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Why Victoria Broderick Refuses to Give Up on Rural and Working-Class Voters · the ACT OUT podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Act Out Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Adam Tomlin.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is the Democratic nominee for Tennessee's fourth congressional district, Victoria Broderick.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Let's roll the tape.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Victoria, how are you?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to be here.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to talk to your listeners and talk to you some more.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've been loving having our chats that we had in DC recently, so I'm really excited for today.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, like you had said, you and I met.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: God, was it just last week?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was like two weeks ago, maybe.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't wait.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: What did today's the 16th, 17th?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's the 17th.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Early voting started today.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Early voting started today.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We met officially two weeks ago.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, so you and I were in Washington, D.C.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: together for the Seven Days in DC uh conference.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I that was my very first like interaction with uh with like kind of progressive candidates and uh you know the the progressive content creators.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I it was amazing to be around like-minded folks.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It it feels like a community, like uh people don't realize how hard this work is, and they don't realize how it can kind of be alienating and just you know gives you so having these moments where you can kind of commune with people who have like-minded, you don't have to worry about navigating the space as much.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's inclusive, that kind of thing.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: It just it felt good and it helps kind of like re you know, refocus you in the work.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever I was growing up, I lived in a very rural area, and uh I well, not whenever I was growing up.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever I was growing up, I was I was a Republican and I just fit right in.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: But whenever I graduated from college, I kind of had a uh you know, kind of a political reawakening, and I felt kind of uh siloed uh in that in that rural area because I was very much a blueberry in a tomato soup.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: What a fruit, what a fruit salad.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, do uh your district, uh, can you kind of explain uh to us uh who who aren't from Tennessee where your district is?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And like, are you covering rural areas or is it mainly uh suburban?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the majority of my district is rural.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, speaking as someone, my family moved me from outside of Atlanta um to rural Tennessee before we I started high school.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I consider myself a Tennessean now because we've been here for so long.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've lived here the longest I've ever lived in my life.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is a majority rural district.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now it was more rural um put prior to redistricting in May, but it is still majority rural.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if my district is district four here in Tennessee, um the Whiskey District.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh prior to redistricting, I had all three Jack Daniels, Uncle Nearest, and George Dickle in my district.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now I only have uh George Dickle.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um but for people wanting to know, um the biggest city in my district is Murphy'sboro, Tennessee, which is the home of MTSU.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's kind of middle.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: We don't touch we touch Nashville now, and we don't touch Chattanooga, and we kind of go into East Tennessee a little bit, but not much.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just kind of all the almost to the state line in some regards.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very interesting district.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh has so where were you where was your district originally?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Where it was it like an all-rural before the redistricting?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we lost six counties total.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it had we had 15 counties at the time.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now I believe we only have 12 in the way the districting went out.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: But the core of my district, unlike the other districts, stayed the same.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the majority of the counties that I'd already been working with, building relationships with stayed the same.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a big part of my decision to continue running in this district.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who don't know, I ran my first congressional race in 2024 when I found out my opponent would run unopposed and I said over my dead body.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that was my hard launch into politics.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was my hard launch into figuring everything out on the fly.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I had no intention of being a congressional candidate in when I got my political work started.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess this is where I can kind of like talk a little bit of how I got into politics.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now I've always been political.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love to tell people that because like apparently it's weird to watch West Wing as a child, but I was in fact watching West Wing.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have clear memories of watching it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, re-watching it now, it's just it's so much, it's better it's so good.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, um it totally holds up.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It holds up, it holds up.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like I want to get back to that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so in 2021, I well, you know, I was in high school Democrats, et cetera, but in 2021, I suffered an IUD fail and found out I was pregnant.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And over the course of a few weeks, I had to figure out how to navigate what would be a more a more, I won't say complicated, but a pregnancy that at least needed a little additional help, that I would need help, the pregnancy would need help.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, unfortunately, I'm miscarried.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm navigating the medical care system, navigating recovery, um, and trying to just figure out my footing.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then a little over a month and a half later, I found out I was pregnant again with another surprise pregnancy.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it needed help.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And luckily for us, we gave birth to this beautiful baby um nine months later.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And while I was on maternity leave, Roe was overturned.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I just could not fathom a world where my experience just a year prior under the protections of Roe could have been a completely different experience.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I could potentially have not been here had I not gotten the medical care that I needed during that time.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I did the logical thing.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I became a the friendly neighborhood liberal and started yelling at people on the internet and doing political education and why down ballot races and local and state elections are so vital, how to get more involved in politics, how to understand the political spectrum.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I became one of the county chairs of one of the, at the time, 93 counties in Tennessee for the Democratic Party.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I really just started soft-launching into politics of understanding how to be more civically active as someone who was just doing a little bit more than the bare minimum.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I voted every primary election, voted in every election, state, local, all those things.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I hadn't been civically engaged in this way.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to show people how to do it.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then fast forward to 2024, I ran for Congress.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I ran a congressional campaign in five months, all while working full-time with two tiny humans, four fur babies at the time, fostering with our local humane society.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I grew the voter turnout.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, at the time we didn't know the numbers hadn't come back yet.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I when I lost, I was like, I'm gonna do this again.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I got 28% of the vote as a first-time no-name candidate.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'd already decided I was gonna run again.