Latest / Pod Save America / "The Most Dangerous Candidate of 2022?"

Transcript

"The Most Dangerous Candidate of 2022?" · Pod Save America

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: On today's show, the winners of Tuesday's primaries range from
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: new progressive challengers to some of the most extreme Republicans yet.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: And later... We talked to one of the night's big winners,
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Democrat Sherry Beasley, the former Chief Justice of the North
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Carolina Supreme Court, who will be running for Senate against
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: MAGA Republican Ted Budd in November. And speaking of candidates
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: in big races, next Tuesday on Pod Save America, we
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: will be joined by Los Angeles mayoral candidate and longtime
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: California Congresswoman Karen Bass right here in studio. And if
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: you live in California, this Monday... is the deadline to
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: register or update your registration online and still have your
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: primary day ballot mailed to you. But just in case
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: you forget, no worries. California also has same-day in-person registration.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: You can find out more at votesaveamerica.com slash California. Also,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: check out this week's Pod Save the World, where Tommy's
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: joined by Palestinian writer and journalist Jalal Aboukader to discuss
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: the killing of beloved Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. And
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: the violence he witnessed by Israeli police at Shireen's funeral. Dan,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: I believe there's also a brand new Political Experts React
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: out this week.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Who do you got?
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Well, John, I'm so glad you brought that up. Yes,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: we have a new episode of Political Experts React. We
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: are breaking down midterm ads that went viral. crooked media's
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: own chief content officer, Tanya Sominator.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: What?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, I know.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Amazing. You've got Tanya again.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Heart like hardest booking we've had. We nailed her down.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: We got it. And we look at ads from Dr. Oz,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: awkwardly holding a gun, a really, uh, interesting and I
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: think successful piece of viral content from Midas touch and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: some really, uh, MAGA Michael Bay vibe ads from Ohio
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: congressional candidates. So check it out. Go over to YouTube.com
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: slash Crooked Media. Watch the video and obviously smash that
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: subscribe button.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: If you haven't watched Political Experts React yet, you are
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: missing out because Dan Pfeiffer is a YouTube sensation.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It is one of.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Our most popular video products here at Crooked Media.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Not one of, John. Not one of. Read my writer.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: It is not one of.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I'm thinking of doing an offline episode soon on why
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Dan Pfeiffer is the most popular YouTube star of his generation.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Well, that would be a very short episode because I
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: think it's self-evident. But here's what you need to know
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: about Political Expert Jack. If you watch three episodes and
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: you smash the subscribe button, you become a political expert.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So that is why it's a podcast.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: Well, that's it.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: And maybe you get a free copy of Battling the
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Big Lie.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: No, I just did it that way.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, are you buying? Are you doing a bulk buy
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: of my book?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I'm paying for this.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I will buy you.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: If times are tough, inflation is high, and you want
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a copy of Battling the Big Lie, reach out to
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Jon Favreau on Twitter. He will buy you one if
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: you can prove you watch Political Experts React.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: There we go. I'm just trying to promote all your content.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: We need all the help we can get, Jon. We
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: are in the final stretch here.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the news.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Tuesday was the biggest set of midterm primaries yet, with
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: voters selecting Democratic and Republican nominees in North Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky, Idaho,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: and Pennsylvania, the perennial swing state which featured the most
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: consequential races of the evening. We're going to talk about
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: all the results, but let's start with the race for
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Pennsylvania governor, where Attorney General Josh Shapiro won the Democratic
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: nomination after running unopposed and winning his last two statewide
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: campaigns by convincing margins in 2016 and 2020. He will
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: face one of the most extreme candidates to ever run
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: for governor in America. State Senator Doug Mastriano, who wanted
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: to throw out the votes of millions of Pennsylvanians in 2020,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: helped organize the January 6th rally in D.C. and was
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: caught on video breaching the barricades set up by the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Capitol Police. Dan, how did Mastriano beat a crowded Republican field?
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And why should we lose sleep over this particular election?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I think there are two reasons he won. The
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: first one is perhaps the most concerning, which is that
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: there is a very strong, very clear plurality in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Republican primary electorate for the most aggressive, the most pugilistic, ethno-nationalist, authoritarian,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: big lie believer they can find. That is what the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Republican primary electorate wants. They also have a very good
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: bullshit detector for who says it and who believes it.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And Masturano absolutely clearly believes it. And they are willing
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to put aside Sanity, corruption, electability, anything else for the
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: person that they think will, much like Donald Trump in 2016,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: stand up against the thing they fear most, which is
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: the idea that their version of America, a white, straight,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Christian version, is under assault from change, progress. And whoever
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: will stand up against that is who they want. Whether
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: the elites think they're going to win, whether they are
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: corrupt or they really believe– whether they are true, adopt
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: other parts of sort of this Christian nationalist ethos that
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Mastriano has, they will take that person. The other reason
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: is more tactical and I think leads to a different conversation,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: which is Josh Shapiro's campaign identified Mastriano as the candidate
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: they would most like to run against. Mastriano did not
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: have a ton of money at the outset, spent very
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: little money on paid media and mail. So Mastriano's campaign
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: ran about $ 800, 000 of ads and mail attacking Mastroianno as
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: the candidate most like Trump, the biggest Trump supporter, the
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: one Trump wanted most, which was free advertising for Mastroianno
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: and helped lift him in the primary. Is that the
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: only reason he won? Is that the main reason he won?
