Progress. Let's chat with
Speaker 1: the First Lady of Minnesota, Gwen Walls.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 3: I am fine? I am great. I mean Minnesota fine
Speaker 3: kind of like covers everything. So if you say you're
Speaker 3: fine in Minnesota, it's like, oh, pretty good, you know,
Speaker 3: and weather's great, no rain, you know, and that's kind
Speaker 3: of like a Minnesota thing.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm in Minnesota today and that's pretty fun
Speaker 3: to be here home for a day to kind of
Speaker 3: switch clothes. See everybody you know just sleep in your
Speaker 3: own bed, so that that's nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so glad to hear it.
Speaker 1: Well, I just want to thank you for taking the
Speaker 1: time and for surely for just the way that you've
Speaker 1: jumped into this race, you know, with such passion and
Speaker 1: enthusiasm and joy. I know it's an intense time and
Speaker 1: I can't imagine how intense it is for you all,
Speaker 1: but it really does feel nice to have so much
Speaker 1: positivity in politics on our side these days.
Speaker 3: Thank you. That's that's kind. And thank you. I know
Speaker 3: you're very active and doing all kinds of things everything
Speaker 3: you can.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we appreciate it. I mean, I think we're all
Speaker 3: doing it for the same reason, right, we all really
Speaker 3: care about our country and we are determined to win.
Speaker 3: And as I say in my stump speech, I know
Speaker 3: we are going to win because we have you.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's beautiful. Can I can I ask?
Speaker 1: I mean, and I imagine I know that you and
Speaker 1: your husband come from you know, historic sort of personal
Speaker 1: careers as educators. You know, your folks that stand up
Speaker 1: for people that believe in you know, who's coming after
Speaker 1: us and in the America that they're going to build.
Speaker 2: So I think it makes sense. You know, when I
Speaker 2: look at the two of.
Speaker 1: You, I go, what a great, you know, powerhouse leadership
Speaker 1: couple they are.
Speaker 2: And then I also go, what was it like for you?
Speaker 1: You know, when you first sat down to have this conversation,
Speaker 1: not you know, the governor and the first Lady of Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but just Gwen and Tim and he said, Hey, I
Speaker 1: think I want to run for office. Was that did
Speaker 1: it take a while or did it just feel like, yes,
Speaker 1: that's absolutely what our family's going to go do next.
Speaker 3: Well, you know the governor, So you know that we
Speaker 3: never sat down to have that conversation right like that
Speaker 3: was that was on a dead run? Actually, it's it's
Speaker 3: kind of an interesting story. I think we felt compelled
Speaker 3: to run, and it seems like every step that we've
Speaker 3: taken in politics has been because we've been compelled by
Speaker 3: a really strong reason. My mom has this saying. She
Speaker 3: used to say, Gwen, you have to do the work
Speaker 3: that's in front of you growing up, and I thought
Speaker 3: growing up that meant like the dishes or my homework
Speaker 3: or something, right, But what she was really saying was
Speaker 3: that I had to see with my own eyes, what
Speaker 3: the work was that was in front of me, and
Speaker 3: it was a very empowering statement to look at my
Speaker 3: neighborhood or my school, or you know, my community, eventually
Speaker 3: my state and now my country. So there's always been,
Speaker 3: I think for Tim and I a real compelling reason.
Speaker 3: We never planned our life to be in politics, but
Speaker 3: we say our life kind of helped prepare us for that.
Speaker 3: But when Tim was deployed in three oh four, Hope
Speaker 3: was two and a half. That was two and a
Speaker 3: half to three and a half, and we were really,
Speaker 3: you know, frustrated with the war that was in Tim
Speaker 3: served in support of Operation and touring Freedom and when
Speaker 3: he came back, he went to a George Bush rally
Speaker 3: in our community and it was the first time a
Speaker 3: president had been in our community in man Cato since
Speaker 3: I don't know, a really long time, probably more than
Speaker 3: fifty years at least. And so Tim thought he should
Speaker 3: go to the rally, and there were some students who
Speaker 3: wanted to go with him, so he took some students.