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been working consistently in this district for the last two and a half years.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I still work full-time, I still have those two tiny humans.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I did have an exchange student at one point.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: She just went home.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: As well as um, you know, I'm on the Tennessee State Executive Committee because I want to see change from within the party as well.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So when people ask what's gonna happen, I'm showing a clear path for working people to get involved in politics, and I'm changing the game, and I don't think that they're ready for that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, I need a nap just after hearing that.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you and I talked like a little bit like kind of briefly off camera, where I'm uh helping a candidate in a congressional race right now, and uh we are all we are doing is campaigning full time.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that is exhausting.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I am not the primary uh caregiver for my kid right now.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I can't imagine having to be the primary caregiver and also work a full-time job and do the other full-time job, which is running for Congress, because it is absolutely a full-time job.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people ask me, like, how do you manage it?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, ADHD.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, um, I'm openly neurodivergent, but also I've made my campaign look different from the get-go.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if moderates won election, if the status quo won election, my district would have flipped blue years ago.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Tennessee is not a red state, it's actually a non-voting, voter-suppressed state.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: People don't realize my district was blue up until 2008.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we can yeah, go ahead.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I just you you kind of you you hit on something that I think that, you know, especially in the wake of the Callus decision for the in the Supreme Court with the Voting Rights Act and how it's been gutted.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you said that Tennessee is a non-voting, voter-suppressed state.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so what what are some mechanisms that are in place that make it difficult for everyday folks to cast a ballot in Tennessee?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, let's start with the redistricting, because we just redistricted here in May.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So in in May, on May 5th, the special session was called.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The uh Tennessee State Legislature lasted all of six minutes for an avo uh the beginnings of a vote to redistrict Tennessee.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you who don't know, Tennessee is unique and we have a supermajority red state.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: So not only do we have a supermajority in our Tennessee state legislature, which started in about 2010-2012 is when the the ball really got rolling in us into a red state.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we also have all but one of our federal seats are held by Republicans.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: That means our two state Senate seats as or two US um state Senate seats, as well as our the majority of our uh federal um congressional seats.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have the added bonus of we have a Republican governor.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you add the fourth wall to this, we also host most of the right-wing media here in the state of Tennessee.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we have a a very interesting trifecta, if you will, of these this Republican um mindset as well as suppression.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, like my district, going back to now that you kind of understand where we're at, they've redistricted red every single time that they've gotten a chance.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's not that we're a red state, it's just they've made it harder to vote.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're currently purging, I think it's like 18,000 voters were purged from the Tennessee voter rolls.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: As well as um in Tennessee, we have laws in place that if you lose your um voting rights, you have to be able to own get a gun like license back before you can even get your voting license back.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that I mean, there's a lot of layers here, and that disenfranchisement has played down ballot.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not going to say that Democrats have done the best job because they've abandoned rural areas, um, just like Republicans have.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Republicans, my my opponent does not have does not have to step foot in the district to win his seat, and he's been an incumbent for almost 16 years now.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this is created where voters feel disenfranchised so they don't show up.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Democrats are scrambling trying to figure out the best options to put on the ballot.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then what that all culminates to and becomes is what we had in 24, where we didn't, we were gonna have a congressional candidate to challenge our sitting incumbent.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a product of the system.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's a product of voter suppression.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is a product of just being ignored.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of these voters, Republicans included, feel ignored.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: They feel like their votes don't like that it doesn't make any difference as they're struggling more and more.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's why people kind of have to start, we have to start kind of putting away the red state, blue state, and start looking at what exactly is going on in these states for this representation and what it looks like.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because Tennessee technically used to be purple, if not blue.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: We had a supermajority Democrat hold in in Tennessee up until the mid-2000s, and we never redistricted in that way, but there was a down ballot initiative in 2010, and Republicans took over.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: They took over school board seats and they started have creating a pipeline for candidates to move up, and the Democrats did not do that.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to change it not only on the ballot with my down, like my run for office.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I have a down ballot slate of candidates.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also on the Tennessee State Democratic Party because I'm pushing for change, and like this is how we do it.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we push for change, as I'm showing people how to do it, how to stand up and speak out and push back.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you were first starting out, uh you and uh you whenever you were campaigning in 24, it was in the it was in the same like rural areas, correct?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I have literally I've only been screamed at in once.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I have Republican support now.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like realistically, like it has been a very interesting, but it was all the same rural districts.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I live in a rural county.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I you know live in a small town where everything's closed on Sunday except for the Mexican restaurant.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, like this this is my experience.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we now have some really cool locals that have decided to open up on Sundays, but I mean, this is I live in rural Tennessee, you know.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: My experience is, you know, very rural.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, even if I don't sound rural, I live in a rural area.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I live in an urban area and I sound rural, so you and I are the uh just like the exact opposites of each other.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever you were first encountering voters and 2024, and you said with the no name recognition, it's still getting 28% of the vote.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's incredible, by the way.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: But whenever you were first starting out, like what were some of the uh what were what were some of the conversations like that you were having with uh your uh constituents to be?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was I had to build so much in such a short amount of time.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where um I really leaned into uh you know, I got a lot of pushback.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the first progressive to ever run in this district.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: I should have said that.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, and for those of you who are wondering, what is progressivism?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you like your eight-hour workdays, that's progressivism.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you like your weekends, that's progressivism.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is literally a um just a maybe a fallback to the gilded age of eight eight eight.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was on a podcast two days ago where we talked about the eight eight eight.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, eight hours of leisure, like free time.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's all I'm advocating for.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of the core to my campaign of I showed people.