Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, where we discussed the top political headlines with some of today's best minds and Trump World's star witness has sunk their case against Fanny Willis.
Oh wow, we have such an interesting show for you today.
Senator Tammy Baldwin joins us to talk about the Republican billionaire handpicked to run against her.
Spoiler, he doesn't live in Wisconsin.
Then we will talk to congressional candidate Sue Altman, who is taking on a vulnerable House Republican in.
Central New Jersey.
But first we have the host of the Time of Monsters the Nations, G Tire. Welcome back, too, Fast Politics, fan favorite and my personal favorite, G Tier.
You always be my favorite.
This is like one of these weeks where I keep thinking, well, they can't, They're not They're not going to do this because it's too politically stupid. And at every point we need to talk about Mitch McConnell because yesterday, the grim Reaper of the Senate, he gave a speech on the floor. Father Time is undefeated. He's going to roll it up. He's going to make room for Maga. He is no longer going to be Minority later discussed.
What interesting what Mitch McConnell his announcement that he's going to retire is the reaction to the Freedom Caucus because they had this kind of like really nasty basically like you know, Dad saying on his grave before he's buried. The thing is like, if you were a Republican, you would think, like, well, this is a guy who's given
us everything we wanted. Mitch McConnell more than anyone else, is responsible for the six to three Supreme Court, which will you know, ensure that the Supreme Court is in right wing hands for the next generation and has really like really pushed the federal courts to the right, has really weaponized every power the Senate has like you know, overturned all these bipartisan traditions to do so, and has been like to give the devil his due, you know,
has been really effective. So the fact is like even that legacy is like, you know, it's not a dub and in fact, he is now seen as like you know, rhino right, rhino Mitch McConnell, which really shows you where the party is. And it seems like the Ukraine issue is like the big kind of fault line. And it's
interesting that you know, you mentioned his age. The younger Republicans in the House and in the Senate are all the ones who are like really the hosped of opposition to funding Ukraine, and the people that are like still supporting Ukraine and have sub vision of a you know, bipartisan foreign policy, they're all like Rich McConnell, like they're all like, you know, one foot in the grave, not
to be you know, offensive to our loved elderly senior citizens. Well, this is the fact that shows you where the Republican Party is going, which is you know, like unfortunately like Whichmakano a person as responsible for the sort of gridlock and polarization as anyone, even I would say more than Trump, but still a rhino. This is a preview of where we're going.
Yeah, you know what I'm struck by with McConnell, though, Like McConnell is really good at his job, Like he is really genuinely truly with the exception of wanting to fund Ukraine, which is really you know, I think more about his belief, his sort of Reaganish belief in nation building, and less about his care for the Ukrainian people. But okay, like that's one of the few times where he's really
sort of been on the right side of things. But he is a truly, truly evil His political calculus is evil, but.
Brilliant and very good at it.
And so what I think is kind of amazing about this, and we see this in the House of Representatives right now, is that Maga, the people who are willing to go along with Mega tend, Yeah, they tend.
To be morons.
And so what we see in the House right now, I mean Mike Johnson is unbelievably bad at this job.
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean in some ways, I mean like it has to be grateful for this, and they have decided we'd rather be stupid than win, and you know, like good luck to you guys. I mean they would rather and 'spuctually because MAGA. I mean, like, you know, one things of Trump it is a politics of expression. It's a politics we're just going to you know, go on Fox and say these like incendiary things and beatrolls and get people mad at us and then racking the
dough that you're gonna get from small donors. I mean, that's one model of politics. And in some ways, I mean, it's it's bad, and I would say, I would say it's less bad or more bad, but it's bad in a different way than Mitch mcconne, who really actually had an agenda of basically, I mean, the thing with Rich McConnell is he wanted to serve the donor class, you know, like the wealthy people.
You got bang for your back with McConnell.
Yeah, yeah, heat delivered. He delivered you know. The MAGA people, I mean it is more of a sort of small donor bottle, and it's more of an entertainment bottle where you know, you really become the Fox New celebrity and you can rake in money that way. Well, both end
up making America dysfunctional, but maybe in different ways. I do actually think that the Democrats will have it's always better luck with Mega, like in terms of like winning on the margins and keeping them from doing destructive things.
Well, I mean, what's interesting to me about Maga is that it's not so appealing to most people. I mean, they're even like there was recent recent again, I hate poles, So I hate every time I say Pole. I want to like I have to like give myself an electric shock. But there was some recent evidence that Christian nationalist beliefs are actually wildly unpopular, shocking, like wildly unpopular in this country.
So like smart Mega would have been like, wow, you know, we want to do this, but we're going to pretend to be normal. But there is no smart maga, right, it's an oxymoron.
Yeah, no, that's right.
Oh.
