2028 Democratic hopefuls gather in Denver to plot party’s future

[0:02] please welcome denver mayor mike johnston welcome to denver thank you all so much for [0:20] being here uh for those of you that have been here with us before you know majority democrats [0:26] is a group of elected officials from different states from all different levels of government [0:31] and different beliefs who share a common commitment to grow the reach of this party [0:36] to actually deliver results that we know will transform the lives of everyday americans and [0:41] you also know we don't bother with pleasantries or thank yous we get straight to the big ideas [0:46] and we run on time so if you run over time you will get the cowbell so saddle up last week was [0:58] a reckoning it was a reckoning for every mom who had to tell her family that they were cancelling [1:07] this summer's family vacation to disneyland because the cost of gas and the cost of hotel and the cost [1:12] of food was just too high for a paycheck that was still too small it was a reckoning for the parents [1:20] who were afraid to pick their kids up from school for fear they might be detained by ice in the school [1:25] drop-off line it was a reckoning for farmers who looked at silos full of grain they couldn't sell [1:31] and knew they wouldn't pay their bills because the markets had collapsed from a tariff war they never [1:36] wanted it was a reckoning for grandparents who told their little ones to be kind and look after others [1:43] and work hard and play by the rules and had to watch on the nightly news every night while a [1:48] president did the exact opposite in that reckoning though america remembered who we really are the [1:56] people that in moments of crisis don't turn on each other but turn to each other which is why [2:03] voters knew exactly what they were doing in the state of georgia when for the first time they elected [2:07] a black woman to be governor of the state of georgia those voters saying america tried on hate and it [2:16] didn't fit which is why voters knew exactly what they were doing in the state of texas when they [2:21] elected the first latina governor and put a teacher back in lbj's senate seat they were saying we tried [2:29] on in america where you can only make people feel small in order to make yourself feel big and that [2:34] doesn't fit and when yes voters in the state of mississippi for the first time sent a black man to [2:40] the u.s senate since reconstruction they knew what they were doing which is to say we tried on the idea [2:49] of the divided states of america and it didn't fit but the only reason for campaigning is governing and [3:00] the only power in winning is leading promise is a powerful thing it's both a hope and it's a guarantee [3:13] our job is to turn that guarantee into reality that means bringing bold policies that will speak to the [3:20] fundamental challenges that americans are facing and so as the first one out let me start with the [3:25] the first big idea america is facing a housing crisis right now that is crushing this country [3:30] but we know that this is a solvable problem there is a way out local governments and the federal [3:36] government can work together to deliver an american housing promise and here's what that would be [3:41] we commit together to building 10 million affordable homes over the next 10 years that offer deed [3:47] restrictions so that no american has to pay more than 30 percent of what they make to rent that means a [3:53] first-year teacher thank you that means a first-year teacher making sixty thousand dollars a year never [3:58] has to pay more than fifteen hundred dollars a month and we both do our part the federal government [4:03] commits fifty thousand dollars for every unit we bring on that meets that goal and local governments [4:08] commit to doing their part by making it faster and easier to build by fixing permitting by committing [4:14] our own local resources to match that and by making sure we adopt pro-housing policies like more density [4:20] around transit and here's the best part we could deliver that plan for less than it costs to run the [4:25] war in iran and for less than it costs to run the ice surge that's terrorizing communities across this [4:31] country which means if we can find money to bomb homes in iran we can certainly find money to build homes [4:37] in america if we can find money to pull american citizens out of their homes with ice agents we can [4:46] certainly find money to welcome americans into new homes in their own hometowns i'll close with this [4:53] you know denver i call the home of the open frontier it's a place where it's open to anyone [4:58] but there's opportunity for everyone now when you built a life at the base of these rocky mountains [5:03] it wasn't always easy it's hard to live here hard to cross them but it was built by people who thought [5:09] that it was possible to do the impossible when we missed the continental railroad we connected to it [5:14] when we had booms and bust we fought through them but what we knew is at the end if you could bind [5:20] people together in a belief that we were stronger as one country you could deliver amazing results [5:25] we changed not because we wanted to but because we knew if we didn't our family's lives depended on [5:30] it last week america was willing to try on hope we have to prove that it fits that means we have to [5:38] fight in every city in every state with the truth that we know our family's lives depend on it and they [5:45] have trusted us to build what's next so let's get to work welcome to denver please welcome the executive [5:56] director of the equal justice initiative brian stevenson thank you so much i am really so honored to [6:15] be here with you uh this is a really exciting time it feels like a very dangerous fever has broken in [6:24] this country and we can now think about creating a path to recovery and health i am not an elected [6:31] official i am not a politician i will leave to others to dissect this moment and to talk about the [6:38] policies and procedures i want to talk about identity who we are and i'm not i don't subscribe to identity [6:47] politics but i do think that identity matters i think what kind of people we are who we are is going [6:55] to be important to how we build a future there are millions of teachers in this country but the teachers [7:01] that make a difference in the lives of their students are the teachers who are compassionate the [7:05] teachers who embrace their students the teachers who lift up their students the teachers who love [7:10] their students the teachers who persuade their students that they can do things that others don't [7:14] think they can do their physicians all over the world but the physicians that do healing are the [7:19] physicians that listen the physicians that make their patients believe that they care i talk about my [7:26] grandmother a lot i'm going to repeat a story i've told too many times but it's about this question of [7:30] identity i grew up in a family where my grandmother was the quintessential african-american matriarch [7:36] my grandmother was the power in our family she was the daughter of people who had been enslaved it [7:41] made her very tactical very strategic my grandmother was a force of nature she was tough she was strong [7:47] but she was kind and she was loving she had uh 10 children uh which made it difficult sometimes to get [7:54] access to my grandmother my grandmother was the end of every argument in our family she was also the start [8:00] of a lot of arguments in our family and my challenge was getting time with her because she had 10 kids [8:06] 10 children i had dozens of cousins competing for her time and attention when i was a little boy about [8:11] nine or ten i was spending time with my grandmother and i went into the living room my cousins were [8:15] running all around but my grandmother on this day was sitting across the room and she was staring at [8:20] me and i couldn't figure out why is she staring at me and after a little bit she got up and walked [8:25] across the room and came over to me and said come on brian you and i are going to have a talk out back [8:30] and i was so excited by this and she took me by the hand and she took me out back and she sat me down and [8:36] she said i'm going to tell you something but you can't tell anybody what i tell you i said okay mama [8:42] and then she said i want you to know i've been watching you and she said i think you're special [8:48] she said i think you can do anything you want to do and from my grandmother these were words that [8:54] were so powerful but then she said but you have to promise me three things brian i said okay mama she [8:59] said the first thing i need you to promise me is that you'll always love your mother she said that's [9:05] my baby girl and i need to know somebody's going to take care of her when i'm gone well i adored my [9:09] mom so i said yes mama i'll do that then she said the second thing i need you to promise me is that [9:13] you'll always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing and i thought about it [9:19] and i said yes mama i'll do that and then she said the last thing i need you to promise me is that [9:25] you'll never drink alcohol well i was nine years old so i said yes mama i'll do that i grew up in the [9:33] country i have a brother a year older than me a sister a year younger than me and one day my [9:37] brother came home and somewhere he'd gotten some beer i don't know where he got this beer but he [9:40] grabbed me and my sister we went out back he opened up this beer bottle he took a sip he gave it to my [9:45] sister she took a sip and they offered it to me but i hesitated and my brother said come on have some [9:50] beer we're having beer i said no no no that's okay that's all right and my brother said come on have [9:54] some beer i said no no no that's okay that's all right then my brother stared at me really hard [9:59] and then he said i hope you're not still hung up on that conversation mama had with you i said what [10:04] are you talking about he says oh mama makes all the brand grandchildren promise not to drink alcohol [10:08] she tells them all that they're special and i have to tell you i was devastated but what i really [10:15] want to tell you is that i'm a lot older than i was then and i've never had a drop of alcohol in my [10:21] life and i don't say that because i think there's something virtuous about that i don't i say that [10:26] because when we create identities that matter to people we can say things that will change [10:31] their lives when i thought about my grandmother of course she would think all of her grandchildren [10:36] were special of course she would think that there were things that we needed to do my grandfather [10:40] was in prison during prohibition i had uncles whose lives were destroyed by alcohol abuse and there [10:45] was something about that promise given my relationship with my grandmother that i just haven't been able [10:51] to let go and we need leaders in this country that create the kind of relationship that they can say [10:59] things to us that we need to hear even when they're hard and they're difficult and so in this moment i [11:05] believe we have to start crafting a new identity the american identity has been compromised it's been [11:10] tarnished it's been disrupted by the administration which has done so many horrific things to create the [11:16] picture of an american as a bully as a bigot as a racist as someone who's intolerant someone who doesn't [11:22] believe in actually great giving grace to anyone and we have to change that and i'm going to be very honest [11:27] with you it's not easy i'm going to be really honest with you i'm just going to tell you that i have [11:33] struggled with my american identity i'm not going to lie today i'm not like most americans i am not the [11:40] child of immigrants my foreparents did not come here seeking greater opportunity or fleeing some distant [11:47] threat my foreparents came to these lands in chains they had been kidnapped and trafficked across an [11:53] ocean and when they arrived they were not offered the great american dream a chance to make life [11:59] better for themselves when they arrived they were enslaved and for generations they dealt with the [12:05] brutality the violence the humiliation the degradation of slavery and 200 000 of them joined the union army [12:13] and fought to preserve this union but to also fight for their freedom and after emancipation they had [12:19] these great hopes and very quickly they were betrayed the congress refused to enforce the 14th amendment [12:26] that guaranteed equal protection we retreated from enforcing the 15th amendment which guaranteed the [12:31] right to vote our united states supreme court chose to prioritize states rights over constitutional rights [12:38] and reconstruction collapsed and that led to a century of terror and violence and millions of people in [12:46] this country had to deal with the constant threat black people being pulled out of their homes beaten drowned [12:51] tortured lynched on courthouse lawns illegal architecture was created of jim crow and segregation and [12:58] i was born into a world where i could not attend the public school because of my color i was raised in the [13:05] community of adults who didn't have high school degrees not because they weren't smart or hard working [13:10] but because there were literally no high schools for black people in my county when my dad became a [13:15] teenager and of age and then these courageous lawyers came into our community and made them open up the [13:20] public schools and because of their intervention i got to go to high school i got to go to college [13:27] i went to harvard law school i thought my american identity would change but within a year after [13:32] graduating from harvard law school working in atlanta georgia representing the poor and the condemned i was [13:39] sitting in my car one night preparing for court and i was just trying to organize my papers and yeah i was in [13:44] my car for 15 minutes but i was in front of my apartment just trying to get ready for court the [13:49] next day and someone thought that that bearded black man didn't belong where i was and they called the [13:56] police and swat police officers came and surrounded my car when i got out to explain to them that this [14:01] is where i live the officer pulled his gun and said move and i'll blow your brains out and i had to calm [14:08] down that officer i had to navigate that situation and the neighbors gathered and it wasn't going to be [14:14] possible for me to stay in that community my harvard law school did not shield me from a presumption of [14:20] dangerousness and guilt and for the last 40 years i've represented the poor the condemned the wrongly [14:27] convicted the unfairly sentenced and i go into courtrooms across this country and we have an american [14:33] system that should presume that you are innocent until proven guilty but my clients are rarely presumed [14:39] innocent until proven guilty they're presumed dangerous they're presumed guilty and i have to [14:45] navigate that presumption of guilt if i have any chance of helping my clients succeed i work in a [14:50] legal system that too often treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent [14:55] and that reality has complicated my american identity i've stood next to people pulled away executed [15:02] because we continue to adhere to the twisted logic that we should be killing people to show that killing [15:08] is wrong and it makes it challenging for me but i will also tell you that over the last 10 years i've [15:13] had the privilege of creating these sites in montgomery alabama i want to invite all of you to come and [15:18] visit us in montgomery alabama and we created these sites and we investigated the real story of america [15:26] we examined the real history of our country and when i became acquainted with the real story of america [15:33] my ideas began to shift the real story of america is much more painful much more complicated much more [15:39] difficult much more complicated than a lot of people want you to believe there are many people who don't want [15:45] you to understand that history but that real history of america is also much more inspiring [15:50] it's much more hopeful i began to have a new relationship to this country when i realized that my four parents [15:57] despite being enslaved despite the hardships of that institution when they were emancipated they [16:03] did something remarkable the four million black people who were emancipated after the civil war could [16:07] have said we want revenge and we want retribution against those who enslaved us we want to do violence [16:14] to those who did violence to us they knew who the people were they knew where they lived but instead [16:19] the newly emancipated chose america they started building churches and families and schools [16:27] with remarkable commitment despite enslavement despite brutality they chose this nation and they [16:34] became great americans and when i look at the history of america i can't identify a group of [16:39] people who i can call great americans more enthusiastically than the four million black people who [16:44] were emancipated after decades of enslavement they were great because they believed in something they [16:50] could not see and even when that betrayal took place and jim crow took place and hierarchy took place and [16:56] lynching took place and terrorism took place and they were excluded in disfavorite they never gave up [17:01] on this country in 1950 a black veteran named hilliard brooks was riding the buses of montgomery alabama [17:07] you had to get on the bus at the front pay your dime then get off and get on in the back and he paid [17:12] his dime and then the bus driver said oh there's no room for you and he simply asked for his dime back [17:17] and because the bus driver wouldn't give him his dime back he argued and because he argued they called the [17:21] police and this black veteran who fought in world war ii was shot dead by the police the buses in [17:27] montgomery were a dangerous place but five years later a 15 year old girl named claudette colvin [17:34] struggling with the fact that her friend jeremiah reese had been wrongly accused of murder got on the [17:40] bus and the bus got full and she was told she had to give up her seat to a white person and on that day [17:45] claudette colvin said no and she didn't just choose not to cooperate with segregation any longer she [17:51] chose to create a better future for this country and she was arrested and she was taken to jail and [17:57] then after she refused mary louise smith refused and then a real browder refused and then susie [18:03] mcdonald refused and on december 1 1955 rosa parks refused and with miss parks refused and she was taken [18:10] to jail the whole community rose up and they said we're going to disrupt this bigotry we're going to [18:17] create a better america and yes they were civil rights protesters they did extraordinary things [18:24] by staying off the buses for 382s but i believe that the 50 000 negroes of montgomery alabama that [18:31] stayed off the buses for 19 for for 382 days were great americans they changed this country they gave [18:38] birth to a civil rights movement and that movement led to sit-ins and read-ins and freedom rides [18:44] and it created this movement where people understood that to be great we have to do difficult things [18:50] and during that 10-year time period we gave birth to the voting rights act and that act made this [18:55] country for the first time a functioning full democracy and it was great americans who made that [19:01] achievement people like viola lose a white woman who came to alabama to stand with those who were [19:07] being disenfranchised she was murdered in lounges county a white episcopal priest named jonathan daniels who [19:12] came to alabama to fight for civil rights murdered in dallas county and they were great americans not [19:18] because of how they died but because of how they lived they lived with the conviction that we must do [19:23] better in this country and because of that things got better but it's that identity that we need to hold [19:32] on to and so i believe in this moment we need to reshape the american identity we've got to hold on to the [19:38] things that matter we've got to push back against the rhetoric of bigotry and racism that has become [19:43] too commonplace in this country we've got to make a witness against all of the destructive things that [19:49] we're hearing all around us it's a it's an absolute insult that our government has renamed military bases [19:56] after the very traitors and treasonous who tried to destroy this country what's happened to the leaders [20:02] to women in our military to black and brown people in our military leaders who have been dismissed [20:08] because they're women and black and brown we've given them a presumption of incompetence and it's not [20:13] right it's not fair what we've done to the poor and it's important that we talk about affordability i [20:18] know that that will be a big topic it's important that we talk about the needs of the middle class but [20:22] we cannot forget the tens of millions of people in this country who live beneath the federal poverty level [20:28] we should not forget the millions of people who are food insecure we should not forget those who are [20:34] struggling to get access to health care we need to talk about education in a new way i hope we do not [20:40] in this moment abandon a commitment to helping those who've been disfavored who've been excluded what's [20:46] happened in colleges and universities to retreat from helping those who've been disadvantaged by bigotry [20:51] and discrimination should not prevail we've got to do a lot of things to challenge our criminal justice [20:57] system we have a legal system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're [21:01] poor and innocent we have a legal system that tolerates too much injustice for every eight [21:06] people we've executed in america we've identified one innocent person on death row and yet executions [21:12] persist we would not tolerate that with aviation we would not tolerate that with food safety and yet we [21:18] tolerate it and so i believe we need to challenge this identity and when i think about this history [21:24] it's caused me to reflect and to come to a new place and i've recently decided that like the [21:30] enslaved like the civil rights workers like those who have fought so hard to create a more just america [21:35] i intend to be a great american and i'm going to be a great american not defined by wealth and status [21:41] and influence i want to be a great american by being committed fully to equality fully to justice fully to [21:48] challenging bigotry fully to pushing back against hatred and animosity and i hope we will make that same [21:54] that's what we want to embrace this is not a time for us to become silent about the call to do justice [22:00] the call to love mercy the call to walk humbly and to embrace those who fall down i don't believe