Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Interview Only w/ Angie Nixon - How Democrats Can Compete In Florida Again
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Todd cast is brought to
- 0:02Speaker 1: you by Chapter. Now, almost everything you hear about Medicare
- 0:06Speaker 1: is somebody quietly trying to steer you somewhere. And you're
- 0:11Speaker 1: skeptical of that, as you should be.
- 0:13Speaker 2: I get it.
- 0:14Speaker 1: I mean, there's a federal lawsuit going on right now
- 0:17Speaker 1: over exactly this. Companies that branded themselves as unbiased while
- 0:21Speaker 1: allegedly pointing people toward whatever would pay them the most
- 0:25Speaker 1: as some sort of broker. So if your default is
- 0:28Speaker 1: to distrust everyone in this space, honestly, I get it.
- 0:31Speaker 1: I'm a bit distrustful these days myself. That's the whole
- 0:34Speaker 1: reason I want to tell you about Chapter. They're independent
- 0:37Speaker 1: Medicare advisors whose entire model is that their advisors are
- 0:41Speaker 1: not paid to push any one plan. They're just trying
- 0:45Speaker 1: to help. Yes, there's compensation that goes with it. but
- 0:47Speaker 1: it's across the board is what they're trying to do.
- 0:51Speaker 1: At the end of the day, they're advocating for you.
- 0:52Speaker 1: They're not the insurance companies themselves. They're an actual person
- 0:56Speaker 1: who actually goes through your doctors, your prescriptions, your needs,
- 1:01Speaker 1: and then compares them to every single plan available to
- 1:04Speaker 1: find the best one that will work for you and
- 1:06Speaker 1: hopefully save you a couple dollars too. And here's the
- 1:09Speaker 1: part that sets chapter apart. They don't disappear once you've
- 1:14Speaker 1: been in They will keep advocating for you. They're kind
- 1:17Speaker 1: of like almost like a concierge service. You're just there.
- 1:19Speaker 2: I need help.
- 1:20Speaker 1: You're like customer service. You know, the plan, you know,
- 1:23Speaker 1: help me navigate this again. So you ever get hit
- 1:25Speaker 1: with a wrongful medical bill, they'll help you fight it.
- 1:29Speaker 1: They want to stay an advocate for you even after
- 1:32Speaker 1: you've done this. So look, I get it. I think
- 1:35Speaker 1: there's all sorts of space. You see a lot of
- 1:39Speaker 1: people are throwing themselves in this healthcare space. What I
- 1:42Speaker 1: like about these chapter folks, I've spent time with them.
- 1:44Speaker 1: This is a very transparent organization. It is Medicare and
- 1:49Speaker 1: all of its affiliated stuff can be very confusing.
- 1:53Speaker 2: The whole point.
- 1:54Speaker 1: Of this is to make this easier and less confusing. Okay,
- 1:57Speaker 1: so look, take the skepticism you already have in all
- 2:01Speaker 1: of this, point it at your own plan for 20 minutes.
- 2:04Speaker 2: It's free.
- 2:05Speaker 1: There's no pressure. And then call chapter today at 980-734-4255. Three, nine, eight, five. Well,
- 2:17Speaker 1: joining me now is at the time was an upset
- 2:21Speaker 1: winner in the Democratic primary in Florida. It is the
- 2:25Speaker 1: Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Angie Nixon. And this is
- 2:29Speaker 1: a few weeks, maybe a couple months in preparation. We've
- 2:32Speaker 1: been trying to make this happen. I'm glad to have
- 2:34Speaker 1: you here. I know you're literally on the road. So
- 2:40Speaker 1: thank you for taking a few minutes. Look, I think
- 2:44Speaker 1: a lot of people think they know something about your candidacy.
- 2:47Speaker 1: They think they may know something about you. But let's
- 2:50Speaker 1: start from the beginning. Tell me how you got into politics.
- 2:54Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh, Chuck, you're going way back. You're going
- 2:56Speaker 3: way back. So I got into politics. I actually went
- 3:01Speaker 3: to the University of Florida and I was going to
- 3:03Speaker 3: become this gynecologist, this obstetrician. And then I took chemistry
- 3:09Speaker 3: and I was like, hell no, I'm not doing that.
- 3:12Speaker 3: Chem 101.
- 3:13Speaker 4: I'll never forget it.
- 3:14Speaker 3: And so I wind up then saying I wanted to
- 3:16Speaker 3: do telecommunications news. And so we had to take a course,
- 3:19Speaker 3: a political science course, state and local government and another one.
- 3:23Speaker 3: And then I fell in love with it and I
- 3:25Speaker 3: changed my major to political science. And on my final semester,
- 3:29Speaker 3: I was actually nine months pregnant and I went to
- 3:34Speaker 3: I went to Mia Jones, who was a city councilwoman
- 3:36Speaker 3: at the time.
- 3:37Speaker 4: And I asked to intern with her.
- 3:39Speaker 3: And so I did. I interned with her my final
- 3:43Speaker 3: semester in the summer.
- 3:44Speaker 2: Where was this?
- 3:45Speaker 4: In Jacksonville? In Jacksonville.
- 3:47Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 3:47Speaker 4: Duval County.
- 3:48Speaker 3: Yeah. And I just like I fell in love with
- 3:52Speaker 3: public service. And when she resigned to run for state rep,
- 3:57Speaker 3: which is actually the seat that I'm currently in right now,
- 4:00Speaker 3: she resigned to run for state rep. I actually ran
- 4:03Speaker 3: for her seat. I ran for city council. fresh out
- 4:06Speaker 3: of college.
- 4:06Speaker 4: I think I was 24. My daughter was not just
- 4:10Speaker 4: one at the time.
- 4:11Speaker 3: I ran to replace her. I didn't win, but that
- 4:15Speaker 3: really opened up doors. I wound up becoming a community
- 4:19Speaker 3: organizer from there. I helped elect the first Black mayor,
- 4:23Speaker 3: the first Democratic mayor in 20 years in Jacksonville. Since then,
- 4:28Speaker 3: I've just been very heavily involved and also been a
- 4:30Speaker 3: union organizer.
- 4:31Speaker 4: I also.
- 4:33Speaker 3: I wind up running for office while I was a
- 4:36Speaker 3: union organizer because the theory, right, our theory of change
- 4:42Speaker 3: is that regular, hardworking, everyday people should get to shape
- 4:45Speaker 3: what their communities look like and what their economies look like.
- 4:48Speaker 3: And so we need to make sure that we are
- 4:50Speaker 3: empowering them and educating them and getting those folks to
- 4:55Speaker 3: become leaders and leaders who actually start running for office.
- 4:59Speaker 4: And that's what happened.