Speaker 3: I did not go. I was working during the summer
Speaker 3: for the school district and just did not take the
Speaker 3: time to do that. And so at that rally, because
Speaker 3: the kids had like this John Carey sticker on their billfold,
Speaker 3: and because they had been holding signs as a motorcade passed,
Speaker 3: you know, that were they weren't my mean signs, but
Speaker 3: they were like healthcare for National Guard and things like that.
Speaker 3: They were asked rally and yeah, and public radio documented
Speaker 3: this and they asked him to leave the rally and
Speaker 3: he said, I'm I'm not going to leave the rally.
Speaker 3: There's no reason for me to leave the rally. And
Speaker 3: so they said, well, then we're going to have to
Speaker 3: put secret service around you. And this was all with
Speaker 3: our friends and our neighbors and our community. And Tim
Speaker 3: had just returned from you know, serving a deployment. He
Speaker 3: had been like the teacher of the Year and was
Speaker 3: a finalist at that time for the Minnesota Teacher of
Speaker 3: the Year. He was a coach, he was, you know,
Speaker 3: an active civic person in our community. And we just
Speaker 3: felt like, what kind of country is this where you
Speaker 3: can't have a differing or an opposing view and be
Speaker 3: okay at a rally. And so we got involved in
Speaker 3: the John Kerry campaign and said what can we do?
Speaker 3: And we called the Democratic Party and said what can
Speaker 3: we do? And so they told us, and so we
Speaker 3: got involved trying to organize, and we it was our
Speaker 3: first time being involved in politics. We'd dropped literature before
Speaker 3: for a teacher who would run for state house, but
Speaker 3: that was it. And so we got involved and hoped
Speaker 3: John Kerry would win, and we got involved in the
Speaker 3: Democratic Party and opening up the Democratic office in our
Speaker 3: community and trying to keep it open. Anyway, John Kerrey
Speaker 3: did not win, and we were really despondent about that,
Speaker 3: and our friends and neighbors and students said, you know,
Speaker 3: one of you should run for Congress. And we learn
Speaker 3: a really red district, and Tim and I thought about it,
Speaker 3: and we said, well, in order to stop the war,
Speaker 3: you stop the money, and the only place you can
Speaker 3: stop the money is the United States Congress, and so
Speaker 3: you have to run for the United States Congress. Because
Speaker 3: then people were like, oh my gosh, you're running for Congress.
Speaker 3: You haven't even ever run for anything before, right, And
Speaker 3: so I said, well, Tim's the homecoming king. That was
Speaker 3: the last thing he was elected to. And you know,
Speaker 3: they said, well, that's not a ringing endorsement for Congress.
Speaker 3: They said, well maybe yes, maybe no, but you know,
Speaker 3: this is this is our goal, like this is why
Speaker 3: we're running. And so we got involved and you know,
Speaker 3: we put it all on the line in that race.
Speaker 3: And that's a rather long story to tell, but I
Speaker 3: wanted to answer your question fully and maybe for people
Speaker 3: who listen, it is a story that they too can
Speaker 3: relate to, because I think you just have to find
Speaker 3: what it is that you can do, what the work
Speaker 3: is in front of you, and how just getting involved,
Speaker 3: for sure doesn't mean you're going to eventually run for Congress,
Speaker 3: but it does mean that you're going to get involved
Speaker 3: with your community, and that taking action is super important,
Speaker 3: and listening to your friends and neighbors and facilitating those
Speaker 3: conversations right and finding through your own talents and your
Speaker 3: own time and your own experiences, how you might best
Speaker 3: serve and asking asking that question, how might I best
Speaker 3: serve and then answering that with your own with your
Speaker 3: own gifts, because there's not you know, unlike schools, sometimes
Speaker 3: there's not a wrong answer. Here, there's only a right
Speaker 3: answer because it's your answer, so that you know. So
Speaker 3: that's really how it started, and we won because once
Speaker 3: we got in that race, we were determined and we
Speaker 3: had a goal and then it was re elected five
Speaker 3: more times after that, but we could see things were
Speaker 3: moving towards some statewide discussions and we had some real
Speaker 3: cares and concerns about Minnesota, and so we decided to
Speaker 3: run forgether.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute, but here's a
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. So it really is so interesting
Speaker 1: to me to hear the story of, you know, your
Speaker 1: early shift as a family into politics, and thank you.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's too long a story at all.