in [22:06] the politics of file uh fear and anger too many places in the world have given in to the politics of [22:11] fear and anger and when you allow yourself to be governed by fear and anger you start to tolerate [22:17] things you should never tolerate you start to accept things you should never accept that's what happened [22:22] in germany in the 1930s it's what happened in rwanda in the 1990s it's what's happened in this country too [22:27] many times in the 1970s when politicians from both political parties gave in to the politics of fear [22:33] and anger and started a war on drugs and now we have the highest incarceration rate in the world millions [22:39] of people have been disrupted by this misguided policy we should have committed and recognized that [22:45] drug addiction and drug dependency is not about crime it's about health and if we committed to health [22:50] policies we wouldn't have these record levels of opioid addiction and so we've got to change [22:55] this narrative and we have the capacity to change narratives and that's what i'm hoping we will do in [23:02] this moment by creating an identity that is rooted in something that gets beyond the fear and the anger [23:09] scott column work won in mississippi last night and he won and he won by being willing to be courageous [23:19] enough to talk about the history that had denied so many african americans he knows that he won based [23:24] on the sacrifice of vernon dahmer and herbert lee and medger evers he knew that he was there because of the [23:32] suffering that fannie lou hamer and bob moses and the evangelical giant john perkins gave themselves to [23:39] he's there because people were willing to fight and stand together he reached out to everybody he brought [23:45] people with him and that spirit is what is what i believe we have to embrace i think because i come [23:52] from alabama there is a spirit that has been reborn that spirit of activism that spirit of truth telling [23:59] that spirit that says we have to create a new era of truth and justice we have a project at eji my [24:05] organization where we're trying to put up markers at every lynching site in america and we have community [24:11] groups that come together and put up these markers and then we ask them to collect soil that have the [24:16] name of lynching victims and they bring them back to our museum and a few years ago an older black [24:20] woman said mr stephenson i want to dig some soil at a lynching site and i reluctantly agreed because i [24:25] usually like groups and we gave her a jar that had the name of a victim and the date of the lynching we [24:30] gave her an implement to dig the soil she went to this place in west alabama but when she got there she [24:35] realized it was a dangerous place a scary place was on the dirt road in the middle of the woods and she told me [24:39] mr stephenson i had to pray to find courage to get out of the car but i found my strength i crossed [24:45] the dirt road i got down on my knees to start digging but then a pickup truck came down the dirt [24:49] road and there was a big white guy in the truck and he stared at me as he drove by and then to her [24:54] horror the man stopped his truck turned around drove back by again and stared some more and then [24:59] he parked the truck got out and started walking toward her she said her heart was pounding she was [25:03] afraid and the man walked up to her and he said what are you doing and we tell people they don't have to [25:09] explain what they're doing when they're digging soil for our exhibit and she was going to tell [25:12] him that she was just getting dirt for her garden she said but mr stephenson all of a sudden something [25:16] got a hold of me and i told that man she said i'm here because i'm going to honor a black man who was [25:21] lynched in 1937 and she said you just looked down and started digging and the man surprised her by [25:26] asking does that memo you have talk about the lynching and she said it does and then he said can i read [25:32] it and she said yes and she gave the man the memo and he started reading while she started digging [25:37] and after the man finished reading the memo he really surprised he said excuse me ma'am but would [25:43] it be all right if i helped you and she said yes and the man got down on his knees and she offered him [25:48] the implement to dig the soil and he said no no no no you keep that i'll just use my hands and then she [25:53] said this man started throwing his hands into the soil and putting it in the jar throwing his hands [25:58] into the soil and putting it in the jar and she said there was something about the conviction with [26:02] which he was putting his whole body into picking up the soil that just moved her and she said mr [26:07] stephenson i couldn't help i i went from fear to relief to joy so quickly the tears started running [26:12] down my face and the man looked at her and he said oh ma'am i'm so sorry i'm upsetting you she said oh [26:17] no no no she said you're blessing me and the man kept digging and she kept digging and they were getting [26:22] near the top of the jar then she looked over and she saw that the man's face had turned red that his [26:27] shoulders had dropped that is that his breathing had become labored and then she said she saw a tear [26:33] running down his face and she stopped and she put her hand on his shoulder she said are you all right [26:38] and that's when the man turned her and he said no ma'am no ma'am and then he closed his eyes and he [26:43] said i'm just so worried that it might have been my grandfather who helped lynch this man she said [26:49] they both sat on that roadside and wept and after a few minutes the man turned her and he said ma'am i [26:56] really want to take a picture of you holding the jar of soil and she said okay but i really want to [27:00] take a picture of you holding the jar of soil and they took pictures of one another holding this jar [27:05] of soil and then she said well i'm going back to montgomery to put this in the museum and the man said [27:10] would it be all right if i just followed you back and she said sure and she got in her car and she [27:14] called me she said mr stevenson i want you to come to the museum and meet my new friend and i went to [27:19] the museum and i watched these two people who met on a roadside in a place of pain and bigotry and violence [27:25] come in together and do something beautiful by putting that jar of soil in that collection i'm not [27:31] naive i know beautiful things like that don't always happen when we tell the truth but we will [27:36] deny ourselves the beauty of justice in this country if we refuse to tell the truth so we cannot cannot [27:46] let anyone tell us that we have to be silent about the history of harm we have to be silent about [27:51] bigotry we have to be silent about inequality i believe there is something better waiting for us [27:56] i don't talk about slavery lynching and segregation because i want to punish america i talk about these [28:00] things because i want to liberate us i think there's something better waiting for us there's [28:04] something that feels more like freedom more like justice more like equality and it's waiting for us [28:09] there's something that feels more like a functioning multi-racial democracy we got a taste of it last [28:14] week but it's still waiting for us we just have to be willing to commit to an era of truth and justice we [28:20] have to be willing to do what great americans have done before us black and white and brown we've got [28:25] to be willing to stand up even when people say sit down we've got to be willing to speak even when people say [28:30] be quiet if we do that we will create the kind of justice that will allow us to claim this to be a [28:37] moment when a new movement a new era where great americans came together and created an american [28:43] identity that we can all be proud of to that end i want to thank you for all the work that you do [28:48] and for giving me this opportunity to be with you thank you very much u.s senate state [29:05] i don't have a deal as well we took that the democratic party took the notes on running [29:26] everywhere there are pastors there are pediatricians voters are thirsty for a new generation we embodied [29:33] a new kind of politics and now it's up to democrats to deliver now the question is can we govern [29:39] like we deserve it that's why i'm so focused on action it's time to do big bold things because we're [29:47] americans please welcome searchlights director of analytics charlotte swacy uh so my mission here is [30:20] i'm supposed to tell you all what this election was about which is a lot more fun of a job than it could [30:24] have been so i also hope you are very excited to hear someone repeat the phrase cost of living for [30:29] seven minutes and 45 seconds but actually what i'm here to tell you about is our entrance poll [30:36] this is something we did in the weeks before the election because we wanted to know according to [30:41] voters themselves what this was all about you can do a lot of speculation you can sit in your house and [30:47] do punditry but instead we just went directly to the people as they were preparing to step into those [30:53] voting booths and ask them to tell us what they were focused on and what they were focused on was cost [31:01] obviously this was the most overwhelming priority we did this in six states seven we're still [31:08] waiting on alaska because they're still counting which is very exciting and in every single state [31:13] and in every single demographic group cost of living was the most important issue this goes we did an [31:20] oversample of latinos in texas it was still cost of living immigration was third after corruption [31:27] and i think this is really important because it can be very easy to get a little bit bored of cost [31:33] of living as an issue it's something we talk about a lot but for voters this is not boring this is the [31:39] thing that makes everything else possible for them and it is the thing that they think about every single [31:45] day every time they go to the gas station and is the thing that they want their elected officials to be [31:50] laser focused on so in their own words we didn't want to just ask them a couple questions have them [31:56] pick some answers we just gave them a text box and anyone who's done polling knows that that is always [32:02] both very fun and very revealing they overwhelmingly cited the economy and after that they talked about [32:08] honesty but what they meant by honesty was not some sort of abstract ideal what they meant by honesty [32:15] was the ability to believe that those politicians that they went on to elect were actually focused [32:22] on them that these people were not thinking about the sort of broad constellation of focuses that [32:28] democrat democrats tend to rotate through but that they were focused on reflecting the will of the [32:33] voters and they were focused on bringing down those costs that are of overwhelming concern to [32:38] people across the country now we had a couple of really fun things we asked a specific question of [32:45] people who split their tickets and there's one guy in iowa that has just like really stuck with me [32:50] he was voting for ashley hinson and he was voting for rob sand and what he told us is that he's a [32:55] republican who's going to vote for the republican but he thought rob sand was better for iowa specifically [33:02] and that is what drove his vote and that is something that we see really across all of these voters [33:08] now our democrats who dramatically outperformed both expectations and harris specifically [33:14] were seen as actually working on lowering costs compared to the republican opponents [33:20] across the board democrats were seen as more in line on this issue and more likely to really work [33:25] on costs for regular people but folks like roy cooper who did spectacularly were seen by a very wide [33:32] margin as more focused on this than their republican opponents the thing we have to talk about in [33:39] addition to cost of living for the rest of time is the trump effect it was a big deal he's desperately [33:45] unpopular he started a war that nobody likes he hasn't delivered on the promises that people elected [33:50] him to fulfill people are not happy now democrats 73 of them in our sample said that their vote was [33:57] mostly the opportunity to comment on their feelings about trump that it was driven by him this was not [34:05] true for other groups only 44 of independents said the same this was not something that swing voters were [34:11] solely driven by it is not entirely trump as an individual it is the failed policies that go along [34:18] with him and the desire for a new wave of candidates who can correct for those deficiencies and the other [34:26] sort of piece of slightly rough news our candidates are very popular in a lot of cases the party is not [34:34] in the states we surveyed the democratic party is somewhere between plus two and minus two which the [34:39] pollsters will know rounds out to zero that's zero our candidates were up to something like 20 points [34:45] better than the party but that is because of who they are specifically it's because we have these [34:50] superstars who are able to chart away away from the democratic brand and carve out a new lane and make [34:57] the voters feel that while the democratic party is still a little all over the place still not their [35:02] favorite make the voters feel that they specifically were really focused on the same issues and that they were [35:09] focused on their state and that they weren't focused on sort of partisan wrangling what i want you all [35:17] to do is to take the right lessons from this election this was an incredible night i cannot say enough times [35:24] how amazing this was i am a forecaster i did not see that coming oh my god but it does not mean that [35:32] we're good the democratic party is still having a difficult time the voters do not trust us they do not [35:39] believe that we are focused on the right things and they're genuinely really worried about what we're [35:43] going to do with this power we have an unbelievable opportunity to follow through and we need to show [35:50] them that we have listened we care about costs we match their priorities and we are going to [35:55] actually do something about that and that is how we communicate honesty to them it is not about just [36:03] saying that you're honest it is not about not being trump although that does certainly help [36:07] it is about actually delivering on the promises you've made and about not getting distracted [36:14] we are about to go into possibly one of the most distracting periods um and there's about to be a [36:19] whole bunch of wrangling and what matters to me is that you all understand that it needs to go back [36:25] to what the voters want and what they want is to be able to live comfortably to live freely and to not [36:32] feel like they are stressed out and about to spend their very last dollar every single day they want a [36:37] reduction in the level of chaos in washington they are telling us loud and clear that they are [36:43] real sick of trump and his folks and the associated chaos but they're not super hype for wild swing in [36:51] the other direction to quote a great man it's the economy stupid it always has been it probably always [36:58] will be the democratic brand as a whole needs a little bit of work we have this incredible big tent we've [37:05] been debating whether or not that was possible for a long time but we sure do live there now we are [37:10] in the political getting along shirts and we all have to figure out how to work together and if we do [37:15] that successfully we can make it so that not only our candidates are popular but the rest of us are [37:20] popular as well the party is popular as well we need to learn from our over performers we have an [37:26] incredible set of candidates and some of them did spectacularly blasted through expectations i mean we won [37:32] mississippi this it's wild we need to learn from those folks they ran smart campaigns where they [37:37] managed to be on target and in touch with voters and not come off as distant or scattered or too [37:44] ideological we should be looking to them for how to improve the brand of the party and how to make [37:49] sure that we all are staying focused now for the pollsters in the room i am happy to talk to you about [37:55] our methodology after i will not do that here because it will be boring as anything so what i just want [37:59] you to double double check is that you understand that while we all might be tired of talking about [38:04] costs and tired of hearing about the economy for voters they're not tired they remain focused and [38:10] that is where we need to start if we're going to win back their trust thank you please welcome the [38:26] head of data science at blue rose research david shore hey everyone i'm david shore i'm the head of data [38:47] science at blue rose research uh and i'm really excited to tell you what the data is uh telling us so far [38:53] so the first thing is that this was the best uh democratic performance uh since watergate uh [39:00] which is a big deal uh watergate was a really long time ago and like watergate uh this featured an [39:07] electorate frustrated by presidential corruption and out of control gas prices due to a war in the [39:12] middle east that they wanted nothing to do with uh the other thing that really comes out of the data [39:18] is that from a partisan composition perspective this was the best electorate for democrats in decades [39:24] but that was driven much more by republicans staying home rather than sky-high unprecedented [39:30] democratic uh turnout uh from a precinct perspective the story is really clear if you uh the parts of [39:38] the country that turned away from democrats from 2020 to 2024 uh rocketed back uh with democrats reaching [39:45] levels not seen in almost a decade but you know that might feel like good news and it is obviously [39:51] but uh precincts are not people and the nerdy one million dollar question is did the young voters or [39:57] the latino voters or the politically disengaged voters in these precincts actually change their mind [40:02] or was this due to changes and who voted and in order to answer that question uh here we have uh [40:08] uh basically turnout rates in georgia by party uh and by age relative to 2022 georgia is the place where [40:16] we have the most complete data so far and what it really tells us is that young democratic turnout and [40:21] you know uh democratic latino turnout and politically disengaged democrat turnout really uh skyrocketed [40:27] which is to say that this really mostly was a change in who voted as opposed to us actually winning [40:33] uh these voters back uh and again this is good news but the reality is that most of the voters who we [40:40] lost uh two years ago still have not become democrats uh they simply didn't turn out to vote uh for the [40:47] basic reason that they were frustrated uh frustrated with donald trump and so i really implore this audience [40:53] and democrats in general to have object permanence these voters that we lost and that we've turned away [40:57] are still out there and they have not become democrats yet and but they will be here in two years [41:02] and if we haven't persuaded them by then we might not be happy with how things uh turn out uh so the [41:08] other thing i uh i want to say is uh here we have trump approval uh by issue uh and you know i don't [41:16] want to ever claim that politics is monocausal but i really think you can pin a lot of this on the iran [41:22] war if you uh basically the day that the iran war started gas his approval on gas prices went from 49 [41:29] to 33 within days and in the weeks that followed his approval rating on the economy and on the cost [41:34] of living plummeted collapsed and never recovered and i really want to drill down on uh his approval [41:42] rating on the economy because it is what has been propping him up his entire political career if you [41:48] look across issues trump's approval rating on most issues really is pretty close to where he was in 2018 [41:53] which to be clear was a bad cycle uh for republicans but nowhere near as bad as what happened last week [42:00] but what did change is that his approval rating on the economy went from 55 to 30 to 35 and republicans [42:07] suffered as a result now it wasn't just trump in order to get a result this good democrats had to do [42:14] a lot of things right as well voters have been telling us overwhelmingly for the last five years that [42:20] their number one issue is the cost of living and the economy and this time right before the election [42:26] they told us that the number one issue for democrats was the economy and the cost of living as well and [42:31] let me tell you that is not what the polling said two years ago and in order for that to happen that [42:36] required a level of message discipline that i did not believe that democrats were capable of uh and you [42:44] know that was not easy uh and that paid enormous dividends uh and something that we should all be proud of [42:50] and so right before the election uh we surveyed 100 000 people and we asked them what they thought [42:56] about the candidates who were in uh running in their districts and you know i'm going to say [43:00] something controversial moderates on average did a little bit better than progressives though the [43:04] difference isn't as big as many a lot of people would think but much more important than ideology was [43:10] how much voters saw uh saw these candidates in touch with the regular economic concerns of everyday working [43:16] class people and to illustrate that here we have two candidates uh bobby uh polito in south texas and [43:23] randy viegas and uh in the central valley voters saw them as being on completely opposite sides of the [43:30] ideological spectrum but saw them both as laser focused with the economy and rewarded them both with [43:35] a higher over performance above fundamentals than seen by almost any other democrat anywhere in the country [43:42] uh and that's something that both the left and the center can be proud of and then the other [43:45] thing that distinguished uh basically uh high quality candidates from the average democrat is that [43:51] they talked a lot more about data centers which in our testing really was a very powerful example of an [43:57] economy uh that voters see as corrupt uh and data centers themselves were on the ballot and soundly [44:04] rejected uh by bipartisan majorities almost every single place they appeared uh and i think as a pollster [44:10] it's really rare to see something uh really be this unpolarized uh and i think we're really watching the [44:16] birth of a new political uh you know issue in front of our eyes um and you know the reason i bring up ai [44:23] and data centers uh is that uh is really uh that voters are incredibly angry about an economy that they [44:32] see that bipartisan majorities of voters see as rigged and uh if democrats do not deliver immediate [44:40] tangible benefits to