- 5:01Speaker 1: So it's interesting to me, you were basically in Jacksonville
- 5:06Speaker 1: as it moved from being a red-leaning city to what
- 5:10Speaker 1: it is today, purple-leaning, maybe even a little blue-leaning. What
- 5:15Speaker 1: did you learn from that? What's your explanation for how
- 5:20Speaker 1: Jacksonville's become this? I don't know if it's polarized. I'll
- 5:23Speaker 1: be curious of how you describe it, but it's certainly
- 5:26Speaker 1: very competitive. Why is it so evenly divided?
- 5:30Speaker 3: So I would say that it is so evenly divided.
- 5:36Speaker 3: And what I've learned from just working in Jacksonville is that.
- 5:40Speaker 4: You can win anywhere. You just have to go talk
- 5:43Speaker 4: to people. And you cannot just talk to people who.
- 5:49Speaker 3: agree with you ideologically. And you should never want to
- 5:52Speaker 3: be a lawmaker that only listens to.
- 5:54Speaker 4: People who you agree with ideologically.
- 5:56Speaker 3: That's not how we'll ever push towards progress. And so
- 6:00Speaker 3: that is actually how we were able to win the
- 6:03Speaker 3: mayor's race back in 2011. It's how we were able
- 6:06Speaker 3: to win the mayor's race back in recently with Donna Teagan.
- 6:10Speaker 3: And so that's how I was able to honestly win.
- 6:14Speaker 4: This primary, even though it was a Democratic primary.
- 6:16Speaker 3: We were able to get a lot of Republicans and NPAs, independents,
- 6:21Speaker 3: to change their party affiliation to vote me in the primary.
- 6:25Speaker 3: And that's because I go and meet people where they
- 6:27Speaker 3: are and I have conversations with them. And I also
- 6:30Speaker 3: include them in the process of like talking about the issues,
- 6:34Speaker 3: but also helping us come up with solutions. This should
- 6:38Speaker 3: be government for the people by the people. But right now,
- 6:43Speaker 3: the people that are in power is government for the
- 6:46Speaker 3: rich by the greedy billionaires and corrupt corporations. And that's
- 6:51Speaker 3: what's frustrating people right now. The people who are making
- 6:53Speaker 3: the decisions are.
- 6:57Speaker 4: the ones who write the biggest checks.
- 7:00Speaker 3: And instead, the people that are making decisions, it should
- 7:02Speaker 3: be just the regular, everyday, hardworking people. And that's why
- 7:06Speaker 3: I'm running, because I want to make sure that is,
- 7:09Speaker 3: in fact, the case moving forward.
- 7:12Speaker 2: So as you know, because you.
- 7:15Speaker 1: Deal with this, there are some in Washington, even in
- 7:17Speaker 1: your own party, who say, yeah, she registered with DSA.
- 7:22Speaker 2: This is Florida.
- 7:24Speaker 1: I'll admit I'm skeptical that the S word is going
- 7:28Speaker 1: to play in South Florida where you need to do well.
- 7:31Speaker 2: Tell me how you push back on that.
- 7:34Speaker 1: What do you tell people that are saying, you know what,
- 7:35Speaker 1: I wish you hadn't joined the DSA or tell me
- 7:38Speaker 1: why you're in the socialist adjacent camp, I guess.
- 7:44Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 7:45Speaker 3: So thank you for that, Chuck. You know, it's not
- 7:47Speaker 3: about just three letters, right?
- 7:50Speaker 4: It's bigger than that. Right now, we are witnessing a
- 7:53Speaker 4: return to the worst chapters of our history.
- 7:56Speaker 3: And so what we need is all hands on deck.
- 7:59Speaker 3: There's absolutely nothing wrong or radical about me wanting to
- 8:02Speaker 3: ensure people have access to quality healthcare, access to quality
- 8:06Speaker 3: affordable housing, access to fully funded public schools.
- 8:10Speaker 4: And so.
- 8:12Speaker 3: What's interesting is the only people that question that or
- 8:16Speaker 3: talk about that are like, The political pundits, right?
- 8:22Speaker 4: The folks that are super plugged into the parties.
- 8:25Speaker 2: It's a fair critique.
- 8:26Speaker 3: When you go out and you have conversations like we're
- 8:29Speaker 3: having and knocking on doors. I remember when it first
- 8:31Speaker 3: started coming out, like immediately after the primary, I went
- 8:35Speaker 3: to Little Havana and I knocked on some doors and
- 8:39Speaker 3: I was let.
- 8:40Speaker 4: In by a Cuban man who was retired, but who left.
- 8:47Speaker 3: um cuba he fled cuba and he was talking to
- 8:50Speaker 3: me and he was like i voted for you i'm
- 8:52Speaker 3: gonna vote for you again he's like i i agree
- 8:54Speaker 3: with you standing up for medicare.
- 8:57Speaker 4: For all right and so it's like.
- 9:01Speaker 3: The only people the people that are upset about the
- 9:05Speaker 3: policies that i'm supportive of And the reason I joined
- 9:09Speaker 3: DSA are the people that are okay with people dying
- 9:15Speaker 3: if they don't have healthcare, right? And so like the
- 9:20Speaker 3: folks that are in power, like they're frustrated about that
- 9:23Speaker 3: because they're worried that.
- 9:25Speaker 4: They won't get kickbacks. They won't get all this windfall
- 9:29Speaker 4: of cash, right?
- 9:32Speaker 3: And so I have always spoke out against authoritarianism, the
- 9:37Speaker 3: rise of a dictatorship, which is what I have seen
- 9:41Speaker 3: being a state lawmaker here in the state of Florida, right?
- 9:44Speaker 4: And I don't agree with everything in the Democratic Party.
- 9:46Speaker 3: I also don't agree with everything that DSA agrees with,
- 9:50Speaker 3: but the core tenets, the pillars that they.
- 9:54Speaker 5: Support, universal healthcare, affordable housing, right? Ending bigotry of all forms, right?
- 10:01Speaker 5: Fully funded public schools, right? Those are fully funded social
- 10:04Speaker 5: security system.
- 10:06Speaker 3: Those are the things that The Democratic Party has professed
- 10:10Speaker 3: that they were supportive of and would fight for. But
- 10:12Speaker 3: it's a lot of what we don't see the leadership
- 10:15Speaker 3: fighting for this.
- 10:16Speaker 4: Day and age. And so in a time in a time, Chuck,
- 10:20Speaker 4: where you have like Donald Trump.
- 10:24Speaker 3: Weaponizing agencies and Ashley Moody rubber stamping them, they're literally
- 10:29Speaker 3: creating paramilitary forces. We need everybody to join hands, Working
- 10:34Speaker 3: Family Party, all these different groups and organizations across the
- 10:38Speaker 3: state and country to come together and to vote the
- 10:41Speaker 3: right way and hold Donald Trump accountable.