Speaker 1: I loved every minute of it, but I it's not
Speaker 1: lost on me. You know that he talks about something
Speaker 1: that I think should be pretty basic, you know, the
Speaker 1: idea that certain things have become partisan, like making sure
Speaker 1: folks have clean air to breathe or clean water, or
Speaker 1: being frank that everyone I think in our country deserves healthcare,
Speaker 1: but certainly our veterans. Do you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: that should be controversial, and the idea.
Speaker 2: You know that he and these.
Speaker 1: Students were asked to leave a rally then and it
Speaker 1: seemed so shocking and by the way, is and should
Speaker 1: have been. But you fast forward to today and you
Speaker 1: see the other side hosting these rallies talking about deploying
Speaker 1: the American military on American citizens who don't vote for
Speaker 1: the candidate. On the other side, you know, he wants
Speaker 1: to lock up anybody who doesn't agree with him. And
Speaker 1: he thinks the fact that you know, he's actually been
Speaker 1: called a criminal because he is a criminal, I mean,
Speaker 1: a thirty four time convicted felon, is somehow an inappropriate
Speaker 1: talking point. It feels like we've lost the plot a
Speaker 1: little bit. And I would imagine, especially being a military family,
Speaker 1: you know, it's got to be incredibly difficult to see
Speaker 1: folks who don't respect the Constitution. And I ask that
Speaker 1: because you all, in my observations anyway, as a citizen
Speaker 1: who's certainly a policy nerd, but you all have been
Speaker 1: so incredible at kind of taking a part these right
Speaker 1: wing talking points simply because you are who you are.
Speaker 1: You know, you said the governor served his country, You
Speaker 1: talked about his deployments. You you know, first lady, have
Speaker 1: spoken so openly about your own reproductive freedom journey, your
Speaker 1: experiences with fertility treements. As we have these conversations now
Speaker 1: about how to protect women and our families and our
Speaker 1: abilities to have families, you know, you all have been
Speaker 1: able to kind of look around.
Speaker 2: And go, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 1: You know, he hunts and is for gun control, same
Speaker 1: with so many people in my family. You know, how,
Speaker 1: how do you too feel like you bring some sanity
Speaker 1: to these crazy partisan talking points? Because to me, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I can tell you both have been teachers for a
Speaker 1: long time. You're so good and communicating. And I don't
Speaker 1: mean to make light of it, because it is dire,
Speaker 1: but the way that you seem to take the wind
Speaker 1: out of those crazy sales gives me a lot of hope.
Speaker 1: And I guess I'm just curious how you guys do this,
Speaker 1: you know, as a family unit.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you. That's an awful big compliment and we
Speaker 3: are we are honored to serve. And part of the
Speaker 3: real thrill of being on this campaign is that we
Speaker 3: get to live our values. And that was what politics
Speaker 3: was about from the very start. We said, when Tim
Speaker 3: was asked to leave that Bush rally, we said, you know,
Speaker 3: we did not have hope, not have our dad at
Speaker 3: home for almost an entire year, not to be able
Speaker 3: to have not to be able to express our views,
Speaker 3: and not to have everybody else be able to express
Speaker 3: their views either, Right, Like that means a lot to us,
Speaker 3: and so we have to get in the game here
Speaker 3: right in a way. And I think all you can
Speaker 3: be is who you are, and so you bring your
Speaker 3: authentic self, good, bad and otherwise you know, to the table, right,
Speaker 3: and you bring your own you bring your own skill set. Now,
Speaker 3: if you taught high school juniors and seniors, you be
Speaker 3: well practiced at pulling the main points or you know,
Speaker 3: the important points out of all kinds of noise around you,
Speaker 3: because that's a survival skill. And if you can't do
Speaker 3: that as a teacher, your kids aren't going to be
Speaker 3: ready for what they need to do next. And you
Speaker 3: can't imagine as a teacher not being able to do
Speaker 3: that for your students. That's your responsibility. And I think
Speaker 3: for Tim and I too, we also just feel so
Speaker 3: incredibly hopeful in schools that every day when you go
Speaker 3: into that classroom or going to that school, you see
Speaker 3: the future in front of you. And when people would
Speaker 3: worry about the future, we never did because we saw
Speaker 3: those kids who were going to create it every single day.