working class people they are going to turn against us the same way that they [44:45] turned against donald trump and the way that they turned against uh the ai companies uh and so you [44:50] know i'll close this out by saying that uh you know democrats have a lot to be proud of and they did [44:56] a lot of things right both the left and the establishment have a lot to be happy about but democrats need [45:02] to have object permanence the 2028 electorate is not going to be like the 2026 electorate and we still [45:09] have an enormous amount of work to do to bring back the voters that we've turned away over the last [45:14] decade and then you know the last thing i'll say is that the world is going to change a lot over the [45:19] next year and democrats need to be nimble they need to be flexible but above all they need to be laser [45:25] focused on costs and delivering tangible improvements to working class people if we do [45:30] not want to share the same fate as donald trump thank you so much please welcome the arguments director [45:43] of political data laksha jane i want to start by asking you guys in the audience who here thought [46:06] after the 2024 election in december of 2024 who here thought 56 senate seats was possible just raise your [46:12] hand all right the three of you that raise your hands are liars i want to start though by if we're [46:22] going to understand how this happened it's important to understand what this election was and wasn't so [46:28] in our last pre-election poll we asked people what do you think the democratic party fights for [46:34] and like the results here are actually pretty mixed you know it's there's some stuff with like everyday [46:39] people the middle class the people but the biggest word is actually themselves so the electorate really [46:45] didn't love the democratic party so you look at that and you'll ask like well then how do they win 56 [46:52] and that's because this is the republicans i have in all my years of doing political work [46:59] i have never once seen a word cloud quite as ugly as this because when the number one issue is cost [47:06] of living for people and this is what they think you're focused on it becomes not about the democratic [47:13] party remember no one thought about the democrats for better or for worse no one was thinking about [47:17] the democrats as much as they were thinking about the party that holds a trifecta and so the electorate [47:22] the election was really understood as a rejection of the republican party overwhelmingly right democrats [47:29] had a favorability of negative five in the exits that's uh that's not great it's it's actually [47:37] it's actually negative people didn't love the democrats republican favorability was negative 20 [47:44] and so really it comes down to the fact that they didn't love democrats but they absolutely hated [47:49] republicans and so you can ask and it would be a fair question like that's great but like mississippi [47:56] is a trump plus 23 state that gap is not enough to win mississippi that gap is not enough to beat to win [48:02] south carolina it's not enough to beat ashley hinston in iowa it's not enough to beat incumbents in [48:09] kansas how did this happen right like how did we end up beating a democratic or a republican incumbent [48:16] senator in alaska the answer is there was a very concerted effort in a way that i don't quite think [48:23] i've ever really seen before from the out party to nominate a series of extraordinarily strong candidates [48:29] who were able to take advantage of the weakness of the republican party and of their opponents and the [48:35] contrast was almost perfect so you ended up in a case where in a normal midterm with these fundamentals [48:43] with this type of polling a normal party would still only be able to win 52 senate seats on that [48:50] map given the type of coalition the democrats have and that's with the electorate numbers looking so bad [48:56] for donald trump even then the expectation was 52 democrats won 56 because by our wins above [49:03] replacement modeling we ended up seeing that there were four seats that democrats flipped where a generic [49:09] democrat was just straight up expected to lose and maybe even lose by quite a bit and it wasn't just in [49:15] those seats in every like red state the democrats picked a better candidate than the republicans by quite [49:24] some margin ashley hinson is like the most favorable candidate that the republicans have and josh turek [49:30] made her look amateur which is extremely difficult to do and extremely rare and so it's important to [49:36] understand what good candidates actually look like it's not this grab bag of identity or whatever right [49:43] like there were good candidates who were white men there were good candidates who were black women who [49:48] were hispanic it's not really about the identity of the person after the 24 election a lot of donors [49:54] told me like i think we've got to nominate a white straight male as the next democratic nominee because [50:01] we can't afford what happened to kamala harris and i said if you're focused on that you're definitely [50:05] going to lose because there's not really any evidence anywhere in all the analysis we've done in any [50:11] cycle to suggest that like minorities are less electable or that women are less electable actually [50:16] like women did better than men in battlegrounds mostly because anytime you hear like a look anytime you [50:26] hear of a sex scandal it's very rarely a woman politician in trouble so yes uh bobert and she [50:34] lost so point point proven it is that if we want to understand why the democrats picked such good [50:45] candidates it was because there was a focus here through the work of a lot of people in this room [50:50] too right at majority democrats everything to really pick candidates that spoke to the electorate [50:54] regardless of what their identity was and that was critical because if you asked anyone here could [50:59] a black man win in mississippi i'm telling you that most people would have said no but it's not about [51:04] race it's not about gender it's about the stances on the issues you take and it's about the campaigns [51:10] that you run and it's about really the mood of the electorate and reading it properly and so the next [51:16] question is right like did ideology matter and like obviously like i don't think anyone's going to say [51:20] that you should run a socialist in missouri like that that's not what this is about what this is about [51:27] is realizing that like yeah like you know ideology played some role clearly right the blue dogs did [51:33] better than um you know the justice democrats but note the gap here is actually smaller than it's ever [51:39] been before and that's that's because ideology clearly mattered but that there was a concerted effort [51:47] as david said from democrats of all wings to talk about economics and that helps boost the party brand [51:54] it puts these red states within reach and fundamentally the biggest thing here is an [52:00] understanding though that the gap between like the most like moderate dem caucus and like the least [52:06] moderate dem caucus is about five points that's a lot it's not it's not nothing it's a lot it's also [52:13] smaller than we've seen before and and five points is not enough to cause like a d plus 13 environment [52:19] right you're not going to flip mississippi with just a five point over performance it's about building a [52:25] strong party brand and making sure that voters broadly associated the democratic party with cost [52:31] of living with cost with middle class families that's what it was about and the reason this is [52:38] so important to internalize the reason it's so critical to know who overperforms and who doesn't [52:44] the reason it's so important for people to know that the you know the democrats a need to build a brand [52:50] that is associated with cost of living almost exclusively and that the identity and the gender of the [52:56] candidates aren't really like the most important thing in fact they don't matter at all because [53:00] if you look you'll see democrats of all stripes and all races and all genders over performed and it's [53:08] because the republicans weren't focused on cost of living and the republicans as they seem to tend to do [53:16] put up some really bad candidates but if you want to really capitalize on it it's important to understand [53:22] that 2028 for the first time in 20 years brings the chance for a democratic supermajority which is [53:32] not something that i thought anyone here would have thought of or dreamed of and it requires doing the [53:38] lessons that everyone put into motion after 2024 doubling down on them confirming the lessons of 26 [53:45] taking away the right takeaways not over indexing on a grab bag of whatever and realizing that in wisconsin [53:51] north carolina iowa utah missouri there's a lot of really vulnerable republicans who when the president [53:58] is at 33 approval are right there to be defeated even if the states are red thank you please welcome akis [54:14] co-founder stephanie valencia oh these lights are bright um i'll be honest with y'all when i [54:35] accepted this invitation i did not expect to be coming here filled with so much hope uh it feels like [54:42] a fever has broken trump and republicans have finally faced a rebuke from voters that feels [54:49] proportionate to their failures democrats are walking back to real governing power and the electoral map [54:55] has fundamentally changed and despite everything that happened a week ago people continue to suffer [55:02] for the first time we can see the outlines of the post trump era but while the end of trump does not [55:08] necessarily mean the end of maga it does give democrats a golden moment to break from the past [55:14] and rebuild a brand for the future now if you want to understand that movement and where it came from [55:19] and where it could go look no further than latino voters not only please not only because we have swung [55:28] more than any other group in the trump era but because why we move can tell us a lot about what's next [55:34] latinos are not extraterrestrials we do not live in a different america what's happening with us is [55:41] telling a bigger story about what's happening with this country of course trump played a starring role [55:47] in his party's crash and burn with latinos he came into office carried by many voters including latinos [55:54] who were fed up with the status quo cost of living immigration the wars abroad and he delivered the [56:01] opposite of the change they were looking for but there's a deeper story one that goes beyond the last [56:07] two or even ten years latinos have earned their title as the country's most important swing voters [56:13] because they have moved in both directions and they have consistently done so more than other groups [56:19] there are two things that really drive that swing young people immigrants and the children of [56:24] immigrants all over represented among latinos tend to have looser partisan ties for many partisanship [56:31] wasn't handed down to them through their families and according to our research at ekis more than a [56:36] third of latino voters sit in the persuadable middle not locked into either side and on top of that [56:43] the latino electorate churns at a higher rate than everybody else get this nearly half of latinos who [56:50] turned out in texas and georgia this election had skipped 2022 2024 or both so you're never dealing with [56:58] the same electorate twice it's this combination of churn and malleability that makes possible the kind [57:04] of swings that we've seen among latinos in the trump era of the last 10 years now there's an especially [57:10] relevant point here for those of us who cut our teeth in the obama era get this close to half of [57:17] every eligible of latino voters today something like 16 million people were not even old enough to vote [57:24] when barack obama was first elected hope and change does not mean anything to them they were busy getting [57:30] potty trained and doing their homework and take latinas as an example the median age is 32 compared to 46 [57:39] for white women that means the typical latino woman was in middle school in 2008 and a million more [57:46] potential hispanic voters turn 18 every single year none of them with any memory of the party at its peak [57:52] this tells us a lot about the type of voter democrats will need to work hard to hold on to [57:59] latinos are the clearest example but there are many like them less partisan less plugged in more [58:05] persuadable less likely to follow debates in washington and and seek out political news and to vote [58:12] some will likely stick with us but they many are in a wait and see mode still and the churn of the latino [58:18] electorate means a fresh wave of new and irregular voters in 2028 that can either accelerate current [58:24] trends or reverse them so who are we telling these voters we are right now i'm not totally sure we know [58:31] we're busy with a lot of old debate still yes to identity politics no to identity politics voters want [58:38] moderates voters want progressives latinos voted this way so they must be progressive latinos voted that way [58:44] so they must be centrist these are the wrong debates to be having right now our party is on probation with [58:50] voters who might not like us very much or know exactly what we stand for but who have given us a chance [58:58] anyway the clock is short we maybe have the next year to 18 months to show voters who we are or the [59:06] pendulum might swing right back the job now is to reintroduce ourselves now it starts with keeping the main [59:14] thing the main thing voters are asking do you see me do you get it and right now it is the economy we [59:22] must treat voters economic pain like the emergency it is to them and if you're doing anything else first [59:29] you're doing something wrong we've got plenty to work with increasing wages bringing back health care [59:35] coverage restoring snap universal child care keeping the economy first doesn't mean we're ignoring people's [59:41] identities though all politics is identity politics maga is identity politics speaking to people's [59:49] identities has never been the problem the problem is we've done it lazily especially when it comes to [59:54] latinos a few million in spanish language ads an outreach department in a corner and a hispanic [1:00:01] heritage month fact sheet we do not need to bucket people as either latino or working class [1:00:07] they've been both all along a better approach speaks to that like latino identity explicitly but not [1:00:14] exclusively latinos can want the same economic opportunities as everyone else and the notion of [1:00:21] hard work has a culturally specific meaning for them we don't need to peak be to pick between talking [1:00:28] about the issues and speaking to identities we just need to get smarter about doing both now reintroducing [1:00:36] ourselves to latino voters also means shedding our baggage on immigration avoiding the issue is no [1:00:44] longer an option we saw how that worked in the biden years we need to fundamentally understand that many [1:00:50] latinos live close to the issue of immigration even if it isn't always at the top of their agenda [1:00:56] and this year it played a real role in the backlash against trump and republicans and helped to expand [1:01:02] the battleground in texas but rejection of trump's overreach on enforcement does not rid democrats of [1:01:10] our own credibility gap on the issue biden biden's handling of the border and over 20 years of broken [1:01:18] promises on immigration reform have left many voters feeling like neither side has kept their end of the [1:01:25] bargain so what should we be saying about immigration the good news is that voters including latinos have [1:01:32] actually been pretty clear about what they want they want order order at the border knowing that people [1:01:38] coming knowing who is coming in and knowing where they're going and where they are in line a system [1:01:43] that works so that people who want to do things the right way aren't waiting 20 years to hear back [1:01:49] they want security security in their communities through right-sized immigration enforcement that [1:01:55] actually targets violent criminals and serious threats an approach that makes all of us more safe [1:02:00] and they want fairness a pathway to legalization for people who have been here a long time working hard [1:02:07] and contributing to this country none of that is actually contradictory wanting a functional border [1:02:13] is not a hatred of immigrants for millions of people it goes hand in hand with the real compassion [1:02:18] for their long-term immigrant neighbors people like james gina and bobby all understood that both [1:02:25] and an understanding where voters are today on immigration is not that hard the hard thing is getting [1:02:33] over the complex that we have about it that means making our choices and standing by them [1:02:39] if you believe we should deport violent criminals as do the vast majority of voters [1:02:43] then say it straight the same goes for legalization of long-term undocumented there is no grace left [1:02:50] for hedging or evasion finally reintroducing the party to latinos means recapturing some of the appeal [1:02:58] of america first it's a concept that has resonated broadly including with many latinos not because they [1:03:05] embrace a dark white nationalist version of the world but because it speaks to a very real sense [1:03:12] that americans are getting the short end of the stick from their own country and their own government [1:03:18] even more than other americans latinos say we should focus on problems here at home before we turn our [1:03:24] attention abroad trump has now betrayed that promise opening up an opportunity for democrats to offer [1:03:31] their own vision on how america should care for its own getting the issues right is half of the introduction [1:03:37] but the other half is showing up without talking down to people one a 31 year old mexican american [1:03:44] man in arizona told my team in an interview the democrats have some good ideas but the party has [1:03:50] an air of a hero complex we're better we're here to help rather than i am you what juan wants is a [1:03:57] story he can see himself in not a blitz of policy positions and data points and look of course data [1:04:04] matters i would not have founded ekis if i didn't believe in data but on its own a stack of paper is not a [1:04:10] brand people can connect to or believe in so as we write the next chapter of our party we need a story [1:04:17] about who we are as democrats and who we are fighting for and we need the right messengers to deliver it [1:04:25] leaders who are honest authentic and put service over self because that's what voters tell us they are [1:04:31] looking for this is a show don't tell moment what we do with the real governing powder power voters have [1:04:38] given us will be the opening lines of our reintroduction but none of it works without investment texas and [1:04:45] georgia are where they are today because of beto and stacy and many others who spent years building [1:04:51] infrastructure reaching voters year round people aren't going to see themselves in a party that only [1:04:59] comes knocking at election time if we want to move latinos for a generation rather than a cycle we have to [1:05:06] build the roads and bridges now especially given that churn and malleability i mentioned before it's [1:05:12] not going to happen by osmosis getting to that feeling of i am you like juan from arizona challenged [1:05:19] us to do is a lot harder than getting to a policy platform or a top testing message but it's actually how we [1:05:26] rebuild not just for the next election but for the long term some of us may lose something in that but [1:05:32] people won't be happy but your values are only your values when they cost you something and in 2026 [1:05:39] voters showed us that in spite of all their disappointment with the system and both parties [1:05:44] they are still willing to bet on democracy and on us as a source of change if they can dare to believe [1:05:52] we can dare to deliver please welcome the bulwark ceo and publisher sarah longwell guys i'm sarah longwell [1:06:41] publisher of the bulwark you may know us we're the never trumpers um at least we were 10 years ago [1:06:50] now we're just kind of libs just like the rest of you just just libs hoping you guys can do it right [1:06:56] hoping that we can seize this moment because i got to tell you uh there's only one thing i wanted [1:07:02] and i've wanted it for 10 years and that was to burn maggot to the ground and salt the earth with its [1:07:07] ashes so i'm just going to tell you a quick story about who i am and why i do the things that i do so [1:07:18] uh back in 2016 when trump got elected i was like a lot of people in this country thinking how did [1:07:23] that just happen and because i was a republican i genuinely thought there was no way in the world [1:07:29] republicans would nominate somebody like donald trump for president and when they did my first [1:07:34] instinct was okay we gotta we gotta we gotta primary him we gotta we gotta save the republican party we [1:07:40] gotta get it back how do we do that uh and so i went and got larry hogan and adam kinzinger and uh uh [1:07:46] mark cuban and i was like you guys got to go run against him and they were like okay well if i do [1:07:50] that uh can i win and i was like of course you can win nobody wants this guy was an accident in history [1:07:55] and they said okay well i said all right well i'll go do some polls and some focus groups and uh [1:07:59] and i'll come back to you and then i went and listened to some voters and i said oh no they want [1:08:08] this and they did they wanted something different and um and so the thing is though once i started [1:08:15] listening to voters i realized everything i thought about politics was wrong i i had been i [1:08:20] had been sitting and did panels talking about education policy and what we need to do about [1:08:25] the national debt and these are very important things that still matter deeply to me but as soon [1:08:30] as i started listening to voters i realized how much deeper everything went the question that we were [1:08:35] asked right up on stage here is what do voters want i'll tell you they want three things because i [1:08:39] listen to them multiple times a week i listen to them my crew now they they do the focus groups and so i [1:08:44] listen often afterwards so i listen in the shower and i listen on the treadmill and i listen when [1:08:50] i'm walking places i have voters in my ear all the time and the disconnect between what we talk [1:08:56] about in rooms like this and the way they sound is enormous right um okay yeah you probably know [1:09:04] some regular people and it doesn't always sound like the people in this room so what does it sound [1:09:08] like well so for example i actually thought when i came out you guys were going to be more psyched [1:09:13] and then i could make this uh