- 10:45Speaker 1: What's your diagnosis as to why Democrats went from highly
- 10:48Speaker 1: competitive in Florida not that long ago, we're talking the 2018,
- 10:53Speaker 1: probably as close of a couple of statewide elections we've
- 10:56Speaker 1: ever seen, to what it turned into in 2022? And
- 11:01Speaker 1: I think, look, I'm curious about this, right? Was 2022
- 11:05Speaker 1: an outlier? Was it the beginning of something? What's your
- 11:08Speaker 1: explanation for it? And what's your path back?
- 11:16Speaker 4: There was a huge divestment from the state after 2018.
- 11:22Speaker 1: And....
- 11:25Speaker 3: It was an excuse that was made because, oh, we,
- 11:30Speaker 3: a progressive couldn't have won, a progressive couldn't have won.
- 11:32Speaker 4: Yes, a progressive could.
- 11:33Speaker 3: Have won if, you know, there were some things that
- 11:38Speaker 3: could have been done a lot differently, but also from
- 11:41Speaker 3: the campaign, but if the entire party apparatus would have
- 11:45Speaker 3: got behind Andrew Gillum, we would not be in the
- 11:49Speaker 3: state that we are in today.
- 11:52Speaker 4: Literally and figuratively.
- 11:53Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Yes.
- 11:55Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to separate Andrew Gillum, the person
- 11:58Speaker 1: from that campaign at this point a little bit.
- 12:01Speaker 2: Right.
- 12:01Speaker 1: I mean, given given his own personal challenges. What are
- 12:05Speaker 1: you referring to in 2018?
- 12:07Speaker 3: What I'm saying is like if Andrew Gillum would have won,
- 12:10Speaker 3: if the entire Democratic Party apparatus apparatus would have gotten
- 12:14Speaker 3: behind him, even some of.
- 12:16Speaker 4: The more moderates, we would have won. Right.
- 12:19Speaker 3: Like he won. He lost by point. five percent of
- 12:25Speaker 3: a percentage point right right and so.
- 12:30Speaker 1: You know you know the argument the argument is that
- 12:33Speaker 1: gwen graham would have won you accept that premise i
- 12:36Speaker 1: don't i.
- 12:38Speaker 3: Don't because we had someone who ran the same policies
- 12:42Speaker 3: like gwen graham soon after and he lost miserably And
- 12:47Speaker 3: so what we have seen time and time again is
- 12:49Speaker 3: that progressive policies win in the state of Florida. We
- 12:52Speaker 3: want a 15 dollar minimum wage, which I help lead,
- 12:56Speaker 3: by the way, as a statewide organizer. We would have
- 12:59Speaker 3: won getting getting political interference out of abortion if Donald
- 13:06Speaker 3: Trump and Ashley Moody wouldn't have sold 10 million dollars and.
- 13:10Speaker 4: Use that money to.
- 13:11Speaker 3: Divert it to political slush funds and PACs that cause
- 13:16Speaker 3: political interference, right? We also want automatic rights restoration for
- 13:22Speaker 3: returning citizens.
- 13:23Speaker 4: All of these are progressive policies.
- 13:25Speaker 3: But time and time again, we keep running people who
- 13:29Speaker 3: don't run on progressive values.
- 13:32Speaker 4: Republicans like progressive policies. It benefits them, right?
- 13:37Speaker 3: Like, and so we have won progressive.
- 13:42Speaker 4: Issues up and down the ballot. Like we won rent.
- 13:45Speaker 3: Stabilization in Orange County, right? That's a progressive, that's a
- 13:48Speaker 3: progressive issue, right? We are winning, we are winning all
- 13:53Speaker 3: of these things. And so, but yeah, and still they
- 13:57Speaker 3: keep trying to run candidates who unfortunately Don't even really
- 14:02Speaker 3: align with some of these progressive policies.
- 14:04Speaker 1: You're sharing a ballot. You're sharing a ballot with David Jolly.
- 14:08Speaker 1: And I can, it sounds like you're describing his style
- 14:12Speaker 1: or his brand of democratic politics.
- 14:14Speaker 2: Are you?
- 14:15Speaker 4: I didn't say, I didn't say that. David Jolly has
- 14:18Speaker 4: some progressive issues.
- 14:19Speaker 2: I know you didn't. That's why I'm asking you. Yeah.
- 14:21Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 14:21Speaker 3: David Jolly is running on like the policies that he
- 14:25Speaker 3: wants are progressive and for the people. Right. And so, Also, again,
- 14:33Speaker 3: we are forming a very unique ticket.
- 14:38Speaker 4: I am somewhat to the left. He is somewhat middle
- 14:41Speaker 4: of the road. That's fine, though. He crosses the spectrum.
- 14:48Speaker 3: The policies are speaking towards people, and that's what people want.
- 14:54Speaker 4: It's not even about a label. Let's be clear.
- 14:57Speaker 3: It's about issues that people care about that would help
- 15:00Speaker 3: benefit and improve their quality of life. And that's what
- 15:03Speaker 3: I'm running on. That's what I've always ran on. That's
- 15:06Speaker 3: what I've always supported. And that's what David Jolly is.
- 15:09Speaker 4: Running on, too.
- 15:12Speaker 1: I have two paths I want to go down with you.
- 15:14Speaker 1: One is what you would do as a U.S.
- 15:16Speaker 2: Senator.
- 15:16Speaker 1: But before I get there, I find the Florida state legislature.
- 15:23Speaker 2: To be the single most unfair, gerrymandered. I don't know.
- 15:28Speaker 1: It is non-reflective of the state of Florida. It has,
- 15:34Speaker 1: and it's been this way for decades. It strikes me
- 15:38Speaker 1: as a really hard place to get things done, that
- 15:42Speaker 1: there's a lot of lobbyist control. The term limits issue
- 15:46Speaker 1: has made lawmakers come in and out and that they
- 15:49Speaker 1: have less power. Am I being overly cynical? Tell me
- 15:54Speaker 1: how this the legislature can become a workable, functioning body
- 15:59Speaker 1: of government. Because right now, every once in a while,
- 16:03Speaker 1: they try to be an equal branch of government, but
- 16:07Speaker 1: not often. It is just the idea that you pick
- 16:10Speaker 1: a Speaker of the House years in advance so that
- 16:13Speaker 1: they can get job offers. And the fact that people
- 16:15Speaker 1: can work and get full-time jobs with people with business
- 16:19Speaker 1: before the state It just feels like a corruptible institution.
- 16:23Speaker 1: I don't want to say everybody in it's corrupt. That's
- 16:26Speaker 1: not fair. But it allows for corruption to be easier.
- 16:30Speaker 1: That's what it looks like from this layperson.
- 16:33Speaker 4: Yeah. And so. Oh, my God.