Speaker 3: And Tim and I both feel like we are so
Speaker 3: incredibly blessed to have amazing students and every year when
Speaker 3: they would graduate, we'd be like, oh no, you know,
Speaker 3: like there's never a new class like this again. And
Speaker 3: then next year the class would come and you'd be like, oh,
Speaker 3: my gosh, these kids are the most amazing kids ever.
Speaker 3: And then at the end of the year we'll be like,
Speaker 3: oh no, you know, and like just youth, energy and
Speaker 3: kids and ideas are out there. But we took that
Speaker 3: very seriously. We say teaching, Yes, that's the career we chose.
Speaker 3: It's the job we did. But more than that, it's
Speaker 3: who we are. You know, my parents were both teachers.
Speaker 3: I had three sisters, two of them are teachers. Tim's
Speaker 3: dad was a teacher and then a superintendent. He had
Speaker 3: three siblings. They all became teachers. Most of them are
Speaker 3: married to teachers. You know. We have great friends who
Speaker 3: are teachers. So like, that was all around us, and
Speaker 3: those are skills that you develop over time. But I
Speaker 3: will say we work really hard at trying to understand
Speaker 3: and listen, and those are important things. Listening is important,
Speaker 3: and then you have you have to try to bring
Speaker 3: it to the task at hand, and we work at
Speaker 3: that every single day because not only now do we
Speaker 3: care about our students, but we care we care about
Speaker 3: the people in our community and our state. You have
Speaker 3: to know who you are and what you're fighting for
Speaker 3: and why you're fighting for it. And everybody does that
Speaker 3: in their own way. And I'm so respectful like you
Speaker 3: doing this this podcast right, like you're fighting for it
Speaker 3: and this is very important. And your listeners they may
Speaker 3: be having a conversation with someone nobody else is having
Speaker 3: a conversation with right, And now we all have a
Speaker 3: chance to bring all the diversibilities and talents together and
Speaker 3: get to that ballot box and vote for what we
Speaker 3: care about. That that is our voice, and that's living
Speaker 3: our values. I don't know if that's a good answer
Speaker 3: or not.
Speaker 2: I think it's a great answer.
Speaker 3: That's kind of where I am with that. But the
Speaker 3: highest compliment for me has been so many of our
Speaker 3: students coming back and telling their stories and talking about
Speaker 3: you know, how they appreciated us. Maybe even not at
Speaker 3: the moment. Governor Walls was always known as the fun Walls,
Speaker 3: and I was always known as the other Walls. So
Speaker 3: but but I got those kids ready to write, whether
Speaker 3: it be in college or their next experience, and you know,
Speaker 3: they came to really appreciate that. So that's been like
Speaker 3: a great joy for us on the campaign. And I know,
Speaker 3: I know they are all going to vote. We all
Speaker 3: have a piece in this, and we do this. We
Speaker 3: do this together. And that's like a school in a classroom,
Speaker 3: or an activity or a from building experience, or a
Speaker 3: football team or a debate team or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: I love that we do it together. I absolutely love that.
Speaker 1: And I can hear the influence that teaching has had
Speaker 1: on you, you know, in the way that you think
Speaker 1: about community and the way that you think about public service.
Speaker 2: And I.
Speaker 1: Feel so heartened by what you have to say. And
Speaker 1: I guess I'm curious. You know, as you said, the
Speaker 1: circle of community is ever widening. Right, you go from
Speaker 1: military service to congressional service, you know, you're going essentially
Speaker 1: from your neighborhood to your state. And now you were
Speaker 1: talking about this, you know, big national leadership level. Who
Speaker 1: do you get to turn to for good advice on this?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Are you calling.
Speaker 1: Doctor Biden and Doug Mhoff or are you calling your
Speaker 1: best friend from junior high or maybe everybody?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and yes, like there are important issues that
Speaker 3: are at stake. You know, reproductive freedom is on the line,
Speaker 3: and like, if you cannot make decisions about your own body,
Speaker 3: what other decisions? What o their decisions even matter? Right?