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: It's impossible to say, but it certainly was a contributing
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: factor that Josh Shapiro's campaign inserted themselves in that primary
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to help select their opponent.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I saw this.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Someone asked Josh Shapiro's campaign about this, and they said
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: that by the time they ran those ads- it was
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: clear Mastriano was ahead in the polls. And what they
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: were trying to do was start the general election early
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: to remind people as early as possible and start educating
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: people as early as possible about how extreme Mastriano is.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: And the other thing is, of course, he did get that,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: you know, they said he's most like Trump. He's the
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: one who got the Trump endorsement.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he got it late. He got it late. Like,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: given what Mastriano won by and just how terrible the
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: other candidates in the field were, it's possible he, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: perhaps even probable, he would have won absent that. But
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: it did create this like news cycle that very much
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: helped Mastrano, which is a bunch of people see ads
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: saying he's pro-Trump. Then he said he's rising in the polls.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Republicans start panicking about it, which becomes when the Republican
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: establishment says this candidate is unelectable or too MAGA-like or
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: too Trump-like, that actually becomes like that reinforces their bona
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: fides with the MAGA base. And so Whether it's the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: reason or not, I do not know, but it's part
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: of the story of why he won for sure.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: But this guy is scary. I realize there's a lot
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: of hyperbole out there. This guy, he fits all of
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: the most dire warnings about him. He is an extreme
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Christian nationalist who has said that he believes God is
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: using him to change history. That is what Doug Mastriano said.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: If he becomes governor... The 13 million Americans who live
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: in Pennsylvania do not get to choose the president in 2024.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Doug Mastriano gets to choose the president in 2024. He
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: was bragging just today about how if he gets elected,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: he gets to decertify election machines. He gets to appoint
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: a secretary of state that will be compliant to do
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: whatever he wants. If Donald Trump runs and doesn't win
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: in 2024, doesn't win fairly in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano will
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: just overturn the election in that state. He will push
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the legislature to appoint their own series of Trump electors.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: And so he gets to choose the president in 2024.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes are off the table if Doug
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Mastriano wins in 2022. That's how serious it is. If
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: democracy is not your issue, Doug Mastriano becomes governor. You're
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: one of the tens of thousands of women who have
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: a pregnancy with complications that may threaten your life. The
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: state of Pennsylvania will condemn you to death. because of
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Doug Mastriano, because he thinks that you should die, because
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: he wants to criminalize all abortion with no exception for rape, incest,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: or the health or life of the mother. Again, he
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: says this is his sincere religious belief. He thinks it's
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: okay to prevent gay couples from adopting a child. He
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: wants to mandate the teaching of the Bible in public schools.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: He's attended QAnon events. He's attended events held by a
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: religious cult that believes, quote, they have been tasked with
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: battling real-world demons, quote, who control global leaders. This is
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: the fucking guy that Republicans have nominated in the state
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: of Pennsylvania.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Endorsed by the leader of their party, Donald J. Trump.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Republican Mar-a-Lago.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, again, just to get a sense of how
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: extreme this guy is, the Republican Governors Association, not a
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: bunch of libs over in the Republican Governors Association.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: They released.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: A very tepid statement about Mastriano's win right after he
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: clinched the nomination. And the only thing that the statement
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: really said was, quote, Republican voters have chosen him.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: That's all they can say about him.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Some Republican officials in Pennsylvania have told reporters that they
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: might endorse Schumer. uh, who most political analysts now say
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: is the slight favorite in the governor's race. Uh, even
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: though the Senate race, which we're going to talk about
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: in a second is rated as a toss up, um,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: because the political environment is so tough for Democrats, but
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: because Mastriano is so extreme, uh, this race is rated
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: as lean Democrat.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Dan?
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Like, does Shapiro have the slight edge here? And should
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: he be running a race where he's trying to pick
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: off Republicans?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Well, first I want to say, let's be very clear
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: about the Republican Governors Association. This is not about the
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: fact that they think Doug Mastriano is dangerous. They just
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: think he's not necessarily electable and they don't want to put,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: they don't want to waste money on an unelectable candidate.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: So what they're going to do is they're going to
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: wait and they're going to look at the polls. And
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: if the polls are close and they think they have
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a shot, They will 100% lock solid guarantee invest in
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: that race. It's just like every Republican with Trump when
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: they were like, in 2016, we're going to stand back.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: After the Access Hollywood tape, we're not going to endorse him.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: And then once they thought it was close, they got
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: behind him again. So they're not getting any Profiles in
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Courage award for that tepid statement. And I think the
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: same thing is going to be gone for a bunch
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: of Republican elected officials in Pennsylvania. We should not presume
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: that they're going to do the right thing here. unless
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: it becomes patently obvious that Mastroianno can't win. If he
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: can win, they're going to be behind him. Now, that
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: is the most important thing to know here is I
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: do think it is true that Shapiro has a slight edge,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: for sure. He's a good candidate. Mastroianno was not a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: good candidate. Because of Mastroianno's incredibly extreme stances, he has
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: a larger set of the electorate that's available to him.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Mastroianno is the kind of candidate– who can push some
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of the Republicans and independents who supported Biden but are
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: thinking about a Republican back into this camp. But we
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: should be clear that Mastroianno can win this race. Shapiro
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: is at best a slight favorite. And so it is very,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: very possible. This is not one we cannot be complacent about.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: We should be fully prepared that if we do not
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: do everything possible, we will have someone as dangerous as Mastroianno.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: as the governor of this state. And so in terms
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: of strategy, yes, he should reach out to Republicans. He
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: shouldn't do it at the expense of trying to turn
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: out the Democratic base. The Republicans he should be looking
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: for are the Republicans who voted for Joe Biden in
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: 2020 and voted for a Democrat in the House or
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: the Senate in 2018. That is the universe of Republicans
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: I think he should be looking for.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, just so everyone's clear how difficult this year
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: is going to be, Pennsylvania voted to the right of
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: the country in 2020 by like.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: What, three, four points?
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Joe Biden wins the popular vote by about four points,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: wins Pennsylvania by one point. So if we have a
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: midterm where the national vote Republicans are tied or ahead
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: or whatever, now imagine Pennsylvania three to four points to
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: the right, and you realize how even a candidate with
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: a slight edge like Josh Shapiro is going to have
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: an uphill climb just because of the overall political environment.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I do think that Shapiro was out with a message
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: about Mastriano the night of the primary. He released a statement.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: I thought it was a pretty strong message to start with.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: He said, Mastriano wants to dictate how Pennsylvanians live their lives.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: That's not freedom.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Real freedom comes when we trust Pennsylvanians to make their
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: own decisions about who they love, who they pray to,
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: and how and when they start a family.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I think that's pretty good. Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: It tells me that Josh Shapiro watches Pod Save America.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's been on.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: No one else has thought of that other than us,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: so yes.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: No, but it is the type of message that both,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, as our friend Anat Shankarosori always says,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: excites the base, but also persuades the middle. Like, I
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: think that is a, it's a very good message. So
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: the Senate race. We now have a Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania,
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who won a landslide victory on
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Tuesday night while recovering from a stroke. He took nearly
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: 60% of the vote while Congressman Conor Lamb got 26%,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: and State Rep Malcolm Kenyatta got 10%. Some pundits are
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: saying this was an important ideological battle between the more
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: progressive Fetterman and the more moderate Lamb. Others have pointed
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: to Fetterman's near-universal name ID, his style, even his sweatshirt,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: sweatshort aesthetic. The Atlantic's David Graham had my favorite line.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: He wrote that Fetterman, quote, Looks like he was hacked
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: together from spare parts in an oil street, Pittsburgh chopper garage.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Uh, what do you think? What do you think is
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: going on with Fetterman?