Maybe another way to put it is that the smartness comes from a different way of achieving goods. I do think that the producer theory of Donald Trump was right all along. You know, he did kind of think like, you know, if I lose this thing, I can make a lot of money. I think that there is a way in which the audience that you can get from being stupid and incendiary and not getting things done but riling people up. You know, you can make money on
that model. And he does seem like the career goals of people like Green say the House is to you know, become future right leg celebrities, to become kind of like Newt ging Ridge type figures where you can like do a lot of speaking tours and rake in the dough from that audience, and whether you achieve anything or not is like in some ways in material you can make
more money. And I actually I think Santos in the most interesting example of this, because I think his goal was actually to lose, and unfortunately he ran against New York State Democrats who actually, like, you know, like they direct his plaid by being like even less confident than he was.
Yeah, I mean that, just to take a minute to fully talk about how stupid my state is. Our governor just signed in to law a gerrymander which basically does nothing right. So they redistrict in New York State and instead of giving themselves a bunch of seats, which you would do in any other red state ever, right, I mean most red states, they've gerrymandered so badly that the courts have to come in instead of jerremander even just
a tiny bed to make it fucking fair. Our governor, who is theoretically a Democrat, just signed in this thing which basically shores up a few incumbents and fucks everybody else.
Well, again, you have to ask what is the business model. The business model is you protect the incumbents and not care what the party as a whole. And I think, I mean, I'm as grateful that Democrats have many other parts of the country are not out like that, but you are, as you seeing state democratic parties, that's you know, a lot of power to govern, to like actually do things. Unfortunately as things not said. That is not the New York model.
Yeah, Pritzker, please come here and run for governor.
That's right. Yeah, I would also Michigan and Wisconsin. So yeah, I just like New York is a little bit anomaly in a sense. It is an old style political machine of this art where you know, it's all about jobs, your critic, jobs for your buddies.
Exactly, and just very annoying on all parts. Let's talk for a minute about Michigan. Democrats, Republicans. You can make Michigan as unhappy as you want for any number of reasons. But why I want to talk about Michigan with you is because I want to talk about a guy called Bill Ackman, who is very, very very rich, and because he's very very rich, he believes that he knows a
lot about politics because he's very rich. So one of the things he did was he gave a bunch of money to a guy called Dean fell Ups, who, to quote Darwin Greenfield, who the hell is Dean Phillips still not clear, but he predicted the Dean Phillips would win Michigan.
Did Dean Phillips win Michigan.
Dean Phillips not only did not win Michigan, he got considerably fewer votes than uncommitted. The thing is, like the details like always struck me. I was thinking about writing about it, but like, honestly, one of my editors, who's not as rich as Bill Ackman, said, you know, like you really want to waste your time riding about Dean Phillips,
Like this guy's a non entity. His whole campaign like actually makes no sense because I mean additionally, he started with, you know, maybe a plausible premise, which is I'm a Biden Democrat, but you know Biden is too old and you'll elect fail do everything Biden does except I'll be young. You know, Okay, fair enough, right, But that wasn't really like resonating because people didn't say, well, who's Dean Phillips. And then he like started to like run to Biden's like right, like.
Well and also his left.
Yeah, that's why he did both things. First he actually said, you know, for you know, like I've supported Ready Care for all, you know, and that to work and then like later started playing fit see with the no labels guys, which I think is where Bill Ackman maybe comes in with that sort of I'm a centrist road. You know
Biden has gone too far. Laugh. So basically you have a campaign look like to the very small number of sickles like you would be who actually don't who deed Phillips is You're watching this and you're like, you know, like, what what is this man doing? Like well, like he's actually like occupied every space in the political spectrum, always getting the same results. With Bill Ackman, I have to say lassic case, you know, the saying is if you're
so smart, why aren't you rich? But I think it's actually like, if you're so rich, why are you so dumb? There's evidence for this that once you reach a certain level of wealth, which I pray you and I reach, and have this problem. But once you level of wealth and actually like imparis you cognitively like you cannot understand
the world the way normal person does. And you know once he's is like repeatedly in build Ackman's behavior, I mean, even beyond this, he started this feud with a former president of Harvard, which ended up leading to this massive embarrassment of Acman's wife, because you know, there's the accusations
of platiarism against a former president. But it turns out that like, you know, Acman's wife, you know, had did a PhD, but on a much greater skill like and she literally did you know the stuff that high school students are word against, which is taking Wikipedia and just
like cutting it past it into your work. I would say that, like, you know, the recent career of Bill Ackman does kind of indicate that, like you know, once you reach a certain level of wealth, you're sort of feel immune to anything and you cannot absorb reality the way that ordinary people have to because they live in a world of consequences.
Right.
One of the things I'm struck by is that Republicans they always say, like liberals live in an echo chamber, like we live in a bubble. We're in a bubble. They're in the real world. And when you listen to that little video of Bill Ackman on this guy LEXI whatever, there's a whole like can Valley.
Lex Friedman, He's not Silicon value, Okay, what is a He's an MIT scientist who went on Joe Rogan and then decided he was Joe Rogan.
Okay, so that asshole.
He has a podcast and he invites other people who he deems to be wealthy tech bros. Basically, there's a terrible group of wealthy tech bros who are torturing us
because they've decided their pundits. But one of the things that I think is really interesting about listening to Bill Ackman talk is like it's clear that wherever he gets his information, there's this sort of self referential kind of media bubble that he is in that has convinced him that maybe Dean Phillips will win the state of Michigan.
