Latest / Meet the Candidate - Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania / Justin Wagner for Congress (D)

Transcript

Justin Wagner for Congress (D) · Meet the Candidate - Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania

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  Speaker 1: And welcome in. This is Meet the Candidate, designed to
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  Speaker 1: give you an opportunity to hear directly from the people
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  Speaker 1: asking for your vote. No endorsements, no debate, just a
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  Speaker 1: conversation about the candidate and the issues and where they
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  Speaker 1: stand so you can make up your own mind. Today,
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  Speaker 1: we're talking with Justin Wagner, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's
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  Speaker 1: 16th Congressional District. Justin is challenging incumbent Congressman Mike Kelly
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  Speaker 1: for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Justin Wagner,
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  Speaker 1: welcome to Meet the Candidate. Well, thank you. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for having me, sir. All right. So if there's one
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  Speaker 1: thing you want voters to understand about your campaign, what
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  Speaker 1: would that be?
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  Speaker 2: I want to understand that, you know, we come from
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  Speaker 2: a blue collar working class family. We've done the work.
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  Speaker 2: I've gotten my hands dirty. I worked in steel mills
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  Speaker 2: and automation manufacturing my whole life when I wasn't in
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  Speaker 2: the military. And I think that that is the, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the kind of personality that northwestern Pennsylvania has. And that's
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  Speaker 2: the kind of person that Northwestern PA needs representing them.
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  Speaker 2: Someone who knows what it's like to get dirty and
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  Speaker 2: knows what it's like to go work an eight hour
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  Speaker 2: shift at a steel mill and then go home and
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  Speaker 2: blow your nose. And a bunch of black stuff comes out,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that that's the reality of so many working
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  Speaker 2: families here in Pennsylvania. And, uh, I feel like right now,
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  Speaker 2: Washington is out of touch with the kind of people
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  Speaker 2: who do that work. So, uh, we're a blue collar
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  Speaker 2: grassroots campaign. Um, I'm a father, four daughters, and that's
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  Speaker 2: the reason I'm running here.
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  Speaker 1: Right, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That's your face, yeah. Four daughters, wonderful kids. And right now,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're coming to me, they're saying, Dad, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we can't afford a house. What's the point? You know,
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  Speaker 2: I want them to grow up in a country where
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  Speaker 2: they can achieve the American dream, where they can work
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  Speaker 2: hard and make sure that they can thrive.
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  Speaker 1: Justin, what is the single biggest thing Washington can do
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  Speaker 1: right now to help Pennsylvania businesses grow, create good-paying jobs,
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  Speaker 1: and keep people working? Uh, we need to invest in
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  Speaker 1: the working people of Pennsylvania. You know, we should, we
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  Speaker 1: should make sure that we're working on things like expanding apprenticeships, um,
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  Speaker 1: investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacturing, uh, you know, make
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  Speaker 1: sure that we can strengthen the workers ability to organize
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  Speaker 1: and make sure that federal investment creates good paying jobs
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  Speaker 1: right here at home instead of sending them somewhere else. Um,
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  Speaker 1: we could also, you know, my platform supports raising the
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  Speaker 1: federal minimum wage. I think that it's been, uh, left
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  Speaker 1: behind way too long. You know, we created the first
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  Speaker 1: trillionaire before we raised the federal minimum wage.
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  Speaker 2: That's upside down to me. And, uh, you know, we're
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  Speaker 2: getting squeezed every direction right now from, from, oh, sorry,
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  Speaker 2: from everywhere. And a growing economy can't just mean like
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  Speaker 2: making the numbers look good at top at the top, uh, while,
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  Speaker 2: you know, people doing the work keep falling further behind. So,
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  Speaker 2: You know, we do invest in the people and invest
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  Speaker 2: in Northwestern PA. So where have you, specifically, where do
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  Speaker 2: you think we went wrong? How do you want to
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  Speaker 2: change that direction? Specifically, you know, when this administration got
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  Speaker 2: elected and in charge and everything, you know, again, working
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  Speaker 2: people left farther behind and farther and farther behind. The
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  Speaker 2: policies that they enacted where they're cutting the SNAP benefits
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  Speaker 2: and USAID and everything else that helps people, that help
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  Speaker 2: people live a life and achieve their dreams. These things,
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  Speaker 2: and now everybody's struggling because they don't have the help
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  Speaker 2: that they used to have. I think that not investing
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  Speaker 2: in the people is where we've gone wrong. We're investing
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  Speaker 2: in the wrong things.
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  Speaker 1: What are we investing and how would you change that?