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, the idea that this was some sort of
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: major ideological clash in the party between the left and
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: the center is absurd. I think it is fair to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: say that Conor Lamb was a more attitudinally moderate candidate
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: and Fetterman endorsed Bernie Sanders is, uh, and very aggressively
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: for legalizing marijuana, even put a flag, a legalized marijuana
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: flag above where the lieutenant governor works. But in the
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: end of the day, I don't think any voter looked
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: at this from an ideological perspective. They looked at it
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: from which candidate they wanted to fight for them and
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: which candidate they thought could win. And Fetterman came at
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: us with a gigantic advantage. As was pointed out, he
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: had 100% name ID. He had run statewide. Conor Lamb
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: had been in the House for like a hot second.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: No one knew who he was. And so we, we
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: never even got to the ideological. I don't think it
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: would have been ideological. We never even got to that
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: because Fetterman came in. This was such an advantage. And
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: there was no real argument against Fetterman. It's hard to say,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: like as Conor Lamb super PAC did that Fetterman can't
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: win statewide when he has won statewide. Right. So it
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: becomes very, it was like, he was, he's a good margins.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: By huge margins.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: He's done, he's done very well and he's done well
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: in the exact parts of the state where Democrats have
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: been losing. So he, like he had a, electability argument.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: He had the enthusiasm of the base. It was a
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: pretty overwhelming win for Fetterman.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Again, I know it's difficult for all of us highly
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: engaged partisans who live on Twitter to imagine that a
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: lot of voters don't approach the race via ideological positioning
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: and even issue positioning, but it happens. That's the way
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: that voters are. And look, Fetterman is, he is more
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: progressive than Lamb for sure. he doesn't fit neatly into
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: any categories, even if you go by his issue positions, right?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Like he, he, he supported Bernie in 16. Um, he, uh,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: but for $ 15 minimum wage, very pro union legalizing weed,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: very pro choice, no corporate money, but then he opposes
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: mask mandates, wants to keep title 42 supports fracking, even
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: though he supports the rest of the climate agenda from Democrats.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: So like he is sort of, he's an interesting political
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: figure in the positions that he holds. Um, I was
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: listening to, uh, Sarah Longwell's podcast, she is a never Trumper.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: She does a lot of focus groups and she was
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: doing focus groups of Pennsylvania voters leading up until the primary.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: She said that originally, you know, she's a never Trumper
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: and she thought that Conor Lamb would be the stronger candidate.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Then she sat in a bunch of focus groups and
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: she said that Federman, John Federman is the only candidate
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: that she has heard voters enthusiastic.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: About all cycle.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: Like she couldn't believe the enthusiasm from, from Pennsylvanians, mostly Democrats,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: of course, about John Fetterman. But then she also said
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: he's the only candidate who some of the Trump voters
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: in her Trump groups that she's talked to said that
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: they would consider voting for. Partly because he looks like
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: he could be a Trump voter. John Fetterman, like, let's
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: be honest, you know? I mean, the Conor Lamb Super
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: PAC ran all these ads saying that Fetterman was a
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: silver spoon socialist. Like, First of all, I don't even
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: know what that means. John Fetterman doesn't look like a
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: silver spoon socialist, you know? And you see this, like,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: you know, we're going to talk about David McCormick, who's
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: potentially one of his opponents. McCormick was on Laura Ingraham
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: the other night, and he's like, well, you know, he's
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: got this look, but the guy has a trust fund,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: and he went to Harvard. Like, he's trying. They realize
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: that John Fetterman's style, his appearance, how he does politics
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: is a threat. Because, you know, you can get away
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: with a lot more when you have that kind of style.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it's also just the thing with everyone should imprint
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: in their brain is that identity trumps ideology, right? It
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: is people identify with parts of John Fetterman, who he is,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: where he's from, who he's going to fight for is more.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: But they're not like looking at him on some sort of,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: you know, National Journal vote scale of what he supports.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: He He looks– and his look helps him because he
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: seems like an outsider. If there's one thing voters have
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: told us over and over and over again is they
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: want an outsider, right? Whether that is Barack Obama, that
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: is Donald Trump, that is across the board what people
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: want is an outsider. And John Fenneman, even though he
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: is sitting in lieutenant governor's office, is clearly by every
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: part of his life story and his appearance and his
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: personal demeanor and his ideologically complicated policy agenda– is not
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a traditional politician. And that is to his tremendous advantage
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: in this primary and in the general election.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: An outsider, but someone who also seems Pennsylvanian to his core.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: And at a time of extreme economic distress that a
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: lot of people are feeling, particularly because of inflation, who
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: focuses almost exclusively on economic populism, right? In a state where,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: you know, very much, and he goes to Trump country
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: and goes to rural areas in Pennsylvania and talks to
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: voters and about and with and brings a very economically
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: populous message like which which works which works so let's
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: talk about the republican primary uh in pennsylvania still undecided
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: looking forward still undecided as of this recording i was
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: concerned that that might change by the end of this
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: recording but it still looks like they got a ways
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: to go to count ballots here. So out of more
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: than a million ballots cast, New Jersey resident Dr. Mehmet
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Oz is ahead of Connecticut resident David McCormick. I think it, again,
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: it's Thursday morning. It's like around 1,000 votes now. That's
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: all I'm going to say. It's around 1,000 votes. They
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: are still counting mail-in ballots for which... Republicans, of course,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: have a newfound affection for counting mail ballots. So they're
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: trying to count all the mail ballots. There's some provisional
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: ballots here and there. There's a couple counties where there's
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: still ballots they're counting. So they got some work to do.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, who endorsed Dr. Oz, has obviously encouraged him
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: to just declare victory because, quote, it makes it much
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: just happened to find. Meanwhile, Kathy Barnett, a right-wing extremist
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: who's compared Muslims to Satan and gay people to criminals,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: came in third with 25% of the vote despite a
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: late polling surge that suggested she might win. So the
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: polls before Election Day had McCormick comfortably in third. They
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: had Barnett surging. What do you think happened?
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I think it's possible that horse race polling has reached
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: the level of statistical alchemy. Maybe it just means nothing.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Primary polling especially is not always as reliable as general
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: election polling, which as we've also seen.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: It's not that reliable.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: It's not that reliable as well. But especially primary polling
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: is tough.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I mean it's hard to know. I mean the race
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: clearly was moving pretty quickly, right? Barnett went from almost
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: nothing to– like– We have a huge– we have like
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: a fruit from a poison tree problem because all of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: our comparisons here are other polls. But if you look
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: at the aggregate of the limited obviously flow of polling
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: we have, Barnett went from clearly nothing to very much
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: in the mix to a massive amount of scrutiny on her,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: some pretty powerful right-wing figures attacking her. And so maybe
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: she went up and she came down and some of
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: that went to McCormick, but that doesn't make a ton
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: of sense. The McCormick thing also doesn't fit within the
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: normal– or the way we sort of have understood polling
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: misses recently, which is we're undercounting MAGA voters. But McCormick
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: is probably less of a MAGA voter– like less of
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: a candidate for MAGA voters than Barnett and Oz, who
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: has the endorsement of Trump. But they're all kind of MAGA. Yeah.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Who knows?