Now I want to pause for a minute and just add the caveat that not only did Dean Phillips not win the state of Michigan, but Mary and Williamson, who had dropped out of the race.
A friend of the podcast and family friend Williams did So Yeah, I know, I mean, I just it. He's close to show you the limits of teen Philips. And I have to say, like I said, like really honestly, like you have to be a really hardcore political sicko of the sort that we are. We even know who the films is, but Beyond that, I mean, like to
accept that people paid attention to that. I do think that his political meandering is the fact that he has run both you know, as Biden to the left of Biden, to the right of Biden, circling around Biden below Biden, above Biden. I think that might have put off voters and made Williams a more attractive candidate.
Well, I think they like Mary and Williamson because she has crystals, and I think crystals are very you know, if you're going to run for president, you should have crystals.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean to be honest, like if I were, you know, thinking about voting for someone that wasn't Biden and wasn't uncommitted, Yeah, Williams, what actually be my preferred choice. And beyond the crystals, you know, like she she actually stands for what she stands for. So yeah, I do think hats off to the voters of Michigan in the category of third and fourth place. They read the right call.
Right, It's true in the category of third and fourth Pat good point, Jeet. One of the other stories that I feel like has really fallen under the fallen below the radar is the story of and I think it's a doozy. The Biden impeachment, which they were really excited. They had this great, great, great witness. He was an FBI informant. He turns out to have been lying. He
is now sitting in a jail cell in Nevada. Yesterday they had what they thought was going to be this sort of moment for them, the Hunter Biden testimony, closed door testimony, which they had been working so hard to get.
Wah wah wah discuss.
Yeah, you know you're talking about that fishing expedition. I mean this is like, literally the only reason this has ever come up is because Trump was impeached twice. I think the mena theory of all tho is that the House is maga. Johnson is speaker because of Maga. He wants to serve MAGA. And they have been very eager to create a trumped up case to use the appropriate
word against Biden. And I think it's kind of significant that even honestly, like I feel like I could do a better job, Like I'm pretty sure I could go through write his record and find something that could make a you know, like semi plausible, not totally offensive impeachment case for you know, like maybe he said something that wasn't true and you could make a case that he was like underwriting trust or whatever. I don't know anything
at all. Like I feel like like like the fact that they go to this dog pood that is like you know, the Hunter Bidens, they're really committed to this. And again this goes back to what we were saying earlier, which is, you know what's the bottle?
Here?
Is the bottle that you're going to do like effective politics and achieve your goals or is it that you're going to serve the vast entertainment complex that is the Traveling Trump road Show And within that Traveling Trump road Show, you know all the Hunter Biden, Biden crime family, laptop stuff that really resonates them with that particular group of people, thankfully a small minority of Americans, and like win for everyone else and didn't like okay, yeah, well yeah, we've
been having a lot of fun. I have to say, you know, like there's some dark clouds for the Democrats. But I have to say the one thing that gives me hope is that the Republicans have lost the ability to be normal to one can posit that we've always been dealing with lizard people that have worn human masks. But in the past some of those masques who are like semi plausibly human, such as even our friend Mitch mcconnells, but they've lost that ability.
Brilliant, brilliant point get here. I hope you will come back.
You can't keep me away, Bally.
Did you know.
Rick Wilson and I are bringing together some friends for a general election kickoff party at City Winery in New York on March sixth. We're going to be chatting right after Super Tuesday about what's going on, and it is going to probably be the one fun night for the next eighty days. If you're in the New York area, please come by and join us. You can go to City Winery's website and grab a ticket. Tammy Baldwin is
the junior Senator from Wisconsin. Welcome back to Fast Politics, Senator Tammy Baldwin.
I am delighted to be back. Thanks for having me.
We are delighted to have you. Also, first we have to talk about what's happening in the United States Senate.
Right now.
You got to talk to me about the IVF thing, because it's like it's so top of right now, and the whole way it went down is, can you just talk us through what happened yesterday in the United States Senate with IVF and your namesake, Tammy Duckworth.
The other Senator Tammy.
Yes.
Well, let me start a little bit further back, which is to say, when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, that was devastating enough news, but we knew it implied that other rights and freedoms were going to be under attack, and whether that was access to contraception or other cases they decided based on a right to privacy or IVF, we knew that they were coming for
these rights and freedoms. And sure enough, last week, an Alabama court ruled that embryos, whether they are inside or outside a uterus, our children and must be protected under Alabama's wronged Death of a Minor Act. My gosh, I think of it as embryonic personhood exactly. That's exactly what
they're saying. And so people who need IVF in vitro fertilization to build their families, and my colleague, Senator Duckworth is a perfect example, felt the immediate threat by this case, and so she has long been a champion through this legislation to protect the right to build a family using IVF and other reproductive technologies. So we've brought it up
to the floor this week. And while there's a number of Republicans across the country are tripping over themselves to say, oh, no, I support IVF, I support IBF, when it comes to the opportunity to.