Speaker 3: I look at what Kamala Harris has done throughout her
Speaker 3: career and how she has fought for reproductive freedom. And
Speaker 3: I look at Tim and and where he has stood
Speaker 3: on you know, individual freedom and the autonomy to make
Speaker 3: your own decisions. And he stood strong in the breach
Speaker 3: in that too. And there's a very clear distinction right
Speaker 3: between what Tim and Kamalin are saying and what Trump
Speaker 3: and Vands are saying. You know, I'm insulted by by
Speaker 3: the other side saying things, you know, like they're going
Speaker 3: to be our protectors. You know, no, thank you very much.
Speaker 3: You know I could, I could say some not very
Speaker 3: nice things about how I feel about that, or you know,
Speaker 3: even even the IVF treatments. And for Donald Trump to
Speaker 3: say the other night, you know, he's the father of IVF.
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me? You know, we were having IVF
Speaker 3: treatment or we're having fertility treatments. I want to clarify
Speaker 3: that for treatments before he came down the golden escalator,
Speaker 3: right exactly. So there is so much at stake that
Speaker 3: you have to you have to. I'm not an expert
Speaker 3: on issues, so I seek advice and listen, and yes,
Speaker 3: I have, you know, I have friends, and I am
Speaker 3: very fortunate to have great friends from all over in
Speaker 3: all different perspectives. I have, you know, friend Lisa Peterson,
Speaker 3: if you're listening, spend my friends since I was three
Speaker 3: years old.
Speaker 2: Hi, Lisa.
Speaker 3: She still lives in my hometown, right. And then I
Speaker 3: have friends from high school in college, but frankly, I
Speaker 3: have great friends from my teaching days and my days
Speaker 3: as director of assessment and research in our school district,
Speaker 3: and they are with me all the way. Then I
Speaker 3: have congressional spouse friends and a dear friend that I
Speaker 3: mentored in Congress and he's with me all the way.
Speaker 3: And then I have three amazing sisters and a whole
Speaker 3: bunch of nieces and nephews who continually support and give
Speaker 3: me advice, as well as cousins and moms and aunts.
Speaker 3: And I tried to on the campaign trail have the
Speaker 3: time to listen to the stories and the concerns that
Speaker 3: people have. I think if you want to be a
Speaker 3: good teacher, the very first thing you have to be
Speaker 3: as a good learner, and so I think I've learned
Speaker 3: to learn, and a lot of that is through listening.
Speaker 3: So I love yeah, but this is crazy. And doctor
Speaker 3: Biden and Doug muff Oh yeah, them too. You know,
Speaker 3: doctor Biden's been through it, Doug m Hof's been through it.
Speaker 3: But they you know, everybody's busy too, so everybody pitches in.
Speaker 3: I have texts every day, you know, I've met and
Speaker 3: a lot of people along the way. And I do
Speaker 3: want to give a shout out to the staff, our staff,
Speaker 3: to both in the Governor's office, friends when Tim was
Speaker 3: in Congress, and that the staff working so hard for
Speaker 3: the Harris Walls ticket. They've worked every hour of every day.
Speaker 2: They're the best.
Speaker 3: They they're the best, right, So how lucky that And
Speaker 3: you know why we're going to win because we have
Speaker 3: them too, right, Like we do this together. We have
Speaker 3: all of those people pulling in the same directions. So
Speaker 3: I feel so fortunate that I get to be kind
Speaker 3: of a maybe a landing spot for some of that.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, we'll be back in just a minute after
Speaker 1: a few words from our favorite sponsors. What you just
Speaker 1: said about how being a good teacher, which I think
Speaker 1: is you know, easily easily replaceable with leader, you know,
Speaker 1: teachers or leaders, and if you know the election goes
Speaker 1: the way we want it to, you'll you all will
Speaker 1: be at that next level of leadership.
Speaker 2: And it does.
Speaker 1: Require being a good listener, you know, being willing to
Speaker 1: hear what people are going through. It's it's one of
Speaker 1: the real I think perks of my life is a
Speaker 1: democratic volunteer all these years, is anytime I have a question,
Speaker 1: anytime something just oh makes me feel crazy because the
Speaker 1: injustice of it all feels wrong. Like when we talk
Speaker 1: about reproductive freedoms, for example, there are folks I can call,
Speaker 1: I can call experts to learn who will say, this
Speaker 1: is the book you.
Speaker 2: Need to read.