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Who knows? I think there's an argument to say that
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: media organizations should stop doing horse race polling full stop because, like,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: what's the point? And it's almost always wrong.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: I saw someone who knows Pennsylvania tweeting that sometimes these
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: polls discount, primary polls discount normie Republicans, the few that
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: are left. And David McCormick certainly might be the candidate
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: of more, you know, the Mitt Romney voters, right? The
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: people who are somehow still Republican voters. uh, that are
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: like more suburban voters.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: I think it's hard to know. I guess if like
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: the way that that could work and not that anyone
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: other than you and I talking about this care, but
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: I guess everyone will have to listen is like the
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: screen is interesting, right? So is it people who Republicans
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: who voted for Biden in 20 who, or did not
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: vote in a Republican primary in 18?
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Those people aren't super engaged. Maybe they don't pick up
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: the phone when a pollster calls that kind of thing.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. That's a possibility. It's a theory.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Or it's just all wrong and broken. Like a broken clock,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: it's broken in all different ways. 100%.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: All right. You're John Fetterman. Would you rather face in
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: the general David McCormick or Dr. Oz, and how would
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: you run against each of them?
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: We've been sort of having this ongoing conversation about who
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: would you want to run against between Oz and McCormick.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: And I think it's kind of a... Tough call. I
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: think Fetterman is a very strong contrast against both, because
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: as you point out, he is Pennsylvania through and through.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: He has populist working class roots from being mayor of Braddock,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: his policy agenda, and he's running against a millionaire celebrity
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: doctor from New Jersey and a billionaire hedge fund guy
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: from Connecticut. Either one of those is a good contrast.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I tend to think, and I think Fetterman is probably
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: the slightest of favorites against either for those reasons, slightest
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: of favorites, right? He's like a little bit closer to
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: lean Democrat than like right on the nose of toss up.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: But the thing I worry about with McCormick, who is,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I want to be very clear, a historically shitty candidate.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: He is just like evidence that if you have enough money,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: you can buy enough votes to potentially win a nomination.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Like he has no charisma, no presence. He just, he,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Might as well be wearing a t-shirt that says hedge
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: fund billionaire country club. He is terrible. But what he
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: now has is that not only did Trump endorse Oz,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: he aggressively opposed McCormick. And that is going to give,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I think, McCormick some Glenn Youngkin moderate credentials that his
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: policy agenda does not warrant. But the fact that Trump
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: opposed him, I think, could create a permission structure for
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: some of the voters that we need who supported Democrats
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: in 18 and 20, but we're going to need a
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: 2022 to stick with us. And so you can see
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: it like there is a world where you get some,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I think, Shapiro, McCormick voters because McCormick will be seen
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: as moderate, not because he is actually moderate, but because
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump doesn't like him.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: I will say that I am hopeful that John Fetterman
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: and his campaign have learned the lesson from Terry McAuliffe's
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: race against Glenn Youngkin. Because I am already hearing a
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: bunch of journalists say, oh, maybe McCormick's the next Glenn
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: Youngkin and he can act like a suburban soccer dad
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: and win those voters who you were just talking about.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Some of these suburban voters who voted for, who were
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Republicans or independents who voted for Biden in 2020. Again,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: I think running against David McCormick as just, you know,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: don't call him fucking David McTrumpic or whatever, you know,
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: like he's not, he's not, people aren't going to believe
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: that this guy is Donald Trump. Um, and, and for
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: good reason, if Donald Trump has been attacking him for
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: the last couple of months, yes, his wife, Dina Powell
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: worked in the Trump administration, uh, you know, a big hero.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: She worked in the Trump administration, quietly said things anonymously
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: to reporters about how it was horrible, never spoke out,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: left to go make a lot of money at Goldman
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Sachs and, uh, then joined her husband's fake MAGA campaign.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: So good. She's a hero.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: But anyway, So, but what David McCormick is, is a
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: multimillionaire hedge fund guy from Connecticut who, you know, shipped
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: jobs overseas and managed money for China, right? He's like
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Mitt Romney on steroids. So run against that. Like John,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: I think that's actually a great contrast for John Fetterman,
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: who was this like working class grassroots economic populist from Pennsylvania.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: And David McCormick is surely not. I think the Oz one,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: the Oz comparison is a little different.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Like Dr.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Oz is like an out-of-state quack celebrity, right?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: And those out-of-state quack celebrities never get elected to anything.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: So I would not worry about that. That one's in
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: the bag.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: It's a little hard.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: There's that great picture of him that McCormick's been using
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: in his ads against Oz. of Oz kissing his star
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I would definitely be
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: using that a lot. But look, no, what you were
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: just joking about, obviously, is Donald Trump. I do not
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: think Dr. Oz is as smooth as Donald Trump or
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: has necessarily the same appeal as Donald Trump.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: No.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: I think he is a little stiffer than that. Though
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: he is, I think, you know, I've seen him on
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: the campaign trail. I've seen him at these debates. He's
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: a lot smoother. Um, then some of his Republican opponents,
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: he's a good communicator. He's been on TV forever. So
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: veteran does have to deal with that.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: You don't want to, I like, I think you can
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: argue either way, which one you would rather run against.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And both of them are going to be very tough
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: because of the political environment and the nature of the state.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: The odds thing is, I think you don't want to
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: discount two parts of him, which is one media savvy
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: and celebrity savvy. are very helpful attributes in this campaign.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: And in fact, it has benefited Fetterman in great ways
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: because Fetterman is a celebrity, right? I mean, not at
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: the level of Dr. Oz, but he has been on
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: the cover of magazines and featured on TV because of
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: his appearance and his story and being the mayor of
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: this town. He would come to the White House as
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: his mayor of the small town because he was a
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: celebrity mayor. And the other thing is, I think Oz
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: is going to have– now, neither of them are traditional politicians.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Oz has a little bit more outsider cred, I think,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: in like a relationship with the voters, right? He's been
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: on TV their whole lives. He's been sitting next to Oprah.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be a little– he's less
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: of a blank slate. McCormick is a blank slate that
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Fetterman can define. But I think either one of these
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: are going to– there are advantages for Fetterman. I think
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: he's a the exact right candidate to run against both
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: of them, but it's a tough race in a tough
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: state and a really, as of right now at least,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: pretty shitty political environment.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Okay, beyond the two big Pennsylvania races, we have a
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: few more takeaways to talk about from Tuesday. North Carolina
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: was the other big swing state to hold primaries. The
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: race to replace retiring Senator Richard Burr will feature former
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sherry Beasley, who I'll be
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: talking to in a bit, and the Trump-endorsed Congressman Ted Budd,
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: who crushed the 14-candidate primary field, including the more moderate
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: former Governor Pat McCrory. Another Trump-backed candidate, 26-year-old Beau Hines,
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: won the crowded primary for North Carolina's 13th congressional district.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: But in the 11th district, another Trump-endorsed 26-year-old, who we've
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: all come to know and love, lost his primary, which
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: means that at the end of this year, Madison Cawthorn
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: will have to go looking for Coke-fueled orgy invites somewhere else. Um, Dan,
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: let's start with the Senate race. Ted Budd versus Sherry Beasley,
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: rated lean Republican. How should Beasley run against this Trumpy goober?