- 16:37Speaker 2: Am I overly cynical? I mean, I have a feeling
- 16:39Speaker 2: you'll say amen on some of them. No, no.
- 16:42Speaker 4: You know, the state of Florida is a very toxic,
- 16:44Speaker 4: hostile work environment.
- 16:46Speaker 3: They actually put my office in the basement with rats
- 16:48Speaker 3: because I was pushing back against the unconstitutional maps that
- 16:52Speaker 3: Ron DeSantis drew back in 2022.
- 16:54Speaker 1: You believe your office space was punishment a little bit?
- 17:01Speaker 4: Oh, I was told that by the Speaker of the House.
- 17:04Speaker 3: Like.
- 17:06Speaker 4: Yes.
- 17:06Speaker 3: Like he put me there to reprimand me and he
- 17:10Speaker 3: took me out because he didn't like that.
- 17:13Speaker 4: I went on social media and called him out about it. Right.
- 17:16Speaker 4: He literally, what he said afterwards afterwards was.
- 17:20Speaker 3: Before you have any issues, please make sure you come
- 17:22Speaker 3: and talk to me about it first. And I'm so
- 17:25Speaker 3: honored and happy that he did not win his nomination
- 17:29Speaker 3: to become the governor of Shout out to you, Paul,
- 17:34Speaker 3: what's his name?
- 17:34Speaker 4: Paul Renner.
- 17:35Speaker 2: Renner, I think, yeah.
- 17:36Speaker 4: Yeah, Paul Renner. So funny.
- 17:41Speaker 3: Anyways, but yeah, so like, it's pay to play. It
- 17:47Speaker 3: is pay to play there. And, but you can at
- 17:50Speaker 3: times get things done. You have to be able to navigate.
- 17:53Speaker 3: I was able to expand access to early childhood education.
- 17:57Speaker 3: That's because Senator Erin Raul was a representative at the time.
- 18:01Speaker 3: She took one of my bills and put it in
- 18:03Speaker 3: her omnibus bills.
- 18:04Speaker 4: And so you just have to know how to navigate
- 18:06Speaker 4: and build relationships. A lot of Republicans like me in
- 18:09Speaker 4: the state.
- 18:10Speaker 1: Is it two parties? Is there two Republican parties in
- 18:13Speaker 1: the state legislature?
- 18:14Speaker 2: No. You know what I mean when I say that?
- 18:17Speaker 3: No.
- 18:17Speaker 4: No, I do. It's one, right? They all fall in line.
- 18:21Speaker 3: But.
- 18:24Speaker 3: Behind the scenes, they will work with you and put
- 18:26Speaker 3: your amendments on and all that stuff if you don't
- 18:30Speaker 3: make them look bad, right?
- 18:32Speaker 4: And you don't rock the boat.
- 18:33Speaker 3: I must say, even though he still did some bad stuff,
- 18:38Speaker 3: I would say that Speaker Danny Perez was probably the
- 18:41Speaker 3: better of the speakers.
- 18:43Speaker 4: That I've ever had to work with. And so, and
- 18:48Speaker 4: that's saying a lot.
- 18:52Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Todd cast is brought to
- 18:54Speaker 1: you by Kalshi. It's an exchange where you can trade
- 18:57Speaker 1: on what you actually think is going to happen. Sports, politics, culture,
- 19:02Speaker 1: whatever's on your mind. For example, one market, of course,
- 19:05Speaker 1: that I'm monitoring very closely is the U.S. Senate and
- 19:08Speaker 1: control of the U.S.
- 19:09Speaker 2: Senate.
- 19:10Speaker 1: As recently as September 10th, Republicans were favored to retain control.
- 19:15Speaker 1: Fifty two percent right to to to buy a share
- 19:18Speaker 1: of Republicans retain control is going to cost you fifty
- 19:20Speaker 1: two cents. would have only cost you 48 cents to
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- 19:32Speaker 1: Democrats are now favored, according to the markets, the market
- 19:36Speaker 1: to buy Democratic control is up to 62 cents. The
- 19:40Speaker 1: market for Republican control is 38 cents. So it's the Democrats'
- 19:45Speaker 1: high watermark so far of the cycle. And so far,
- 19:48Speaker 1: the number is growing.
- 19:50Speaker 2: By the day. And so you know what that means.
- 19:52Speaker 1: If you're confident, you think this number is only going
- 19:56Speaker 1: to grow, then you better hurry up and get in
- 19:57Speaker 1: now if you believe the Democrats are going to do this.
- 20:00Speaker 1: And if you look at this and go, hey, I
- 20:02Speaker 1: think the Republicans are going to retain. And in fact,
- 20:04Speaker 1: whether they retain or not, I think we're going to
- 20:06Speaker 1: see some polls. There'll be the natural tightening of October.
- 20:09Speaker 1: I better get in on this. get a piece of
- 20:11Speaker 1: this Republican number before it goes back up. And, you know,
- 20:13Speaker 1: either way, you can make a couple of bucks.
- 20:15Speaker 2: So it's fascinating.
- 20:17Speaker 1: And depending on how you view the next three weeks
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- 20:43Speaker 1: to trade responsibly. Give me one or two that you
- 20:50Speaker 1: think semi-simple ideas that would make, you know, me a...
- 20:56Speaker 1: I can still consider myself a Floridian, though I don't
- 20:58Speaker 1: vote in Florida. I may end up voting in Florida
- 21:01Speaker 1: again because that's what all of us do when we
- 21:03Speaker 1: get older.
- 21:04Speaker 3: Is.
- 21:08Speaker 1: Is it a small d democratic institution? What would it
- 21:11Speaker 1: take to make it feel a bit more democratic? Small d.
- 21:14Speaker 4: Well, what it would take.
- 21:15Speaker 3: I mean, we just, we got to get rid of
- 21:17Speaker 3: these Republicans, but in regards to policies and that type
- 21:21Speaker 3: of stuff, look, we got to stop allowing them to
- 21:23Speaker 3: defund public education.
- 21:26Speaker 4: Like that's the main moneymaker.
- 21:27Speaker 3: But what we did, what we learned this past legislative
- 21:31Speaker 3: session was that there are a lot of, um, There
- 21:35Speaker 3: are a lot of lawmakers that have charter school management
- 21:40Speaker 3: companies or they have stocks in charter school management companies
- 21:45Speaker 3: or they have stocks in for-profit prisons. And so big
- 21:50Speaker 3: money needs to get out of politics all around.
- 21:53Speaker 4: But for sure, we need to make sure that.