Enshrine that in law, they object.
They prevented it, they blocked it, and it is so frustrating and so.
Frightening to people who rely on iv.
The way they did it was you saw people like Nancy May saying they believed in ivfs.
And in fact, Nancy Mays had a sort of.
Lame messaging bill that she put on or she said she was going to put on the floor.
I don't know if she actually put on.
The which would have said they believe in IVF, I guess or something. And no, you know, I mean, these Republicans are not so good at legislating. But then Tammy Duckworth they sort of set up an IVF bill and Cindy Hyde Smith was.
Like, no, thanks, that's exactly right. And this is the second time she has gone to the floor to block important legislation like this. Again, the Supreme Court in the Dobbs decision tipped its head of what was coming next and what we might see from the states, and of course now we are seeing it, we have very strong reason to try to pass legislation to protect the many, many families who couldn't build a family but for in vitro fertilization and other assistan to reproductive technology.
One of the things that I'm struck by is so Republicans wanted to use a woman to block this legislation. I guess I mean was that the thinking in Mississippi is a state where voting is very hard, So despite the fact that the electorate looks very different than the senators, they have these very white conservative senators.
Is that correct?
Well, I certainly have no idea what they're thinking, but that's optics.
I mean she did. Indeed, I think.
This is the second occasion where she's taken to the floor to block this very important legislation to protect IVF and the sist of technology for those who want to build their families. I would say it's also not a coincidence that Mississippi is right next door to Alabama. So I think that they're setting us up for some really scary days ahead, and you know, we've got to fight back.
Listen, they took.
Forty nine years trying to use every method they could to overturn way. They took to state legislatures, they took to state courts. They ultimately had a case that made it through up to the Supreme Court. They overturned Rovers's way, and then not so subtly told us all were after other things next.
Right, It's just shocking to me.
So you are running for reelection the state of Wisconsin, one of the very few states that.
Actually matters in a presidential contest.
Let's talk about how important your state is and also what your reelect looks like.
Yeah, so it's not an exaggeration to say that Wisconsin could decide which party controls the US Senate and who occupies the White House. Trump one in sixteen in Wisconsin with a very narrow margin, under one percent. Biden won in twenty twenty, again by a razor thin margin. Our state often has statewide races that are pretty close to fifty to fifty. We had the closest US Senate race in the country in the midterms in twenty twenty two.
So that's Wisconsin for you. I think that with a very likely rematch between Trump and Biden, it's going to be hard fought. And now in Wisconsin we have just last week a candidate recruited by Washington DC Republicans launching his campaign. Let me tell you a little bit about my opponent, Eric Hovedy. He's a California bank owner. He's the president and CEO of Sunwest Bank, a two point eight billion dollar California bank. He has a seven million dollar ocean view estate.
In Laguna Beach.
He lives so much of the time in California that three years in a row he was named among the most influential business people of Orange County. Wisconsin doesn't have an Orange County.
This guy.
This guy hangs around at California, but he is coming back to Wisconsin to run and fund. You know, it's no wonder he was recruited by Washington d C Republicans. They want these candidates who doesn't matter where they live. They want him to come to Wisconsin spend his own fortune on the race. Eric Hovdey has said he'd spend as much as twenty million dollars maybe more on the race, and within one week of the launch of his campaign, he's up on television. He did a million dollars statewide
TV buy to get up. You know, it's eight and a half months out. That's a long time.
You know. They have to do that because all of the other Republican donor money is going to Donald Trump's legal bills. So they had to pick very rich candidates this cycle.
And they're doing that all over the United States, including in the battleground state of Wisconsin. So in my campaign, it's people power. I can't self fund, so we rely on folks to join in from all over the country on Tammy Baldwin dot com and help fuel this campaign. But he's just writing his own check, right, And I want.
To talk about this as a broader trend in Republican politics because it is a fascinating broader trend. You see that in Wisconsin, right, you have a guy who doesn't live in Wisconsin running for Senate. You got that in Pennsylvania you have a guy who doesn't live in Pennsylvania
running for Senate, right, he lives in Connecticut. You're seeing that these sort of billionaire carpetbaggers coming in on the ground, so you have to raise it ten times more money than you would otherwise, right, I mean that's the net of this or is there other I mean, like on the ground, do people see that this guy doesn't even live.
Here or are they sort of being lulled?
He was born in Wisconsin, but since he hasn't really lived in Wisconsin, people don't know who the heck he is. But he can buy that name recognition. And that's what he's doing right now by spending a million dollars in the first couple of weeks of his campaign on television saying Hey, this is who I am and trying to up his name recognition. So that's what's happening right now. But as we see this playbook, what I really want people to start focusing on is, Okay, where are we
on the issues? He does not represent Wisconsin values. We just had a long conversation about reproductive choice and freedom IVF et cetera. By the way, he ran in twenty twelve for US Senate, lost, came in second in the Republican primary, and then left the state again. In twenty twelve, he said he is absolutely opposed to abortion rights, that he was opposed to embryonic stem cell research that he
you know, was one hundred percent pro life. He's now being very squishy on the IVF issue, as many Republicans are, but I have to hold him in his original word. And so we need voters in Wisconsin to note that he is fine with a national abortion ban, that he is fine with the fact that there is very very little access to reproductive abortion care and reproductive care in the state of Wisconsin. And then you know, that's just one issue. He wants to overcur in the Affordable Care Act.