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the lean Republican is the right rating
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: as of right now. We should be very clear and
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: very honest that winning in states that Joe Biden won
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: in 2020 in a better political environment is going to
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: be tough. Winning in states that Trump won is going
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: to be much harder. That doesn't mean it's impossible. And
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I think Sherry Beasley is an excellent candidate. I've been
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: trying to think about how I would approach it or
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: how I would think about that race if I was
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: involved with it. And I think perhaps the best way
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: to do it, you have to think is in order
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: to win, you're going to have to upend everything that
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: is happening in politics and has happened in North Carolina
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: in a state Democrats have not won at the federal
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: level since 2008. We have lost Senate races. We lost
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: the presidential in 12, 16, 20. And so that means
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: you need a high variance strategy, right? high risk. And
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: I think Ted Budd is kind of irrelevant to that strategy.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Pat McCrory would have been an easier candidate to run
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: against because the people of North Carolina hate him. But
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Ted Budd is just generic ultra mega extremist, to use
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: a favorite phrase of our current president. But the way
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: that I think to think about it is you have
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: to change the electorate in that state. You're going to
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: have to register a ton of voters. You're going to
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: have to turn up people who did not turn out
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: in 2020. 16 or 2020. And I think that requires
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: a– the two campaigns that have sort of adopted that
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: strategy recently are Stacey Abrams in Georgia in 2018 and
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Beto O'Rourke in Texas in 2018. Now– The challenge of
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: that strategy should be noted with the fact that the
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: two people I suggested did not win with that strategy,
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: but they came closer than people have come in those
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: states in a long time. And that means you are
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: focused intently on registering voters in the parts of the
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: state that have large pockets of Democratic voters, in North
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Carolina particularly Black voters and Latino voters. But also you
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: are going to every part of the state. And what
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: you're trying to do is go to like the counties
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: that Tom Tillis beat– let's say Tom Tillis beat Cal
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Cunningham by 20 points in.
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: And under the normal political formula, you would not waste
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: your time to go there. But what you have to
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: do if you have any chance to win is you
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: want to go take that margin. You want to show up.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: You want to persuade people. You want to take that
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: margin from losing by 20 points to losing by 15
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: points or 13 points. If you do that enough places,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: you can get this thing close enough to win. And
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: so I think it is a reach out to every
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: voter everywhere. Focus on your story, yourself. I don't think
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: you're going to, given how North Carolina has voted recently,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: you're not going to convince people that Ted Budd is
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: worse than the Donald Trump they voted for two years ago,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: or worse than the Tom Tillis they voted for two
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: years ago. And so I think it's going to have
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: to be all about her and her story and running
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: in parts of the state that Democrats have not really
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: campaigned aggressively in since probably Obama in 2008.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I think that's right.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: I think to the extent that you do have a
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: message about your opponent, which she will obviously have, and
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: she previewed it with me during our interview, I think
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: it's too sort of define Ted Budd as outside of
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: even the, the typical Republican mainstream that North Carolinians, uh,
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: have voted for the people from North Carolina have voted
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: for over the last several, I mean, like even when,
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: even with Trump, Ted Budd voted against all pandemic relief, even,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: even the Trump bills, the Trump pandemic relief, um, which
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: I think is probably not popular.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: And of.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: We know because of his vote and also because he
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: was one of the people who texted Mark Meadows that
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: George Soros rigged the election and rigged all the machines.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: So Ted Budd is way out there, which gives you
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: some fodder, but I agree that that's a sort of
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: a limited strategy you really have to talk about yourself
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: in a state like North Carolina. You got any parting
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: words for Madison Cawthorn?
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: I just want to say I'm sorry to Madison Cawthorn.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: He does the right thing. He blows the whistle on
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: this Coke-fueled GOP orgy circuit, and they come after him.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: It's the price of doing the right thing, and he
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: lost his job for it.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Emphasis on the word blow, huh?
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: Let's just be clear that given all of the possible
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: puns I could have made, the cocaine one was the
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: most appropriate for this quasi-family podcast we have right here.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: I will just say, God, I read this very lengthy
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: Politico profile about Madison Cawthorn from the other week, and
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: it made me feel I don't want to say sympathy
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: for him, but like this is someone who is clearly struggling.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: And I actually like hope he gets help because he
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: is in a I think he's in a pretty dark place.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: And it's it's it's pretty ugly what he's gone through.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Another Trump candidate whose loss on Tuesday should come as
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: a relief to all of us was Idaho Lieutenant Governor
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Janice McGeechan, who once delivered a speech at a white
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: nationalist event and took a picture with the right wing militia.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: Idaho's current Republican Governor Brad Little. No liberal, very, very conservative,
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: very Trumpy, beat her handily. But Trump did have quite
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: a few wins on Tuesday, and there were quite a
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: few other extreme Republicans who won their primaries besides Mastriano. Dan,
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: anyone in particular you think we should be watching out for?