- 21:57Speaker 3: The people don't like we got to get money out
- 22:00Speaker 3: of this stuff. A lot of this stuff is just
- 22:01Speaker 3: a massive shakedown. Even when you're thinking about like how
- 22:05Speaker 3: they decided to use, how Ron DeSantis decided to use
- 22:08Speaker 3: our emergency funding that was supposed to be used in
- 22:12Speaker 3: time of a natural disaster to instead stand up and
- 22:16Speaker 3: a modern day internment camp in Alligator Alcatraz and use
- 22:19Speaker 3: some of that money in Baker County and some of
- 22:21Speaker 3: these other detention centers. And he only did it so
- 22:24Speaker 3: that he can give his campaign donors, literally, his, Donald Trump's,
- 22:29Speaker 3: Ashley Moody's, no big contracts, right? Like there's so much
- 22:33Speaker 3: grifting happening right now. And it is, it's absolutely absurd
- 22:38Speaker 3: and it's absolutely ridiculous and it's frustrating.
- 22:43Speaker 2: Well, you didn't.
- 22:44Speaker 1: It just feels like a it feels like a place
- 22:48Speaker 1: that could use a lot of political reform, whether it's
- 22:50Speaker 1: open primaries.
- 22:52Speaker 2: Do you think is the issue open primaries? Is it
- 22:55Speaker 2: the gerrymandering?
- 22:56Speaker 3: Right.
- 22:56Speaker 2: The lack of what would you say? Well, we have
- 22:58Speaker 2: seen since since.
- 23:04Speaker 3: Andrew Gillum got so close to the governor's mansion. We
- 23:07Speaker 3: have continually seen a rollback on our voting rights.
- 23:12Speaker 4: They have every year they say we.
- 23:15Speaker 3: Have the safest and most secure elections, but every year
- 23:17Speaker 3: they change the process for elections around elections.
- 23:22Speaker 4: And so like that needs to be Like we're sending
- 23:25Speaker 4: a lot of those bills need to be repealed. We're
- 23:28Speaker 4: a democracy.
- 23:29Speaker 3: We should be trying to make sure that everyone who
- 23:31Speaker 3: is eligible to vote should be voting.
- 23:33Speaker 4: Right.
- 23:36Speaker 3: Also, like, yeah, they they drew illegal maps. Like, that's
- 23:40Speaker 3: one thing that should have never happened. Right. uh, I'm
- 23:46Speaker 3: trying to, it's just, it's so much. That's just really
- 23:48Speaker 3: jacked up.
- 23:49Speaker 2: Right.
- 23:49Speaker 4: But like, those are the most basic points right there.
- 23:53Speaker 3: They literally, they literally have changed the, the voting laws for.
- 23:58Speaker 4: Like the past, past six years.
- 24:01Speaker 3: I believe the past six years, every year is.
- 24:04Speaker 4: Something that they're changing.
- 24:08Speaker 2: Let's go to, if you get to the United States Senate, um.
- 24:13Speaker 1: I get to the, you know, of course that's the
- 24:16Speaker 1: way you should be talking.
- 24:17Speaker 2: I get that.
- 24:18Speaker 1: So, but I want to talk about as a Senator,
- 24:21Speaker 1: as you know, on one hand, one Senator's got a
- 24:24Speaker 1: lot of power compared to, uh, um, the U S house,
- 24:28Speaker 1: but at the same time, you're going to have to get, uh,
- 24:32Speaker 1: in order to get the votes you need, you might
- 24:35Speaker 1: have to pull back on some of the things you
- 24:37Speaker 1: need to get done. As somebody who's worked in a
- 24:39Speaker 1: Republican legislature, in some ways, this will feel quite familiar
- 24:42Speaker 1: to you. So how do you view trying to make
- 24:46Speaker 1: the Senate, what do you make of how the Senate
- 24:49Speaker 1: works now? And what is something that you're just itching
- 24:53Speaker 1: to do and try the second you get there?
- 24:57Speaker 4: Chuck, the Senate isn't working right now. Nothing's working in Washington, really.
- 25:00Speaker 3: Like, yeah, they'll pass some bipartisan bills, but it doesn't
- 25:03Speaker 3: have any real teeth behind it. And, you know, did
- 25:07Speaker 3: the Republicans, when the Democrats were in power, did they
- 25:10Speaker 3: pull back?
- 25:13Speaker 4: Or did they go all gas, no brakes?
- 25:17Speaker 2: You think they pulled back too much? Or I mean...
- 25:19Speaker 2: I assume that's what you believe.
- 25:22Speaker 3: I don't see like I don't see the Republic, the
- 25:24Speaker 3: Republic when the Democrats were in power. Right. Yeah.
- 25:28Speaker 4: Thinking around like Obama era.
- 25:30Speaker 2: Right.
- 25:30Speaker 3: Like.
- 25:32Speaker 4: The Republicans, we all gas, no brakes. They did not
- 25:36Speaker 4: pull back anything.
- 25:38Speaker 3: They kept pushing and yelling and screaming and disrupting and
- 25:41Speaker 3: all the things.
- 25:44Speaker 4: Right now, people are dying. Right now, we.
- 25:46Speaker 3: Have a man in the White House that is laying
- 25:48Speaker 3: the foundation to not leave. creating paramilitary forces that are
- 25:54Speaker 3: pushing the limit to see how far that they can go.
- 25:56Speaker 3: And so I am not going to continue to compromise
- 26:00Speaker 3: our values, to compromise.
- 26:03Speaker 4: The lives and the livelihoods of Floridians and Americans. I'm
- 26:08Speaker 4: going to stand firm, right?
- 26:10Speaker 3: I am going to use an aggressive inside-outside strategy. to
- 26:15Speaker 3: work to organize my caucus members and organize other members
- 26:18Speaker 3: within the U.S.
- 26:19Speaker 4: Senate.
- 26:20Speaker 3: And then I'm also going to use that same aggressive
- 26:23Speaker 3: strategy to organize out in the communities.
- 26:25Speaker 4: One thing I know about being an elected official, we
- 26:27Speaker 4: do not like bad.
- 26:29Speaker 3: Publicity or pressure, public pressure. And so we need more
- 26:34Speaker 3: organizers in the U.S. Senate and in Congress. so that
- 26:38Speaker 3: we can actually put more pressure and be more vocal
- 26:42Speaker 3: about what's happening. Too often times, people get away with
- 26:49Speaker 3: stuff in Washington, D.C. because folks back home don't know
- 26:52Speaker 3: what's going on.
- 26:53Speaker 4: We don't change that. We're going to change that when
- 26:56Speaker 4: I become.
- 26:57Speaker 3: next u.s senator which is actually chuck though which is
- 27:00Speaker 3: actually what i have done as a state rep like
- 27:04Speaker 3: i have been so vocal and caused many members of
- 27:07Speaker 3: my caucus to be more vocal and caused many outside
- 27:11Speaker 3: groups to be more vocal and that's that's why we
- 27:14Speaker 3: were able to stop some bad bills right and um
- 27:18Speaker 3: to get some amendments on and that type of thing
- 27:21Speaker 3: and so i'm gonna do the same thing when i
- 27:22Speaker 3: become a u.s senator.