He wants to cut back on Social Security and Medicare. He's okay with lowering his own taxes for the ultra rich, but he wants middle class of working families to pay a little more.
Oh my gosh, this is what Wisconsin I need to know.
Yeah, I mean, it's such an interesting thing because IVF it's very hard to find normal educated people who don't believe that IVF is a net benefit, right, I mean most people. I mean it's hard to find people who don't, you know, who either haven't had a kid through IVF or haven't at least been grateful that it's available if they need it. I mean, one of the things I've really been impressed with this Republican Party is at every point they have let the zealots lead, and.
So at every point, even though it was.
Politically quite stupid, even in my head, I thought, well, they'll never go after if it's too stupid.
IVF doctors a huge amount of money.
It's a you know, like there's a reason we don't have tort reform, right, Like this is a group that's very powerful, Like you're not going to go against them.
And in fact, at every point.
Republicans have just made the stupidest, shockingly stupid choices.
Yes, we're seeing it unfold in real time.
Bully, Here you are speaking to a you know, people of Wisconsin.
You're on the ground.
I mean, you're also in the Senate, but you're back in Wisconsin a lot.
What is the mood on the ground, Because one of the things.
I've really been struck by is that it feels like the mood in the pundit industrial complex is somewhat.
Removed from the mood on the ground.
So I'm curious what you're seeing in Wisconsin when you're talking to constituents.
Well, certainly, the issue of access to full reproductive options
is still very resonant in Wisconsin. And I want to just talk about that for a quick second here, because I do get a chance to travel, and in the Washington, DC area, there are very few restrictions, and there's a palpable difference to be in a state or the district where the consequence of DOBBS is pretty minor, and then to be in a state like Wisconsin, which for fifteen months had no access at all because of a law passed in eighteen forty nine that was initially widely viewed
as a criminal abortion ban, and to hear the harrowing stories of Wisconsinites who had a crisis in their pregnancy who miscarried or partially miscarried and couldn't get services and were literally bleeding or becoming getting a high fever and not being able to access healthcare, and so you know, when I'm home, this issue is still very palpable. I just want to explain there are now a couple of Planned parenthood clinics providing service, three in fact, but that
means three counties have service. Sixty nine counties don't have access. And that's because a trial court judge said that they believe this eighteen forty nine statute was not intended to cover this particular situation. But again, Wisconsin is one of those states where people get at a fundamental level what the Dobbs decision has meant and are very aware that folks are coming after other rights and freedoms that were implicated in the Dobbs decision. So that's certainly something that
I think will motivate many voters. But beyond that, you know, I think we are still feeling the sting of prices at the grocery store.
Even though you.
Know, we read reports all the time that show how dramatically inflation has come down, We're seeing that the corporations have not lowered the price of their products that people rely on at the grocery store. But constituency democrats taking on that fight, whether it's to lower the price of healthcare and prescription drugs or standing up to corporate greed and saying, look, there needs to be a watchdog on
behalf of consumers. And so you know, that's resonant also, So those are our issues that are on the top of line, but these are really in Wisconsin, it's pocketbook issues that people are focused on.
Yeah, this is the thing that like with the Biden shrink flation, like pundits really made fun of that, but actually think that people are quite irritated that they buy a bag of Doritos and there are less Dorinos.
Absolutely, they do it because they don't think we're going to notice, like, oh, it's still the same price, but oh, family sizes went from sixteen ounces for your weekends to fourteen ounces. The toilet tissue is smaller, and the paper towels, and they're putting less dish soap in the same sized bottle, but it's just filled a little bit less. Come on, Consumers have enough on their minds to have to be
measuring every ounce is kind of crazy. We do need a sort of government watchdog on our side, I.
Think, Yeah, I think it's really interesting.
I mean, one of the things I've really been struck by with Joe Biden, and pundum world is very mad at him right now for some reasons real and some reasons imagine. But what I am very struck by is that she makes these sort of old school pushes for things that voters want, like more chips in the bag of chips and junk fees.
I think another great example, yeah, junk fees.
When he talked about that at the last State of the Union and dress and I think a lot of people were like, what are junk fees?
Oh?
Then they look at their you know, all the different fees and things that are attached to various lonthly bills they pay or one time only.
It's quite something.
It stacks up, it piles up, and people see it every day.
Yeah, no, it's incredible. Tammy Baldwin, I hope you will come back.
Well, thank you. I really appreciate the invitation.
Sue Altman is a congressional candidate in New jersey is seventh district. Welcome to Fast Politics, Sue Altman.
Thank you, Walie, thanks for having me.