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I knew that I was the underdog in the sense of I didn't have name recognition.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was a mom.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of pushback, like wondering how I was gonna be a mother and run for office and be an elected official.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, Mr.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Victoria for Congress is a perfectly good um dad.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: He does, he does, he is a well-cared for man and he supports everything that I'm doing.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: He would never want to put his name on the ballot.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very interesting because it garnered a lot of respect of like, I didn't try to be anything I already wasn't.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I ran on the platform, working class people, what and people responded well to that.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that consistency, consistently showing up for my district, consistently.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: If I got a message, hey Victoria, we need your help with this.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was showing up, showing up for my community consistently and showing that, you know, we can do this.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that garnered so much uh respect.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And people don't realize it takes two to three times to flip a or like win in a win in an election.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: More often than not, we all want to be AOC.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to flip it first time out, do the thing.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not always the case.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And in Tennessee, we have a lot of like barriers that we have to overcome.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And every barrier that I've hit, I just I don't let it bog me down.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't let it stop me because at the end of the day, I'm an athlete.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I say it on the campaign trail.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Activism is a muscle.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know what you're gonna do with that muscle, but you've got to stretch it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And campaigning like this, it started years and years and years ago of showing how I could use this muscle.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I've gotten really good at it.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned everything I've done since May of 2024.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: My speeches are so much better, and then that consistency of being in the district, consistency of continuing the work has it's earned me a lot of support and loyalty.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna about to play out at the ballot box here on August 6th, because I'm in a primary thanks to redistricting, but as well as like early voting started today, and people want change.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I don't believe the blue wave will flip this seat.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think it is going to be a combination of the work that I've put in, people being disenfranchised, and the blue wave.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and I've been preparing for two years.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it irks me to no end when uh there is a very qualified candidate who has a lot of great ideas and who is clearly putting in the time and the effort to campaign, and people are like, but how are you gonna hold office and be a mom?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: That all that drives me crazy.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask you the opposite of that question.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I imagine that uh being a mom has prepared you for being a member of Congress in a lot of ways.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me what are a couple of strengths that you have developed as a mom that you are going to be able to carry to the uh Capitol and uh fight for your constituents?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm busy.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know what work is like.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like when they said you only work 180 days a year, I was like, oh child, I will get so much done.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because like as a mom, you're constantly moving.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in 2024, I had a two and a four-year-old.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I now have a four and a six-year-old.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what that is unique is not only am I in the thick of it with still the daycare situation, I actually have experienced the lack of um affordable childcare in my in my rural area, which a lot of families are experiencing across the country.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also experiencing seeing the grocery prices and how that's negatively affecting my income and my budget because I need to make sure that my budget's correct.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: As well as like having two small children going into school, I know that we need public education.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a private school person.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can't afford it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was a public school brat.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I do believe that being in public school, being a part of your community is vital to understanding and having empathy uh for what people are going through.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's diversity, you know, that diversity, equity, inclusion that people don't, you know, that the right really pushes back on.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just, you know, what's going on at your school, but it creates that sense of community, which we've lost.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to bring that back.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: So going to DC, I'm not only gonna be living in my district and then going to DC, I will be showing people, like bringing that mother empathy that comes from being a mom, putting band-aids on while on a phone call, or doing a speech while my kid's hanging on my leg.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like it does none of this is going to stop me.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it also is gonna bring a level of empathy that we haven't had in DC because when you don't know what it's like as a modern person on the campaign trail or just in a rural district, or just in general as a working person, you're not gonna, you're not gonna advocate for those things.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I have the added bonus of I have been advocating and I'm going to put these forward because my special interests are my four and my six-year-old who need a country that they can go, they can be truly free in.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that starts with me making that change because this isn't for me, it's for the next generation.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it seems like uh being a mom is uh, if anything, the one of the biggest strengths for you and your campaign.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it I'm sorry, it just really irks me.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: There is such a double standard with this, where there would never be a male candidate where they're gonna be like, Yeah, but how how are you gonna be able to serve in office and also be a parent?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh like multitask like every woman in freaking history.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's balance the budget and make sure dinner's on the table.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't like I don't want to say that I'm a trope, but like I do those things already.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I clean my house.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I do have a cleaner that comes in and helps because we're in the thick of the like sprit dead sprint for you know, but like it I lean on my community too.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I have my in-laws and my brother.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: My brother is my like official campaigning like brother, and he wants his own t-shirt because he's like, I'm sick of people being like, is this your husband?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then I get to which he also hates because I get to throw in a Game of Thrones joke when they say that.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um as well, and like my father is like super involved, and you know, it just it these are I've created a community and I'm creating a path for people forward.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, like it does suck that that that we there is a double standard.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I've started utilizing that double standard as like if someone's giving me feedback, I ask myself, would it would they give a man the same advice?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I push back and say, like, would you say this to a man?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: If not, or I'm like, what does your wife feel about you being out at a political event?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like I want to open the question of like, why do we why is it that these things mean that I can't do it when we know for a fact.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That most women have to be asked seven to nine times to run for office because we tick boxes.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: I did the Emerge for America program, and women want to make sure they tick the boxes.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas like men just decide to run for office because it's a Tuesday and they had a coffee and they thought it was a good idea.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm over here like I'm a tech professional.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: I worked in international domestic logistics.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have worked since I had baby teeth.