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: You know, in anticipation of this question, I went through
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: all the results to try to find like the one
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: person who was like, other than Mastriano, right, who was
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: super scary. And you know what the takeaway is? They're
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: all bad. Sometimes the slightly less bad version defeated the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: terrible version. But across the board, there is no one
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: running against Trump. There's no never Trump or there's no
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: current version of Mitt Romney. It's all a question. There's
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: no one who disbelieves or pushes back against the big lie.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: It is just all bad. It is all MAGA. It's
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: all extreme. And that is the thing that's scary, that
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: whether the person who won the nomination potentially ends up
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: in Congress or the Senate or the governor's office is
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: someone who truly believes to their core all their public
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: conspiracy theories, like Doug Mastrano, or someone who pretends to
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: believe them because that's what it takes to get elected,
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: like Dr. Oz or David McCormick or anyone else, the
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: result is the same once they get there. Because all
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: of the political momentum, all the political incentives push towards
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: this dangerous outcome. conduct. Let's say Lou Barletta, who was
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: one of the people who ran against Mastroianno, had won.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: I would not feel that much safer if we were
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: with Lou Barletta in office and Doug Mastroianno if push
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: came to shove on the 2024 election and whether they're
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: going to send their electors. There's no Republican you can
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: send that should make you feel good about the state
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: of democracy right now.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: You look across this field of candidates, all of them
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: on Tuesdays, You don't see any Liz Cheney's or Adam
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Kinzinger's or Mitt Romney's in this.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Field of people.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: You see people who maybe didn't get Trump's endorsement, but
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: then because they didn't get Trump's endorsement, tried to act
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: as Trumpy as possible to then beat the person who
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: did get Trump's endorsement. That's the dynamic right here. And
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: because the party's become so radicalized.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Finally, there were four other Democratic primaries on Tuesday that
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: featured competitive races between progressive and center left candidates for U.S.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: House seats.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: It looks like each wing of the party won two.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: In North Carolina, the winners were center-left candidates Valerie Fushi
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: and Don Davis. In Pennsylvania, the more progressive Summer Lee
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: won an extremely close House race for a seat in Pittsburgh.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: And in Oregon, it appears that Jamie McLeod Skinner will
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: knock off incumbent Kurt Schrader, a moderate Democrat endorsed by
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: Joe Biden himself. Dan, what, if anything, can we learn
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: about the preferences of Democratic voters or the direction of
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: the Democratic Party from these races?
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Almost nothing, I would say.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think it is– Well, then we're moving on.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: There's a tendency to try to like jam this into
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: a narrative where it's– we saw this in some of
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the 2018 primaries, which is like big blow to the
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Justice Democrats and progressives because they lost a bunch of
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: primaries or the party is moving to the left as
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: we can see this. But the picture is more complicated, right?
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Candidate quality matters. Context for these races matter. And in
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: many cases, the better candidate running on an agenda that
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: spoke more to the moment and to the elector of
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: that district won. That was Summer Lee in Pennsylvania. That
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: was some of these more center-left candidates in North Carolina.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: And you look at the Kurt Schrader one. That's the
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: most notable because you have an incumbent losing a primary.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: But Kurt Schrader didn't lose because he is ideologically moderate
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: or not a member supported by Justice Democrats. He lost
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: because he sided with the pharmaceutical industry over his own
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: constituents on the most popular issue in all of American politics,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: allowing Medicare to negotiate cheaper drug prices. That's why he lost.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: That is not conservative. That is stupid and corporatist and
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: bad and greedy. And that's why he lost, right?
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: I thought that race was very interesting because McLeod Skinner,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: she did not necessarily focus as much on her own
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: progressive positions. She ran a race against him by saying
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: he was the Joe Manchin of the House and voted
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: against the American Rescue Plan. Not a popular thing to do.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: Criticize Democrats for impeaching Trump. Not a popular thing to do.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: Helped kill prescription drug reform, like you said, and build
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: back better. One of the most unpopular things to do
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: of any policy issue anywhere is to kill prescription drug reform.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: And her line against him, which worked very well, was
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: you've run so far to the right that running against
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: you just means I'm a Democrat.
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: She didn't even have to say that she's a very
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: progressive Democrat. She's the mainstream Democrat. He's the Joe Manchin
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: Democrat way out to the right. And that worked for
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: her in that district. I also one more note on
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: the Summer Lee win. Summer Lee eked out that victory
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: in that district after so much super PAC money was
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: dumped into that race by an APAC affiliated super PAC.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: that has also endorsed a bunch of pro-insurrectionist Republican candidates.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: And were there ads about disagreements over her policy on
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: Israel versus her candidate?
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: No.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: They just decided to just run a bunch of lies
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: about her. And it was actually pretty gross what some
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: of these super PACs are doing, these AIPAC super PACs.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: And basically what they say is, it's not like you
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: can have a good faith disagreement about Israel and Israel policy.
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: They're basically like, if you don't support right-wing, far-right extremist
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: governments in Israel, then they're going to dump a bunch
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: of money and lie about you on a whole bunch
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: of other issues and say that you're not a real Democrat.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: And it's pretty gross. And the fact that Summer Lee
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: was able to win that race with that much money
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: being dumped in that district is, you know, it's pretty great.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: I think, I don't want to dismiss the idea that
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: ideology matters to some voters. It certainly does, right? A
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: lot of people, like we are probably some voters who
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: will look at people's policy positions and do it. But
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: the question is often, who is going to fight for me, right?
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: Who's going to stand up for the things I care about?
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: And that person could be very clear, you know, and
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: it's perfectly someone who adopts populist economics, which may make
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: them more progressive or have them do that. But it's
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: just not– it's very hard to put people in boxes
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: and make predictions about electoral outcomes, right? Because there's a
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: lot happening there. And I think hopefully there are some
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: lessons for some Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema for one, from Kurt
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Schrader's loss about how politics has changed and what voters
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: in your state actually want is not just the problem solvers, caucus, DLC,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: no labels agenda. I think they will accept, as they
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: do with Fetterman, some complex positions and some things they
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: don't disagree with, but they want to think that you
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: are fighting for them. And that is going to mean,
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: in many cases, standing up against corporate interests.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: And look, I think the Justice Democrats, a lot of
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: their ads for their candidates, especially their bio ads are
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: outstanding summer leaves is no exception of course in that
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: later in that bio ad she lists her positions on
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: medicare for all and green new deal and stuff like
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: that positions which we know outside very liberal districts do
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: not have a majority support at least among moderates that
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: you need in some purple districts but the ad starts
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: out like you know i'm from she's from braddock as
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: well and she's like we made the steel that built
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: america and then when the rich executives left we were
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: the ones who suffered our kids got asthma our our
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: people lost jobs, and now we're trying to get a
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: movement to make sure that working people and poor people
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: can succeed in this country. It's just a good message
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: and a good story. And that works. I think you
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: should not discount the power of candidate quality, the story
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: they tell, who they are, the coalitions they're building. These
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: are all very, very important to candidate success as well.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: It's not just a list of policy positions. Okay, when
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: we come back, I will interview the Democratic candidate for
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: Senate in North Carolina, former Chief Justice Sherry Beasley. Joining
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: us now is the Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: She's former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court,
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: who will face the Trumpy election denier Ted Budd in
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: the midterms this November. Sherry Beasley, welcome to the pod.
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much, John. I appreciate it.