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  Speaker 2: Right now, we're investing a ton of money into this
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  Speaker 2: war in Iran. That is not something that needs to
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  Speaker 2: be happening, I don't think. I would make sure that
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  Speaker 2: Congress has the power, again, to bring war powers to
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  Speaker 2: Congress like it should be instead of just unilaterally declaring
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  Speaker 2: war on another country. And just the focus is Right.
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  Speaker 2: The focus of this administration on the vanity projects that
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  Speaker 2: they're doing and all this other stuff where they're, again,
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  Speaker 2: leaving the work families behind and, you know, people are
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  Speaker 2: being crushed by these costs.
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  Speaker 1: People, specifically Pennsylvanians, are feeling the pressure of the grocery store,
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  Speaker 1: the pump, housing, health care. And when they pay their bills.
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  Speaker 1: So what would you do in Congress to help lower
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  Speaker 1: costs for Pennsylvania families? Well, you know, I think Congress
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  Speaker 1: needs to attack this from from several directions. you know,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, raise wages, tie the federal minimum wage
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  Speaker 1: to inflation so that.
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  Speaker 2: It goes up with the economy. We also need to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we can stop hedge funds and private
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  Speaker 2: equity from buying up single family homes and competing with
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  Speaker 2: like families for housing. I've talked to a few folks
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  Speaker 2: who live in places like trailer parks or modular homes,
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  Speaker 2: things like that, where private equities come in and raise
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  Speaker 2: their rent and separated. They used to have all like
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  Speaker 2: a one bill And now it's, they raise their rent.
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  Speaker 2: Now they pay the utilities and everything else. And these
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  Speaker 2: are people on fixed incomes, like, like older folks who
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  Speaker 2: are on social security. So another thing, uh, is to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we protect our Medicare and protect our
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  Speaker 2: social security and make sure that that's there for the
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  Speaker 2: people who need it because they earned it their entire
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  Speaker 2: lives and 6.2 cents on every dollar they ever earned.
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  Speaker 1: I think a younger generation feels as if social security
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  Speaker 1: and Medicare is not going to be there for them. Right. Um,
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  Speaker 1: is that something that you find that you think ought
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  Speaker 1: to be a priority? Yeah, indeed. I think so. It
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  Speaker 1: really should be a priority.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, some people don't realize that there's about 75
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  Speaker 2: checks left in Social Security in 2032. There's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a 23% cut because the trust fund is going
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  Speaker 2: to run out. So there's a lot of folks who
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  Speaker 2: are worried about that. And younger folks, like you said,
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  Speaker 2: my daughters are like, we don't expect to have any
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  Speaker 2: kind of help. We expect to work until we're 80,
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  Speaker 2: 90 years old if things keep going in this current
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  Speaker 2: direction that they're going.
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  Speaker 1: And there are solutions, right? There are solutions.
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  Speaker 2: We can raise the cap to make Social Security solvent.
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  Speaker 2: And that's legislation that's in the House right now that
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  Speaker 2: I would be, you know, I would sponsor, co-sponsor and
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  Speaker 2: be a champion for.
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania has an opportunity to play a major role in
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  Speaker 1: America's energy and technology future. How do we create those
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  Speaker 1: jobs and attract that investment while also protecting the communities
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  Speaker 1: where where that development is happening. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So one of the things that is, uh, on the
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  Speaker 2: forefront of everybody's mind is all these data centers and
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  Speaker 2: they want to bring the data centers in and they create,
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  Speaker 2: you know, jobs for a while.
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  Speaker 1: Um, but to.
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  Speaker 2: Invest in the future of Pennsylvania and invest in our,
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  Speaker 2: our position in the forefront of technology. One of the
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  Speaker 2: things that we don't do enough of here in the
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  Speaker 2: United States is make semiconductors. Uh, we don't make enough
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  Speaker 2: chips and, uh, due to the expansion of AI and
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  Speaker 2: data centers, we're going to be seeing a chip shortage
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  Speaker 2: very shortly.
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  Speaker 1: They're eating them up.
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  Speaker 2: I've worked in the past with ASML, a company out
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  Speaker 2: of the Netherlands who create the machines that make the semiconductors.
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  Speaker 2: People like Intel buy their machines, TSMC, Samsung. I think
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  Speaker 2: that Western Pennsylvania is poised for an investment in semiconductor production.
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  Speaker 2: I think that we have the workforce and the technical
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  Speaker 2: knowledge and the training to make this a hub of
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  Speaker 2: semiconductor manufacturing so that we are creating enough chips. Because
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  Speaker 2: if we don't have enough, it's also a national defense problem.