So you're running for the United States House of Representatives tell.
Us, yes, I am so.
New Jersey's seventh district, which is the district that goes from coast to coast in New Jersey, from the Delaware River all the way to whatever that body of water is that separates us from Staten Islands. It's a very interesting district. It's not the Hudson. It's a different body of water. What is it, I don't know, has a long dut name. So NJ seven is currently represented by Tom Kain Junior. And this is a guy whose dad is the former governor back when I was a baby.
He's a total depo baby, which again a condition near and dear in my heart, but not so good for leadership.
Exactly.
So he was a state senator for a long time. He doesn't hold town paulls, he doesn't make public appearances. Just last week, we had a whole big demonstration outside of this fancy schmancy golf course in Union County because guess what he was hosting, Mike Johnson, the awful Speaker of the House Republican, obviously, where a fundraiser there, and
the people of New Jersey just weren't having it. So they actually ended up moving the fundraiser, I think because they were so scared because we had this whole protest going on outside and God forbid we disturb them. But he doesn't make public appearances, and so instead he takes his marching orders from Johnson, he takes his marching orders
from Trump is no spine. And what I have to bring to the seventh is I'm a lifelong fighter for the people of New Jersey and I plan on continuing that fight in Congress.
So one of the reasons why we're having you on is because you are part of these flippable seats to one of these d triple c red to blue where the House of the.
Control of the House of Representatives, which right now my Johnson has by two seats YEP, will come down to districts like yours. So tell us about your district and sort of about how you plan.
To win it.
Oh, it is such a winnable district. So it turns out this is the most highly educated district in the whole country still represented by a Republican with his prime for the taking. It's the place I've lived most of my life. I grew up in Hunting County. You actually
have three components of this district. You have the rural part, the last remaining rural area in the northern part of New Jersey, which has got Warren in Sussex County, which is really interesting because Tom Kain Junior is not, by no means a guy who's familiar with farms or rural areas or has any connection to that lifestyle at all. So I think there's a lot of votes we can get out there. Then we have a big affluent suburban area, and I grew up and I know we grew up
in this area. I know a lot of people who are Republicans in this area, particularly women on affiliated voters, and they are so frustrated with the direction the Republican Party has taken. When they signed up to be voters, they signed up with Christine Todd Whitman was the governor,
a pro environment, pro choice. Look, I don't agree with her on a lot of issues, but she was part of that sort of old school Republican, kind of normy Republican world that is not the Republican Party that we have today.
And the people in this.
District are extremely frustrated and think that the Republican Party has gone completely off the rails. And Tom Kane Junior, who maybe they thought might have been a moderate or he ran as a moderate the last time he ran, simply hasn't been acting like a moderate in Congress. He has no spine at all. But then on the eastern side of the district is the more urban side of the district Rahway and Linden, and those are directly connected to New York City by train, as is much of
my district. So we can find votes in every nook and cranny of this district. It is a district that Biden won by four points, so this is not a trumpy district. It's a presidential year, so turnout will be very high. And I think people are ready for change. They're sick of cronyism, they're sick of the nepotism, and they're ready for someone who will go to Congress and fight for the people represent them. Tom Pain doesn't have town halls. It's disrespectful to the people in this district.
So I will make myself available.
I already have.
He's creating a vacuum, and this campaign's going to fill it.
One of the things I think is quite interesting about this kind of Republican is there used to be you would have these sort of center of the road Republicans, But because the leadership in the House is so incredibly dysfunctional, they don't have the votes to let those people vote against crazy stuff.
So Tom has had to.
Vote for I mean, unless I'm not completely sure, but I would assume he's had to vote for the majorcus of peachment, Biden impeachment. He's had to vote for, you know, cutting a cr that cuts to the budget for twenty percent. You know, he's probably voted for some pretty insane messaging bills. I mean, there is no room for moder it's anymore in that party.
And look, that's their problem, that's not our problem. Our problem is to punch them in the ballot box for choosing extremism as a party, which is what they've done. Have enabled Trump, They've enabled extremism. There is so little courage in that party. They deserve to lose this race, and they lose it badly, and not just this right all over the country, and they deserve to love the House.
Yeah.
I never thought that they would come out against IVF. You know, they refuse to support the bill to codify it, and in the House, and a Paulina Luna you may remember her as a complete lunatic, just took her name off the House version of it.
The attack on women's rights is appalling, and I think in my district in particular, this is what I'm hearing the most from a lot of the swing voters who might otherwise be Republicans. This has settled law in New Jersey, not just on the books, this is settled law culturally. Abortion, IVF, contraception gain marriage. I mean, these are issues that, like people in New Jersey haven't litigated for a generation. And the idea that the Republicans are forcibly taking us back
to have to have these conversations again. I mean, I will tell you the eyebrows have been raised in this district and there's just noo for the way this party is treating women. And I think you're going to see a major backlash this cycle. And then as a woman running, I think I'm a great messenger for that. And I've had many friends who've had IVF and you know, and the idea that this is that all controversial really boggles the mind.