- 27:23Speaker 1: It's a uh You're not the first person who has
- 27:28Speaker 1: pledged that they can shake up the Senate. And I've
- 27:31Speaker 1: seen people. I'm not going to name names. I mean,
- 27:34Speaker 1: I like these people. I think they're genuine in their
- 27:36Speaker 1: attempts to do it. The place can stifle you. I mean,
- 27:41Speaker 1: it is it is tough.
- 27:43Speaker 4: It is.
- 27:44Speaker 1: I like I said, there's been some. People like yourself,
- 27:48Speaker 1: very sort of who have had success organizing, who've gotten
- 27:52Speaker 1: to the Senate and run into an organized brick wall,
- 27:56Speaker 1: to be frank.
- 27:58Speaker 2: What do you think you could do differently?
- 28:01Speaker 3: What I think that I can do differently is right now,
- 28:05Speaker 3: this country is at an inflection.
- 28:08Speaker 4: Point, right?
- 28:09Speaker 3: Like we're at a crossroads and it costs too much
- 28:13Speaker 3: money just to be alive right now.
- 28:15Speaker 4: And so. I'm going to.
- 28:18Speaker 3: Organize the people outside to put pressure year round, 24-7,
- 28:23Speaker 3: not just during an election year on those senators. We're
- 28:28Speaker 3: going to demand that these folks come into the communities.
- 28:31Speaker 4: And have in-person town hall meetings.
- 28:33Speaker 3: We're going to debate. We're going to use social media, right?
- 28:37Speaker 3: We're going to, like, we're moving away. We're saying, hey,
- 28:40Speaker 3: I'm on your podcast, right? Like, we are seeing folks
- 28:43Speaker 3: move away from traditional media. And we are going to
- 28:46Speaker 3: amplify with these influencers, with these non-traditional folks that are media,
- 28:55Speaker 3: non-traditional media, as well as just in the community. And so,
- 28:59Speaker 3: number one, we need to repeal that big BS bill.
- 29:03Speaker 4: Something we need to do, and we need to extend
- 29:05Speaker 4: the ACA subsidies.
- 29:06Speaker 3: Right now, folks are frustrated, which is why we are
- 29:10Speaker 3: seeing such success with the No Kings rally. There are
- 29:14Speaker 3: not just Democrats going to these rallies. There are independents
- 29:16Speaker 3: and Republicans who are fed up. And so now, you know,
- 29:22Speaker 3: this is the next 250 years of our country to start.
- 29:26Speaker 3: And so what we have seen, I'm a student of history,
- 29:29Speaker 3: what we have seen all across the globe is that
- 29:32Speaker 3: there have been reiterations of different governments like we we're
- 29:38Speaker 3: due for a new iteration of something right and so
- 29:42Speaker 3: we have the opportunity to rebuild our country like our
- 29:46Speaker 3: institute like democracy has fallen here We see this guy
- 29:51Speaker 3: in the White House who, again, is rubber-stamped by Ashley Moody.
- 29:55Speaker 3: They're going after the media. He's going after his political opponents.
- 30:01Speaker 3: He has taken control of oil from a foreign country.
- 30:07Speaker 4: It is mind-blowing, right?
- 30:10Speaker 3: That is not what a democracy is.
- 30:12Speaker 1: Have you run into Venezuelans who are upset about this?
- 30:17Speaker 2: And I'm just....
- 30:19Speaker 1: I'm just sort of, it's kind of a head scratcher
- 30:22Speaker 1: to me that we haven't seen more protests coming out of,
- 30:26Speaker 1: you know, communities.
- 30:28Speaker 4: They're afraid. Chuck, they're afraid. That's why. They told me
- 30:35Speaker 4: they're afraid to come out. They're afraid to get deported. Like,
- 30:39Speaker 4: that's what they said. Even if they're here the right way, right?
- 30:44Speaker 3: Even if they are citizens of this.
- 30:47Speaker 4: Country, they.
- 30:49Speaker 3: are locking people up without due process.
- 30:53Speaker 4: So people who are actual.
- 30:55Speaker 3: U.s citizens can be locked up and not talk to
- 30:59Speaker 3: their family their attorney for days and weeks there's no
- 31:04Speaker 3: freaking process in place and you.
- 31:07Speaker 1: Think that's having a huge impact on just people not
- 31:10Speaker 1: wanting to speak out yeah Hell yes.
- 31:13Speaker 4: That's what they told me.
- 31:14Speaker 3: A guy by the name of Jay that I met
- 31:16Speaker 3: in Orlando said that his husband is Venezuelan and he
- 31:20Speaker 3: does not leave the house. He said he wanted to
- 31:23Speaker 3: be here at your rally today, but he could not.
- 31:25Speaker 3: He did not come because he does not leave the house.
- 31:28Speaker 4: And he started crying like they are afraid. They are terrified.
- 31:33Speaker 3: They're literally going into elementary schools, stealing, kidnapping kids and
- 31:39Speaker 3: using them as bait.
- 31:41Speaker 4: Like, that's what we're up against.
- 31:42Speaker 3: This is not normal.
- 31:43Speaker 4: And this is not OK.
- 31:46Speaker 1: You've given your history working, especially working in northeast Florida,
- 31:52Speaker 1: which is just such a competitive area. How did the
- 31:55Speaker 1: same state vote for Obama and Trump? What did Trump do?
- 32:01Speaker 3: It's what he spoke to people. He went out and
- 32:06Speaker 3: talked to them.
- 32:08Speaker 4: He went out and had conversations with them.
- 32:10Speaker 3: He spoke to their concerns and he didn't sugarcoat anything, right?
- 32:18Speaker 3: He spoke to the people that were hurting and that's
- 32:20Speaker 3: literally what I'm doing, right? And it also like the party,
- 32:24Speaker 3: the Democratic Party stopped, they divested from the South.
- 32:29Speaker 4: They divested from the South.
- 32:31Speaker 3: And I will say they divested from a lot of
- 32:34Speaker 3: Black leaders, right?
- 32:38Speaker 4: What does that say about us now? The party has
- 32:43Speaker 4: to figure out.
- 32:47Speaker 3: If they're going to continue to use Black people for
- 32:49Speaker 3: their labor and not advocate for their leadership.
- 32:54Speaker 1: Well, look, it's not lost on me. So you're an
- 32:58Speaker 1: African-American nominee in Florida. There's an African-American nominee in Mississippi.
- 33:05Speaker 4: Louisiana.
- 33:07Speaker 2: Louisiana.
