'Unlocks everything': Democratic socialist says Democrats should swear off corporate money

[0:00] In November of 2023, a junior associate at the law firm Sidley Austin wrote an open letter [0:06] titled Dear U.S. Law Firms. Her law firm had just signed its own letter written to the deans of [0:11] American law schools criticizing protests on college campuses against Israel's war in Gaza. [0:17] This junior associate's letter excoriates her employer and dozens of other law firms for [0:21] chilling free speech. She was fired for refusing to take her letter down. So this junior associate [0:27] lawyer left New York, returned home to Denver, where she started working as a barista. Then she [0:32] entered a Ph.D. program in public policy and then decided to run for office. And on Tuesday in the [0:37] Democratic primary, she defeated her opponent, a 15 term incumbent who'd been in Congress longer than [0:43] this former junior law associate has been alive. In the process, she's rocked the political [0:48] establishment. Joining me now is Maylard Kiros, the Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives [0:53] in Colorado's first district. Congratulations. Welcome to the show. Thank you for being with us. [0:59] Thank you for having me. You've probably seen or heard all of the analysis. Everybody's talking [1:03] about the race and what it means. So I want to ask you, how should Democrats, particularly Democrats [1:09] in the House, be processing your win over their colleague on Tuesday? I think this election was [1:17] a referendum on the party and their ability to actually listen to the issues that the voters care [1:22] most about. The voters of this district heard the case that we made about why affordability [1:28] is so out of reach right now, why corruption is on the rise right now, and the role that our party [1:34] needs to be playing in making sure that we are leading by example to make sure that we get money [1:38] out of our politics so that we can finally get to the work of passing things like Medicare for All, [1:42] universal child care, housing first, and putting an arms embargo on Israel. [1:46] So one of the things you talk about a lot is PAC money. You've said that you would not vote for a [1:52] House speaker who takes corporate PAC money. So I'm going down the list. You actually have to go [1:58] a fair distance down Democratic leadership before you find somebody who doesn't take corporate PAC [2:02] money. So on a very practical level, tell me how that works. You get elected, you go to Congress in [2:06] January, and you're going to vote on a speaker. Tell me how this plays out with you and others like [2:13] you who have toppled incumbents. Well, I intend to make my case. I think what we showed here in Denver [2:21] is that not only do you not need to take corporate PAC money in order to win, that you can actually [2:27] dominate with the support of grassroots people-powered infrastructure. We had over 6,500 [2:34] volunteers knocking on over 115,000 doors and making over 500,000 phone calls all across our district. [2:41] And because of their incredible work, we were able to win with a 13-point margin. What we are showing [2:47] right now is that not only is the money in our politics preventing us from passing the legislation [2:51] that would make a meaningful difference for our working families, but that we don't even need it [2:55] to begin with, and we will be stronger for it if we lead by example. You said to the Washington Post [3:00] in an interview yesterday, I sincerely believe that getting money out of our politics is going to be [3:04] the issue that unlocks everything else. Tell me a little more about that, because we spent a lot of time on [3:08] the show today talking about Donald Trump and the amount of money he makes on these deals for [3:14] himself and his family. Why do you believe this is as central as it is, given all the problems we've [3:19] got today? Well, first, let's talk about Medicare for All, right? I saw that the policy director for [3:27] the National Nurses United spoke a few weeks ago about the concern that they're having for members of [3:34] Congress that are co-sponsors of legislation like Medicare for All, while also taking campaign donations [3:39] from the very health insurance companies that would be effectively legislated out of existence. [3:44] So it calls into question, what kind of relationship and what kind of motivation are these donations [3:48] playing in the roles of our members of Congress? And at the end of the day, if you were taking money [3:53] from the very interests and the very corporations that don't want to see this kind of legislation [3:57] passing, what we're finding is that sometimes it's not an immediate quid pro quo that these donations [4:02] are resulting in. Sometimes it's that a seat is just being kept warm and legislation is not being [4:07] progressed and fought for in a really meaningful way. And so when it comes to things like Medicare [4:12] for All or universal child care, the fight against private equity when it comes to housing, all of [4:17] these issues can be traced back to the fact that there is so much corporate money and so much special [4:21] interest money to the point where they can get lobbyists in there and get a bill passed with a 70% [4:27] chance of that passage, where an everyday working American with the support of 80% of the American [4:35] electorate only has a 30% chance of getting a bill passed. That's not a democracy. That is an [4:39] oligarchy. And if we have any chance of beating back Trump, if we have any chance of taking care of [4:45] the conditions that led to his rise in the first place, we have to address corruption in our [4:49] government. And our party is poised to be able to lead by example. I want to quote something that [4:54] you said during a speech in mid-May, obviously before your victory, about the basics of your ideology. [5:00] I want to dig into it a little bit with you. You said every single issue that I looked at, [5:03] where we thought there was a problem that was persisting, we already figured out the solution [5:07] a long time ago. You solve homelessness by giving people housing. You solve hunger by giving people [5:11] food. You solve health care by going to a single payer system. Now, I'll just tell you my bias here. [5:15] I grew up in Canada where like every other developed country has universal health care. But tell me about [5:22] this because there are some who would paint you and other DSA members as radicals. You're trying to [5:28] make the argument that this is common sense. [5:30] It is common sense, right? If you look at the data, if you look at the research, [5:36] it is cheaper to house someone than to leave them homeless. It is cheaper to heal someone and give [5:42] them treatment than it is to let them get sick and to deal with getting the last minute excruciating [5:47] treatment at the very end of their sickness. It is cheaper to give our kids the highest quality [5:55] education and give them the opportunity to thrive with the best opportunities in their futures. [6:00] All of these things not only pay for themselves, not only are pragmatic and economic, you know, [6:06] it's just also the right thing to do, right? We are embarking on the 250th anniversary of this [6:11] nation's founding. And this is a promise that we all made to one another, right? We the people [6:15] and our obligation to delivering on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for every single [6:20] American in this country. That should include the basic necessities of housing, health care, [6:25] nutritional food, public education, all of which are programs that we've already figured out how [6:30] to get done. We already have the popular support among the voters across this country, but especially [6:35] among the base of this party. What we don't have is the political will to get it done. And the case [6:39] that I'm making is that we have to get the money out of our politics. We have to root out that [6:44] corruption so we can get to the good work of governing and legislating and actually fighting for the [6:48] working families of this country. [6:49] So primaries are about people challenging each other and somebody wins, somebody loses. [6:54] Are you worried about the friction and the division that people are talking about in the [7:00] Democratic Party? Or are you now the Democratic nominee and you go forward with that in largely in [7:06] unity with your colleagues? Obviously, this issue of corporate PAC money is a big issue for you. But [7:10] are you going to move forward as a Democrat in concert with everyone else? Or will this sort of fight [7:16] with the party animate things between now and the election? [7:21] I'm a proud Democrat, right? The things that we have accomplished as a party are the things that [7:26] are on the basis of our values of fighting for working families. I sincerely believe that the big [7:31] tent that we have, the diversity and the thought and the ideas that we have is where we find our [7:36] strength. The debates that we are going to engage in, the conversations that we're going to have about [7:41] the solutions that we can unite on to make sure that we're delivering for the working families in [7:46] the state and across the country are the ones that I look the most forward to. Because at the end of [7:50] the day, we have a fascist in the White House. We're fighting authoritarianism right now. And we [7:55] have so much work to do to unite and make sure that we are combating this rising authoritarianism, [8:00] that we're combating the corruption that finds itself the most in the Republican Party. And I look [8:06] forward to doing that together with my Democratic colleagues. [8:09] Melat Keros, great to meet you. Thank you for joining us. And congratulations again. [8:12] Melat Keros is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Colorado's first congressional district.