Yeah, Like I guess they think that women don't vote, or don't read, or don't notice, or they just don't care.
I'm not sure there's a galaxy rain strategist think at all this stuff out.
I think they've caught the car.
With the Row versus Wade overturning and now it's just a completely uncontrollable wildfire against women. And I don't know if there's some kind of electoral strategists behind this.
It doesn't appear like that to me.
And I know Tom Kane has been in completely without courage when it comes to these issues. There was a bill over the summer or before the summer that wouldn't allow women who needed abortions to leave military bases and go get them if the abortions were not legal in that area. And he voted for that bill when Guy the River, Brian Fitzpatrick voted against it. And that's a Republican. So when Tom Kane has had the opportunity to stand up for women, he simply has not. And that's a
terrible look. And I don't think you get away with that this cycle.
So the big question that I'm very curious about is do voters get it?
Do voters hear it? Do voters now?
I think they do everywhere I go, and I've now talked to thousands of people, and I've talked to people across all party lines and people who are unaffiliated, and this and other issues a democracy. Trump's corruption have definitely filtered into the regular people. And sometimes things take time.
I mean, I know that the road decision should have been a play last cycle, but sometimes it takes time for people to really understand the ramifications of that and just see firsthand that there's no handbreak in the Republican Party. There're just nobody who can control this extremist element, and the quote unquote Republican establishment is just hanging on for the ride, and that puts us all in danger.
That's right.
I think like one of the things that I feel like in pundent world is we're always like how much of what's happening is getting to voters? Like, because you know, we see the numbers for people who engage in mainstream media or even television, you know, and those numbers are down, down, down, So it's more of a sense of like, you know, our voters activated on the ground, and are you seeing that?
And it sounds like you are, yeah, I would say so.
I mean there are different circles of voters, right there are the grassrooms activists who I think are very activated, and I think everyone's kind of come to terms because many of these grassroots advocates came into the political awareness when Trump got elected in twenty sixteen, and that's now like eight years ago, and so you're talking about a group of people who went from oh my gosh, Trump's selected, let's start organizing, to now, this is a commitment they're
making in their lifestyle, in their lives for democracy. You're in and you're out. This is a seasoned bunch in NJ seven. The grassroots organizations, the local municipal parties, they are a season group of organizers, a seasoned group of people. They know how to knock doors, they know how to talk to voters, and my.
Faith is with them.
They are committed and they see what I see, which is that all of us this is the price we have to pay to live in a democracy. Right now, we have to commit to getting people registered, signed up for vote by mail, persuading voters to might not normally vote, and making sure I mean that's the job of the campaign and our grassroots organizers. It's our job to make sure that people understand what's at stake. And based on my conversations with people so far, I think the ground
is very fertile for that conversation. And I think a lot of people are pretty aware of what the Republicans are trying to pull and the citicism through which they govern, and I think that really frustrates people. You have the least effective, the least productive Congress we've ever had in American history, and there's a real people are real sick and tired of it, and they're sick and tired of the games because actual human beings are suffering as a result of it.
You know, it's funny because I think about there was a piece in The Times recently about how liberals are tired and not engaged, But it does seem to me.
Like they're not. It seems like they're quite engaged.
And I think that the threat to democracy plus these weird additions to the Republican war on women's health, have been very motivated.
They're very motivating. I mean, I don't know.
I didn't read that New York Times piece. I probably wouldn't know if I saw it, but I would invite that reporter to come to New Jersey seven because we've been packing rooms. There's a lot of buzz in the air right now. We have a lively US Senate primary. There's a lot of conversation about what it means to be in a democracy in New Jersey but also across the country, and people are fighting fiercely for the right to live in this democracy. And we see it as
part of what's happening around the globe. So I feel very strongly that the people in NJ seven big advocates, but eventually to the voters will be very engaged.
In this race.
This is a sophisticated district with a lot of commitment to democracy, the idea of democracy, the ideals behind electing a representative who goes to Congress and actually represents the district, not a distant entity like the National Republican Party.
Those ideals hold firm.
In this district, and I know that our voters will see what's happening and vote accordingly.
What do you think that's sort of thinking on the ground there is like I mean, is he out?
Is he campaigning? I mean, what does it look like?
Oh?
Tom Kane doesn't campaign No way. People ask me what you can date you?
I was like, I would love a debate with Tom ka can bring it on. I love a debate, I love a one on one basketball game. Whatever he wants to participate in with me, I am there. But he won't do it because he's a coward. He never showed up as a state senator.
He didn't show up as a candidate for US Congress, and he's not showing up as an actual congressman. Imagine getting elected to the US Congress. It is the honor of a lifetime. It is the most humbling responsibility anybody could be tasked with. And your response to that challenge is to never come out in public and to only hang out with donors and only hang out with National
Republican Party figures. I mean, it's one thing to make that choice as a candidate and they say, Okay, my strategic advantage is DIVI I don't stick my head out. But it is entirely different. It is a dereliction of duty to make that choice as a sitting congressman. And the people in ninj seven they're hard workers. They care about feeling represented, and Tom Kaye Tunior is not doing his job. And you say that, and you get a lot of ears perking up from people across the political spectrum.