- 33:10Speaker 1: Every one of those races, there's been polling in the
- 33:12Speaker 1: last couple of weeks showing very close races. The National
- 33:16Speaker 1: Party doesn't seem eager. Maybe they go into Mississippi.
- 33:20Speaker 2: We'll see.
- 33:21Speaker 1: Why is that so difficult? Why do you think that's
- 33:24Speaker 1: been so difficult?
- 33:26Speaker 4: Let me see if I'm trying to be.
- 33:30Speaker 4: We're the South, and... You know, we.
- 33:36Speaker 3: Have to recognize that we can't.
- 33:41Speaker 4: Continue to say we're going to fight.
- 33:45Speaker 3: Against systemic and institutionalized racism. And we're not addressing it
- 33:52Speaker 3: within our party. If you look at, you know, Vice
- 33:57Speaker 3: President Harris was an anomaly with the amount of money
- 34:00Speaker 3: she was able to raise.
- 34:02Speaker 4: And it was great.
- 34:04Speaker 3: But some of the things that I am hearing from
- 34:06Speaker 3: people that are part of the party, well, she couldn't
- 34:09Speaker 3: do it. And so, cause she was black. And so
- 34:12Speaker 3: we don't need to invest in, in a black candidate
- 34:15Speaker 3: that way. It'll never happen. It won't be done.
- 34:17Speaker 2: And so.
- 34:19Speaker 4: That's what we're saying.
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- 35:59Speaker 1: Do you think there are voters that won't vote for
- 36:00Speaker 1: Byron Donalds because of the color of his skin?
- 36:04Speaker 4: Yeah. Within our party and within the Republican Party.
- 36:11Speaker 1: Why do you think the Republican Party is more supportive
- 36:13Speaker 1: of Byron Donalds than the Democratic Party is supportive of you?
- 36:18Speaker 4: I don't think all the Republicans... You ain't been on
- 36:20Speaker 4: the ground, Chuck. It is.
- 36:22Speaker 2: Well, I haven't heard. You're right. You think Donald is
- 36:24Speaker 2: in trouble?
- 36:26Speaker 3: It is batshit crazy down here. Oh, Lord, I meant
- 36:29Speaker 3: to blink that out.
- 36:30Speaker 4: Sorry. It is a mess down here.
- 36:33Speaker 2: We have an E on my podcast. Don't worry. And
- 36:35Speaker 2: it's my mouth, not yours. So don't worry about it.
- 36:40Speaker 4: No, you know, it is.
- 36:44Speaker 4: You know, people will say, oh, she called for a ceasefire.
- 36:47Speaker 4: That's a problem. Or, oh, she's not taking APAC money.
- 36:50Speaker 4: That's a problem. Or, oh, no, now she joined DSA.
- 36:55Speaker 4: You got to ask, why did I feel the.
- 36:57Speaker 3: Need to join organizations? I just stay with the party, right? Like, yes,
- 37:02Speaker 3: there needs to be. We're a big team. We need
- 37:04Speaker 3: to bring all the people in. But also, like, I'm
- 37:07Speaker 3: going to be real. Like the party that I grew
- 37:10Speaker 3: up in, that I was the vice chair of in
- 37:13Speaker 3: Duval County, that I also served as the field director
- 37:17Speaker 3: and political director of the state party before. A lot
- 37:22Speaker 3: of folks in the party turned their back on me.
- 37:24Speaker 1: Hmm.
- 37:26Speaker 4: A lot of folks in.
- 37:26Speaker 3: The party have been supportive of me, always asked me
- 37:29Speaker 3: to stand up and do things that come.
- 37:31Speaker 4: Show up, show out, run bills, do this, do that.
- 37:35Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden, when someone.
- 37:38Speaker 3: Who didn't look like me got in the race after me,
- 37:41Speaker 3: it was, oh, Angie lacks depth.
- 37:45Speaker 4: Angie lacks experience.
- 37:47Speaker 3: When I'm the only lawmaker, sitting lawmaker that was running
- 37:50Speaker 3: for U.S.
- 37:51Speaker 4: Senate at the time, right? And so, oh, Angie, Angie
- 37:57Speaker 4: says y'all too much. Oh, oh, Angie doesn't dress correctly.
- 38:02Speaker 3: Those are microaggressions rooted in racism.
- 38:08Speaker 5: And so we have to, we have to.
- 38:12Speaker 3: Recognize that we got to fix some things within ourselves too,
- 38:18Speaker 3: within the party.
- 38:19Speaker 4: And so I, again, I'm an organizer and I am, um,
- 38:24Speaker 4: believe in agitation.
- 38:25Speaker 3: Right.
- 38:26Speaker 4: And I'm critical.
- 38:28Speaker 3: I'm also critical of this country because I love it.
- 38:32Speaker 4: And I want it to be better just the same way.
- 38:34Speaker 3: I'm critical of my party because I love it and
- 38:36Speaker 3: I want it to be better, but there, there's a
- 38:39Speaker 3: reason my husband, um, who I've been married to for
- 38:43Speaker 3: five years now, who he says that the Republican Party
- 38:46Speaker 3: and the Democratic Party, they're two different wings on the
- 38:48Speaker 3: same bird, right?
- 38:50Speaker 4: There's a reason people feel that way.
- 38:52Speaker 3: He feels that way being married to a prominent Democrat
- 38:57Speaker 3: in the party in the state of Florida.
- 38:59Speaker 4: And so if we don't work.
- 39:01Speaker 3: To address those issues, then we have a problem and
- 39:05Speaker 3: we will never win the.
- 39:08Speaker 4: Way in which we need to.
- 39:09Speaker 2: Well, you don't sound like a vote for Chuck Schumer.
- 39:14Speaker 3: I am someone who is going to get to Washington, D.C.
- 39:17Speaker 3: and assess whoever decides to run, ask them the tough questions,
- 39:21Speaker 3: and then I'll make my decision after that.
- 39:24Speaker 2: So you're not ready to talk about that stuff. That's interesting.
- 39:27Speaker 4: Right now, Chuck Schumer is the leader, and I'm going
- 39:29Speaker 4: to respect. him as such.
- 39:32Speaker 1: That will surprise a lot of people because, you know,
- 39:36Speaker 1: it's low-hanging fruit these days to bash Democratic leadership, right?
- 39:41Speaker 1: But I find it interesting you won't do that. I
- 39:45Speaker 1: respect it.
- 39:46Speaker 3: I'm not trying to bash anyone. Like, look, we have
- 39:50Speaker 3: one common goal. We need to take back the Senate and.
- 39:53Speaker 4: Take back the House. And I'm trying to do as
- 39:56Speaker 4: much as possible to do that.
- 39:57Speaker 3: And in fighting, like, publicly in fighting, it ain't in fighting,
- 40:02Speaker 3: but publicly fighting is not going to be helpful today.