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know how to not work, and you know, I'm not above doing the grunt work, doing the hard things.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked in factories, I've worked in um industries that are male dominant dominated.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So Congress is no different.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a Tuesday for me.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it uh it seems like a a a white guy will like go through something difficult in life and then come out on the other side.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know what?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: I need to get behind a microphone immediately.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: People need to know about me.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm over here, like, I'm just writing a memoir.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just writing a memoir of this experience because I want people to know what it's like, what it is like, the lack of support, the lack of resources, the lack of the and it, and that's not just a product of people, it's a product of a system that has been made to keep working people out.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just hard for, you know, me to run, it's hard for like our friend you're helping on his campaign, Adam.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: He is also struggling because you're meeting those same things.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our friend Bernard Taylor, who's running in Florida, or Brie, um, uh, she also they both spoke about this, the about the barriers that you face.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's hard, but we have to talk about it because the only way we're gonna change a system in a two-party system is from within and running candidates that can do the work and show that it's doing the work, and we're creating a path for that.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it somehow, I which it blows my mind.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: You are actually you're you're having to be in a primary right now.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: How many how many primary opponents do you have?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, for those of you wondering, so I initially had, so our initial primary qualifying was in March.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, March 10th was the qualifying date.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: I had two primary opponents.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: One um ended up dropping off the ballot because of family um things and whatnot.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: The other was removed from the ballot.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you and I had spoken a little bit about this.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he took it personally and has now become a stalker.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um, so I'm actively still dealing with that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, fast forward, he did not qualify.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is why he was removed from the ballot.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot more to that, but he said in an EC call that he was not a Democrat.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you're gonna be removed for the pilot because we've just had a whole vetting, you know, vetting is a thing that happens in our state, at least in Tennessee.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we've seen this happen in other states where you've not properly vetted candidates.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so fast forward to May, redistricting happens because of the Supreme Court case.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And within four days, I went from having no primary opponents to having four primary opponents.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I have four primary opponents, two of which were campaigning in other districts, and they were redistricted into my district.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so they decided to run against me.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the other two just hopped on the ballot because qualifying opened again.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I now am, you know, have been in a primary since May, mid-May, and having to pivot my campaign and change up my strategy because I thought I had a clear shot to the primary of where I could continue building and continue the plan that I'd already put in place that I had started in 2025.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm in a primary where I'm having to pivot on my on my heels.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've had some of the, you know, the situations with the stalkers, so that's kind of made it harder on my campaign.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm up against core um donor money.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that is gonna be the biggest hurdle to get over.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, primaries are great, they bring people out, and I don't want to dissuade for anyone from primarying someone that said it it means that there's going to be chaos on the ballot um in this election cycle because there is going to be a lot of confusion created around this in Tennessee.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that was also the Tennessee supermajority could get another Republican seat and take a disenfranchised black voters in Memphis.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, benefit for that is it did make my district more competitive because it made it smaller and it made the core of the work um that I'd already been doing for the last two years.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: But with a primary, that can cause a toss-up in getting through the primary.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: So my primary started is we're here, we're doing it.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's gonna be really exciting.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'm gonna bring this home because I've been doing the work for two years, and voters want change.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want the status quo, and rural voters aren't inherently conservative, they're swing voters.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, well, no, I think that you make a very, very good point.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: And if it were if it were 12 years ago, I would wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I actually think that Donald Trump has kind of like changed the paradigm of uh what's been classically seen as liberal and conservative, uh, where now uh folks on the conservative side are uh a little bit more um a little bit happier to have uh like a stronger government and more like more government stuff, except not services, just government spending money to uh some oligarchs.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um so with that, uh is that what kind of what you've seen as well, where some of these rural voters who would have been very anti-government before are a little more amenable to uh kind of like government programs?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm seeing this um in my district.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for example, I do a lot of speech, I do a lot of speaking in my district.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing work.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my lawyer is a Republican.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: He met me at a campaign event, or he met me um at a No Kings protest.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's heard me speak, he had heard me speak the first time, and then the second time, I think he introduced myself he introduced himself to me the first time that he was because he really liked what I said.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then he came up and and I mean I'm saying nothing different than I normally say, but then I said the speech the next time and he came up to me and he's like, You're gonna get in some good trouble.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be your lawyer.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Give me$2.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on retainer, I'm out.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he literally has been a solid person in my campaigning and just support.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he has introduced me to Republican voters in a way, and they trust him as someone he's uh he's more of a McCain era voter.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's not he's not what he got wrapped up in the with the the MAGA movement because you know, to give Trump some credit, he spoke to the disenfranchisement, he spoke to what people were already feeling with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and he just utilized that and weaponized it in a way to bring voters over.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm finding in district is Republicans are feeling the they're feeling the economy, they're feeling that grocery price, they're feeling that squeeze.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: And when they hear someone who's I'm a mom, I'm talking about the things that they are they're feeling, I'm not saying any of the craziness, I'm talking about it in a way that they can relate with, and I'm not considered status quo, it creates this interesting um dynamic where they're like, I buy it, and they buy into my my race.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm seeing that on the campaign trail, like the amount of Republicans that are showing up and voting, and those are just the ones who are showing up.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know that they're watching my stuff.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know that they're in, maybe they don't see they maybe I don't see their interactions, but I know that they're there because my they're they're coming out now and they're voting it away.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this is gonna be make make for a very interesting election cycle here in Tennessee because I I said it on politics with mom, and you as a former Republican, you could probably speak to this.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is Republicans aren't leaving the Republican Party and going to Democrats, they're leaving the Republican Party and going to working class progressive candidates, and they're finding that they're finding the messaging there and going there, and that that's where they feel safest because it's it's not extreme in the sense that we're just speaking about the things that they enjoy.