Speaker 1: Here's the new study. I've got a couple of group
Speaker 1: chats now, like you're talking about that are just white papers,
Speaker 1: new information, you know, not to give you a horrible fact.
Speaker 1: But as we talk about the facts again, learning teaching
Speaker 1: that reproductive freedoms are a whole They're a whole sphere
Speaker 1: of care. You know, it's a whole world. And whether
Speaker 1: that is access to birth control, or access to abortion,
Speaker 1: or access to IVF, they are all intrinsically linked. And
Speaker 1: to see how you know, the study came out today
Speaker 1: that as these bands have gone these Donald Trump abortion
Speaker 1: bands have gone into law in these states around the country,
Speaker 1: we're seeing one hundred and thirty four rape related pregnancies
Speaker 1: a day now, and these women can't get care.
Speaker 2: And I'm going, Okay.
Speaker 1: So the misogyny and the grotesqueness of a party that
Speaker 1: wants to take our rights away. None of these people
Speaker 1: are doctors, like you said, none of these law made
Speaker 1: have gone to medical school. It's crazy to me that
Speaker 1: we're dealing with this. And there's no way I believe
Speaker 1: as a constituent to say that this is rational on
Speaker 1: any level, because they're taking away your right to get
Speaker 1: an abortion when you need one, and they're taking away
Speaker 1: your right to access IVF when you want to have
Speaker 1: a family. And so it's clearly not about us or
Speaker 1: our families. And I know you know as I do.
Speaker 1: I have a long and complicated history with fertility treatment,
Speaker 1: and I've spoken about that a little bit, but I
Speaker 1: was so I got I just like woman to woman,
Speaker 1: I have to thank you your article, the article with
Speaker 1: Women's Health that you penned.
Speaker 2: You know, you wrote it in your own words. I
Speaker 2: did that once too. These things that are so important.
Speaker 1: I think deserve our full platforms, and they can be
Speaker 1: really hard to share. Can you tell me a little
Speaker 1: bit about as we're men, about the insanity of the
Speaker 1: partisanship around these issues. What was the personal side of
Speaker 1: wanting to share your story? What made you and the
Speaker 1: governor say oh, now's the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I'm going to answer that question. But I
Speaker 3: want to tell you, Sophia, I think you are a
Speaker 3: very good teacher. That's what I want to say. This
Speaker 3: is what you're doing right here, you're teaching. And I
Speaker 3: had to write that new back down because I haven't
Speaker 3: read that yet.
Speaker 2: Well, i'll send it to you, guys. I was just
Speaker 2: reading the news all morning. It hit today. It's horrible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, but thank you for sharing that. And
Speaker 3: I think I think you're very good.
Speaker 2: That's so kind.
Speaker 3: Thank you. I would hire you in a second in
Speaker 3: my school.
Speaker 1: My goal for my third phase of life is to
Speaker 1: be a professor. So we'll talk about it.
Speaker 3: I think you are right here on this podcast, so
Speaker 3: I just wanted to note that and teacher to teacher,
Speaker 3: that's that's a high compliment. But I wish I didn't
Speaker 3: you know, Tim, and I didn't tell that story for
Speaker 3: almost twenty years, not even to our close friends and
Speaker 3: family really, because we felt it was just a private
Speaker 3: and personal thing, so personal, yes, and when we were
Speaker 3: going through it, like it was hard enough to go
Speaker 3: through it, let alone like talk about it, so we
Speaker 3: didn't and we just never did. And even though we
Speaker 3: had a life in public, there's still things that you
Speaker 3: have that are private. Right. But I am telling you
Speaker 3: when the Alabama Supreme Court decision came down about limiting
Speaker 3: access and the infertility implications, I Tim and I looked
Speaker 3: at each other and we were actually in his office
Speaker 3: at the Capitol, and we are like, we have got
Speaker 3: to tell our story because we have got to find
Speaker 3: a way to bring some sanity to this discussion. And
Speaker 3: in a role of leadership, you have a responsibility to
Speaker 3: do that. And so as much as I did not
Speaker 3: want to tell that story and it's hard every time
Speaker 3: I talk about it, I am going to tell that
Speaker 3: and I'm going to ask other people who feel they
Speaker 3: can to tell their stories too, because stories change minds
Speaker 3: and hearts in ways that even facts don't write. So
Speaker 3: hearing someone's story is very personal and it even moves,
Speaker 3: it moves hard hearts sometimes but Tim and I knew
Speaker 3: at that moment that we were going to tell our
Speaker 3: story and we were going to speak out because we
Speaker 3: were going to have to fight this fight. And I
Speaker 3: think all women have to fight this fight. However it
Speaker 3: may be, even if it's not telling your own story,
Speaker 3: maybe it's supporting women who are or at least this
Speaker 3: at least it is going to that ballot box and
Speaker 3: voting your voice right and encouraging people who may not.