this comparison i was going to do but we in this room are psyched [1:09:17] about what just happened right not voters voters are hurting which is why what just happened happened [1:09:29] so a lot of people have talked about the economy just now let's listen to how voters have been [1:09:34] talking about the economy i voted for trump um in 2024 because he was promising better economy [1:09:45] and it seems like all those promises have been broken we're in a huge war um inflation is still high [1:09:54] economy is bad people are getting laid off there's just a lot of things that we were promised that [1:10:00] haven't come to attrition gas prices they were supposed to go down well they've skyrocketed [1:10:10] interest rates those are skyrocketed everything has gone up exponentially [1:10:16] so all of these are trump voters and and i've been listening uh especially since the election [1:10:21] i've done like 10 groups all of trump voters who voted for democrats but for years i've been listening [1:10:27] to voters and look people have just told you in this presentation i've been listening to other [1:10:30] people obviously it's all about the economy but the thing that happens when you listen to voters [1:10:34] you say economy and everybody's like yeah yeah yeah share the economy when you listen to voters [1:10:38] don't they say they say well i walked into the grocery store and i couldn't afford [1:10:41] the beef so now we're eating chicken it's literally like that pick a protein pick a senator ad [1:10:46] right that's where you get that idea a lot of people in this room we've never had to not buy [1:10:50] the beef we wanted and it leads us to not understand what voters are actually going through then it [1:10:58] comes to the war let's listen to how the voters the war somebody david was talking about this whatever [1:11:02] the war was the place i saw everything start to drop off with voters it was the place where they [1:11:05] felt betrayed by trump and they started to realize that everything he had sold them was a lie [1:11:12] reason i voted for the democrats is because they want accountability [1:11:15] i think when you uh when you start a war without congressional approval then you bomb a girls [1:11:22] school kill 200 children uh i think those are war crimes you can't go to war just to go to war [1:11:29] it's not allowed and really i want something to happen after the administration but i know it's not going [1:11:35] to so um the war and the economy are linked everybody knows that right it's because of the war that gas [1:11:45] prices went up voters don't want to be in a protracted war in the middle east but also negative [1:11:50] personal consequences are the things that move voters uh and so the war feels personal to them [1:11:57] because they can feel the repercussions of it now i want to talk about immigration stop is not cool [1:12:02] they need to be more targeted focused smart using computers i don't like seeing them pull out random [1:12:09] people from cars and stuff that's horrifying why were we focused on the guy that's been here for 20 [1:12:14] years while we focused on hard-working good moral respect uh community building members versus all the [1:12:23] other choice we got plenty of other choice for the illegal immigrants stephanie already did this so i [1:12:29] don't need to belabor the point but voters want a secure border they do but also they do not want to [1:12:35] see people who have worked hard paid taxes been here for 20 years dragged out of their homes and their cars [1:12:40] even trump voters they don't want it city here granbury texas it's a beautiful little city they [1:12:49] put in these data centers where the whole the whole ground is literally vibrating down there you know [1:12:56] they're not thinking about that kind of stuff um and they don't care they just want the money in here [1:13:01] because this is going to run their data or bitcoin or whatever the heck it is i'm in the middle of a [1:13:07] huge county-wide fight against data centers and about 40 people are being pushed out of their homes [1:13:14] um and it's just very personal like we're in small town georgia um and it's it's just devastating [1:13:23] voters think that data centers are something that is being forced onto them and they don't understand [1:13:28] it they're like you're putting them in where i live uh they're they're taking the water uh they're [1:13:33] taking they're raising my energy costs and they're going to take my job and maybe they're also going to [1:13:37] kill us and they're scared and nobody's talking to them about this issue 10 years from now i don't know [1:13:44] where people will be on data centers but right now they don't understand what's happening and they [1:13:50] need elected officials to help walk them through it explain what's going to happen and most importantly [1:13:54] act like they care about what will happen if it impacts their jobs and the economy family members [1:14:02] that are tied to the calcium in the poly market right it's very very self-serving he seems to be [1:14:08] you know full-fledged narcissist it seems like he's making a lot of money off of being president and [1:14:14] also look at all his family members i mean the son-in-law jerry kushner um i know one of his sons [1:14:21] donald trump jr got remarried and there was all this controversy about the billions of dollars and [1:14:28] that was being spent and um so yeah i just not happy with him at all people think you can't voters don't [1:14:35] care about corruption because they say everybody's corrupt that's true voters do think everybody's [1:14:39] corrupt however they do recognize and thank you john ossoff for making showing people that you can make this [1:14:44] a campaign issue they do think while they are getting poorer donald trump and his family are [1:14:49] getting richer and so democrats need to go hard at saying we're going to stop the corruption not just [1:14:54] trump's corruption all corruption proof to people that democrats can be honest brokers and that they [1:14:58] can police their own side on this the trump administration really the whole republican party [1:15:07] to be held accountable i don't expect the democrats to fix anything but i do want them to [1:15:13] you know hold the trump administration accountable i think there might be a chance that they actually [1:15:17] do that i can't be happy when a democrat wins but i'm happy that when you break all literally almost [1:15:24] all your election promises there's consequences for that okay voters want three things they want their [1:15:32] material well-being taken care of they want to be safe and they want things to be fair and they want [1:15:37] to check on trump right now but you just heard that what did you hear you heard i don't expect that much [1:15:42] from democrats their expectations of you guys are very low what if you exceed their expectations [1:15:51] say you guys please welcome governor-elect robsand thanks for being here and thanks for having me [1:16:43] majority democrats how we won that's the question i was standing backstage it was our warren county town [1:16:52] hall in 2026 to be clear because we did 100 town halls in 2025 and 100 town halls in 2026 and eli my [1:17:01] staffer says to me rob gary leffler's out there he's in the audience please don't hand him the microphone [1:17:11] you need to know who gary leffler is gary leffler is one of the most dyed-in-the-wool republicans in the [1:17:16] state of iowa he's pretty tough on me on the internet not my best friend definitely willing to [1:17:28] lay out some low blows and gary leffler was right there at my town hall just a few months before [1:17:34] election day sitting on the aisle waiting for me to come out and my staffer eli says don't give him [1:17:43] the microphone you know you're running an unusual campaign when one of your chief internet antagonists [1:17:50] knows where your event is gets admitted to your event and then your staff has to tell you not to [1:17:54] give your antagonist the microphone right how did we win when i say i go everywhere and i talk to [1:18:00] everybody this was a moment of truth we knew that in this moment we were going to have to put up or [1:18:06] shut up in doing those town halls across the state i've done 100 every year 100 as state auditor 100 as [1:18:14] a candidate for governor both years in a row and thank you appreciate it when i say we're doing public [1:18:23] town halls i mean truly public town halls at least two weeks advance notice in fact for the last three [1:18:29] years two in the campaign and one as state auditor we laid out all 100 town halls the same day like a [1:18:35] rock band going on tour we actually want people to show up we're not scared uh so you have to give [1:18:42] people advance notice you have to let everybody in who's behaving themselves and you have to take [1:18:46] questions from people that you don't know what they're going to ask you might not even know who [1:18:51] they are that's what a real town hall is and trying to do that in an environment where you have a [1:18:56] real trust deficit no matter who you are is a difficult thing to do so here we are in warren [1:19:02] county and i know what we're getting into we start all our town halls the same way i tell people the [1:19:08] political system is broken because it is i tell them too often it feels like two private clubs who [1:19:16] are more interested in beating up on each other than they are in solving anyone's problems because it [1:19:20] does and i tell them that the only way we're going to fix that is by fixing it together we can't do it [1:19:27] with the same warfare that brought us here we know we can't we have to work together and so i [1:19:33] ask people in attendance i want you to applaud your neighbors i want you to love your neighbors [1:19:39] please raise your hand if you're a registered republican and we have the democrats and the [1:19:43] independents applaud the republicans and so on and so on until everyone has been applauded by the [1:19:48] people that they presumably have many disagreements with once we've done that i tell them that just to [1:19:54] prove that democrats and republicans can work together i want you to sing the first verse of america the [1:19:59] beautiful it starts so beautiful for spacious skies i will not kick us off but somebody always [1:20:08] does and usually by the time that's over you can find someone in the audience who's crying it's the [1:20:16] first time that they can remember that they've been invited to know that they disagree with people [1:20:21] love them anyway and work with them in person once we've done that i realized as we went through [1:20:28] the town halls that then i knew who the republicans were which meant that i could take the next step [1:20:34] and demonstrating that i mean it when i say i go everywhere and talk to everyone because it meant [1:20:40] that i could take the microphone in my hand and once i finished my stump speech and we got into q a [1:20:46] go out into the audience and say hey you raised your hand as a republican here's the microphone what [1:20:51] do you want to talk about saint francis of assisi said preach the gospel at all times when necessary [1:20:58] use words we know that actions speak louder than words and after the first time i did that i never [1:21:07] stopped there is nothing that felt better to me as a human being as a christian than to hand the [1:21:14] microphone to someone that the whole world is telling me is my enemy and just let them ask me [1:21:21] whatever they want sometimes they gave a speech sometimes they asked a softball sometimes they were [1:21:27] gary leffler but every time it worked a reporter asked me one time does this ever backfire the [1:21:37] answer to that question is simple you're missing the point it can't there's literally no question [1:21:42] that i can be asked no answer that i could give no matter how bad that would speak more loudly than [1:21:49] me handing the microphone to someone at my event who says they're a republican so at that warren [1:22:02] county town hall we went through the routine we applauded our neighbors that we disagreed with [1:22:10] we sang america the beautiful and i said to everybody folks tonight there's someone here [1:22:18] that you might not expect he's one of my most persistent and lovable internet trolls he's gary [1:22:26] leffler you may know him because of his patriotic tractor you should actually see it it's amazing [1:22:33] google it you'll love it he's met president trump many times and he's here with us tonight and i want [1:22:40] to demonstrate to you that i know actions speak louder than words and i mean what i say when i talk about [1:22:46] the brokenness of our political system i mean what i say when democrats and republicans need to [1:22:51] talk to each other more and there's no better way to prove that than handing gary the microphone here [1:22:55] you go gary what do you want to talk about one of the best moments on the campaign because i don't [1:23:04] really know gary i've seen him around a few times we razz each other a little bit we have a pretty okay [1:23:12] relationship for people who probably disagree on almost everything but i hope that when gary leffler came to [1:23:21] that event but he was coming wondering if maybe we could love our neighbors not just love our [1:23:33] neighbors but love our enemies bible tells us don't expect a reward for loving the people who love you [1:23:40] back it's loving those that you never get anything from that would mean something and my hope is that [1:23:46] gary leffler and coming maybe he too was looking for something better than what we're doing right now [1:23:51] when you ask me how we won in iowa a piece of it is that i answer questions yes let me break it to you [1:24:01] every human being alive has spent their entire life asking and answering questions if you think [1:24:08] you're being clever when you don't answer a question they know because they've been doing this since [1:24:13] they were a child you can't fool them if you didn't answer the question they might hear your words and [1:24:20] your words might be pretty but they also know you didn't answer the question there's really only three [1:24:25] people that don't answer questions criminals liars and politicians that was repetitive i know where i am [1:24:35] the question is do you want to be a human being that answers questions or do you want to be a [1:24:39] politician you give them their answer every single time you don't answer a question answer the question [1:24:44] but there's a bigger answer to that and that's the idea that we can do politics better that we can [1:24:50] have actions that speak louder than words and that we can listen to each other and answer each other's [1:24:55] questions gary asked me two and like a good believer in my faith i turned the other cheek and i answered [1:25:02] them both my answers they weren't the best answers that i gave on the campaign trail they were kind [1:25:08] of long a little wordy but again it didn't matter what matters that gary leffler was right there and [1:25:13] i showed everyone in the state of iowa that i meant what i said when i said we need to listen to each [1:25:17] other texts and messages poured in from people who said that was so refreshing i can't believe you did [1:25:22] that because we're operating in a world where people look at anyone running for office and assume [1:25:28] that everything that they're doing is bs gary gave me the opportunity to prove it and for that i'm [1:25:33] very thankful to him i'm thankful for you to be in here thank you for having me please welcome from [1:25:59] the state of nevada lieutenant governor-elect sandra power gee this is great you know in no other country [1:26:31] in the world could i have imagined this moment standing here before you not just as the lieutenant [1:26:39] governor-elect of the great state of nevada but as but as the youngest daughter of two immigrants from [1:26:47] mexico the daughter of two people who came to america with a little more than a dream and the [1:26:58] courage to chase it my parents came to this country believing in a promise a promise that if you worked [1:27:05] hard if you played by the rules if you sacrifice for your children you could build a life greater than [1:27:12] the one you left behind they believed in the words of a republican president who reminded us that america [1:27:20] is the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can come and become an american and because of [1:27:27] their faith and their determination to give their children a better life their youngest daughter [1:27:33] the daughter of mexican immigrants was elected lieutenant governor of nevada mama i know they're in here [1:27:44] somewhere but that dream that american dream to be able to control your own destiny and build a [1:28:06] better future for your family has turned into a nightmare for so many families the american dream [1:28:14] cannot exist when the government can deny americans their rights in defiance of the bill of rights when [1:28:22] people in power can rig the economy for the well connected when working families have lost the ability [1:28:30] to determine their future and only the richest among us will succeed i will not accept that and on [1:28:38] tuesday americans across the country told us they won't accept it either there may be conservative and [1:28:50] liberal parts of this country but do not be fooled there are no permanent red parts and there are no [1:28:58] permanent blue places americans want leaders who will fight for their rights their futures and their [1:29:05] families and that's what nevadan's have taught me they will vote for you if you will fight like hell [1:29:13] for them and meet them where they are when i first ran for the legislature in 2016 i ran in a republican [1:29:22] held seat many said it couldn't be flipped that the republican was unbeatable but i knew i had a shot at [1:29:30] winning if i listened to what voters were asking i was willing to have the uncomfortable conversations [1:29:36] that are needed so voters could see me as a person not a politician and i knocked on everyone's doors [1:29:45] and in november of 2016 i flipped that red seat blue now let's forward to 2024 i was the only [1:30:00] legislative democrat to win a district that donald trump also won i knocked on the doors that had one trump [1:30:11] sign sometimes two trump signs and i swear sometimes even ten or seven trump signs i knew who these voters [1:30:21] were voting for for president but i had to talk to them about me and i remember one conversation that [1:30:27] stood out i stood on the porch of a woman who should have been the bread and butter of the democratic [1:30:33] party she was a 70 year old latina who spoke mostly primarily only spanish and she had spent her [1:30:41] life working as a housekeeper on the las vegas strip i witnessed firsthand that the national talking [1:30:49] points we were using were not connecting she told me i know he's a criminal i know he's a bad person [1:30:59] but he's good for the economy and i can't lose my job donald trump was connecting with her and we were [1:31:06] not so i stopped using the talking points and responded to the things she was telling me matter to [1:31:12] her most i talked to her about how i fought for wage theft how i thought to cap the cost of insulin and [1:31:33] prescription drugs and how i thought to provide free school meals for every single student in nevada [1:31:44] that woman voted for donald trump and she voted for me i had those conversations over and over again [1:31:54] with trump voters and i won my race by 237 votes again the only legislative democrat to win a district [1:32:06] that trump also won if you show up if you listen if you deliver on what matters most to people you can [1:32:15] win in any corner of america 10 years after my first election i decided to take on the republican [1:32:22] incumbent lieutenant governor and i took every lesson i learned in 2016 and in 2024 with me i traveled to [1:32:30] the most conservative corners of our state and had conversations with people who had never felt heard [1:32:36] or listened to i received a text message after one of my visits from a lifelong conservative who said [1:32:43] i really enjoyed spending time with you i appreciate your interest in our industry i look forward to [1:32:50] working with you in your next role what i learned is that people want to know that you care even if you [1:32:57] can't solve all their problems you were there to listen and fight like hell for the ones you can [1:33:04] 10 years after i flipped my first blue seat red i did it again to keep winning we have to stop treating [1:33:16] voters as stereotypes and start seeing them for who they really are latinos care about more than immigration [1:33:24] women care about more than reproductive rights and republicans want to achieve the american dream [1:33:30] just as much as democrats do these are people with complex lives shared struggles and hopes for a [1:33:37] better future we have to start moving beyond this politics of division and start embracing a politics of [1:33:46] delivering that is the test in front of us and it's not the job of one person it's not the job of one [1:33:53] moment and it's not the job of one office it's the job of every single one of us in this room to [1:34:02] restore the promise of america faith in our country and our future to build an america where everyone has [1:34:09] the opportunity to make their dream a reality just like my parents that's the america we need to fight [1:34:16] like hell for so thank you majority democrats thank you please welcome senator-elect james talarico [1:34:46] good to see you thank you thank you thank you it's good to see y'all on um on election night as i was [1:35:04] delivering my victory speech i noticed uh i noticed a woman up front the lights were bright so i couldn't [1:35:12] see her face but i was struck by her attention how closely she was listening how much this moment meant [1:35:22] to her as i finished speaking i looked out again and i saw her she had made her way up to the front [1:35:28] of the stage and so i bent down to shake her hand and i realized who she was she took my hand she looked [1:35:35] me in the eyes and she said i am so glad you have my father's job lucy baines johnson was there to see [1:35:45] she was there to see another public school teacher take her dad's senate seat on um earlier this week [1:35:58] when i was at uh senate school senate orientation learning how to be a senator uh i was walking the [1:36:05] halls of our national capital and lyndon johnson was everywhere bus portraits plaques it felt like he [1:36:14] was speaking to me and i think lbj has something to say to all of us in this moment lbj married two [1:36:24] things that are at odds in the modern democratic party a practical politics of coalition building [1:36:31] and a bold moral imagination the great society was not just a legislative agenda it was a vision it was [1:36:40] a dream an america where everyone can fulfill their god-given potential a beloved community a more [1:36:49] perfect union and then he enacted an agenda worthy of that dream head start title one medicare