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm talking about social security and safety, they're responding to that.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm talking about being a gun owner and being a wanting to be the responsible gun owner, as someone who's openly running as a Democrat, they respond to that because it's something they can relate to.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: When I say we're the responsible ones, we need to be the ones taking the lead and making sure that our communities are safe.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to take your guns.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to make sure that you are safe in your community and acknowledge the thing because if we're responsible, then it's on us to fix the issue.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And how does that look?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go into my platform and talk about that.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it is creating this interesting um coalition that is going to play out in this election cycle, and I'm very excited for that.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is so fascinating the um the similarities and um in the congressional races.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you know, you're in rural Tennessee as this issue, and I am right now uh in the DMV area in a very like urban area, and uh the the primaries are shaping up to be very, very similar in terms of uh themes.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I I love what you uh you know were kind of talking about with the uh establishment versus kind of progressivism thing.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that and I I'll admit that I even had this kind of uh mindset in 2020 where I was like, oh, electability is really important to me.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we basically need to get Republican light in order to be able to have a shot at winning.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: But as uh time has progressed, uh I now think that the best way forward, as and especially in rural areas, is with a progressive platform.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that and that's the thing that people don't realize is what we're running on, what Adam and I are talking about 10 years ago, 11 years ago wouldn't have been possible.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Justin Pearson, who's running for District 9 here, a lot of people that recognize Justin from the Tennessee three, you know, with Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this wouldn't have been possible 10, 11 years ago, but it's now become the standard because of the way the struggle is hit everyday working people.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they're responding in a real way to that, that, the party.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not offering anything radical, I'm just offering working class values and highlighting that it's getting a lot less scary because what's moderate about the Republican Party as it sits currently, the leader of their party is the leader of their party, and he is steering the ship.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's scary people because you you know, when you're on the Titanic and you're going towards the iceberg, and the captain is just like over here, like, well, we're just gonna figure it out.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the Republican Party is doing right now.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the more majority of us are below below deck, locked in and can't get out, and are recognizing the problem.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: And now that that is playing out in the ballot box.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love alliteration.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love talking about it in a way people like, and I think it works too because it speaks to that populism so that people understand why it's so important to vote and be an active participant in our election process.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: So with a progressive platform being as popular uh as it is with uh with rural voters, why do you think there's a disconnect between the poly like progressive policies and labeling it progressive?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because uh a lot of folks in rural areas don't like that word.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: They don't like that word, and it's it's reframing it.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't have to say progressivism.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: That was a big part of mine.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's not saying the trigger words.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want people to buy in, you know, I want them to hear what my policies are.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so like, for example, and one of the things that we shifted into in two in 25 was I'm running on safety, affordability, freedom, and equity in 2026.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Make it safe.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can see this platform on my website.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's about how do I how do I get people to understand what my platform is and how it benefits them.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And safety can mean safety in your communities.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, gun gun legislation is something that is needed, but it also means safety nets.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: It means your social security is safe, it means that you're protected and you feel safe in your community.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: We know when people feel safe, they their communities get safer.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: When everyone in your community feels taken care of because of that community aspect, because they're not worried about their livelihood, their health care, et cetera, they're more likely that it helps across the board, essentially.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then affordability, it's like talking about it in when I did this in 24, where they asked me an economy question.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, they're not voters aren't asking about what's going on at Wall Street, they're asking about what's going on at their grocery stores and what's going on their gas pumps.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: That is what they care about.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna speak to that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Milk prices are insane.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I ask people all the time, go look at your milk prices from 2020, 2021, 20, and go all the way back and look at them.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're like me, I have a Walmart app.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have a Walmart, the Walmart is the option for grocery shopping.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I can go back and look at my prices and see the clear change of it going from like$2.13 to now almost$5 for a gallon of milk.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's a huge price jump, especially when you have two little children who think that you know chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows and you're making chocolate milk every morning because that's their thing, and you are like, I want you to have your protein, blah, blah, blah.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm this is the this is the argument with the two negotiators in my home that I just don't want to have today.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: And like people are thinking about it in that way.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, freedom.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: What good is freedom if you cannot afford it?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: What good is it if you cannot have the health care that you need or have access to affordable health care?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because those things you're not free.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: It means that you're going to put off medical care.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: It also means that you can't, you know, you are not able to love the person you love because I'm not legislator.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need to be in your house or your home legislating your life.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be making sure that your community is uplifted and has the resources so that you feel better and confident in your decisions and your lifestyle and whatever that looks like for you.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then equity, this is not a right versus left fight.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is a bottom versus top fight.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is a grassroots versus donor class fight.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when voters are on the trail, the disconnect has happened because we have money in politics and it has bought both of our parties.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And two things can be true.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: We can say that money and politics is the problem and it creates a viability issue, as well as we can also know that they're not the same.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: The two parties are currently not the same.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: And until money is out of politics and until we're not in a two-party system, voting is public transportation, and you being active on the field and your voting and choosing the correct candidate for yourself means that you just hop on the bus.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you like what I'm saying, hop on the bus.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: But in two years, I want you to hold me accountable and I want you to show up again and vote accordingly.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure that I am taking care of you because I am no different than your local barista who serves you lattes.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: I am just serving you legislation, and both can ruin your day.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: So choose vote accordingly.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, politics isn't a spectator sport.