Latest / Breaking The Meta / Matt Robinson vs The Establishment | Breaking the Meta
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meta. name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Matt Robinson who is running for House District 72 in the state of Iowa. Hello Matt. How are you doing today? Matt Robinson: Mike, I'm doing good. How are you doing? Thanks for having me on. Breaking The Meta: Absolutely. I'm doing great. I'm excited to sit down and, and learn what you hope to do for your state. Interestingly enough, I have met with so many people who are running in Iowa. It's amazing how many, ⁓ just really cool people are running, ⁓ to help change Iowa for the better. Matt Robinson: Dude, I gotta tell you, we have a, I mean, I'm lucky enough to know most of these folks. We all get to communicate and talk to each other. We have an incredibly good crop in Iowa of young leaders that are ready to go, shape things up and get things done for people. That's what it's really about for us. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. ⁓ So to start off, if you wouldn't mind, for people that don't know Iowa, letting us know what area of Iowa is encompassed in District 72. Matt Robinson: Yeah, absolutely. District 72 is the city of Dubuque. So we're out on what I like to call the East Coast of Iowa along the Mississippi River, right there close to Wisconsin and Illinois, actually. So I cover about half of the city of Dubuque. Dubuque's got about 60,000 people. So House District 72 covers the north and west end of that area. Breaking The Meta: Okay, cool, cool, So could you give us a little background on who you are and why you decided to run in the first place? Because this isn't even the first time you've run, you've actually run before. Matt Robinson: Correct, correct. So, you know, little bit of background on me. I have always been a political nerd. I've always been interested in politics, even since being just a young child. I can't say I ever dreamed that I'd be doing this in particular, you know, roads take you weird places. And so, you know, I grew up here in district 72. I was born and raised. I have continued to work and live in this district. I'm a union carpenter and I am, I mean, I'm a field carpenter. I'm out in the field every day, baking in the sun and freezing in the cold. You know, Breaking The Meta: That's true. Mm. Matt Robinson: What really drove me to run is that, you know, four years ago, I ran for the state Senate and I lived in a different area for a short period of time. So this is actually, you know, I'm running in a completely district or completely different district. I'm back home now is what I like to say. I was out more in the county. That was rural red district. And, you know, we kind of got stomped on out there, but that's, that's what, that's what's been happening to Democrats in rural Iowa. Breaking The Meta: Gotcha. Matt Robinson: We're looking to change the script on that anyways. But you know, I ran because I'm a working class guy and I was, I was hitting about 30 years old and I'd worked my tail off for the better part of a decade. And I sat there and went, I don't have anything to show for it. And I knew I wasn't the only one. I knew there were a lot of people that I knew, my friends, my coworkers, they bust their butt and they come home and they barely got enough to get by. They're not getting ahead. And really it's accelerated. In the last five years, we just keep falling further and further behind. And I don't know when the time is that we're going to finally step up and say, hey, working class people are hurting. What are we going to start doing differently? How are we going to start redistributing the wealth in this country? Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Matt Robinson: How are we going to start taking aim at what's really being, what's really happening? And that's, people are, they're losing their homes, their lives, everything they have because they just can't get by. It's a system that's rigged against us. So. I decided to run. care about people. care about my community. And I just knew it was time that, you know, it was, it was time for more than a protest. It was time for more than holding a sign and, yelling a rah rah. It was time to actually make change happen. So I went out, I ran, I spent two years as the chairman of the Dubuque County Democrats. So not only trying to get myself elected, I went ahead and tried to get other candidates in the area elected, try and bring up the entire team. And after spending years doing that I decided it was time to get back in it and I'm ready to run here. Breaking The Meta: Awesome. So for people that don't know much about Iowa in general, ⁓ could you give us an idea of what the pain points of your specific district, what are the things people that are most are most talking about in your area? Matt Robinson: Yeah, I think, you know, it depends on who you ask, really. I think overall, the big theme is it's the economy. ⁓ We can hear from Washington and all of these Republican leaders, they'll lie through their teeth telling us the economy is great. And they'll tell us that while the Dow is over 50,000, that doesn't matter when I can't buy groceries and put them in my fridge. That doesn't matter to me. And it doesn't matter to people like me. And I think Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yep. It doesn't matter if you're not retiring anytime soon either. Matt Robinson: And God willing, I get there. You know? Breaking The Meta: That's right. That's right. Matt Robinson: It's, ⁓ and I'm lucky I'll have a union pension when I get there. Not everyone else has that type of a security. You know, these are, these are the types of things it's, it's social security. It's, know, I was a pretty elderly state. We have a lot of elderly folks that are now aging out and they're not able to retire because they know they can't afford it. Or when they do, they're on such a fixed income. They can barely survive. I mean, I know my dad's one of those people. My dad didn't have a robust retirement. He really relies on social security. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Matt Robinson: And sometimes it's my sister, it's myself that's making sure he gets by on a month to month basis. And there's so many people, know, so we talk about affordability. We also want to talk about education in Iowa. Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Matt Robinson: You know, we passed school vouchers in Iowa. So we have tons of public taxpayer dollars going into our private school systems in Iowa. Now I'm not against any dollar going towards educating a kid. But what we have when it goes into those public or the private school systems that there are no guardrails. There is no accountability for these dollars. They don't have to accept all students. can turn students away. Unlike our great public schools that will take everyone, will do anything they can to make sure Breaking The Meta: Yup. Matt Robinson: that kids are getting good quality education in Iowa and you know we're constantly starving that budget. And I think a third thing a lot of people are going to talk about too and I've heard this a lot from other candidates from folks on the ground, it's water quality. Because if you're not in Iowa you don't realize that we have a cancer crisis going on. There's not a single person in this state that's not affected by cancer. If it's not yourself, it's your family, if it's not your family, it's your friends. You know just two weeks ago I had a friend call. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Matt Robinson: Not that old, in their 40s. They were diagnosed with cancer and they're going to put up a fight. But it has come so commonplace in Iowa because of the agricultural industry and the practices that they have. We have some of the worst quality waters in the nation. We have to do something to save our people. If we don't have our health, we can't drink our water. What's the point of being here? Really? Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. One of the other issues I think ⁓ that I'm hearing from a lot of people, one of the biggest frustrations is spent with all politicians, really, regardless of what side of the aisle you are on, is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to them. ⁓ So what is your Matt Robinson: Yeah. Breaking The Meta: How do you see accountability? How do you see being held accountable by your constituents? Matt Robinson: I think that's a great question. mean, we're facing that right now in District 72. We have a representative that was newly elected in 2024, a Republican representative who... Hasn't done much to get out to talk to people, you know, has not come out to our public forums to answer questions when people have questions about what kind of legislation is happening down in Des Moines. The one thing I like to tell people is I always have been and I always will be a man of the people. I'm nothing special. I'm just a guy. I'm a union carpenter. I'm a worker. I get things done and I'm not going to be afraid to go out and talk to anyone and everyone that wants to hear from me. They might not like what I have to say and I might not like what they have to say, but at the end of the day, we got to hear each other out and we got to start working towards a better future. You know, I have these kinds of, I have these types of conversations on work sites. You know, we're all out there swinging hammers and sweating and getting frustrated all day. We get talking politics and what shocks me is the way you would think the conversations Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Matt Robinson: to go. You think we're going to take some hard right turn, but we don't because we talk about common sense things like raising minimum wages and better collective bargaining rights in the state, taking care of our workers, making sure we have more money in our pockets, bringing taxes down, things like that. People want that. They want to see that. So I think as long as If, if Dubuque elects me to the Iowa house, one thing I can guarantee them is every chance I get, I'm back here and you can talk to me on a work site. You can talk to me on, on any given weekend that I'm going to be out volunteering in the community, attending our forums. And chances are you're going to see me on your doorstep. You know, we, know how to win elections and that's knocking doors. So I'm going to come to you. I'm going to come talk to you and you get to, you get to tell me what you're thinking. Breaking The Meta: No. In this country as a whole, there's been at least a perceived issue of division amongst ⁓ the different sides of the aisle. Now, there's argument, and it's probably a good one, that we're not as far separated as we think we are, least in many different... Matt Robinson: Mm-hmm. Breaking The Meta: in many different areas. People on either side of the aisle are dealing with a lot of the stuff that you talked about. ⁓ Cancer does not care about which side, whether you're conservative or progressive, things of that nature. When you take things that are going on in your specific district or in Iowa in general, and you add on a lot of the other things that a lot of people are dealing with, tariffs have made things more expensive, ⁓ Just a lot of stuff that's going on in the country right now. What has the experience been like being someone who's running as a Democrat in a district that may at least have at least some Republicans? I don't know what the split is in your district, but. Matt Robinson: Yeah, well, I'll address the split first. ⁓ So actually this ⁓ is a very winnable district. Democrats outnumber Republicans. However, independents outnumber both of us. So that's where that swing comes in. It's a long held democratic district. I mean, we had a 16 year democratic incumbent that got ousted in 2024. Breaking The Meta: Ha ha ha ha. Matt Robinson: There was big money poured into it. mean this turned into a half million dollar house race It should never be that way. You want to talk money in politics? I can get up on my soapbox for that too but I'm come back to the first