medicaid [1:36:59] public television the civil rights act the voting rights act fair housing the war on poverty space [1:37:09] exploration the national endowment for the arts highway beautification everything is bigger in texas [1:37:16] including our policy ambitions in in texas we go big or we go home and that's exactly what we did last [1:37:27] week we won big we we ended we ended the longest losing streak in american politics and we did it [1:37:39] by double digits we went up against the richest man in the world and we won and we and we didn't just [1:37:50] win this seat we won all the way down the ballot we swept every statewide office in texas we we flipped the [1:38:02] state house and the state board of education and we elected four new members of the texas supreme court [1:38:08] it was a win it was a win the size of texas and now we have a mandate the size of texas we won 55 percent of [1:38:19] the vote in our state and as of yesterday we've elected 55 senators in our country we are within striking [1:38:26] distance of a super majority and a super majority requires a super agenda we must deliver immediate [1:38:36] bold relief during this affordability crisis we must unrig this economic system that only benefits [1:38:43] the top one percent we must unrig this political system so no billionaire no trillionaire can buy our [1:38:50] elections we must ban gerrymandering in every state in the union red states and blue states alike [1:38:59] we must pass universal health care so no one in this country goes bankrupt just because they get [1:39:04] sick we must invest in our teachers and our students and build an american public education [1:39:11] system that is the envy of the world we must overhaul this broken immigration system and pass [1:39:21] a pathway to citizenship for our neighbors who have been here for years or decades we must cut the red [1:39:28] tape and build millions of new homes so that every american can realize the dream of home ownership [1:39:34] and we must regulate artificial intelligence crackdown on data centers and pass an ai dividend so every [1:39:40] american can have a share in this ai future we must end these forever wars that are driving up prices [1:39:50] and we must champion a new values-based foreign policy and most importantly we must heal the deep [1:39:59] spiritual corruption at the root of all of these crises we must bridge the divides between us we must [1:40:07] repair the ties that bind us some of these reforms may not pass until 2029 but the american people [1:40:15] cannot wait two years for change so we must work with president trump if president trump wants the same [1:40:23] plaques and portraits and busts as lbj we can help make that a reality we should make the final two years [1:40:32] of his presidency the most productive of any presidency in american history because this moment is so much [1:40:43] bigger and so much more important than the red team or the blue team it's so much bigger than party we are [1:40:51] tired of being pitted against each other we're tired of being told to hate each other it's been 10 years [1:40:59] of this kind of politics politics as blood sport politics as trolling and owning and name-calling politics [1:41:08] as professional wrestling it tears families apart it ends friendships and it leaves us all feeling [1:41:16] terrible all of the time across the political spectrum there is a deep hunger for a different kind [1:41:24] of politics not a politics of hate not a politics of fear not a politics of division but a a politics [1:41:32] of love in my experience when you extend an open hand instead of a closed fist you'll be surprised by [1:41:42] who takes that hand that is how we built this majority and that is how we will deliver on this agenda [1:41:49] as we look towards january as we look towards the next few years we must summon the ambition of lyndon johnson [1:41:58] the american people are demanding change and in this election they chose our party to deliver it we [1:42:06] can't let them down we can't play it safe we can't get bogged down in the same petty fights we can't settle [1:42:15] for nibbling around the edges or results people will only feel a decade from now we have to be [1:42:22] brave we have to be bold we have to be big we need a democratic party that is a little less [1:42:29] washington and a little more texas in the words of thomas payne we have it in our power to begin the [1:42:43] world over again we can write the next chapter of our history we can remake this country we can build a new [1:42:55] great society it is time to go big or go home thank you all for being here god bless you and god bless [1:43:02] the united states of america thank you appreciate you today just as four years ago that people [1:43:22] want more than promises and our vision for the future contains more than promises today we are [1:43:33] committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free it [1:43:38] ought to be possible in short for every american to enjoy the privileges of being american without [1:43:44] regard to his race or his color that's what i want all of you to be thinking about today what are we [1:43:51] going to do now this is not over this is just beginning congress deserves our thanks for creating [1:43:57] a new reality but we have to fill in the blanks i understand that the politically safe move would be [1:44:05] to kick the can further down the road to defer reform one more year or one more election or one more [1:44:11] term but that is not what this moment calls for i still believe we can act even when it's hard please [1:44:22] welcome speaker of the virginia house of delegates don scott i see you man well good evening uh majority [1:44:50] dams thank y'all for having me i'm don scott i i just happen to be the first african-american [1:44:56] speaker of the house in the commonwealth of virginia in our 400 plus years and i want to start with [1:45:03] something most politicians would never say out loud i was born in houston texas uh so if i cuss [1:45:09] a little bit don't tell tala rico i was one of six kids raised by a single mom i served my country [1:45:16] as an officer in united states navy i went to law school and then i made a decision that sent me to [1:45:22] federal prison years of my life and when i came home nobody owed me a thing not a job not a law license [1:45:32] not even a vote but somebody gave me a second chance anyway and i learned the only lesson that matters [1:45:38] about a second chance you don't waste it you don't just celebrate it you earn it every single day [1:45:49] thank you last tuesday as always one last tuesday the american people gave the democratic party a second [1:45:55] chance so what a chance it is we took back the house we took back the senate we won governor's races [1:46:05] from nevada to georgia to ohio we flipped chambers in michigan in wisconsin in pennsylvania the north [1:46:13] carolina house first time since 2010 the georgia house first time since 2004 and texas my home state [1:46:24] the texas house first time since 2002 so now y'all know i said i'm from houston and i was raised by a [1:46:32] single mom and i probably had adhd and all of that stuff but my mother had belt and so last year when [1:46:43] donald trump wanted more seats in congress he didn't ask congress he called the texas legislature [1:46:50] well last tuesday texas called back i said it then and i'll say it now that wasn't a gerrymander [1:46:59] that was a dummy mander now the celebration is over the confetti swept up now it's time to go to [1:47:06] work because i've seen this movie before i've been in this movie in 2019 virginia democrats won the house [1:47:13] of delegates on a wave of anger at donald trump two years later two years later we lost it because we [1:47:20] acted too much like washington we handed small wins to activists in our base and tiptoed around [1:47:26] the things that kept everyday virginians up at night here's what that taught me voters will lend you [1:47:32] a majority because they're mad at the other guy they will only let you keep it if you deliver for [1:47:38] them the other guy is not a plan the other guy is not a record and in 2028 the other guy we believe [1:47:51] will not even be on the ballot so when we went back to work back to the questions people actually [1:47:56] ask at the kitchen table what does the rent cost what do groceries cost are my kids school any good [1:48:04] is my street safe in 2023 with our own president underwater and a republican governor pouring millions [1:48:11] in to beat us we flipped the house back then glenn youngkin the governor then vetoed us over and over and [1:48:19] over again so in 2025 virginians gave us from 51 seats to 64 seats our biggest majority in more than 30 [1:48:29] years and on top of that we got abigail spandberg of virginia democratic governor on top of that but [1:48:39] this is what we did democrats this is what scares republicans the most we actually governed we actually [1:48:46] did what we said we would do we put the minimum wage on a path to 15 dollars we made virginia the first [1:48:52] state in the south with paid family and medical leave so a mother in my city never has to choose [1:48:58] between her newborn and her rent that's not a slogan we made that a law we guaranteed paid sick days to [1:49:05] more than a million workers who never had them and when the biggest tech companies on earth came to plug [1:49:11] their data centers into our grid we said welcome to virginia now pay up you're gonna pay your fast share [1:49:18] for the power that residentials have to pay first in the nation and one week ago in the old capital [1:49:24] of the confederacy virginia voters wrote reproductive freedom into our constitution with more than 62 [1:49:31] percent of the vote not only that they wrote in marriage equality and they wrote in that once you [1:49:39] serve your time we got rid of the old jim crow laws once you serve your time you can vote so so when [1:49:48] people ask me speaker what's the democratic message i tell them our record is our message our policies are [1:49:55] our agenda in richmond i said i want to make america boring again i want to be mad make america boring [1:50:01] again win run elections and then deliver because competence is boring delivery is boring results are [1:50:10] boring and right now in this country there's nothing more radical than a government that actually works [1:50:15] for its people to every democrat who just won a governor's mansion a majority a trifecta in michigan [1:50:22] minnesota nevada pennsylvania and wisconsin and everybody about to join you have two legislative [1:50:29] sessions before america picks this next president to use them get your ass to work and deliver for our [1:50:39] people i'm sorry james but don't you rest until a teacher can afford to buy a house in the town where [1:50:49] she teaches don't you rest until a young family can pay for child care without giving up a whole paycheck [1:50:55] to do it don't rest until a full day's work pays enough to live on don't you rest until the data [1:51:02] centers pay their fair share of the power bill and your and your power bill goes down so don't rest [1:51:09] don't you dare this is not the time for resting this is the time to celebrate but then go to work [1:51:14] and do it so plain that nobody needs to write a white paper to explain it so by 2028 i want everybody [1:51:23] in america to be able to look across a state line and see the difference with their own eyes [1:51:29] and to the folks in this room thinking about running for president i think i heard tala rico [1:51:34] talking about lbj i see some of y'all before you book that flight to south carolina or nevada [1:51:41] come see us come to richmond come to lansing come to madison come to austin because whatever the next [1:51:48] president wants to do it runs through the states states run the elections states draw the maps states [1:51:54] run medicaid fund the schools and pave the roads states will protect people's rights or they will strip [1:52:01] them if we don't stand up look nobody owed me a second chance and nobody owes the democratic party [1:52:08] they don't owe us this one either the american people loaned us this trust last tuesday we don't [1:52:14] get to keep it because we beat donald trump we keep it by doing right by them every single day in every [1:52:20] single state that we leave you don't thank somebody for a second chance with just words you thank them [1:52:26] with what you do next so what's next washington is where democratic ideas go to get debated the states [1:52:34] are where ideas go to get done now let's get it done thank you all and god bless please welcome [1:52:58] mayor mitch landrew back at you i uh i'm thrilled to be with you that music that you heard me playing [1:53:21] my walk on music was rebirth brass band from new orleans i was just bringing a little bit with you [1:53:26] because the country's about to have a rebirth i think uh in this moment it's appropriate maybe to [1:53:34] start off with the book of psalms who said weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the [1:53:40] morning this is what joy feels like and i hope you like it and you don't forget it last week americans [1:53:50] finally got their chance to speak and we got to witness democracy roar see when all things seem lost [1:54:00] when the flickering light of freedom began to dim in our country somehow some way americans found their [1:54:09] voice again and they lit up the sky my friends the fever has broken the fog has lifted and now [1:54:19] it falls upon us to rebuild the foundation of this great nation and to fulfill the promise of america [1:54:28] hear this please there is a deep deep yearning in the hearts of the american people to find a new way [1:54:36] a better way forward and together one that seeks and finds higher common ground that includes not [1:54:44] excludes that unites not divides it is true you've heard it this isn't about middle left or right it's [1:54:51] about up versus down insiders who take everything else and leave everybody else out we cannot miss this [1:54:59] moment or this message and it turns out that the american people said we don't have to hate to be great [1:55:06] two years ago we democrats were left for dead they called us weak they called us woke they called us [1:55:13] losers well not today last week the american people gave us another chance to stand and to deliver [1:55:22] a better version of america but winning doesn't mean they trust us they didn't stop believing in our [1:55:29] words they stopped believing we were on their side and too often they had good reason to believe just [1:55:35] that the people said it out loud if you can't get it right we're going to find somebody else who can [1:55:40] restore the promise of america 250 years ago we as a country made that promise to all of us a covenant [1:55:49] a commitment that we're all created equal endowed not by kings or accident of birth or how much money [1:55:57] we have in our wallet but by creator with the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness not for some [1:56:04] of us but for all of us now we've never lived up to that perfectly but that isn't it the genius of america [1:56:13] our creed you see was never a description of who we were it was a direction it was our north star [1:56:20] and imperfect people always striving towards a more perfect union and for most of our history [1:56:25] we moved in the right direction but somehow somehow my friends in the law in the last 50 years we have lost [1:56:32] our way a child born in 1940 had a 90 chance of doing better than their parents in 1980 a 50 50 chance [1:56:41] but today for a kid born right now we have to figure out how to even get them a job much less find a way [1:56:48] for them to buy a house and get out of their parents basement you see the american dream the simple idea [1:56:55] that if you work hard and play by the rules your kids are going to do better than you did is dying [1:57:00] right in front of us on our watch it's too far out of reach for too many people that didn't happen [1:57:06] by accident it was a long string of bad decisions made by people who never had to live with the [1:57:12] consequences of their choices you see republicans cut the safety net and they cut taxes for the top [1:57:19] one percent they traded on resentment they traded on division and the gap between the top and everybody [1:57:25] else grew you see the american people don't need to be great again they're already great but we do need [1:57:33] we do need to be made whole again and here's the good news in america we don't have a deficit of ideas [1:57:39] we don't have a deficit of money we have a deficit of courage we have a deficit of compassion we have [1:57:46] a deficit of focus we need a government that puts human beings at the center the working family the nurse [1:57:53] on the night shift the kid in the holler not the lobbyist in the hallway you see cost corruption and [1:58:00] chaos the issues that the speaker talked about the issue that the senator elect from texas talked about [1:58:06] they're the right issues but my friends those are just symptoms they have a much deeper cancer that are [1:58:14] eating at the heart of american democracy the people sense it something is being lost something is [1:58:19] being taken away and you know what the american people want it back like so many of you i've spent the [1:58:24] last two years on the road listening to working people in this country and they told us something [1:58:29] that was hard to hear a lot of them didn't think the democrats cared about them and you know what last [1:58:35] week we showed up and we showed them that we do we won but if we want to be a national party with [1:58:41] enduring governing coalitions that actually get things done we have to compete everywhere and we have [1:58:47] to show them that we're serious about cleaning up washington people are broke and they watch that their [1:58:53] congressmen and their president go to washington dc and get richer every day so do the simple things [1:58:58] first end the war and the tariffs and ban congress and the president from stock trading yes do those [1:59:04] things please but we can't ask the people to trust the government until the government is worth [1:59:12] trusting and to build a new america we need to build a big tent that includes our neighbors our cousins [1:59:19] and the folks who sit next to us in the pew on sundays because there is a super majority in this [1:59:25] country that is tired of endless wars that is ready to get money out of politics and into working [1:59:30] families pockets that's ready to end the stranglehold of big insurance and big farmer [1:59:35] crushing family budgets and americans are tired of senseless fighting tired of thanksgiving [1:59:40] dinners that turn into cage matches where you can't piss past the sweet potatoes without picking a [1:59:46] side we have far more in common that divides us you know that and i know that big things are possible [1:59:52] because we did it in new orleans after katrina destroyed us we stood back up we found higher [1:59:57] common ground you didn't ask the question of who the person was that was trying to lift you out of [2:00:02] the water whether they were republican or a democrat whatever they were we were all in the boat together [2:00:08] and we built back that city not the way it was but the way it should have been had we gotten it right [2:00:14] the first time every time in america we got knocked down we got back up together when the civil war tore [2:00:19] us in two when a quarter of the country was out of work in the depression after the assassination of [2:00:24] jfk and martin luther king our people came back together and mississippi last night showed us the way [2:00:31] to find higher common ground when i took down the monuments in new orleans i recalled the words of [2:00:40] abraham lincoln it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us [2:00:46] that this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the [2:00:52] people for the people shall not perish from the earth my friends we are the defenders of democracy [2:00:59] we are the firewall between freedom and tyranny we are the ones who have to restore the promise [2:01:05] of america as my daddy told me when i was a little kid he woke me up every morning today is the first day [2:01:12] of the rest of our lives let's act like it let's get to work god bless you all and may god bless the [2:01:17] matter thank you please welcome future now's executive director daniel squadron hello good afternoon [2:01:51] all right does anyone know who that is yes yes admiral james stockdale he was ross perot's vice [2:02:00] presidential nominee in 1992 and he has one of my favorite quotations in all of american politics [2:02:06] who am i why am i here it's a great quote of course i'm sure only a couple of hours into this [2:02:17] convening you're not yet considering that question yourself you may be looking at me and wondering who [2:02:22] the hell i am and why i'm here a guy who spent my career in state legislatures but which three of you [2:02:28] care about but uh it's actually a pretty important question a fundamental question because if you can answer [2:02:36] this question in politics in a way that is compelling to the public you will over perform it means what [2:02:43] do you believe what do you care about what are your values let's see how some folks have done it does [2:02:49] everyone know who this is okay yes it's our new lame duck president that's okay um and does anyone remember [2:02:57] his slogan from 2016 does anyone remember his slogan from 2016 right and how about 2024 make america great [2:03:07] again it's okay you can say it um okay how about this uh um candidate in 2016 does anyone remember her [2:03:15] slogan in 2016 yell it out you're all right actually it was leaked to the ap there were dozens and dozens [2:03:24] of them let's do something a little bit easier 2024 was more recent only 107 day campaign let's all we [2:03:31] all remember it let's all say the slogan together one two three you're all right there were a few slogans [2:03:37] even then so there are two possible reasons for this one is that our side is just stupider um we [2:03:46] just can't do this but hillary clinton and kamala harris are two of the most accomplished americans alive [2:03:52] today their staffs many of whom are with us are people i've known my whole career some of the smartest [2:04:01] people i have ever known it is not the case that they're good at this and we're bad that doesn't make [2:04:06] any sense something else must be going on and having worked in state legislatures it's that i [2:04:13] think when we start with this question we are starting at the end you can't ask what your slogan [2:04:19] is until you ask a different question what do you believe this is understanding your foundational text [2:04:29] and your core values why you're doing this it's a question that i bet many of you have never been asked [2:04:35] in a real way but it's also a thing if i'm being honest that the right does do a whole lot better [2:04:41] than us let me describe how so atlas shrugged is a huge book that is unpleasant to read i know because [2:04:50] i tried and failed but it is also a foundational text for an important set of advocates donors and [2:04:59] activists on the right in fact that's how the right works foundational texts deep ideas activist advocate [2:05:06] donor making it work like this one we want the maximum freedom to launch businesses create [2:05:13] opportunity and expand prosperity does anyone know who that was no it was charles coke there's [2:05:23] his brother to remind you these guys are not republicans they're libertarians one of them ran [2:05:27] as a libertarian for vice president but they certainly commit to one party when it comes to elections [2:05:34] now does anyone know who this is this is paul weirich you may not have heard of him but he's [2:05:39] one of the most important figures of the right in the 20th century and today i would argue he's the [2:05:44] founder of the heritage foundation and the american legislative exchange council and the moral majority [2:05:50] he had a deep world view that was forged in a brief 18-month period in 1964 and 65. like many of you [2:05:58] in his early 20s who worked on a presidential campaign barry goldwater's 1964 he was shellacked [2:06:03] very disappointing same time period lyndon johnson signed the great society bills the voting rights [2:06:09] act why rick hated them but the thing that was most important to why rick in this period 64 to 65 [2:06:15] was vatican ii who had that on their bingo card for me to finish the sentence but it's the modernization [2:06:21] of the catholic church he felt his religion had been torn from him in fact he then spent the rest of [2:06:29] his life trying to turn uh scripture into statue let's hear how successful he was uh i suppose the [2:06:39] more important thing that i did was to uh try to bring together the what is now known as the religious [2:06:50] right um those people were not active in politics and i served as sort of a coach to get them active [2:07:02] in the political process okay now here's another foundational text i wish i didn't have to talk [2:07:10] about this one carl schmidt was a major intellectual force behind fascism in the nazis he believed that [2:07:16] your political enemies are mortal enemies they can't be compromised with they just have to be dominated [2:07:21] it's the right-wing version of what antonio gramsci was writing in a prison from the left at the same [2:07:26] time unfortunately just like the other two foundational texts and world views this one [2:07:32] has a really powerful advocate and funder behind it one of america's richest men peter keel [2:07:39] there are certainly certain parallels in the u.s in the 2020s to germany in the 1920s where you know um [2:07:46] you know liberalism is exhausted one suspects the democracy whatever that means is exhausted and um [2:07:54] and uh you know that that uh we have to ask some questions very far outside the open window here's [2:08:02] the thing though they don't just stop with foundational texts world views advocates activists and donors [2:08:08] it also drives their politics i started with a vice presidential nominee because vice presidents are a [2:08:13] really good way to understand fundamentally where a party is they're chosen through that process [2:08:19] so these are the last three vice presidential nominees for the republican party going back to [2:08:25] 2012 and let's see what their foundational ideas were i think aynrand did the best job of anybody [2:08:33] to build a moral case for capitalism and that morality of capitalism is under assault people that try [2:08:41] and figure me out ought to just know i'm first and foremost a christian and a conservative and a [2:08:46] republican in that order there is something about western liberalism that seems almost suicidal or at [2:08:54] least socially parasitic that tends to feed off of a healthy host until there's nothing left okay so let's [2:09:03] look at our vice presidential nominees over the same period of time going back to 2012 i've asked a lot of [2:09:08] people this and actually what i get is a list of single issues many of which many of us agree with but [2:09:14] when you try to add it up to a world view or a foundational text we're back where we started [2:09:20] and that's a problem but the truth is there is a foundational text in this country that a super [2:09:25] majority of americans can get behind it also connects to a deep world view it's our declaration [2:09:32] and its second sentence is a sentence but it's not a slogan it's the idea that all people are created [2:09:36] equal of the fundamental rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that government secures those [2:09:42] rights with the consent of the governed it's a deeper world view that demands democratic equality [2:09:48] universal rights personal freedom and economic opportunity and if you were to turn it into a [2:09:54] slogan you might come to a slogan that i know our organizers will be talking about over these next [2:09:59] couple of days equal opportunity for all special privileges for none it's the world view that great [2:10:08] americans have called forth when our country has faced its most important challenges it's what [2:10:15] frederick douglas uh called for in what to the slave is the fourth of july it's what lincoln rededicated [2:10:22] the country to on the bloody battlefield at gettysburg it's what the suffragettes demanded while being [2:10:27] excluded from independence hall at the centennial it's what francis perkins took from the from new york to [2:10:34] the new deal what king committed to in washington and how obama introduced himself to the country [2:10:40] it is our worldview let's commit to it thank you so much please welcome searchlight president adam [2:11:04] gentelson well hello denver so there's a lot of talk about faith in this election candidates like [2:11:30] james tallarico and adam hamilton talked about religion in ways that we haven't heard from democrats [2:11:36] in a long time but since last week i've been thinking about faith in a different way [2:11:43] because what happened last week was the culmination of hundreds of individual acts of faith by regular [2:11:51] people a firefighter and a paralympian a pilot and a smoke jumper a waitress and a farmer they decided [2:12:00] to do something everyone said was impossible they put careers families and livelihoods on the line [2:12:08] to run in deep red areas of the country places that hadn't elected a democrat in our lifetimes and [2:12:16] every single one of them every person who chose to run an impossible race performed an act of faith [2:12:26] but this wasn't faith in divine providence this was faith in america faith that we as a country are not [2:12:35] as polarized as we might seem faith that if we came to the voters with the right appeal we could relegate [2:12:42] this era of narrow majorities to the past and start to build a supermajority making good on that [2:12:53] faith meant breaking free from the rigidity that has suffocated our politics for too long it meant [2:12:58] rejecting the purity tests of the past it meant leaving behind the tired binary of left versus [2:13:05] right and embracing embracing americans for what they truly are there's a big reveal there but it's not [2:13:15] working there it is for what they truly are messy appreciating america the messy is core to what we do at [2:13:27] searchlight as you heard from charlotte earlier a big part of our work is intellectually honest public opinion [2:13:33] research that seeks to understand the voters in all their inconsistent glory this chart comes from a [2:13:41] year-long project we did with the new york times covering over 5 000 voter contacts we charted voters [2:13:49] not by party but by their views on hundreds of issues and dynamics yielding a picture of cross-cutting [2:13:55] ideologies here for example we have voters charted by their views on economics juxtaposed with gender roles [2:14:05] and what this shows is that americans do not fit neatly into boxes understanding that basic reality [2:14:13] is critical to our theory that we can forge new coalitions and build towards a supermajority now the [2:14:21] messiness you see here came through in last week's election results beneath democrats eye-popping numbers [2:14:29] lay a deeper tension at the same time that democrats swept to victory across the country [2:14:35] so did right-wing ballot initiatives americans voted for conservative policies to require voter id [2:14:42] to restrict bathroom access for transgender students to create mandatory sentences even as [2:14:48] democrats won races campaigning on economic populism a billionaire tax failed in california [2:14:56] these are contradictory signals a messy verdict from a messy nation but through all of this noise one [2:15:05] thing is clear the voters who decided last week's election are not have not yet fallen in love with us [2:15:12] they are on loan to us and if we want to make them a permanent part of our coalition we must respect [2:15:20] their complexity that means charting a policy agenda that delivers big change while respecting the [2:15:27] tensions embedded in americans values tensions like the fact that they hate trump's corruption [2:15:33] but they also hate government waste that they think health care is a right not a privilege [2:15:39] but also want choices about their health insurance that they want a stronger safety net [2:15:45] but also want fiscal discipline that they think private enterprise is good but also want to raise taxes [2:15:53] on the wealthy and big corporations our ability to navigate these kinds of tensions [2:16:00] will determine whether we can hold on to these voters or whether they will go right back into the arms of [2:16:05] maga this is the work we're doing at searchlight and in the coming weeks we'll be releasing an agenda [2:16:12] that meets americans demands for big change while reflecting the complexity with which they view the world [2:16:18] for example a doge done right program to create clean efficient government and show voters what they're [2:16:27] getting for their taxpayer dollars a security for all agenda with secure borders and safe neighborhoods [2:16:35] and an american security guarantee based on these three pillars health security wage security and job [2:16:42] security these have been and should always be the core commitments we hold as democrats [2:16:49] our common ground even when we differ on other issues as long as we never forget what binds us [2:16:56] together this tent we've started to build can get really big just as we stand here tonight inside of the [2:17:06] rocky mountains a super majority is within our view if we take this approach if we embrace the american [2:17:13] people in all their messy glory and draft policies that honor it while striving towards [2:17:19] goals as big as those mountains we will make good on the faith those voters placed in democrats last week [2:17:29] we will build a better america and we will do it together thank you please welcome the chair of north [2:17:42] carolina dems anderson clayton the north carolina democratic party chair and they gave me about [2:18:11] eight minutes to tell you all what needs to change after this election cycle because i know [2:18:18] that we have a lot of work left to do you all just heard our speaker don scott up here say that it [2:18:23] was time to stop talking and it was time to start doing and we need to make sure that we have got an [2:18:29] infrastructure that is powered behind and ready to lead not just in a state like north carolina but [2:18:35] in every single state across the country everybody we're looking state parties what needs to change [2:18:45] state parties grassroots organizations and every entity across the communities that just powered the [2:18:50] blue wave that we saw come through last tuesday are looking at having to make difficult decisions about [2:18:56] how much staff they can keep on after this election cycle what needs to change everyone year-round [2:19:03] investment in organizing and infrastructure for not just our state parties before our grassroots [2:19:11] organizations that get into places that parties cannot be everybody we need to ensure that the [2:19:18] organizers that just got laid off or told that their contracts are going to end on the 15th because [2:19:24] we know that's a reality i know that's a reality from being a former field organizer and we are only in [2:19:30] north carolina right now able to keep on 25 full-time people i had hundreds across my state this year working [2:19:37] who deserve jobs in politics everybody and we need to ensure that there is a future and infrastructure to [2:19:45] catch those young organizers because they are the future talents of our party in every way shape and [2:19:53] form they are the folks that knocked the doors that made the phone calls that helped the candidates [2:19:58] that no one believed in this year but they did because they believed in their volunteers they believed in [2:20:05] their districts and they believed in their communities even when dc did not to be honest with y'all [2:20:15] the south this year folks ask what needs to change the investments that we are making in a place where black [2:20:24] people are 50 percent of the population not just black voters they don't make up 50 right black voters [2:20:32] black americans right now 50 live in the south when we're looking at the investments that we make [2:20:39] as a party and we say that black voters are the base of our party then i ask why are we not investing in [2:20:47] a region of the country in a region of the country that on tuesday night just proved everybody wrong of [2:20:54] what is possible what needs what needs to change everything and how we organize and how we take [2:21:07] opportunities from the grassroots level and push them up north carolina in 2020 and in 2022 [2:21:15] came off of an impossible cycle of losing back-to-back u.s senate races and we also lost the north [2:21:22] carolina state supreme court in 2023 our party could have made the decision to lay down and to take it [2:21:29] and we didn't instead north carolina's decided that we were going to fight back and to save ourselves and [2:21:36] we ended up in 24 with the only statewide race that was uncertified because republicans decided to [2:21:44] target and to challenge an election that democrats in 24 in north carolina won by 734 votes out of 5.5 [2:21:54] million cast in that state i say that because we also lost that state by three points that year to [2:22:02] donald trump and a lot of folks could have looked at north carolina after 24 and said we're still not [2:22:08] buying it you're still the great white whale but in 26 we had people that stepped up across this state [2:22:14] to ensure that we filled every single one of our legislative races in north carolina to ensure that [2:22:21] people had someone to vote for on the ballot not just against because we need to make sure that we have [2:22:29] folks in every corner of our communities what needs to change the fact that rural america deserves the [2:22:37] investment from the democratic party and that we must run towards communities that our party has run away [2:22:44] from simply because of the fact that we don't believe that it's worth the time that it takes to [2:22:50] organize we just saw on tuesday what time will give us with scott collum in mississippi everybody [2:22:59] it was time from grassroots organizers in the south that believed what needs to change they need the [2:23:07] funding year round to do that work we need to ensure that we're creating a pipeline of hiring those [2:23:15] organizers and ensuring that we're building that infrastructure north carolina is now the third [2:23:21] largest state party in the country i have 25 full-time staff that are from that have worked in [2:23:28] every walk of campaign in that state what needs to change y'all we need local talent running campaigns we [2:23:38] need people that are from the communities that we're talking about investing in at the leadership table [2:23:45] of those campaigns and we need to ensure that we do not we never take for granted the people and the voices of [2:23:53] those on the ground because to me tuesday night was possible because of those who dared to dream bigger [2:24:00] who fought an uphill battle they fought the fight even when they knew they were going to lose it [2:24:05] and you ask me what needs to change we need to fight every fight like we know that we can win them [2:24:13] because we are the folks that need to believe in our own again and so everyone here today i know y'all [2:24:20] are going to hear a lot of speeches but i hope you take the opportunity to look at your own backyard [2:24:25] and say how can i change it because what needs to change is that this party has got to stop looking [2:24:30] up and it has got to start looking down and we have got to make sure that we are planting the seeds [2:24:36] across communities because roy cooper everybody doesn't just become a u.s senator on his own he did it from [2:24:45] the fact that he was a public servant in north carolina for 40 years that people knew him and [2:24:52] he came up from our state legislature everybody because our party knew to build the bench so let's [2:24:59] build the bench the long-term future and let's ensure that we never take the south for granted again [2:25:05] thank you nearly 35 million americans will vote in congressional districts that were redrawn ahead of this [2:25:18] year's midterms following partisan battles over political maps among everything else the themes [2:25:23] we're seeing these gerrymanders fall place after place north carolina we are seeing a gerrymander [2:25:30] implosion they want to rig these elections and they want the power that gerrymandering provides [2:25:35] because they know what donald trump knows he's going to lose the midterms in texas republicans won only [2:25:42] one of those five new seats and with democrats flipping two others the gop net a loss in the [2:25:48] lone star state when they redistrict or they redraw these lines they're picking the voters instead of [2:25:54] the voters picking these is it consistent with democracy please welcome the chairman of the national [2:26:08] democratic redistricting committee eric h holder jr good afternoon good afternoon folks all right it is a [2:26:30] privilege to be back here in denver among so many proven leaders dedicated activists and uh and good [2:26:38] friends now i stand in awe of your tireless campaigning all the efforts that so many candidates staffers [2:26:44] and supporters put together volunteers poured it all into races across the country we saw huge amounts [2:26:51] of success i know every single vote was hard won every victory was well earned but let me be blunt that [2:27:00] was last week the question now before us is not whether democrats can win power but whether our [2:27:09] party will prove worthy of the authority and the trust that the american people have vested in so many of [2:27:14] the leaders in this room now the answer is not straightforward and i did not come here to offer [2:27:21] comfortable platitudes or easy praise history will judge this rising class of elected democrats not by [2:27:29] the titles they hold or the margins that they ran up at the ballot box but how ably they and their [2:27:36] colleagues met this moment and deliver on the promise of last week's election the power that we secured at [2:27:42] the polls is not a trophy it's not a trophy to display it's an instrument for enacting change and simply [2:27:51] possessing power simply possessing power doesn't mean a damn thing you must use it for good for too long [2:28:00] democrats unlike republicans have been uncomfortable with the acquisition and the use of power this [2:28:08] must end but we must use this power in service to the people and unlike republicans not in the [2:28:17] not in reference to the special interests you know 90 years ago when voters propelled franklin [2:28:23] roosevelt and large new democratic majorities into office at an hour of profound national peril [2:28:31] they moved with historic urgency rather than try to patch up a a badly broken system they met crisis [2:28:37] after crisis head on with a flurry of bold actions a really relentless focus on working people and an [2:28:45] unyielding conviction that governance must match the scale of the challenges at hand and along the way [2:28:52] they reconceived and remade the american state as we know it today just like in roosevelt's time [2:29:00] the challenges before us are complex they are daunting and we cannot simply patch the system our [2:29:08] mandate is not to restore what existed before not even to rebuild that which the republicans have [2:29:15] vandalized and torn down but to reimagine to reimagine once again what our governments in washington [2:29:24] as well as in state capitals can be and how they can show up in the lives of the people they are [2:29:30] supposed to serve if we retreat into into caution if we operate out of fear if we take refuge in the [2:29:39] niceties of the old washington and seek approval from those who have been in and are actively dismantling [2:29:47] our institutions we will fail we will fall short and we will let the american people down [2:29:55] so my friends this is not a time for timidity we find ourselves once again at an hour of historic [2:30:02] urgency and also opportunity with an entire nation demanding action action now just as fdr put it [2:30:12] in his first inaugural if we want the people to hear and to understand us we need to stop doing our [2:30:19] opponents work for them we cannot afford to let pundits commentators or political adversaries define us [2:30:27] and divide us into factions or ideological camps there is no so-called moderate democratic party there is [2:30:38] no so-called progressive democratic party or conservative democratic party there is one democratic party [2:30:47] we are one democratic party bound by a common history and a shared moral moral mandate today's gop has [2:31:00] abandoned both its history and its principles the republican party has been compromised and its existence [2:31:08] defined by the desire to give more power and more wealth to those who already have it in historic [2:31:15] abundance the democratic party needs and we can have an even even bigger tent to welcome today's broader [2:31:23] and more diverse coalition but with this larger tent we also need stronger tent poles constructed of core [2:31:31] principles and belief that support this broader structure now amongst ourselves although we may disagree [2:31:38] about policy details or debate the best tactics for achieving various aims the differences between us let [2:31:47] me be clear do not rise to the level of genuine division on the contrary they reflect a diverse and [2:31:54] reinvigorated national party one that's brimming with ideas and with energy but fundamentally united around [2:32:01] the same overriding values and goals a healthcare system that can be accessed by all and where no family is [2:32:09] bankrupted by illness an economy that works for everyone where hard work yields [2:32:15] security a nation that stands against corruption and it is not riven by