Speaker 3: They may say there are so many issues. I'm not
Speaker 3: sure what I even. I don't know if I know
Speaker 3: enough to vote. I hear some people say that, or
Speaker 3: I'm not sure which issue is most important to me. Well,
Speaker 3: I will tell you if you are a woman or
Speaker 3: if you are a man who knows a woman, right,
Speaker 3: you have got to have the right to make your
Speaker 3: own decisions about your own body. Otherwise that word freedom
Speaker 3: is just an abstract concept, right, And that's an issue.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I really I try to
Speaker 1: talk to people about in my sort of circle of influence,
Speaker 1: whether it's the podcast or around the dinner table, is
Speaker 1: there are certain issues where the math and the morals
Speaker 1: really meet, because if you understand that morally a person
Speaker 1: cannot be a fully functioning member of society if she
Speaker 1: cannot decide if and when to become a parent, you know,
Speaker 1: if she cannot plan her higher education, if she cannot
Speaker 1: start her small business, you know, whatever it might mean
Speaker 1: when you think about the implications for the economy. If
Speaker 1: fifty one percent of us cannot meaningfully participate in our
Speaker 1: education and in the economy, that harms everybody, even the
Speaker 1: folks in this country who can't get pregnant. And so
Speaker 1: if we want to build a prosperous America, we have
Speaker 1: to do that with planning. You'd never be able to
Speaker 1: build a prosperous business without a business plan. Think about
Speaker 1: your whole entire life, your whole entire existence. That works
Speaker 1: on a timeline. And for us, the timeline has to
Speaker 1: be about being able to control our bodies.
Speaker 3: We determine when, if or how we are going to
Speaker 3: start a family exactly, and that is our healthcare. But
Speaker 3: you know, I think a distinct difference again between Tim
Speaker 3: and Kamala and Trump in advance, is that Tim and
Speaker 3: Kamala have made it very clear that they trust women exactly.
Speaker 3: They trust women, and I do not see that communicated
Speaker 3: in any way shape or form from the other side.
Speaker 3: And if you don't trust women to determine their own healthcare,
Speaker 3: their own decisions right, their own reproductive freedom, then what
Speaker 3: else don't you trust them with?
Speaker 2: Exactly right.
Speaker 3: I just I just think it is a defining issue,
Speaker 3: and I know you do too, and I want to
Speaker 3: thank you for your advocacy here, and I think for
Speaker 3: your listeners. Right, even if you can tell your story, great,
Speaker 3: if you have a story, if you know you know
Speaker 3: I think the reason why this election is important to you,
Speaker 3: that's your story to tell too. And if you can
Speaker 3: tell that to three people, I can give you a
Speaker 3: little homework assignment here. Tell three ye I love that
Speaker 3: you know, like the story or whatever story about why
Speaker 3: this matters so much that will compel people to vote.
Speaker 3: But we have to vote. We have to vote with
Speaker 3: our we have to have our boys with our feet,
Speaker 3: and we have to vote right at that ballot box.
Speaker 3: And we have to make sure of a plan.
Speaker 2: Well you said it. We've got to vote our values.
Speaker 3: Yes we do.
Speaker 2: And you know I have to thank you.
Speaker 1: I know I'm watching the clock, but I have to
Speaker 1: thank you because you know everything from education to criminal
Speaker 1: justice reform to the wonderful advocacy that you and the
Speaker 1: governor do for the LGBTQ plus community. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much to the sensible conversations you have about you know,
Speaker 1: the economy, to gun reform, to all the things you
Speaker 1: show up holistically for us. You talk about the sorts
Speaker 1: of programs and policies that will better the lives of
Speaker 1: the American people, however they live, wherever they live, and
Speaker 1: for that you know, as a person who's not until
Speaker 1: this election been able to vote for you all, but
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I appreciate that, even as a resident
Speaker 1: of another state. I know there's a million more issues
Speaker 1: we could talk about, but I guess I just want
Speaker 1: to ask you as you look forward in this moment,
Speaker 1: because you know we're under thirty days now, what for
Speaker 1: you feels like your work in progress?