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love the alliteration.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's you need to be a player on the field because otherwise you're deciding to be the turf that politicians walk on.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I prefer you to be a player on the field.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think I I've I have heard uh Donald, uh, this was probably about a month ago, where uh, you know, people were uh if they try to give Donald Trump advice, he says, uh, well, I'm the president, you're not.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it seems like that's that sort of that sentiment of like I I'm in a position of authority, I have power, is sort of like the aim for a lot of politicians whenever they are running for office.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: What I heard from you though is that your job as a member of Congress is going to be like like a barista.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: So can you please talk a little bit about the different perspective and leadership and like kind of one of the power base versus service base, and why is the service-based better?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, like this is I I come from a service background, you know.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was a barista at one point.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, serving coffee was a thing, but I've been a manager before.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know what it's like to have employees um or staff that work with me.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm currently, I've got a small staff with my team, and I approach it from a but person like a state of I am it's a team effort.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm the leader, but I'm not the end-all be-all.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because if someone is on the field, you know, the World Cup's going on right now, and people don't realize the strongest player on the field and the most vital person on the field is the goalie.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because not only are they catching the ball, but they're also helping push the team forward and helping map the field out.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of where I like this service base, this idea of like it's a team effort.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the smartest person in the room.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Any politicians saying that they're the smartest person in the room and they're the boss, out.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: Micromanager that screams micromanager, it screams someone who's gonna tell you to do something, you do it, and then you're gonna catch flat when it's done incorrectly.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all know we've all had a boss that doesn't, it doesn't answer the questions correctly, tells you to do something, says that's how they want it, but realistically it's not how they wanted it.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted it done in a different way.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: And now that you're catching it, this is that service space, taking the ego out of politics.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't about me at the end of the day.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Even in, you know, I mean, I want to be in this office, I want to serve my country.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, it does not change the fact that it cannot be seen as a power trip.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: It cannot be seen as this space that you belong there and you don't take ownership of it.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm making more coffee and putting the ingredients in that you're asking for as a person.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: You put in the order, and I'm going to do my best to educate you on the order and how how I can best make it happen, and then serve you that legislation later on because that is my goal.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like being having constituent services, making sure that I'm answering to you.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was in my my MAGA opponent's office, and he wanted me, his chief of staff wanted me to talk down to my friend who is visibly upset.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I hear, I hear the need, I hear the empathy, I'm not hearing the yelling.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to the moment, I'm not hearing the the yell.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hearing what is she not getting from our communities?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a problem.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: And he's wanting me to talk about how this is provocateur, how this is a problem, blah, blah, blah.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, this is a result of representatives not representing, not serving, not taking.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: My job is to listen.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: My job is to not, maybe I want to ask her to not yell at me so much, but she's in this position because of what you, you and your boss have done.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm coming at it from a different, she won't be doing that when I'm in office because her needs will be met.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: Her, the legislation will work for working people.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the more of us that are elected, the better that that looks.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: And like that is a core to my campaign, and it's core to the service, and we're seeing this across the country.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: You can't raise an entire generation on Indiana Jones and Star Wars and Hunger Games and Harry Potter, and the list goes on and on, and expect them not to be the change.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I am going to just go ahead and endorse Victoria Broderick for uh Tennessee Congressional District 4.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is so like it's so refreshing to hear someone talk about community and talk about service and not like, well, in a couple of years I'll be announcing my gubernatorial run, then after that I can use that stepping stone to do this, and next thing you know, hell to the chief.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: There uh I I think that there is sort of like this ego-based drive in politics, thankfully not in podcasting.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but it's very much like a uh, oh man, I wish I could think of an example.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a uh guy trying to create a victory arch for himself right now or anything, you know, that I could use as this example of ego based leadership.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um how do we how do we incentivize or how do we help create a system where we have more Victoria Brodericks and less Donald Trump's?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean this it requires everyone has to be a player on the field, everyone has to recognize.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Seeing that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing it in ways that I didn't see it 10 years ago.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't see people showing up in the way that they're showing up.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's gonna require, but it also requires realistically, the work comes down to me as a politician.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've not been elected to office yet, but I'm for all intents and purposes, you Google me, it says I'm a politician.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: And my job is to make that mean something, to make it, you know, when I'm a representative, make it mean something.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Take ownership of I didn't create the problems, but sure as hell I'm gonna fix them because we're here.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And we have we have to be better, and that is gonna be the biggest thing.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's you all holding me accountable, but also choosing candidates that stand 10 toes down.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can see my platform, you can see where I've stood for 10 years, more than 10 years, four years on social media.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is not something that I, you know, I'm not anything, I can't run on anything that I'm not, and that's what's gonna make the difference is understanding that.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I don't really want to be president.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a terrible job.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know about you.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll reconsider in a couple of years if you guys go and like like Adam's podcast a lot.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: He gets like a million followers or something.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll we'll discuss it then.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: But until then, I just would like I'm gonna work in the House of Representatives for a little bit.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: Vice President Tomlin.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that kind of has a ring to it.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it does.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you know, Mr.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Victoria for Congress.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: We got, you know, Mr.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Tom.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's gonna be the with if that happens, if that happens, um, it's gonna be lit.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Was it Mark Twain that had the joke that um a a mom had two sons, uh, one went off to the Navy, the other became vice president, and neither were heard from again?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: I have never heard that quote, but now I want to find out because yeah, I mean it's I mean, yeah, it I mean it sounds about right.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you'd said this earlier whenever you were uh whenever the Republican attorney uh came on to the side that you were going to get in a lot of good trouble.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: And just like during our conversation, which I can't believe it's been 46 minutes already, I thought it's only been like 10.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you are breaking a bunch of rules that politicians are supposed to do.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like you're supposed to be super buttoned up and you need to have the perfect sound bite.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the biggest things of all, you're not supposed to offer solutions and like hold yourself accountable.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be able to like figure out how to uh run at the next next election cycle.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: Have I mean, let's see, you were playing by a set of rules that uh your opponents are not, and so A, how how difficult uh is it to be an ethical person in politics?