question you asked and and you know, we talk about how we're not that far apart and I do truly believe that but I Believe that when we talk to voters, I think when talking to a good majority of voters, like I said the split Overwhelming majority is independence and those are Breaking The Meta: Gotcha. Wow. Matt Robinson: people that while a lot of independents have one side of the aisle that they're going to align with more often than not, they are willing to open their mind. And I think there are Republicans and Democrats that are willing to open their eyes, open their mind and say, okay, what is better for people? What is better for us? How can we make this better? Breaking The Meta: Hmm. Matt Robinson: Where I don't agree that we're all closer than we think we are is in the people that we elect. And I don't hear a lot of people saying this, so we might want to call this one a hot take, but we're electing some truly evil people. I think there is some bad stuff going on. while 80 to 90 % of America might be closer than they think, if we have 10 % of the worst people, Breaking The Meta: You ⁓ sure. Matt Robinson: that are making our laws and that are leading the charge, we're going to get the worst of the worst coming out of our legislatures, coming out of our government, and we're going to see that reflected in the laws. So I think really what we have to do is kind of come back to some common sense. And, you know, one thing I've heard a lot, ⁓ folks say, when I talk to the folks that are more Republican or independent, they look at me and after a good chat, they say, ⁓ Matt, you know what, you're not so bad for a Democrat. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. You Matt Robinson: And I'm alright with that. I kind of take that as a badge of honor because really that's what we need and you know and every now and then we need some Democrats to say hey you know that guy's not all that bad for a Republican but you know if he's a racist if she's a racist if they're you know Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Matt Robinson: doing some pretty bad stuff, yeah, we don't want to say they're not so bad for Republican. We need to start pointing out the truly bad and start working on ourselves and who we are as people. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. sure. ⁓ So I want to do a tiny bit of future casting. So let's say you get November 3rd comes around and you win. Congratulations. ⁓ January hits and you get sworn in as a representative of the 72nd district and the House of Iowa. What are the first things that you do? Matt Robinson: Mm-hmm. ⁓ thank you. ⁓ You know, think first thing is it's minimum wage. For me, it's workforce issues. Because if we don't have good paying jobs, we don't have protections in our work, we don't have people being taken advantage of by their employers, then we don't have anything. Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Matt Robinson: So if we focus on our labor issues first and foremost, and luckily for me, you know, being a part of organized labor, I have a lot of resources and a lot of know-how in that area that I can get right to work. And we can get rid of right to work as well if we get a good enough majority. But in Iowa, know, we've had Chapter 20 got rolled back in 2018, I believe. That is the chapter of Iowa Code that... Breaking The Meta: Mm. Matt Robinson: dictated that public employees could collectively bargain for the rights. They're all unionized employees. That got all stripped away. So if you're a public employee in Iowa, you do not get to collectively bargain for the rights in your workplace. You don't get to bargain for really anything other than wages. ⁓ That's wrong. It's just flat out wrong. And what I like to tell folks too, yes, it's coming from a union perspective, but the way I look at union jobs is that the better we're doing, the better all jobs are doing. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Matt Robinson: You know the tide rises all the boats and if we can get better bargaining rights We're gonna bring everyone up along with us if we can raise the minimum wage Everyone's coming up along with us. I mean we're at the point where I was at 725 an hour still there is not a single person that can survive on 725 an hour. We need an $18 an hour minimum wage period and Honestly, if you're asking me that's a little low, but I'm willing to start low We need to make up some ground one way or another ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Gotta start somewhere. Matt Robinson: Exactly. So if you're asking me, what are we working on? We're working on people's pocketbooks. We're getting more money in their pockets, more on their paychecks, and getting them some better jobs. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Well, you did mention it before, so I figure I should ask. ⁓ Obviously, you have issues with campaign finance and the amount of money that we spend. ⁓ How do you see being able to use your position in the legislature to help fix that problem? Matt Robinson: Yeah, well, you know, first we need to get all those young candidates that you and I were talking about at the start of this podcast elected so that they're down there with me and we start growing a majority down there. ⁓ because I don't see this happening as long as the Republicans are in control. They have what I like to call the money faucet. And when they start running low, they can just turn the faucet on. They pretty much have unlimited donors. And that's the problem. We have equated money with speech. ⁓ Bank Citizen United. For me, if I get elected, I will always be a proponent of publicly funded elections. I think not only do we need to get dark money out of politics, I think we need to get money out of politics altogether. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Matt Robinson: I think we have publicly funded campaigns that sit you down and say for whatever race you're in, let's say it's an Iowa house race, you get $20,000, spend it however you want. Your opponent gets 20,000, you get 20,000. It's up to you to make the most out of that. I think, I mean, it's, fair. It's equitable. Cause what we run into is we have a race like this one in district 72, uh, where Breaking The Meta: Mm. Ahem. Matt Robinson: Democrats are gonna fight and fight like hell to raise the money as best we can but at the end of the day when Americans prosperity comes in and drops three hundred thousand dollars and the state party drops another hundred thousand dollars my opponent raises a hundred thousand dollars well now they got a half million dollars in their war chest they have paid organizers on the ground they have unlimited resources really I mean I Don't come from that position. You know, I'll I'm gonna work really hard raise a lot of money Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Yeah. What, they don't pay that much in a union job? Matt Robinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we make a good living, but not that good of a living. Breaking The Meta: Yeah Matt Robinson: You know, and that's the thing, we're going to fight like hell to fundraise and I got a big goal of $300,000 to raise. So if anyone's listening to this and you got a couple extra bucks laying around, go to build a better Iowa.com and donate. That's my pitch. But beyond that, you know, we just need to get rid of it. And I'll always be a proponent for getting rid of money in politics because we don't get the best representation. We get good representation of people's interests, but not real people's interests. Breaking The Meta: Right. Yeah. So, Matt, ⁓ for everyone that has listened to this episode all the way to this point has heard everything that you've had to say about what you want to do. What are one or two things that no matter what you hope that they come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Matt Robinson: Yeah, I mean, no matter what, if you want to walk away with something here, ⁓ we need to start electing people who understand it. ⁓ And that's what I talk a lot about with people, with voters, with volunteers, you name it. ⁓ I get it. I've been there. I've been in the trenches. I've been that person who's been looking through the bills at the end of the month going, man, I don't have enough money to pay that. I'm not going to be able to make that done. I've been the person that dodges the bill collectors calling, you know, and wanting their money when Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Matt Robinson: you know you just don't have it. I've been there working in long hours on hot days in the summer, hard hat on my head. I've been there and that's why I'm running. It's because I know how many people are just like me. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Matt Robinson: that are just trying to do the right thing, work hard. We're always told you work hard, keep your nose clean and everything's going to be all right. You got the American dream ahead of you, but it's not there anymore, Mike. It's not. And so what I want people to take away is we just need, we need to bring some realism back in this. We need to start electing people who understand what it's like, who when they go down and speak in Des Moines or whatever state legislature you might have or out in Washington, even for that matter, They know what it's like on the ground because there is such a disconnect anymore at sickening. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. If anyone wants to learn more about you, volunteer or, you know, help you towards that goal of $300,000, where can they find you? Matt Robinson: I Absolutely. So first and foremost, you can go to www.buildabetteriowa.com. That's the campaign website. It's a good hub to find anything. You can donate there. You can sign up to volunteer if you happen to be in the area. Even if you're not, we have things like phone banks. We have things that you can do even from far, far away. But also if you're far, far away, things that help us go on social media, give a like and a follow and keep pushing our stuff out there so more people in my area get to see that. You can find me on pretty much all social medias at Matt Robinson for Iowa. You can find me at Robinson for Iowa and you know just go give it a follow. We all scroll on social media it's super easy just tap twice and give it a like. ⁓ Those are the easy things we can do and that's the best way to find me. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Matt, thank you for sitting down and talking with us for a little bit. I really do appreciate it. Matt Robinson: Mike, I appreciate the opportunity. I thank you so much for this. Breaking The Meta: Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm glad to be able to help. For everyone that has listened this far, thank you as well. ⁓ If you wouldn't mind, please like, subscribe, hit all those buttons down below. It helps it make it possible for me to keep doing what I'm doing. And for those of you that don't know, my goal for 2026 is one of the ways that I can help out is use this podcast, use this platform to help progressives that want change that are don't want to take PAC money, that want to build the future that we keep saying we want year after year, and that want to be held accountable. So please watch this and share this, watch their stuff and share. It's some of the easiest thing that you can do. It doesn't take any money. It's just watch it and share it. And because these people need visibility and name recognition, that helps more than you possibly can know. It's something that Up until this point, only money could provide, but now we have the internet. So let's use it in a way that can get the change that we want. And for those of you that are new to Breaking the Meta, just so you know, this podcast is all about having hard conversations when necessary, breaking the status quo and fighting for the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity, get rights, respect, dignity and safety. Matt, again, thank you so much for being here and everyone else will see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye guys. Matt Robinson: Bye everyone.