You can't get away with being a lazy congressman in New Jersey.
Yeah, it's kind of amazing, right like that, that we've had these times where we've seen Republicans refuse too. I mean it's happened on the Democratic side too. I mean it's why Democrats lost the House. I mean they just didn't engage with those flippable seats.
Yeah, I mean that's a mistake.
This campaign won't make I think we should go after and we will go after our voters in every area of this district, and we will pursue them and not just to get their vote, but to hear what's on their mind and to make sure it's incorporated into how we run this campaign and how it will serve as a congressper and once I get there. People want to feel like they have a voice. They want to feel like when they elect someone, that person will do their
darnedest to represent this district. We did a youth round table over the summer, and youth are amazing because they have such little tolerance for nonsense and bs and over and over again, and we did this. I'm a forward teacher, so we did a great exercise where it was very
interactive and over and over again. The underlying message was we don't have to agree with every single policy that you have or every single stance that you take in What we want to feel like is you're going to go to Congress and you're going to fight for us. You're going to know where we're coming from. You're going to understand the struggles we're feeling. And for young people,
they have to move back to their parents' house. They can't afford to break out on their own after college or after trade school, and they want to feel like somebody's in Congress who's going to fight for that stuff. That's it, That's what they care about. They want to feel represented, which is the original idea behind Congress. And it's what's so awful and disrespectful about the way Tom Kane represents this district.
Tell us your backstory.
So I grew Laturning County. I played a lot of basketballctually ended up playing basketball in college and then professionally for two years as well, which was great. I played in Ireland and Germany. I wasn't quite good enough for the WNBA, although I'm thrilled that women's basketball and women's sports right now seems to be having a moment, and
it couldn't delight me more to see that happening. After I was done there, I was a teacher for four years in Blairstown, and then I went to Oxford and England for two degrees, one the International Comparative Education and one in business in NBA. And when I came back, I fought both Chris Christy and corrupt Democrats, which you might have to be surprised to find out we.
Have no it's New Jersey.
It is New Jersey, and you know Bob and endes.
Yeah, corruption, I.
Think best example ify by what we've learned about Bob Menendez. But I fought corruption in both parties, and particularly I fought for school and I fought for schools and school funding and saw what Chris Christie was doing, which was decimating our public school system, something that you know, my parents moved into New Jersey to have. I was the beneficiary of a wonderful public school system in New Jersey
and that remains a centerpiece of my campaign. I was recruited from community organizing in Camden, New Jersey, which is where I was for seven years of my life doing a lot of organizing down there. We fought actually, in particular against a tax and centive policy that fleeced, in my opinion, fleeced the New Jersey taxpayers to the two of a billion dollars. And that really gives me a lot of credibility when I go and talk to unaffiliated voters who feel like New Jersey's taxes are too high.
They don't know what happens when they pay their tax money. And the fact that I've been able to fight both parties against corruption and the poor use of public resources really gives me a lot of credibility in some of these places where they're a little skeptical both parties, frankly. But from there I was recruited to run New Jersey Working Families and in a statewide level, created coalitions and brought in partners to really fight corruption at a systematic level.
We used litigation and legislation and other tactics to fight for democracy and against corruption in Trenton, which unfortunately really needs it and needed it at the time. And then when Tom Owin asked, you lost my predecessor, fully predecessor
in NJ seven. At that point, I'd moved back to where I grew up after the pandemic, and when he lost it was obviously very heartbreaking, but I knew that this was a moment that even though I loved what I was doing in state of politics, I loved creating a little bit of chaos trying to clean up that place and set the record straight in Trenton, I knew that what was happening in Washington was a real triage moment, and I needed to put my energy and focus and
my abilities and all that I've been given to try to make sure that we had better representation in Congress than what tom Kin was ever going to do.
So that's my backstory.
Well that is a great and super interesting backstory. Thank you so much for joining us, keep us posted.
Okay, wonderful, Molly, it was a pleasure, and thank you.
Jesse. Come a visit a moment, Jesse Cannon, Molly jung Fast.
You know, one of the things you and I discussed a lot is how much we hate the governoring body and the legislature in our home state of New York. What are you seeing here?
Our governor had a chance, Kathy Hope, to jerrymander some seats allah our favorite king Governor Pritzker, and instead she decided to just let Republicans have it. And so she has signed into law a new redistricting map which basically doesn't jerrymander and makes it much harder for Democrats to win back the House and is really good proof that when Democrats are not pushed, they will just do what
is easy versus what is right. And so you have Republicans jermandering the whole Congress and then you have Kathy Hochel somehow pretending that this was a big victory won.
In fact, if Democrats lose the House, it will be because of Kathy Hockel.
Just like last time when Democrats lost the House, it was because of Andrew Cuomo. So you can imagine how fucking pissed off Jesse and I are right. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to hear the best minds in politics makes sense of all this chaos. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going. And again, thanks for listening.