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: And B can you be ethical and win?
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and yes, you can do both.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, standing 10 toes down.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now I will not I will not sugarcoat this and say that it isn't isn't hard.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I get a lot of pushback.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I got a lot of pushback in 24, running the race that I did the way I did.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the numbers spoke for themselves.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Seeing young people come out, seeing people who haven't voted in 10 years, seeing one of my videos, just one of my social media videos, and saying, that's my candidate, I'm down, volunteer sign up.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like literally, they're messaging me right now about like where they're gonna be standing today, holding the sign.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is changing the game and showing people how to do it.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we can do both.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is possible to be an ethical politician and ethical candidate on the trail, as well as being an ethical representative.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, I'm your employee at the end of the day.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I'm not doing my job, show me the door.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that is changing, changing that.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I get a lot of respect from people who are like, you're not asking for my vote, your vote, you're showing me what you're going to do.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that is when they buy in.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we need.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Voters need that.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: I do ask for people's votes, I ask for donations.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have to ask for those things.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: However, you get me in a room, I'll seal the deal because I'm going to talk to every single person.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have the conversation with every single person.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I do the Elizabeth Warren thing of at the end of an event, I am there talking to every single person that would like to have a conversation with me at the end, take pictures, get a hug.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is, that is my thing.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're about to have an event here in Tennessee, and a lot of my, you know, creator friends are about to see it in action because they've never come to my district and they're not, they've not seen me actively campaigning with my constituents.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're gonna see the full array of it.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna see how I warm up and how I do this and how I work forward, and then they're also gonna see the come down because it's a hard thing.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a, I have what I call candidate fatigue.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've watched it happen with other candidates where you'll see me at the end of an event night where I start shutting down.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I believe you guys saw me do it in DC because I was I had been campaigning all day and my brain just did a shutdown.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then I bounced back and I got on stage and I did what I needed to do.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: But like which, yeah, it was like a freaking like it was a muscle memory.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like you and I were like kind of talking, and I could like tell that you were a little like tired because you know you had been very busy all day long.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: But then uh as like as soon as you needed to uh get up and give the speech, it was you just came like you came right back on.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was incredible.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was I was like, okay, the she knows what she knows what's up.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, and like that's part of it too, is I'm running openly neurodivergent.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a huge uh it's a huge undertaking for me.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I do that thing where I, you know, I I know I can, it's a muscle memory now, like where I couldn't have pulled back out of it years like two years ago.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can shift in and out of gear, and I know what I need to do to like whatever.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was getting really, really tired that night.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I've been going all day.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, people don't realize these events, you're not just doing the events, you're doing the events, and then there's hangout time and decompress time.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you're staying up late and you're having camaraderie and all those things, and all of them are needed, but it it is a long undertaking um of for a day when you're only gonna get maybe six hours of sleep because we've got other things to do the next day.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a very interesting, um, it's a very interesting position to be in.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited to watch it all come to fruition and watch people watch see me in action.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: So so what is gonna be going on uh in the district where you're gonna have content creators, which somehow, I guess my invitation got lost in the mail or something.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean so they're doing um, it is a thousand uh thousand miles to Memphis.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is about activation.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it just happens that they're stopping in the district.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I utilized my my friends, and we're going to make uh there's a stop that is in my district, and we're really excited for it.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it means that not only do I get to see all my content creator friends, people I've been building relationships with for years, my constituents and my creator friends, and this like national name recognition are about to come together.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really exciting for our district.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's really exciting for for people who feel ignored.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like nobody would have assumed years ago that they would be uh their congressional candidate would know people like Jolly Good Ginger or Good Trouble or Cats on a Couch or USMC Angry Veteran, who's my buddy.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like they they would have never assumed that.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, obviously uh we'll talk offline, but like this is a this is an op like you know, it I love being able to bring this all together and watch it come to fruition.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so like I the the camaraderie aspect of it, I I think is um is so like I I every word I'm trying to think of just seems so like trite because I I think that for a very long time the progressive movement was so splintered that people kind of felt siloed.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um and especially in rural areas.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the the the outreach that that y'all are doing, I think is absolutely incredible.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I the the reason why the Democratic Party will be successful in the future is because of folks like you.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's part of it.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're we're bringing change, we're being the change.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there wasn't a lot of, you know, they've these organizations have come around from it and these contacts, like I'm unique and the I'm part of that 100 candidates from across the country.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: We've taken we're courage candidates is kind of how it started, but now it's kind of pivoted into a progressive movement of how do we have resources and talk with each other.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: And for those viewers who are listening um and wondering what does that look like, it means that day one, if even 20 of us are elected into US Congress, we don't have to wait for permission from Hakeem Jeffries to put impeachment documents down.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to wait to save Medicare for all.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is not something we have to do because what happens to freshman Congress people is they get stuck in a room and are told to don't uh do fundraise and not and they're not allowed to do their job.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this allows us a huge um, if you will, like just big stick of being like, no, no, no, we came here to do our job.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can go put Mitch McConnell on the phones because apparently he's got a lot of time on his hands since he's having phone calls all the time.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um let him go find the let him go fundraise, like figure that out.