grotesque [2:32:21] income inequality a country free of racial animus and comfortable with its immigrant roots a democracy in [2:32:29] which every in which every in which every vote counts and every voice is heard where all americans are free to speak to [2:32:35] worship and to marry as they choose now when our opponents and they will do this inevitably label this agenda as [2:32:45] radical or socialist or even communist we must be absolutely absolutely unapologetic and refuse to retreat at the [2:32:57] federal state or local levels as one of our party's wisest voices once remind us and this is a quote [2:33:05] socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made socialism is what they [2:33:12] call social security socialism is what they called farm price supports socialism is what they called bank [2:33:22] deposit insurance socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people [2:33:29] that was harry truman in 1952 so at long last let's stop flinching at schoolyard taunts from a bygone [2:33:38] century and rise to the challenges of this one now with one hand our new house and senate majorities [2:33:45] would have to wield aggressive oversight to expose ongoing corruption and bridge and bring this regime's [2:33:52] lawlessness to heal meanwhile with the other hand democratic leaders in washington and in state capitals must [2:33:58] remain local laser focused on those kitchen table issues that matter most to working people which [2:34:04] means that on day one of the 120th congress we must legislate and investigate investigate and legislate [2:34:14] send important yet simply easy to understand bills down pennsylvania avenue to the white house bill after bill [2:34:23] dare them over and over again to stand in the way of cheaper gas prices less expensive groceries and health insurance [2:34:32] assistance for american families make them accountable for their failed and cruel and un-american immigration [2:34:39] policies their flagrant corruption their arrogant mismanagement of the economy their reckless wars of [2:34:47] choice make them accountable restore the impartial rule of law and the perception and reality of independence [2:34:56] to a justice department that has been tarnished and twisted by politics its reputation sullied and [2:35:03] its rank decimated by some of the most compromised and unqualified leadership in the history of this nation [2:35:11] above all at every turn keeps showing up for the voters who showed up for us at the polls last week in [2:35:17] historic numbers and in defiance of the other sides cynical attempts to rig and to gerrymander their way [2:35:24] to a false victory and let me be clear those efforts that they tried did not fail on their own [2:35:32] they were actively dismantled by many of us in the party and ultimately by the american voters which is why [2:35:39] our new incoming congress must take the next step in this fight and prioritize much needed pro-democracy [2:35:46] reforms including banning partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting this should be one of [2:35:56] the new congress's first acts now of course the white house may well veto or senate republicans may try to [2:36:03] filibuster anything and everything that our new majorities attempt to pass but let the american people [2:36:09] know who stands in the way of needed reform republicans are about to wrap up one of the laziest do nothing [2:36:17] sessions in congressional history but the more damning indictment is that since 1980 they've held power [2:36:23] long enough to try just about everything on their agenda tax cuts for the wealth wealthy trickle down [2:36:30] economics deregulation gerrymandering plus a few more rounds of tax cuts for the wealthy with absolutely [2:36:36] nothing to show for it their ideas are exhausted their ideas are discredited their arguments are tired [2:36:44] they have driven the nation into unimaginable debt and their policy reservoir is empty so it's long past [2:36:51] time for them to step aside and let democrats take the wheel going forward yeah going forward wherever the [2:37:03] other side including the president might be willing to join leaders from our party and helping regular [2:37:09] working people we want to welcome their participation but hear this and let me be very clear bipartisanship [2:37:18] is a tactic it is not a goal nobody gets a gold star because republicans like you sound policy [2:37:27] has to be our ultimate aim so whenever they choose obstruction our job is simple beat them [2:37:39] resoundingly which we have proven that we can do while showing voters that we know how to deliver [2:37:45] on a clear contrasting affirmative vision starting with the coming transfer of power on january the [2:37:51] third and take it from me from the moment that you swear that oath of office to those elected officials [2:37:57] or to the rest of you this moment that we have is going to be a fleeting one the clock is ticking [2:38:06] in the time that any of us will have the privilege of serving the american people is both finite [2:38:11] and fleeting so i i invite all of you in fact i implore all of you to make the most of every [2:38:17] second you know dr king said that the arc of the moral of your universe is long but it bends towards [2:38:24] justice but it doesn't bend on its own it only bends when people like us put their hands on that arc [2:38:31] and pull it towards justice so each and every one of you has to ask yourself that question what are you [2:38:36] doing to pull that arc towards justice this is a consequential moment in our history and the people [2:38:42] who've empowered us to lead this nation demand that we do everything that we can to make this nation [2:38:49] better we can do this we have the capacity to remake this nation and to make it better i look forward [2:38:57] to working with all of you in this great endeavor thank you please welcome congressman jamie raskin [2:39:30] i wanted to start on a bipartisan note by invoking our last great republican president abraham lincoln who [2:39:57] spoke of government of the people by the people and for the people well we the people just scored an [2:40:05] historic landslide victory against the party of autocrats and oligarchs who have been bulldozing [2:40:13] our constitution our bill of rights our government and even the white house lincoln created the [2:40:20] republican party and donald trump destroyed it it's a sad fate for a once great party but they turned it [2:40:28] into an authoritarian cult of personality and a money-making operation and america can no longer [2:40:37] afford the staggering costs of republican party corruption you know when the media asks whether [2:40:48] we're going to fight corruption or unaffordability they forget that american patriots have been fighting [2:40:56] both corruption and unaffordability from the very beginning at the same time these are just two [2:41:03] sides of the same coin political corruption and economic exploitation when american patriots dumped [2:41:10] tea in the boston harbor to protest the special tax-free monopoly benefits that king george conferred [2:41:19] on the east india corporation the colonists were protesting not just the exorbitant price of tea [2:41:27] but the system of unaccountable monarchical government which produced taxation without representation [2:41:36] and drove up the price of tea and everything else in the colonies the american revolutionaries [2:41:43] wrote a constitution to make the government an instrument of the common good we the people of the [2:41:49] united states in order to form a more perfect union establish justice ensure domestic tranquility [2:41:56] provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and secure to ourselves and our posterity [2:42:03] the blessings of liberty do hereby ordain and establish the constitution of these united states and the [2:42:10] very next sentence all of that sovereign power to found the country to proclaim the constitution [2:42:17] all of that power flowed into this sentence the first sentence of article one all legislative power [2:42:25] is vested in a congress of the united states of america and then they set forth page after page of all the [2:42:36] powers of congress we've got the power to declare war not donald trump and jd vance and their signal chat [2:42:43] group we've got the power to impose taxes and tariffs not donald trump who imposed the largest tax [2:42:52] through his illegal tariff in american history on the people we've got the power to spend money and if [2:43:01] we say you spend money on usaid or the department of education or the department of state or nih you [2:43:08] spend it you don't impound it you don't steal it you don't redirect it that's the money of the people [2:43:15] and congress controls it my friends we're going to reassert all of the powers of congress that have [2:43:24] been surrendered and abdicated by the mega congress to king trump we're going to enforce the the foreign [2:43:34] and the domestic government emoluments clauses donald trump collects 2.2 billion dollars on the side [2:43:43] in his first year in office from foreign kings princes governments white-collar fraudsters seeking [2:43:51] pardons crypto interests billionaires and a trillionaire seeking more government contracts [2:43:59] that's more than a million dollars an hour flowing through these new new crypto channels we know what [2:44:05] he is selling it is our government it's our lands it's our country he's selling off and we're going to [2:44:13] enforce the constitution against him when he does it my friends i'm proud to be a democrat and i've never [2:44:23] been prouder than i am right now you know sometimes trump and the mega party have a hard time correctly [2:44:30] pronouncing the name of our party in its adjectival form i don't know if you noticed this he he'll call [2:44:37] us you know the uh democrat party with the new democrat majority in the house the new democrat majority [2:44:46] in the senate but you know for nine years i've been in congress and i would try to correct them i tell them [2:44:51] democrat is the noun democratic is the adjective you've got to say the new democratic majority in [2:45:00] the house and the senate and in congress but you know i mixed it up with my friend from colorado lauren [2:45:08] bobert about this on the floor and she kept doing it and they all piled on chip roy and jim jordan [2:45:14] democrat this democrat that um and so now i've got a different solution i do what franklin d roosevelt [2:45:22] did i learned it from a great book i recommend highly hw brand's book called traitor to his class [2:45:29] fdr did not call our party the democratic party much less the democrat party you know what he called us [2:45:36] with a capital d he called us the democracy the democracy so he'd say well the economic royalists [2:45:45] and the plutocrats say just invest in the very wealthiest corporations in america some of the wealth [2:45:52] will dribble down on everybody else but the democracy says invest in the great american working [2:45:59] middle class we will all rise and prosper together that's the doctrine of the democracy dust that off [2:46:10] because that's what we are today the democracy the only party that will stand up for your right to vote [2:46:15] even if you're not going to vote for us the party that defends elections not insurrections [2:46:22] the party that's fighting for a living wage for all americans health care for all americans the party on [2:46:29] the side of ukrainian democracy against autocrat putin and his illegal fascist war of aggression [2:46:38] against the ukrainian people so donald trump calls his opponents communists that's interesting because [2:46:47] the only communists left on earth are his best friends his role models like kim jong-un the stalinist [2:46:56] dictator of north koreta he north korea writes love letters to him president xi in china trump marvels at [2:47:04] him he says he's right out of central casting the brains the looks controls 1.4 billion people under an iron fist [2:47:12] never does trump have a word for the uyghurs for the tibetans for people in hong kong or taiwan [2:47:20] no none of it and of course back in the home office vladimir putin the former head of the kgb [2:47:28] a communist turned crony capitalist who's been coaching trump on how to be the dictator in a mafia [2:47:35] state well my friends we're not going to have any of that we're building a big tent for democracy [2:47:44] all over america and i'll close just with this one little story one of my republican colleagues on [2:47:53] the way out said raskin you know you're not a bad guy the problem with you is you're a liberal and i said [2:48:01] you know you're damn right i'm a liberal the heart of that word is liberty and i said i'm a progressive [2:48:08] because the heart of that word is progress if we're not making progress what are we doing in [2:48:13] government but i said my favorite thing to call myself today is a conservative why because i want [2:48:19] to conserve the land the air the water the climate system social security medicare medicaid the national [2:48:29] labor relations act the fair labor standards act the voting rights act of 1965 the civil rights act [2:48:38] of 1964 the clean air act the clean water act everything that the party of authoritarians nihilists [2:48:47] and charlatans and con men want to tear down we are going to conserve and build on for future generations [2:48:56] in america the liberals the progressives the conservatives all together the party of democracy [2:49:04] we're just getting started holy cow folks it's coming in like crazy here pia dandia has won the [2:49:30] race the voters have spoken and chose bobby bolito saratron garriot won 54 to 46 percent breaking news [2:49:37] the tsunami getting even bigger tonight the people of the lehigh valley looked at all the negativity and [2:49:50] the hate and said pound sand i will always fight for iowan islands and i pledge to be a senator for all of [2:49:55] you i love this country and when corruptions how you win in this country that pisses me off i promise [2:50:03] you that i will do the job the way it is supposed to be done please welcome alex edelman hello demchella [2:50:20] you guys doing okay all right if you guys uh aren't aware of me my name is alex edelman i'm a comedian [2:50:29] from boston i am a natural choice to moderate this panel uh i did a show a couple years ago which is on hbo [2:50:37] about attending a meeting of uh neo-nazis in queens uh stephen miller called it the feel-good show of [2:50:44] the summer um and i'm on mbc's uh office spin-off which is called the paper a show so blindingly popular [2:50:55] and situated within the zeitgeist that many of you are finding out about it right now for the very [2:51:00] first time so thanks to folks like some of your organizers i've actually found myself uh very much [2:51:06] evolved over uh the last couple years in democrat politics and the energizing thing has been all of [2:51:10] the new people and that is what this is going to be when i was a teenager the average age of a u.s [2:51:16] senator was dead and to me like senators were like chuck grassley and john mccain who thank god those [2:51:26] you know it's a thing of the past but uh we're getting all these cool new faces pediatricians and [2:51:32] pastors and loggers and former models and and james tallarico who is a really lovely school teacher [2:51:41] yeah that i spent some really good time with uh this year at a mental institution in ohio [2:51:46] he's really sweet man and also by the way bobby palito who not only won his race last week but [2:51:56] literally today won his third latin grammy and that's three which is two more for him than sheldon [2:52:08] whitehouse um and getting involved uh has meant a deep appreciation for these candidates and i was lucky [2:52:14] enough to pick some of my favorites for this panel this sort of freshman orientation panel so please [2:52:18] welcome them as i introduce them first bob brook spent 20 years fighting fires and rose to become the [2:52:24] president of the pennsylvania professional firefighters association two decades of running into burning [2:52:39] buildings he's decided to do something useful with his life and joined congress he is bald bob brooks [2:52:44] all right um paige kongetti has the good fortune the cycle of running on an anti-corruption platform [2:52:52] against a candidate who bravely but foolishly ran on a pro-corruption platform i'll try to steal your [2:52:58] chair yeah there you go you're welcome to that she served as the mayor of scranton pennsylvania since 2020 [2:53:05] and i like her because of our mutual tenuous connections to the office please welcome paige kongetti yep [2:53:15] josh turek is uh uh of iowa there we go the turek heads are in the house um a two-time paralympic [2:53:24] gold medalist in basketball he's played professionally in europe represented the usa [2:53:28] at four paralympic games and even beaten barack obama at basketball he's decided to give up winning and [2:53:34] join the united states senate please welcome josh turek coming into it i got you and finally jamie [2:53:45] agar a fourth generation farmer from western north carolina his father was in the north carolina house [2:53:53] his brother serves there too your thanksgivings are a nightmare he ran a very close race and was [2:53:59] barely able to eke out a 15 point victory last week please welcome jamie agar here we go we'll start [2:54:09] with everyone's favorite pronouns and then a land acknowledge no um that's what the tone of this is [2:54:17] gonna be so bob oh boy you're a firefighter did it come up at all in the campaign a little bit yeah [2:54:27] bombedo yeah you know what that is yes i'm just checking yeah it's it's firefighter in spanish yeah [2:54:34] and and it really hit with the community and we we used it because they loved it so uh we launched [2:54:41] bombedo above i mean did it work it did work it did it did work yeah jamie you're a farmer did that come [2:54:47] up at all in your campaign a little bit yeah a little bit how much it's nice by the way this is [2:54:53] the dressiest i've ever seen you for anything i'm working on it yeah are you gonna get sworn in in [2:54:59] a suit yeah all right right someone just owed in the back of the crowd um i'm wondering get genuinely [2:55:07] you guys have all worked jobs bob you've had like 20 jobs right you've had literally 20 jobs someone [2:55:12] was telling me more than that heck yeah i've always worked man um you guys have all had jobs that [2:55:17] are not like politics he jumped yes and i'm wondering what are the various like if you can [2:55:23] give a dynamic answer as opposed to a campaigning answer um like how have those things proved useful [2:55:29] during the campaign well this whole campaign is about been about working class people which i've [2:55:35] been doing since i was 10. i won't give you the stump speech but that's where it starts until you know [2:55:40] i was a firefighter union leader and i think it all prepares me to i understand what people are going [2:55:45] through when they're struggling with the prices right now i mean it's just something's got to be [2:55:50] done the people are tired of the status quo and we're in it and that was not campaign that was just [2:55:54] straight i know i believe you all right hey you were the mayor of scranton fantastic also the ceo of [2:56:04] dunder mifflin yes i have two roles i think you're an improvement over the last guy um and so you're [2:56:12] trading in real executive power uh to join congress um i'm wondering see a slim little [2:56:21] don't fun little like andy borowitz joke for you know uh i'm wondering like what are uh the types of [2:56:30] things you're hoping to take with you yeah i mean when you're a mayor you're accountable right and [2:56:34] literally you can't go outside of your house without seeing somebody walking their dog being like hey [2:56:39] the street light went out on london and you got to fix it right you're accountable every single day [2:56:43] and i learned over the two years running against my opponent he had no idea what that meant he had [2:56:47] no idea that these jobs you are accountable every day you are raising your hand you don't have to do [2:56:51] this right none of us had to do this you're accountable every day where you go to the grocery [2:56:55] store or the bar pick up your kids you're on the the floor literally of ballet with your three-year-old [2:57:00] and somebody's like hey that data center thing what do you think right you can't get away from it but [2:57:04] that's what this job should be you got to represent the people and it's awesome but i'm gonna miss being a [2:57:08] mayor i might have made a terrible mistake no it is such a small town i was doing a show in like [2:57:14] somewhere in colorado and on the way out they were like oh this guy's the mayor and i'm talking to [2:57:19] him and this guy drove by and the mayor was like one second and he was like dave mow your fucking lawn [2:57:26] that's exactly what it's like really really small uh farmer has it had relevance yes absolutely uh [2:57:33] western north carolina you know it's 16 counties a lot of rural places a lot of places in the [2:57:38] mountains and some from the mountains and uh people admire people that work with their hands [2:57:43] and uh obviously that was helpful being all over uh western north carolina and uh and what a great [2:57:49] community i come from i'm just so lucky well it worked out for you yeah i love western north carolina [2:57:59] so paralympic basketball yeah how does that translate also do you mean obama in a game of course i did he's [2:58:07] a good shooter though uh beat him iowa to i both lefties how does it translate i think that uh high [2:58:15] level sports actually is the best preparation for politics uh taught me work ethic discipline dedication [2:58:22] maybe more than anything else though avoid the external noise like i learned long ago post and [2:58:27] ghosts don't look at your comments i know who i am why i'm doing this who i'm fighting for [2:58:32] and just keep your head down and do the work and the results will come in terms of so it's like [2:58:41] election night last week even though it feels like a nice month ago feels like forever ago um [2:58:48] everyone's living out the results are coming in it looks like things are headed your way i hate to ask [2:58:55] a serious question but like who are you guys first of all who's the most random person you heard from [2:59:02] and who were you like missing in that moment sorry to ask like sop i'll start with i get on the stage [2:59:10] i've got my family it was so incredible we won so big we all won so big we actually got to do the speech [2:59:15] on the stage with our families and eddie eddie this just random guy from scranton is so drunk and he's [2:59:21] basically on the stage with my family page page we did it like eddie like oh i called him out of my [2:59:28] speech he's right there so sometimes people get really worked up in the moment you know there's [2:59:32] a blessing and a curse of doing it on stage um but my grandma died just a couple years ago and i know [2:59:37] she'd be so proud so it