Latest / Breaking The Meta / Case Norton: Working Class Runs for Congress in GA-7
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meta. My name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Case Norton who's running for US House District 7 in the state of Georgia. Hello Case, how are you doing? Case Norton: doing well. Thanks for having me. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ The way we like to start all this off because there are just so many amazing people running for office. If you wouldn't mind just giving us a little background on who you are and why you decided to run for Congress in the first place. Case Norton: Yeah, thanks for the intro. My name is Case Norton. I'm a husband, a father of two and a below the line union worker in the film and television industry for about the last 20 years. We have seen a myriad of different things that we felt personally, as well as seen externally in our communities. One of those things was a lot of our job market in the film industry has moved overseas. So that's left a lot of really well, like really talented professionals kind of fighting over crumbs and whatever's left. And so A lot of folks have lost healthcare as well. My family's definitely one of those that have lost health insurance. And we just know that so many folks are going through the same thing and no one can, it doesn't seem like our current representative really cares to show up. And so I'm hoping to bring a working class background that shows people that I understand what they're going through and I will legislate to ensure that this doesn't happen to them and their kids. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Georgia has really come out strong, especially on the democratic side of people that are running both federally and at the state level. It's pretty amazing. And that's happening in states across the country, which is really cool to see. it ⁓ unfortunately shows how bad things are, but also it's nice to see people stepping up in a way that we have historically not done. Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Well, it's an interesting statistic, I may real quick. I I was looking at the numbers and someone else in our primary is an attorney with a military background. And so I was looking at that a little bit and I was like, how many members of Congress, both chambers come from attorney backgrounds? 34 % do. And then I expanded that to white collar backgrounds. It's over 95%. Breaking The Meta: Sure. Case Norton: 2 % of Congress, both chambers, about 10 or 11 people, only identify as working class. I think we need to change that, considering 60 % of the American labor force is working class. So we're not seeing the representation there whatsoever, and it's honestly time to change that. Breaking The Meta: Yep. So let's, if you wouldn't mind, give us a little kind of overview on your district. And as you go around and talk to people, what are the pain points? What are the things that that people really can use your help in Congress with ⁓ in District 7? Case Norton: So District 7 geographically, it's just north of Atlanta. It includes North Fulton County, East Cherokee County, West Hall, all of Forsyth above it, all of Dawson above that, and then all of Lumpkin above that. So we have six counties total in our district. It's about 820,000 people. We've been gerrymandered in the last two cycles, not 24, but in 22 and 20 we did. I'm sorry, in 24 we did, 26 we're not. So in 24 and 22, we the data from everywhere has been totally jumbled because it's a completely different district than it was in the last midterm. And so what I'm what I'm hearing from a lot of a lot of people is really just the cost of living. I mean, a lot of folks were in a little bit more of a more affluent district in most of our most of our parts, obviously, if go a little bit more north, it might not be the case. But in places like Forsyth County and Fulton County, it's a little bit more affluent. But people are still feeling that regardless whether or not that means Breaking The Meta: Right. Mm. Case Norton: you know, one less vacation or it means they can't go out on the boat out of Lake Lanier, which we're seeing the gas prices go through the roof. And so we've seen a lot of folks out there talk about that kind of playing a role in their inability to go out as much as they'd like. ⁓ And also people are seeing it, you know, everywhere they're seeing it in the price of groceries or seeing it in the price of gas or seeing in the price of homes or seeing it everywhere. And so outside of the cost of living, it's healthcare. mean, healthcare is going to go right back into the cost of living as well, because if you're not able to afford healthcare or if you don't work for an employer that has an employer-based ⁓ health program for you, like me right now, I'm just chancing it every single day. so people are really scared about that. People are scared to go to the doctor for even the simplest things, especially if they don't wanna pay the high premium for it or if they don't want to ⁓ get some random bill that they can't afford at the end of it. So people are feeling that as well. And then the last thing I would say is really just accountability and accessibility. Right now, our current incumbent, Rich McCormick, has not had a town hall since February of 2025. And the next one that he's planning is in May, and it was a very quick sign up. And I think they really kind of catered who's gonna be able to be there, unfortunately. So that's not really a representation of ⁓ who we are as a people, and that's not who we need in our district. One of the things that I'm gonna champion on day one is, like I said, we have six counties, is having a rotating schedule. Breaking The Meta: Right. Case Norton: and having one every six months per county. So that way people will have accessibility to me, whether or not they're way up in Lumpkin County or all the way in Cherokee or Hall, they'll have that option to stay locally where they are. ⁓ And so they're not gonna have to come down if it's like a two hour drive for them. I really wanna make myself accessible to people compared to what we've been seeing. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So one of the other things that I think is pretty consistent across the board when it comes to things that people have an issue with our politicians with, and you sort of, I think you kind of sprinkled a little bit here and there with what you were saying before, but is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to everyone who represents us? Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Breaking The Meta: How do you see accountability? How do you see yourself being held accountable by the people of District 7? Case Norton: I see myself being held accountable by people calling me out and by my staff letting me know if I missed a mark on something. Outside of that, outside of what I'm planning to bring, I plan on bringing accountability to government in general. mean, right now we have seen, we've seen Pam Bondi not show up to a subpoena. We've seen, you know, the people are furious. You go in any of these comment sections and there everyone is asking, when are you going to hold her in contempt? Instead of talking about it, be about it and do it. And so I think expediting some of these things to tell the American people that we care, at least a lot of the new folks that are coming into this 120th Congress, if we get elected, when we get elected, we care because we've seen for too long, these politicians do nothing, they kick some bill down the line, they start losing support for something and they, shiny object over here. And so I think we really need to rein in the... powers of Congress as far as being able to be the checks and balances that the Constitution has afforded them to be. And right now we're not seeing that and it's a damn shame. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Georgia, in general, is a a purple state. Which means you have Democrats and Republicans, most likely in your district as well. ⁓ What has the last year, 14 months, been like, as you've gone around and interact with people who may have been historically Republican? Are they more open to interacting with you and having conversations in a way they may not have two or more years ago? Case Norton: Yeah, I've had some actually great conversations with people, whether it be just on the phone or in person or even just through the messaging apps like threads or whatever. ⁓ And you could tell that people might have come in a little bit hostile, but the way that I was able to respond to them was able to show them respect, understand where they're coming from, understand and maybe explain that that may not be the case that they've been told while being respectful and not the I told you so Democrats. ⁓ And I've gotten great responses from that. Honestly, I've had folks reply that they appreciated my response. ⁓ You know, a lot of people are scared of certain woo-woo words like progressive or Democrat. They lob every single Democrat into the same thing. And if you were to ask me if I want Chuck Schumer to be ⁓ the Senate majority, I'd say no. If you were to ask me if I want to keep Jeffries to be the majority, I'd say no. We need absolutely new change in our leadership. And so I don't plan on being part of the establishment Dems like that. I plan on... legislating for the people and we're not seeing that and they deserve Breaking The Meta: the other thing that has happened in the last 14 months is ⁓ this administration ⁓ summarily destroyed United States ⁓ seat at table worldwide. Whether you're talking tariffs ⁓ or what with Greenland or what happened with Venezuela or what's going on in Iran right now, ⁓ and probably bunch more things that I just can't think of at the top of my head. Case Norton: Venezuela, Iran, yeah. Breaking The Meta: Needless to say, no matter what this administration says, our allies even do not trust us in the way that they used to. The word of this country means nothing when a president can come in, snap their fingers, and destroy decades worth of work that has been done, at least as allies. How do you see America's or the United States foreign policy moving forward, knowing that there is a supreme lack of trust in potentially any agreement that we might make with our allies. Case Norton: That's a great question. I think as far as the foreign policy goes, I think it still comes back to a domestic issue. There's been a thing that I've been saying at a lot of my forums and events. If we want the American people to believe in democracy again, Congress has to prove that it has the courage to defend it. And right now we're not seeing that. And on a global scale, they're not seeing that. They know that the American people, you see folks in Iran, in the European Union, folks everywhere, are seeing that the American people are pissed off. but they're not seeing Congress act on any of that. They're not seeing swift decisions being made to ensure that our global standing doesn't completely go down the toilet, even though it's really close at this point. And so one of the first things, I'm actually a member of a coalition. I'm sure you've interviewed folks from that as well called Citizens Impeachment. And so on day one, regardless of if it goes up to the Senate or not, just to show a force, my literal number one priority. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ yeah. Case Norton: is either filing or signing on to already existing articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for treason, bribery, corruption, and litany of other ⁓ crimes that citizens' impeachment already has drafted right now. And so I think that's showing the world that the new Congress is not scared to do the right thing and to actually get our country back to working with other countries. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Case Norton: I think that's honestly step one, because without accountability from the highest office right now, without being able to rein in an almost 80 year old psychopath, for lack of better terms, even though it's pretty much right on track, ⁓ we need that. And if we don't do that, then we're not going to have a standing anymore. think China and Russia are going to be the global superpowers, unfortunately. And I think they're already getting there. But until we get someone to actually do the right thing and stop this madness and nip it in the bud, we're not gonna be able to help ourselves. So that's what I look forward to bringing on day one. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, well, one of the things that I like to do is ask what you're going to do on day one. So obviously we know that. ⁓ Let's go with day two then. What would you like to, once day one is done and you've signed that part, what are just some of the first things, the first areas that you want to tackle in Congress that will help your district? Case Norton: So one of the things honestly is, know, like I'm going back to Citizen's Impetition, it's gonna be a major shout out to them and the courage candidates, but we have a policy matrix that I believe over 85 % of us have ⁓ approved, you know, and it'll show kind of where we are on that. Honestly, I wanna start tackling those issues. There's a lot of legislation and bills and house joint resolutions that I was reviewing last night that are already in action. They just have not gotten any play. And what I wanna do is with the coalition, look at those things, realize that if of course if we're flipping seats, that's one more vote towards that and reaching out to whoever, ⁓ you know, originally drafted that that bill or that resolution and try to co-sign it and really just try to gain traction on these things because that's how we're going to get things done. I can introduce things all day long, but as a freshman, it's not really looked down upon, but it gets, ⁓ it doesn't get as much traction, especially from a freshman. So if we're to look at something like, Jayapal, what she's done with her House Joint Resolution 54, I think a lot of us need to do the right thing and sign on to these and try to start pushing these in the right direction so that we can have things like we can actually have the conversation about Medicare for All. We can have the conversation about ending Citizens United and getting dirty money out of politics. have so many conversations to be had, but honestly, a lot of these bills just need that co-sponsorship to continue forward and to actually start getting traction. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. The big beautiful bill has been in the news again a lot because with tax season upon us, ⁓ we've got grandmas delivering Dora Dash McDonald's to the White House. Case Norton: Yep. Breaking The Meta: How has your district responded to not just the results of the big, beautiful bill, but also some of the other things that have happened, like the tariffs, which we know have affected a lot of farming communities, the ACA subsidies going away, which have affected everybody, but really affected rural communities? ⁓ What has been the general ⁓ gist from a lot of people now that we're starting to see a lot of the effects of the big, beautiful bill ⁓ start coming into play. Case Norton: So a lot of the, you know, the democratic folks in my area, they've, we've seen this the whole time. We knew it was going to be a BS thing that doesn't really help too many people. I mean, I think the bigger issue, especially with the no tax on tips thing is, and what happened to that grandmother who was delivering DoorDash is that that's the bigger problem. We shouldn't have grandmothers needing to do that. That shouldn't be that step one, have it so that she can retire with dignity and not have to do this in order to pay for her. Breaking The Meta: Yes. Correct. Correct. Case Norton: her husband's cancer treatment. this is going back, like she's one step away from becoming the next Walter White at this point. And I don't blame her, you know? I mean, that's being a little crazy, but ⁓ what I've seen though from folks kind of in the middle, you know, there is a small fraction that is happening. It's been happening sort of slowly for the last 14 months in MAGA and people that have voted for that. Some people I've seen start to switch and start to question things, which, you know, we'll let them in, but it's a little bit... ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Case Norton: five, 10 years too late. But, you know, folks have been upset and then you have the diehard people who still believe every single thing that Mr. Trump says. And unfortunately, you know, I don't have the time to try to break them out of that. So I have to just worry about the folks that are seeing the light now. Breaking The Meta: How do you see yourself in a district where there are plenty of MAGA people who are going to be against probably everything you do if you are the congressman? How do you see interacting with them and leading knowing that they are going to be against almost everything that you do, at least in the beginning? I mean, who knows what the future holds after that, but... Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Breaking The Meta: chances are they're not going to be changing their minds day one especially. Case Norton: Right. And I wouldn't expect them to, honestly. You know, I'd love to get folks to start understanding and believing in the platform and really asking the questions that instead of just assuming or thinking the parroting talking points are really what my platform is, even though it's not. So I would just welcome them to, you know, basically how I think I'm going to win this is I'm a working class father. I understand what's going on. I've been feeling the tariffs. I've been feeling bad policy for decades. You know, we've been... chasing the dream of buying a home. When I graduated college, was 31 was the average age of a first time homeowner in 2012. Fast forward today, it's 40. We have a gig economy that barely existed in 2012. I believe there was about maybe 5 % of the people of the working labor force in America had side gigs or hustles. Now it's over a third, it's 39 % roughly. And so people are... Breaking The Meta: Feels like it should be higher than that at this rate. Case Norton: I mean, feel, mean, I'm one of them, feel like if I haven't taken that survey, me in there. ⁓ But people are feeling it left and right. And so I really just want to ask them how has voting for Rich McCormick benefited you? And I'll let them explain. And if it's minor issues here and there, ⁓ then so be it. But one of the things is a lot of people just understand. If basically, long story short, if people just want to talk to me, I am an open book. I am so welcoming of having that conversation with them, either face to face in private, whatever. And a lot of folks I'm able to actually not sway my way, but get them to understand my rational, my rationing and get them to not be scared of the fact that I could become their representative. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. I think the last big thing that I think is worth talking about is ⁓ the most recent budget request for the next, for the upcoming year by this administration, the most blatant of which is a 42 % increase in the Department of Defense budget. And looking not only at the fact that he wants to increase that by a lot, but Case Norton: COD. Breaking The Meta: all that he wants to cut to just take a chunk of that out, which is just some of it's wild. mean, small businesses, education, he wants to take money from the NIH. How do you see us moving forward in that very real issue? I mean, Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Breaking The Meta: depending on where what it ends up really looking like. Yeah, we could end up having another shutdown. Until this president, I don't know, gives in because he just the pressure, just like he did the first time he went to a law. I mean, that's pretty much what happened at the end of. What is it, 2019 or whatever, 2018, 2018 into 2019, we had the law at that time was the longest shutdown ever. Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Yep. Breaking The Meta: And the only reason it switched was, you know, we got enough Democrats in that we were able to pretty much force him to concede on some of the things. How do we move forward so we're not dealing with this kind of problem of potential shutdowns every year? Because that feels like every other month it feels like we're dealing with, I mean, we're still in a partial shutdown. Case Norton: Mm-hmm. Exactly. It seems like it's never ending. I would ask them in big bold letters, I will be in every single meeting and event that I can and I will be on the airwaves saying, how does this help the American people? How does this help the American people? Because people can't afford anything. People have second jobs, third jobs. People are working like dogs. People are not getting good sleep. People's mental health is deteriorating. Their physical health is deteriorating. How does this help the people of the United States? Because it doesn't. At the end the day, you will find it doesn't. And every single point that they bring across, ⁓ whatever Fox News parroting point it's going to be, we have to just get at it right then and there. As soon as they say it, have a press release that counteracts that with data and facts. Because that's not what they're able to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie and get away with for so long. And people will start mulling about these little things when we need to have these facts ready to go at the ready. So as soon as they lie, we can call out the bullshit. and actually get people to understand that they're not for them. We are, we want what's best for them. Breaking The Meta: Well, I'm gonna say this right now. I'm a future asking a little bit for myself. When this stuff happens, I want Breaking the Meta to be a part of the place where people go to get that news out right away. That being said, ⁓ for everyone that has heard everything that we've talked about up until this point, ⁓ what are one or two things that no matter what you would want them to come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Case Norton: Yes. I am literally for the people. There are other folks in our thing that were a little bit more well off and that's totally fine. But I'm literally the reality person in this race. I have a family. We moved here for better life for them. We tried doing everything right. We went to college, yada, yada, yada. But right now, the system in America is not working for people like me. It's not working for over 60 % of the American labor force. And it's not working for folks, even outside of that, that are still feeling the squeeze. I understand what it's like, what people are going through, what hoops people have to jump through every single day, whether that's, do I pay the light bill this week, or do I take my kids to the doctor? Do I pay rent, or do I get an eviction notice, and just so I can keep... keep the groceries on the table. I understand right now that this economy is garbage and I will fight every day tooth and nail and legislation to make sure that that my kids don't have to go through that and that your kids don't have to go through that because enough is enough. The the top one to five percent ⁓ upper class folks they have gotten away with so much in tax breaks and right now it's time that America works for the people. Breaking The Meta: For anyone that wants to learn more about you and volunteer or donate, where can they find you? Case Norton: So you can find all my stuff. Honestly, just Google search Case Norton. I've done a very well job with getting my SEO out there. But if you want to go straight to the source, is caseforcongress.com, spelled out that as C-A-S-E, the number four, C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S dot com. And you will find everything. You can volunteer, you can contribute, you can check events, you can check all these media. This will be up here in a second. ⁓ So we look forward to having you. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. And, and that being said, when this comes out, we're probably around a month away from the primaries for Georgia. So if you are in Georgia, get make sure you primary has early does early voting happen has already started. Case Norton: early voting is April 27th. ⁓ By the time this airs, it'll probably already be voting registration will be over. It's on over on the 20th. But the 27th is early voting up until May 15th, I believe. And then May 19th from seven to seven is in-person voting on election day. Breaking The Meta: So if you're in Georgia, get out. And I've said this more times than I can count. The primaries are where you get to decide what kind of a country you want. The future of your country is decided in the primaries, not just the general election. I would even say it's more decided in the primaries than it is the general election. In the general election, you get two choices. In the primaries, in this case, I think there's four five people running. So you get to choose. So if you don't get out and vote in the primaries, if 25%, which is the average for people voting in the primaries, that's like a good day. Case Norton: Mm-hmm, this is ridiculously low. Breaking The Meta: That means that 25 % of the country is deciding your choices in the general election and that cannot continue if we really want things to change. So please make sure you get in vote. For this video and for many other people that are voting in May in their primaries, I've created a campaign, a May candidate playlist specifically for everyone who's running in May. Please go and watch all of them, give them support. That's how they get the name recognition necessary for people to actually learn more about them and vote for them. So please, please go out and do that, as well as all the other amazing candidates that I've posted. ⁓ For everyone that has watched this far, thank you so very much. Please like, subscribe, hit all the buttons below, comment, do everything that necessary, share it with your grandparents on the other side of the country. I don't care, we just need to get this out there. ⁓ Share with MAGA people. complaining. Do we like the stuff they say to us? No. Does it help the algorithm? Absolutely. So I don't care if they see my content. But please, please, please help out. And for those of that may be new to Breaking the Meta, just know that Breaking Meta is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo, and the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender, or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity, and safety. Again, thank you for being here. I appreciate it. And for everyone else, we'll see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye, guys.