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: So you were a judge at just 32 years old
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: who rose to win the very top job in your state.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: Why did you want to become a judge? And what
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: did that job teach you about your state and your country?
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: You know, I.
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: Grew up with values of hard work and service and
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: integrity taught to me by my mom. And I enjoyed
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: the practice of law. I was a public defender first
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: and just kind of knew that the role would be
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: right to understand and to protect and uphold the rule
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: of law and respect the constitution, which I know are very,
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: very important. And it was great, of course, to be
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: a trial judge, to really see and see the conflicts
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: in people's lives and people honestly often don't come to
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: court on their best days, and then to be an
• 44:31
  Speaker 5: appellate judge on the Court of Appeals and then the
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: Supreme Court and then Chief Justice, which are really reviewing courts.
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: Those have been just amazing opportunities to be in service
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: and to really appreciate that all of the decisions that
• 44:47
  Speaker 5: are made in courts impact people's everyday lives, whether they
• 44:50
  Speaker 5: know it or not. and to really see the plight
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: of people and to certainly understand. I've been in court
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: almost every day for the last 30 years, seeking the
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: truth at times it's hardest to find and being engaged
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: in people's lives at times which have been life-changing for
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: them and frankly, often life-changing for me. And there really
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: is humanity in being a judge and there's humanity in
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: being a senator.
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: So we're a few weeks out from the leak of
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: the draft Supreme Court opinion that overturns Roe v.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Wade.
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: A recent poll found that fewer than half of all
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: Americans now trust the Supreme Court. That's the lowest share
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: since they started asking the question. What do you say
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: to people who feel like they can't trust our justice
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: system anymore because it's become too politicized and in the
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: case of the Supreme Court, too radicalized?
• 45:41
  Speaker 5: You know, I'm certainly bothered by the leak. But what
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: I don't want us to be distracted from is what
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: we saw in that draft opinion. And what we saw
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: in that draft opinion was an attack on Roe versus Wade,
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: which for over 50 years has been the law that
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: women have the constitutional right to privacy to protect their
• 46:04
  Speaker 5: reproductive health, to make their own decisions with their health
• 46:07
  Speaker 5: care provider without government interference. And it is a constitutional
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: right protected by the 14th Amendment and other amendments. And
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: it's disheartening. So many people are incensed. The majority of
• 46:19
  Speaker 5: North Carolinians support the right to abortion, as do the
• 46:23
  Speaker 5: majority of Americans. And so it's really important as I
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: think about why this race is so important.
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: We understand what's at stake.
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: When there's an attack on constitutional rights, we should all
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: be alarmed and we should really feel a sense of
• 46:41
  Speaker 5: urgency around this election. I'm concerned here in North Carolina
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: that we have a congressman Congressman Budd, who will be
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: my opponent in this election, who is not opposed to
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: a total ban, even in the case of incest, rape,
• 46:57
  Speaker 5: or the health of a mother.
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: Well, there's something deeply wrong with that.
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: And so I am running to make sure that we
• 47:02
  Speaker 5: protect our constitutional rights, to stand for what's right for
• 47:05
  Speaker 5: the people here in North Carolina. He will not put
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: North Carolina first, and I'm going to make sure to
• 47:10
  Speaker 5: do what's right by the people of this state.
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: So after the Women's Health Protection Act failed in the
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: Senate a few weeks ago, President Biden said that if
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: voters send a pro-choice majority to Congress, he'll be able
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: to sign that bill into law. If you get to
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: the Senate, would you vote to remove the filibuster so
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: that a Democratic Senate can pass a law to guarantee
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: nationwide abortion access?
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: You know, I certainly would, John. I know it's important
• 47:33
  Speaker 5: to eliminate the filibuster. It is a tool of gridlock
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: that has hindered the passage of legislation that the majority
• 47:40
  Speaker 5: of people in this country support. And And I certainly
• 47:44
  Speaker 5: absolutely would have supported the Women's.
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: Health Protection Act.
• 47:50
  Speaker 5: We need to codify and make law Roe versus Wade.
• 47:55
  Speaker 5: But of course, the opinion we saw was a draft opinion.
• 48:00
  Speaker 5: But we should be deeply concerned.
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: So I was working on Barack Obama's campaign when we
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: won North Carolina in 2008. A Democrat has not won
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: a statewide federal race since then. What do you think
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: happened to North Carolina? Because I thought after we won
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: in 2008, it would sort of start acting like Virginia
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: did after 2008 and start getting bluer.
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: Well, we certainly had a wonderful Kay Hagan who.
• 48:26
  Speaker 4: Was successful in 2008.
• 48:27
  Speaker 5: And we have been really close often since that period
• 48:33
  Speaker 5: of time.
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: And we're ready.
• 48:36
  Speaker 5: We have done the work in this campaign. We are
• 48:40
  Speaker 5: excited about all the opportunities to travel across the state,
• 48:43
  Speaker 5: to meet voters, to.
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: Hear about their concerns. So many people here are struggling.
• 48:48
  Speaker 5: We're the ninth largest state in the nation, and they
• 48:50
  Speaker 5: want to know that the next senator is going to
• 48:52
  Speaker 5: fight for them, who's somebody who's going to stand for
• 48:54
  Speaker 5: what's right, who's going to take the values of hard
• 48:57
  Speaker 5: work and integrity to the Senate.
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: And we're ready.
• 49:01
  Speaker 5: I mean, we understand it's important. This will be a
• 49:04
  Speaker 5: tough fight. I've had tough fights before. I've never backed down.
• 49:07
  Speaker 5: I'm not going to back down now. But people are
• 49:11
  Speaker 5: really concerned about the direction that they see the state
• 49:15
  Speaker 5: going into and this country. And so we're gonna, work
• 49:20
  Speaker 5: hard for every single vote. We're investing in voters now.
• 49:25
  Speaker 5: And we just know that this is a precipice. I
• 49:28
  Speaker 5: know we were told in 2020 that that was the
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: most important election of our lifetimes. But I will tell you,
• 49:33
  Speaker 5: my late mother was granted the right to vote because
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: of the Voting Rights Act. And if she was here,
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: she would tell us that every election is the most
• 49:41
  Speaker 5: important election of our lifetimes. So we're spending a lot
• 49:44
  Speaker 5: of time making sure that we're listening to the concerns
• 49:48
  Speaker 5: that voters have, but also helping them to really appreciate
• 49:51
  Speaker 5: the magnitude of this election and of this moment.
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: I'm really curious what kind of concerns you're hearing. Obviously,
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: the most difficult challenge in a midterm for the party
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: that holds the presidency is making sure that our voters
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: don't stay home. when you meet people who might be
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: reluctant to vote this fall, don't know if their vote
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: is worth it, don't know if they should come out
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: to vote, what's usually their reason and what do you
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: tell them?