- 40:06Speaker 3: And so, you know, we need to move, not left,
- 40:10Speaker 3: not right, but towards the people. And that's something that
- 40:12Speaker 3: I've always done.
- 40:13Speaker 4: I'm going to continue to do and I'm going to
- 40:14Speaker 4: push people.
- 40:15Speaker 2: To do as well.
- 40:16Speaker 1: Well, look, the whole reason I'm trying to be in
- 40:18Speaker 1: independent media is I like trying to stop rounding the
- 40:22Speaker 1: edges on everything, right? And I take it you're tired
- 40:25Speaker 1: of politics being debated almost too sterilely, it sounds like.
- 40:35Speaker 2: It's almost too sterile, our political debate. And you'd like
- 40:38Speaker 2: to see a little more.
- 40:39Speaker 4: We just need to get shit done. We need to
- 40:45Speaker 4: get shit done, Chuck. We need to get shit done.
- 40:48Speaker 2: So if you guys, if you get both. I spoke
- 40:51Speaker 2: with a girl in Boca. Go ahead. Tell me about that.
- 40:56Speaker 4: No, I spoke with a woman in Broward County the
- 40:59Speaker 4: other day. She's in her 30s.
- 41:01Speaker 3: She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago.
- 41:05Speaker 3: And she was everything was working out. And then they
- 41:09Speaker 3: passed that big BS bill. And they cut back.
- 41:13Speaker 4: The funding for her to be able to have access
- 41:15Speaker 4: to certain treatments.
- 41:17Speaker 3: And her breast cancer returned and she has stage four
- 41:20Speaker 3: breast cancer. People are dying because people are playing games.
- 41:25Speaker 3: I don't have time to play games. I'm going to Washington, D.C.
- 41:27Speaker 4: To do a job.
- 41:29Speaker 3: And that is to ensure we are improving people's quality
- 41:32Speaker 3: of life here.
- 41:33Speaker 4: And so I have no time to.
- 41:36Speaker 3: For the BS like I'm only beholden to people I'm
- 41:40Speaker 3: not beholden to corporations I'm not beholden to these billionaires
- 41:44Speaker 3: and I'm gonna be clear right like we don't see
- 41:47Speaker 3: as much fight from certain people because they benefit from
- 41:51Speaker 3: what's happening right now too they straight I'm not straight.
- 41:55Speaker 3: My family and friends are not straight. And so my
- 41:59Speaker 3: community is not okay. And so I'm going to fight.
- 42:02Speaker 4: Like hell to change that.
- 42:04Speaker 3: But there are a lot of people within both parties who.
- 42:10Speaker 4: Are in office. They're okay. What's happening right now, they're
- 42:15Speaker 4: benefiting from it.
- 42:17Speaker 3: And so unless you know what it's like to struggle,
- 42:21Speaker 3: especially right now in this moment, You're going to keep
- 42:25Speaker 3: doing whatever it is.
- 42:26Speaker 4: That you're doing.
- 42:28Speaker 1: How much time you want Democrats next year? How much
- 42:30Speaker 1: time do you want to be spending on debating whether
- 42:33Speaker 1: to impeach Trump? And how much time do you want
- 42:35Speaker 1: to be spending debating Medicare for all?
- 42:39Speaker 3: You know, I feel like you can do both. I mean,
- 42:42Speaker 3: a man has done some impeachable offenses. You should be
- 42:46Speaker 3: able you should be able to do both.
- 42:48Speaker 4: Right. Like Congress doesn't have to move as slow as
- 42:52Speaker 4: it moves. It doesn't.
- 42:55Speaker 3: They're trying to make it seem like it's such a
- 42:57Speaker 3: convoluted process.
- 42:58Speaker 4: It's so complex. It's not. It's not.
- 43:03Speaker 1: Yeah, when you guys have a special session and there's
- 43:06Speaker 1: two days left, how quickly do bills get written and
- 43:08Speaker 1: passed in the Tallahassee?
- 43:11Speaker 3: Come on, Chuck.
- 43:11Speaker 4: You need to run for office. You speaking, man.
- 43:17Speaker 2: All right. Let's lighten up here. What's been your favorite....
- 43:24Speaker 1: New town that you've traveled to in Florida that you
- 43:26Speaker 1: had no idea.
- 43:28Speaker 2: You had no idea. You're like, I can't believe how
- 43:30Speaker 2: much I love X. Tell me about it.
- 43:33Speaker 4: I like the Apalachicola area. It is so beautiful.
- 43:39Speaker 3: Even though they had an issue with their water. But
- 43:43Speaker 3: when you're driving, when you're making that drive in like
- 43:46Speaker 3: Port St. Joe area, it is absolutely beautiful.
- 43:51Speaker 4: Beautiful.
- 43:52Speaker 3: That's the Panhandle area. It is absolutely beautiful. So I
- 43:56Speaker 3: love going over there.
- 43:57Speaker 4: It's far as hell, but.
- 43:59Speaker 2: I love going.
- 44:03Speaker 1: And I take it you have a preference on which
- 44:07Speaker 1: of the big three football schools. No offense to UCF.
- 44:10Speaker 1: I guess I should say big four if I'll count
- 44:12Speaker 1: UCF in this.
- 44:14Speaker 4: You're a Gator.
- 44:15Speaker 2: Are you a Gator through and through? I'm a Gator. Yeah.
- 44:19Speaker 4: You know, I'm a Gator.
- 44:19Speaker 2: I won't hold that against you. Maybe I will.
- 44:23Speaker 3: I love my HBCUs sooner. We need to make sure
- 44:26Speaker 3: they get more funding.
- 44:29Speaker 2: Absolutely.
- 44:29Speaker 1: We have two really good ones. The Thin Cookman and
- 44:33Speaker 1: Florida A & M. And I'm sure I'm leaving a
- 44:35Speaker 1: couple out. Yeah, I'm leaving a couple out.
- 44:37Speaker 2: I know.
- 44:37Speaker 3: Yeah. Edward Waters University, which is in my current district.
- 44:42Speaker 4: And then we have Florida Memorial University.
- 44:45Speaker 2: Florida Memorial.
- 44:46Speaker 1: I shouldn't have left that one out, but obviously. I
- 44:51Speaker 1: got a lot of friends, a lot of FAMU friends.
- 44:54Speaker 2: So I always have to give them extra shout out.
- 44:57Speaker 1: Angie, be safe on the trail. I'm glad you're wearing
- 44:59Speaker 1: a seatbelt. Nobody's going to give you a hard time
- 45:01Speaker 1: about that. And I appreciate you giving me some time.
- 45:04Speaker 1: Be safe out there. Nice to meet you.
- 45:06Speaker 2: Thank you. Bye.