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, well that's a big question, but maybe so
Speaker 3: kind of. I would say, you know what my mom says, like,
Speaker 3: do the work in front of you. So I'm keeping
Speaker 3: my eyes and ears and and all of it open
Speaker 3: to see where I can have an impact, and you
Speaker 3: know and I what I can do. But at this moment,
Speaker 3: I'll go back to what I said before I am
Speaker 3: I am privileged to be able to live my values
Speaker 3: by being on this ticket and meeting people across this
Speaker 3: country who are doing extraordinary things that they thought they
Speaker 3: never could do, because this election matters so very much.
Speaker 3: And when I was a teacher, other teachers sometimes said,
Speaker 3: you know, to kids, you have to earn my respect,
Speaker 3: and I never felt that way. I always said to
Speaker 3: students when they came in my classroom, you have my respect,
Speaker 3: and I hope I have your respect, and let's just
Speaker 3: work together to maintain that right because I think when
Speaker 3: we have a view of the world where we are
Speaker 3: in this together, where we see individuals, where we have
Speaker 3: a hope for the future and respect for all people
Speaker 3: and everyone right, every single person as well as all
Speaker 3: of us, and there is a place for all of
Speaker 3: us and for everyone. And again that's a distinct difference
Speaker 3: that Tim and Kamala share compared to the other side,
Speaker 3: who just have sort of a stratified view of things.
Speaker 3: But when we really live that, when we really say
Speaker 3: that is who we are and put that to action,
Speaker 3: well I think we can't lose. And that's why I
Speaker 3: believe so much in this in this ticket and in
Speaker 3: all the people and I'm meeting and in use of
Speaker 3: YA and in your listeners, and I just can't say
Speaker 3: enough that it matters that you take that power yourself, right,
Speaker 3: you take your own power because we do it together
Speaker 3: and we all make a difference together. Make sure you
Speaker 3: have a voting plan, make sure those around you have
Speaker 3: a voting plan, and know why you're voting. There's lots
Speaker 3: of information out there and you can say, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: there's so much I might not sort through. Well, we
Speaker 3: need to vote for our future, and we need to
Speaker 3: vote for the kind of future and world that Kamala
Speaker 3: and Tim believe in that they fought for as middle
Speaker 3: class champions their entire life. And I Tim is a
Speaker 3: very authentic person, he always has been. And I am
Speaker 3: going to be proud to cast my ballot for the
Speaker 3: Harris Walls ticket.
Speaker 2: You and me both thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you. It's the greatest honor to have some someone
Speaker 3: vote for that ticket.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: And I feel honored about that and know we are
Speaker 3: we are working hard and we're going to just continue
Speaker 3: to do so. And I hope I get to meet
Speaker 3: some of your listeners along along the way.
Speaker 2: That'd be so cool.
Speaker 3: I hope I get to meet you along the way too.
Speaker 2: Me too.
Speaker 1: I had the pleasure of meeting your husband at the
Speaker 1: Human Rights Campaign gala, and he's just he's a gem,
Speaker 1: you know, He's an absolute gem of a man.
Speaker 2: He's something, he really is. I'm very grateful to you both.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for taking the time today.
Speaker 1: I know you have a million other things to do.
Speaker 1: We will make sure to remind all of our people
Speaker 1: to go out and vote and make a plan.
Speaker 3: We're close, and hopefully we can talk again after the election.
Speaker 2: I would love that.
Speaker 1: I told your husband I want to go shooting with him,
Speaker 1: so I'm coming to Minnesota.
Speaker 2: Holy smokes.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, you just keep on keeping on. I'm ready.
Speaker 2: I had the Camo in the closet. I was ready
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you are ready.
Speaker 2: For sure, ma'am.
Speaker 3: Okay, ma'am okay, see you soon. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you to your team. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Bye bye bye