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  Speaker 2: We don't have enough chips to put in our planes,
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  Speaker 2: in our ships, in everything that we make. And once
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  Speaker 2: we see this chip shortage like we did in 2020
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  Speaker 2: with COVID, you know, we're going to see consumer electronic
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  Speaker 2: prices start to skyrocket. So that is one facet of
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  Speaker 2: a plan that I'm coming up with, semiconductors, chips. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Northwestern PA is up to Erie. when I
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  Speaker 2: talked to the folks in Erie, they are big on
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  Speaker 2: wanting to build ships. Um, we build five ships a
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  Speaker 2: year in China, build 1700, which is just, uh, an
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  Speaker 2: absolutely mind blowing statistic to me. Uh, we should be
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  Speaker 2: building more ships here in the United States. And I
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  Speaker 2: think Erie is poised for that kind of ship building.
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  Speaker 2: They have the manufacturing industrial heritage again, Northwestern PA, we
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  Speaker 2: can build anything here. Uh, I, I believe in Northwestern PA. Um,
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  Speaker 2: so I want to create kind of, uh, uh, a
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  Speaker 2: manufacturing pipeline where we create semiconductors throughout the district, build
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  Speaker 2: ships in Erie, and I'm calling it Ships and Chips.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Western PA used to be the core of innovation. Right.
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  Speaker 1: George Westinghouse. Exactly. You had the Jeep up in Butler. And,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the steel industry and the railroads. And, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: we've seen better days. We have. But we are... coming back.
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  Speaker 1: You have Carnegie Mellon, who is one of the best
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  Speaker 1: schools in America, and we've got to keep that intel
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  Speaker 1: here in Western PA. Obviously, you're agreeing, so you've thought
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  Speaker 1: about that. So what are your thoughts?
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  Speaker 2: Not only when you talk about CMU, which is a
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  Speaker 2: fantastic school, like you said, one of the best schools
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  Speaker 2: in America, but what we also have that is kind
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  Speaker 2: of unique to this area is so many technical training
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  Speaker 2: schools and vo-techs and career centers and like Newcastle School
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  Speaker 2: of Trades, like NWIRC and Erie, like all of these
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  Speaker 2: apprenticeships and technical training workforce here in this district. And
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  Speaker 2: what I want to do is create collaboration between all
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  Speaker 2: of them and create the next generation of highly skilled,
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  Speaker 2: technically trained workers for the district who can work in
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  Speaker 2: things like semiconductors, who can work in things like advanced
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  Speaker 2: steel manufacturing and advanced shipbuilding.
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  Speaker 1: We have a history of blue collar. We do. And
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  Speaker 1: I would put a Pittsburgh worker or Western Pennsylvania worker
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  Speaker 1: up against any state in America.
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  Speaker 2: And so would I. You talk about steel. My first
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  Speaker 2: job was at a company called Greenville Steel Car, building
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  Speaker 2: train cars. And my stepfather worked there.
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  Speaker 1: He was a welder.
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  Speaker 2: My grandfather worked there.
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  Speaker 1: He was an inspector.
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  Speaker 2: It was a generational kind of factory that families would
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  Speaker 2: work for and have good jobs and create you know,
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  Speaker 2: opportunities for their family going forward.
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  Speaker 1: So you're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 2: I think Northwestern PA is some of the hardest working
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  Speaker 2: people in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Last word is yours. What do you want voters to
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  Speaker 1: know before we wrap things up?
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  Speaker 2: I just want them to know that I'm one of them.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not a slick politician. What I do for a living,
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  Speaker 2: I'm an engineer. And when I look at problems, I
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  Speaker 2: don't have ideologies one way or the other. I see
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  Speaker 2: problems and I see solutions. One of the things that
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  Speaker 2: really spoke to me was we were renting an office
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  Speaker 2: from a man named Jarrett Whalen. He's a fantastic supporter,
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  Speaker 2: and he's given us a lot of help. But he
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  Speaker 2: has all kinds of JFK stuff in his office, portraits
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  Speaker 2: and toys and everything else. And just being surrounded by
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  Speaker 2: that kind of like leadership and inspiration is amazing. And
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  Speaker 2: one of the quotes that I kind of dug out,
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  Speaker 2: and I stole it, and then I was like, put
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  Speaker 2: it in my office. JFK said, let us not seek
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  Speaker 2: the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but let us
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  Speaker 2: seek the right answer. And that's what I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: look for is the right answer to make things better
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  Speaker 2: here in Northwestern PA for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Justin Wagner, thank you so much for your time. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.