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, this is that thing of we we're gonna have to bring change and we need it.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: We need when we need those that camaraderie as well, because that's something that the Democratic Party and really just the left has really struggled with, um, you know, in that community sense.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have a community thanks to apps, thanks to this work, thanks to people who are organizing it.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: We, you know, we have some amazing people who have put this together and brought people together, and it means the world because running for office is not easy, but just because something is hard doesn't mean it's not worth fighting for.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: I remember uh in 2010, you're probably too young, but the the rise of the Tea Party movement, uh and and very much in response to uh Barack Obama being elected in the first place.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: But it it seemed like that that movement just like took off like a rocket ship in 2010.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um there is I think um a beginning of a swelling in the ground present day that could be sort of the Democratic version of the Tea Party.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I actually see some differences uh in between kind of these two time periods.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um the Republican Party in 2010 was a shell of itself and about to have Donald Trump like, you know, be able to like take take hold of it.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: The Democratic establishment is a lot more firmly entrenched than the Republican establishment was then.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that the Democratic establishment is going to play nice with uh these progressive candidates?
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't, and I and I it is and I I do agree it is something similar is is happening.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it is, and I don't want to cut this short, but like I will I'll I'll elaborate on this because I do have to do my liberal job later.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh, sorry.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: But you're fine, you're fine.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're no.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I just love this and I love the conversation.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: I could do it all the time.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think what we're seeing is that the the Republican Party had there was a silo created because the Republican Party didn't know how to find its footing after Obama was elected.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: We two things can be true.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Republican Party was kind of siloed and allowed for a you know someone to come in and take take it, as well as, you know, the voters were responding.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Tea Party movement was a direct response to having a for our first black president elected to office, and that was a huge hit for them because a lot of people don't realize the Republican Party put these plans in place not in 2010, but this started in the 1970s and 1980s.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, this this was a product of them trying to figure out how to win these seats back.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people forget the Republican Party integrated a person who ran as an open segregationist into their party, and he was a sitting congressional member until 2002.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: He passed in 2004.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: That is Senator Strom Thurman.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was a sitting representative, you know.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: He also happens to be my grandmother's godfather, like that is that is that is where my family, my my great-grandfather, was a state senator in South Carolina, and that was his best friend, and they you know had a relationship, but like people forget that that that it happened, but those plans were put in place and moved forward, and then you have the upset that on the right of a black president being elected to office, and it created this movement, and then you have the added you have Trump who is spoke on populist things, said the thing that voters wanted to hear, and then you have the Democratic Party scrambling to figure out what their next move is, and you have Bernie Sanders coming in with new ideas, speaking to young people.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I loved Bernie, I wanted Bernie to get the nomination, and the DNC stopped him.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, what we're gonna see in this election cycle, and we're seeing it kind of through like Kamala Harris was with the one of the most progressive candidates in 2020 when she was in the primary.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Joe Biden got it.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that having a man run against Trump is the right move.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that you have to you have to acknowledge that, you know, a woman that you know, a woman would have been a better option.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: However, you know, Trump, we put a woman up against Trump in 2016, he and she lost, and it's the same thing in 2044.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be a very interesting thing.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the way that we push back against the establishment is providing these things.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if they don't like me.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if I'm bucking the rules.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: That I'm there to do my job.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: They can like or dislike me.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that people like AOC and Bernie Sanders are waiting for this movement and waiting for us to get on the floor.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do think Republicans are waiting for because they want the excuse of saying, well, it's all these radicals who were just elected to put guardrails up again because they recognize that this is a problem.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_00: They recognize he's out of control and they just accepted it in 2016 and 2015.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think they recognize the power in it, but now they recognize what it's truly doing and how it's negatively impacting the country.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_00: So will they support us?
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_00: That does not mean that we shouldn't continue fighting and you shouldn't be supporting candidates all the way down the ballot because the only way we're gonna fix this is voting all the way down the ballot and getting new representation into office.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: Fight uh just fight them until they uh until they come on your side and pretend like they've been there the whole time.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what the Republicans said.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ted Cruz, like Ted Cruz, he he fought and fought and fought, and then here he is, Lindsay Graham.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, these these are those old school Republicans that just took just took it on, and now they're they're regretting their choice.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Victoria, I am going to uh get off here because if I didn't, I would just talk to you all day.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: This has been so much fun.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Same.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I appreciate you having me on.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I hate that we have to stop because I could talk all day about this.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like it obviously I enjoy it, but I appreciate you giving me the time, giving the space, offering your platform.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: Makes the makes all the difference.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you enjoyed yourself so much, you're going to come back on again, right?
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, exactly.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if anyone is wanting to learn more about my platform, you know, obviously support Adam.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: He is phenomenal.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_00: We got to meet in DC.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: But go to Victoria the number fourtenessee.org or dot com.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: Go check out my platform, donate.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: You get a handwritten thank you card when you donate to my campaign because I know that that takes time and I appreciate every single dollar that is given to my campaign.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, do the thing.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: Get out and vote.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh today is July 17th, and early voting is now starting.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, August 6th is my primary.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: So please, please, please get out and vote all the way down ballot.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not in Tennessee, check with your local elections, get involved.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: Activism is a hustle.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, stay hydrated and vote blue.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all of uh Victoria's links will be down in the bio.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_01: So please check her out and please give her money.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she's not taking it from corporations.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if we want uh progressive champions like Victoria, we need to donate and put our uh put our money where our mouth is.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um Victoria, thank you so much for acting out with me.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, guys.