• 50:15
  Speaker 5: You know, I think often people don't think their votes matter.
• 50:19
  Speaker 5: And there are so many people who have felt discounted
• 50:23
  Speaker 5: for far too long. And it is important for them
• 50:27
  Speaker 5: to feel a sense of empowerment. It is deeply wrong
• 50:31
  Speaker 5: when state legislatures and dilute votes in rural communities and
• 50:39
  Speaker 5: in communities of color. And so helping them to understand
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: the greater picture of what's happening, helping them to know
• 50:48
  Speaker 5: that we've not been well-served here in North Carolina by
• 50:52
  Speaker 5: our two Republican senators, helping them to know that the
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: next senator really must fight to lower costs, provide access
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: to good quality healthcare. In North Carolina, we do not
• 51:02
  Speaker 5: have Medicaid expansion. I'm prepared to fight to lower prescription
• 51:06
  Speaker 5: drug costs. North Carolina spends the fourth highest in the
• 51:10
  Speaker 5: nation on prescription drugs to make sure we're bringing good
• 51:14
  Speaker 5: paying jobs to people here in the state to fight
• 51:16
  Speaker 5: for a strong economy. And this election isn't just about today.
• 51:21
  Speaker 5: It really is about riding the ship and making sure
• 51:25
  Speaker 5: that the next generation and generations to come have a
• 51:29
  Speaker 5: country that is right for them that is on the
• 51:33
  Speaker 5: right keel and is in a place where they can
• 51:38
  Speaker 5: take the gauntlet and go forward and be successful.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: You were just talking about the fact that your opponent,
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: Ted Budd, supports completely criminalizing abortion, even in the case
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: of rape, incest, and the life and health of the mother.
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: What else should people know about Ted Budd?
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 51:58
  Speaker 5: I think actions speak louder than words. And Congressman Ted
• 52:04
  Speaker 5: Budd has not been the kind of person who has
• 52:07
  Speaker 5: served North Carolina well. Congress just had a vote yesterday
• 52:14
  Speaker 5: to increase the supply of baby formula. And at a
• 52:17
  Speaker 5: time when there's a shortage of baby formula, he voted
• 52:20
  Speaker 5: against the legislation.
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: It's not right for North Carolina.
• 52:25
  Speaker 5: This is a big military state with lots of veterans,
• 52:28
  Speaker 5: and he voted not to increase veteran pay. He voted
• 52:33
  Speaker 5: against expanding access to health care. He voted against infrastructure
• 52:38
  Speaker 5: legislation at a time when both of our senators here
• 52:41
  Speaker 5: in North Carolina voted for it. And so even at
• 52:45
  Speaker 5: a time when it just makes sense to do what's right,
• 52:47
  Speaker 5: he has chosen not to do what's right. And so
• 52:50
  Speaker 5: when people show you who they are, you better believe them.
• 52:53
  Speaker 5: We need to make sure that we do not elect
• 52:56
  Speaker 5: somebody who will not put the state first, who really
• 53:00
  Speaker 5: will put us in a very, very difficult and dangerous place,
• 53:04
  Speaker 5: particularly not just around abortion, but really that case speaks
• 53:08
  Speaker 5: heavily to civil rights that we've been fighting for for
• 53:11
  Speaker 5: a very, very long time.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: And we just don't need somebody like that in the
• 53:14
  Speaker 4: United States Senate.
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: If you win, you would be the first Black woman
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: from North Carolina to serve in the U.S.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Senate.
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: You could be potentially the only Black woman to serve
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: in the U.S. Senate right now. I know that's probably
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: not at the front of your mind as you're campaigning,
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: but how do you process that? How are you processing
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: that as you campaign in this race?
• 53:37
  Speaker 5: You know, John, I certainly know the importance of it.
• 53:41
  Speaker 5: I know that representation matters. I can tell you the
• 53:45
  Speaker 5: first time that I ever saw an African-American woman presiding
• 53:49
  Speaker 5: over a courtroom, I was a lawyer. And that was
• 53:52
  Speaker 5: then Judge Patricia Timmons Goodson. And I know it changed
• 53:56
  Speaker 5: the trajectory of my life. It helped me to better
• 53:59
  Speaker 5: envision the possibilities for my life. And so I know
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: diversity matters in all of our institutions and in all
• 54:06
  Speaker 5: of our government platforms. And you're right, it's not at
• 54:10
  Speaker 5: the forefront, but I certainly appreciate the magnitude. There are
• 54:13
  Speaker 5: 24 women in the Senate and you're right, no African-American women.
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: In the Senate.
• 54:18
  Speaker 5: I also know what it means for young people to
• 54:20
  Speaker 5: be able to see and understand and envision in the
• 54:23
  Speaker 5: very same way that I was able to the possibilities
• 54:26
  Speaker 5: for their lives, but for all of us, regardless of
• 54:28
  Speaker 5: race and gender, to know that we must value diversity
• 54:33
  Speaker 5: in order for us to be the very best that
• 54:34
  Speaker 5: we can be. And so this race is important on
• 54:40
  Speaker 5: a whole lot of levels. And I know that in
• 54:44
  Speaker 5: addition to that very, very important fact that fighting for
• 54:49
  Speaker 5: the people of the state about the issues that they really,
• 54:52
  Speaker 5: really care about.
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: And so many people in my state are struggling.
• 54:55
  Speaker 5: About a third of the people here earn less than
• 54:58
  Speaker 5: $ 15 an hour. So there were people in North Carolina
• 55:01
  Speaker 5: who were struggling before the pandemic, and they are certainly
• 55:03
  Speaker 5: struggling now. They want somebody in the Senate who's going
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: to fight for them, and that's really why I'm running.
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: Chief Justice Beasley, thank you so much for taking the
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: time to join Pod Save America, and good luck in
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: the campaign ahead.
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: Great to be here, John.
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: Thanks to Sherry Beasley for joining us today. Everyone have
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: a fantastic weekend, and we'll talk to you next week.
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: Bye, everyone.
• 55:34
  Speaker 3: Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: producer is Michael Martinez. Our senior producer is Andy Gardner Bernstein.
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: Our producer is Haley Muse, and Olivia Martinez is our
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: associate producer. It's mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Kyle
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: Seglin and Charlotte Landis sound engineer the show. Thanks to
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: Tanya Sominator, Sandy Gerard, Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Andy Taft,
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: and Justine Howe for production support. And to our digital team,
• 55:58
  Speaker 3: Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Milo Kim, and Amelia Montuth. Our
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: episodes are uploaded as videos at youtube.com slash crookedmedia.