was really special to have her there how old are you 46. that is what they're [2:59:42] for though grandparents yeah yes it's true it's true it worked out it all worked out yeah it's like [2:59:47] grandparents and goldfish are there to introduce you to the concept of greek you know um that's very sweet [2:59:53] bob what you know me bob i do i do i've been through this already yeah uh poor bob's had to [2:59:59] sit next to me at some conference visit and i've watched him slowly like edge his hair right through [3:00:04] me i sat next to pat ryan and while you wrote your script you answered every question in trivia [3:00:10] correctly and me and pat were like what are we doing here it was like a trivia competition at this [3:00:16] conference and it was like slumdog millionaire for me i know like i knew it was the only 15 questions [3:00:22] i've ever gotten the answers right to they were like which comedian named you know richard nixon [3:00:27] tricky dick and i was like this is right in my wheelhouse thank you very much i had to sit and [3:00:31] listen to my wife tell me how amazing another man was like it wasn't kind of cool you know it wasn't [3:00:35] cool but who's the most random person you heard from on elections uh on election night i got a call [3:00:41] from vice president harris that's pretty cool yeah that was pretty cool that was pretty cool i i also got [3:00:47] a very good harris yes that's the one uh i got a call from governor shapiro obviously but i i almost [3:00:54] expected that um and the people i'm missing i'm with page and the goldfish was my grandparents uh my [3:00:59] grandmother grandfather were a big part of my life and uh she actually pinned me when i became a [3:01:04] firefighter my grandmother did so it would have been great to have them there so josh well i don't even [3:01:12] have any more dead grandma jokes so uh yeah grandma was the one that i was that i was thinking of but [3:01:18] i had two uh that happened on the positive side the first call that i got actually was from president [3:01:22] obama i thought that was amazing oh my god they knew who he is and then yeah the guy that lost me in [3:01:29] basketball and then uh the the most meaningful moment of the whole night for me was uh tom harkin was the [3:01:38] senator in iowa for 30 years fought yes father of the american with disabilities act it's his seat [3:01:44] that i have won back after 12 years and he went up on stage with me and it was this beautifully poetic [3:01:51] full circle moment of the man that has won his seat back is only there because the work that he did in [3:01:57] the u.s senate it was amazing wow beautiful um so the most well i did get a phone call from a lot of [3:02:08] dignitaries and president biden called and left a message which was cool um but also right as we [3:02:14] were kind of coming over from our little back room and we felt like we'd won and i texted my friend matt [3:02:21] who i'd went to college with and and then he was like showing up and he's tapping on the window like [3:02:25] we were all in this room and everybody's like who's that out there tapping on the window and i was like [3:02:29] i shared this location with max i thought that's where we were supposed to be and uh it was like the [3:02:33] back room so they were all nervous and but matt ended up being right there with me as we walked [3:02:38] over so that felt great and matt's always been a really political guy so that made me feel really [3:02:41] special that's um as far as who i wish could have been there um obviously my grandfather is somebody [3:02:50] i've always looked up to i tell people my grandfather served in the u.s congress back in the 1980s [3:02:55] and uh you do the things the people you admire do so here i am um and uh and also i lost my cousin [3:03:02] to a suicide about five years ago and he was one of my my best friend and so for me i just wish he [3:03:08] could have been there but he was there he was there so it felt good that's really cool wow i've never [3:03:16] asked an earnest question before i should do it more often um in terms of did you guys have obviously [3:03:24] you guys a couple of you have run campaigns before and and things like that and bob i assume there's [3:03:29] no amount of uh that some politicking goes into running uh firefighters association like the one [3:03:34] that you ran but can you tell me like specific campaign moment that stuck out to you guys uh this [3:03:40] year maybe one that was like offbeat or felt like bs or felt like really fun and you know synecdoche um [3:03:48] my driver matt he's so awesome like our family trusts him he's so great he's very good driver which is very [3:03:54] important right you're going all over these places at one point where this is northeastern pennsylvania [3:03:58] we got a lot of train tracks they aren't all taken care of very well um at one point we flew like [3:04:03] dukes of hazard style over these train tracks and i i thought and matt and i looked at each other like [3:04:09] this is the end this has gone pretty well great to be with you and you know this is it and we had that [3:04:15] moment we landed and we we kept going to the event we were on time but you have those moments with your [3:04:20] campaign staff you're like okay this is this mayor make or break our lives it's really fun but he's [3:04:26] going to be our staff assistant we bonded in that moment and now i call it the dukes of hazard moment [3:04:30] he still blushes a little but it wasn't his fault was his job dependent on like if you get me to this [3:04:35] event in time you get a staffing job and if not you're going back to back it was basically like if we [3:04:39] make it through this as we sail over these train tracks if we make it you get the job that's so cool [3:04:44] bob um i waited till election night to have my moment and uh i got to talk about it because i [3:04:51] didn't want to give them any more fodder they had enough we were getting pounded on daily and uh i [3:04:57] informed the crowd and my opponent that while they called me a crook for months on months on months [3:05:04] that my wife's maiden name was crook so hey i just i just thought maybe they wanted me to take her name [3:05:11] so i mean you know it was pretty you know my favorite moments were uh i i think that the coin [3:05:18] of the realm now in modern politics is to meet people about politics in an apolitical way and so [3:05:24] for me it was like we did dirt track racing in in like a small dirt and i had so many republicans [3:05:31] come up to me they'd be like ashley henson would never be here this is too dirty for her or like nascar [3:05:36] or rag bribe you know riding your bike across iowa those were the things where i really enjoyed the [3:05:42] the most or you know shotgunning beers with a bunch of college students at iowa state university those [3:05:47] are the things that i enjoyed the most the real human motion where you could prove like i'm a [3:05:51] three-dimensional real human being i mean the turret heads are going crazy for you thanks iowa [3:06:00] jamie yeah for me um i have a hard time sitting still i believe and so uh it's like i'm yeah yeah and [3:06:07] uh and call time is rough for somebody that has a hard time sitting still and so um luckily i had [3:06:15] a great finance director gabe who was willing to hike up the mountain behind the farm with me [3:06:21] and uh and uh go on long hikes and then maybe like when i was talking leaving a message for somebody and [3:06:26] i was like totally out of breath and we've been through a steep section and gabe's like maybe you [3:06:31] should just like explain a little bit that like you're out of breath and you're not like you're hiking [3:06:35] up a mountain you're not just like some weird dude who's out of breath asking for money and uh and uh [3:06:40] but it kept me sane through the campaign so that was good hey what are the perks that you guys have [3:06:45] found out you get now there's perks yeah he was telling me about the i found out one today we can [3:06:51] get an escort through the airport at uh dulles or dca so that's that's one that might just be a senate [3:06:59] thing i was just saying it's a senate thing like that i think tell me some business with the national [3:07:03] archives am i not supposed to tell people that no that is that is true as well yeah we uh we had our [3:07:08] all of the the new members freshman members both on the republican and democratic side been doing it [3:07:13] for 40 years they give us a dinner at the national archives and they brought they gave us a private [3:07:19] viewing of uh the bill of rights the declaration of independence the constitution and then took us [3:07:24] upstairs and showed us these documents that are off the public and they brought out the founding [3:07:28] documents of each of our states really really cool amazing and we can do private tours there [3:07:32] favorite amendment well the first i'm not sure anything else functions without a freedom of [3:07:38] speech or religion really what about the third no one ever remembers the third what's the third [3:07:46] you do quartering soldiers in your house how big a problem was that that's the third amendment [3:07:55] that jefferson's at home writing it all down and his roommate's like hey tommy and he's like what's [3:07:59] going on lieutenant and he's like we're out of milk i drank all the milk but jefferson's like this ends [3:08:03] tonight you know sorry that's pretty good have you guys gotten any good advice in terms of you're [3:08:13] coming in it's a very freshman orientation have you gotten like good advice from nancy pelosi on [3:08:18] roommates or places to eat or anything like that stock trades stock trades oh you can't say that [3:08:25] not in this room good night everybody [3:08:35] my rent just went up i'm really this is not good uh i'm gonna live with rebecca bennett uh she's [3:08:40] incoming from new jersey she's awesome we both have girls that are six and three we have a two bedroom [3:08:47] two bath and when the kids are down they're just gonna have a huge girls slumber party in the [3:08:50] living room and we're so excited so let me see congressional kids and the perk that i learned about [3:08:55] is that kids under 12 can vote on the floor with you only kids under 12. okay for a second [3:09:01] before you said with you i was like oh my god is there like a loophole that we don't know about [3:09:06] well when i we i took we took our kids to vote and we were walking out and my my six-year-old said [3:09:10] wait mommy did you vote for yourself can you do that oh man i for a second i was like my cousin [3:09:17] nachem has 12 children because well he's 37 it makes sense and uh and i'm like if he gets elected [3:09:24] to congress his family would wield significant voting that's how it works right right yeah do you know who [3:09:30] you're rooming with it's so weird to ask grown adults who are very powerful i lived in a firehouse [3:09:36] for the last 20 years with six seven eight guys i decided i'm rooming with nobody [3:09:42] got a single one bedroom you rooming with somebody uh my wife okay that's what do you mean why do [3:09:50] people owe for that it makes perfect sense jerry how about you we're putting together a house full of some [3:09:56] blue dogs uh it's gonna be um you know sam forestag jake johnson marie blues and camp perez [3:10:07] and there's gonna be another so we're waiting on the fifth you're waiting on the fifth if anyone [3:10:11] here would like to volunteer to be i think that i think that seems like and i'll say the perk that [3:10:18] like everybody at home said you get great health insurance and then my wife and i went to go sign [3:10:23] up for health insurance and we were like this is terrible health insurance so that's annoying for [3:10:27] members don't you have a million families in government like don't you isn't your brother and [3:10:31] your dad and your grandpa all like i guess it was better in the old days because it ain't good now [3:10:37] um let's see we're running on time and i'm trying to think of like what the what's the most bs thing [3:10:45] you had to do during your campaign what's the thing that you have to do during campaigns that you would [3:10:48] love to never do again that you wish was not part of he already mentioned it it's called call time [3:10:52] call time is that when you sit down and call people yeah that's the one or you walk and do hikes [3:10:58] like jamie does but i would be really out of breath well you could just explain out of breath apparently it [3:11:03] works well so call time that's a thing for sure do you guys have to eat all the gross foods that like [3:11:11] deep fry you know like deep fried oreos and stuff do you have to pretend you like this i do like deep [3:11:15] fried oreos though the iowa state fair is amazing and everyone should go and visit it yeah but yes [3:11:20] they're not every single one of the things there they had some pickled pizza that i didn't love [3:11:25] but yeah oh there's a lot pickled pizza feels like anti-semitism to me [3:11:29] honestly stomach will feel that way uh yeah it's uh there's some rough ones but you should come to [3:11:35] the iowa state fair next year it's amazing i went to the i went to uh i went to the wisconsin state fair [3:11:42] when i was when i was no no no it was bad uh i saw a genesis tribute band called genesis unplugged that [3:11:51] had been sued into oblivion by genesis and they could only play rarities and b-sides that did not involve [3:11:57] phil collins or peter gabriel the same dad that's my enduring memory md although herb cole sold 25 [3:12:04] cent flavored milk that was pretty sweet but it really took the edge off seeing like a sort of funky [3:12:09] instrumentalized version of in the air of the night um advice oh who's your congressional crush [3:12:18] etsy pelosi are you even allowed to fine how about this dream congressional [3:12:27] testimony who do you desperately want to testify in front of me for me it'd be bill nye or hunter [3:12:36] biden preferably at the same time that would be impressive yeah what was the question like [3:12:40] dream testimony dream congressional testimony elon musk call the test if i am right yeah [3:12:47] elon musk elon musk because god damn we need campaign finance reform and i felt it in my race more [3:12:53] than almost any i mean yeah over 165 million dollars on negative television ads we we've got [3:12:57] to get the dark money out of politics elon musk you like to see him hauled in front how about you [3:13:07] is there a fire bug or an arsonist that you'd love to elon musk i have a crush yes uh uh alma adams [3:13:16] from from charlotte north carolina who i sat down with and had a great time your wife's out here and uh [3:13:21] uh and we just had a ball chatting and getting to know her and i really appreciated that that's so [3:13:28] cool i love it i love it my congressional crushes are bob and jamie obviously that's cheap but this [3:13:36] guy's chopped liver i don't know what sale is technically i mean can we cry i don't know if we [3:13:41] can go over to the senate side for that that makes it that makes it tough it's like jesus get more [3:13:46] that get get get better perks than the uh i mean it's probably logistics they get six years they [3:13:52] get six years that is a hell of a perk we don't like the senate apparently because we're here this [3:13:59] a lot that's a lesson from this week yeah the house talks some about the senate sorry josh [3:14:08] isn't it isn't it in veep where they said oh we've got to go to the house floor like open the sewer grate [3:14:12] um all right last question regrettably um by the way eric holder went over by five minutes um just [3:14:22] saying like you're not attorney general anymore like it's uh okay um all right if you um obviously [3:14:32] you guys are going to be part of this august bodies um after running as like individuals for a long [3:14:39] time and you guys each ran on you know individual messages with sort of heterodox ideas and you know [3:14:44] you come from uh uh different places which i found out just before the panel um and i'm wondering like [3:14:54] is there a thing that you can already sense is going to be a change is there a thing that you are hoping [3:14:58] to retain like what is the thing that you you know are wondering that you might if you look back on [3:15:06] yourself like 12 months from now what is the thing you think might uh come under a little bit of pressure [3:15:13] and what are some of the things that you're hoping to like retain as a bit of distinctiveness does that [3:15:16] make sense yeah i mean so our moniker in scranton since 2019 when i ran for mayor was page against [3:15:22] the machine right we've always been running against corruption in scranton and i see in this congress [3:15:27] and in the senate and senator-elect and i were just talking about it backstage we want the corruption out [3:15:31] people want reform and the people that are coming in in january all want reform and i am very very [3:15:36] excited about that it's real we are going to push for reforms we won't get every single thing we want [3:15:41] right away but i have very uh high hopes that we're going to push through a lot quickly and then [3:15:46] we are laying the groundwork over these years for thing real things like term limits sweet i ran as [3:15:51] a representative from western north carolina i love western north carolina i spent my whole life living [3:15:56] in western north carolina and to me the key word is representative and i've never lived anywhere else [3:16:01] except western north carolina and so to me spending time in washington dc will likely put pressure on like [3:16:08] where you where you spend your time and your days but i feel pretty confident about who i represent [3:16:13] and what i represent and we're gonna keep fighting for the people of western north carolina mine would [3:16:19] be similar as well of making sure that it's iowa centric and iowa focused of whether it's you know a [3:16:26] democratic idea republican idea making sure that i'm there representing the people you know let's get a [3:16:30] farm bill across the finish line let's help rule communities let's do something on health care but i really [3:16:35] am clear that we've got a mandate from the american people of we got to go up there and provide [3:16:40] results on cost corruption and kitchen table issues otherwise we are all renting these seats for just a [3:16:44] few years so i hope that that's what we're all laser focused on i i feel like i'm sitting at a primary [3:16:54] forum again where we all have the same answers but but and that's what it is it's you know the pennsylvania [3:17:01] 7 district is so diverse that i need to make sure i'm in district talking to every community every group [3:17:07] and understanding what they need and then i think that's the job of a congress person is to to take [3:17:13] what your district's telling you they need and then go fight for it and and you know bring it back full [3:17:19] tenfold as much as we can bring back to them so that's what i think is we need to be in district [3:17:24] concentrating on pennsylvania 7 lehigh valley carbon county and then delivering for what they need [3:17:29] all right thank these wonderful candidates they all won um yes we did so so michael bennett was [3:17:42] supposed to close us out he's you guys can leave because you're not going to want to co-sign any of [3:17:47] the stuff i'm going to say yeah um spotlight spotlight um michael bennett was supposed to close us out uh [3:17:55] uh he is uh not here i guess the commute is murder um but i'm going to say a quick thing as the least [3:18:06] equipped person to do that in the entire room by the way real quick the get together that we were at [3:18:14] bob and uh and josh and jamie and i were it was the night of the white house correspondence dinner and [3:18:20] it was like a thing that the majority democrats put together and by the way that was when someone [3:18:27] tried to assassinate the president and the knicks won their basketball game at 9 42 p.m [3:18:34] and at 9 51 p.m someone tried to shoot donald trump and in between the actor ben stiller tweeted [3:18:40] got it done and republicans taking things out of context for the first time in the history of republicans [3:18:49] were like what do you mean got it done and obviously by the way he meant the knicks because [3:18:54] they didn't get the other thing done and thank and i remember like sitting there at this conference [3:19:00] looking at my phone being like thank god for ben stiller the knicks won that basketball game and he [3:19:06] didn't tweet like didn't finish the job tonight came so close we're gonna have to try again on tuesday [3:19:14] i've always said we need shooters who can hit from distance but tonight was not our night you know so [3:19:21] anyway i'm at this get together and i felt this vibe from the other people there that i'm very much [3:19:30] feeling here which is that sometimes you go to a conference and it feels like everyone's job is [3:19:36] to like write a white paper together and sometimes you go to a conference and it feels like everyone's [3:19:40] job is to sit and listen but the thing that i felt at that get together and the thing that i sort of feel [3:19:45] here is that uh even though this is an enormous tent like i think the magnitude of the victory last week [3:19:51] sort of uh underscores the bigness of uh the democrat tent at the moment is that all of us have this [3:19:59] very similar ambivalence and that ambivalence means a sort of deep deep belief that is mixed with a real [3:20:10] uh skepticism and concern about how things get done and if we're doing things the right way and [3:20:17] and frankly like what should happen and what our party is and and everything like that and at these [3:20:25] get-togethers you find other people with that same ambivalence and you find other people with that same [3:20:30] curiosity and concern and the real gift of the democrat get-togethers i've been to in the past and [3:20:35] the real gift of this event i promise you is the other people in this room who by dint of being here [3:20:42] have the same curiosity and concern and forward thinkingness that you do and so the face of the [3:20:48] democrat party it may not be the chiseled high cheekbone face of rob's hand for everybody but the [3:20:55] face of the democrat party is in this room and so i urge you even though i'm a comedian i know nothing [3:21:01] but like i urge you to take the next couple of days to enjoy the really wonderful energy that we [3:21:06] finally have for the first time in many of our adult lives and uh chat and wrestle and form really [3:21:14] wonderful lasting friendships at this thing and the goal of it if it were me would be to leave with [3:21:20] one or two new people that you can have really fulsome wonderful arguments and conversations with [3:21:26] and they may not share your politics but they will share the same interests that you have and that's [3:21:33] a very rare thing it's a very rare opportunity to get together and please don't sleep with anyone who [3:21:37] might be a chinese spy enjoy the rest of your conference i'll see you later goodbye