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Run To Build The Future You Want · The Most Important Question

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] Hey, it's Quinn. Before we get into today's episode, I need a favor.
• 0:10
  If this show, The Most Important Question, has been valuable to you in any way, helped you take action on something you care about, deepen your understanding on some complex issue, introduced a new way to see a problem, or just to someone cool, one of our guests, whatever, please take 30 seconds and leave us a rating and a review right now wherever you're listening.
• 0:31
  And look, here's the fun part. Right now, every review we get for this month, July, you will be entered to win some official Actually Pro-Life merch, which people just love.
• 0:44
  So just email us a screenshot of your review to questions@importantnotimportant.com to be entered, and that's all you gotta do. This genuinely helps the show more than you'd think.
• 0:54
  Reviews are how new listeners who give a shit, like you, find us and find you. So if you've got a spare minute or a spare 35 seconds, we would really, really appreciate it. All right. On to the episode.
• 1:06
  [upbeat music] Friends, today we're gonna talk about Florida and representation, and how Florida has very little of it in even the loosest definition of the word.
• 1:17
  So today we're gonna do that by introducing you to my new friend, May Thach. May is a candidate for state representative in Florida, and boy is she an awesome human being.
• 1:26
  Look, you folks across the country, across the world, told us you wanted more very specific, preferably living examples of fight and progress you can see and touch and feel and vote for.
• 1:37
  And in the second batch of conversations with our best friends at Run for Something, we are giving you more and more of that. And that's really exactly who May is. This is a fucking great conversation.
• 1:47
  I'm really just such a fan. May, like everybody else in the series, is sourced from the Run for Something pipeline in graduating classes.
• 1:54
  She and all these other folks are the next generation of leaders if we will have them, if we will support them and recruit them and vote for them, and then hold their feet to the fire, frankly.
• 2:04
  If these conversations inspire you, please do three things. One, find out what office you or some other actual young person you love can Run for Something at runforwhat.net.
• 2:14
  Number two, find and support incredible candidates like May, endorsed by Run for Something and other amazing organizations we love at whatcanido.earth. And three, please share it.
• 2:24
  I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit, whose day wouldn't be a little better by listening to May talk about what she gives a shit about.
• 2:31
  So please share these conversations with people who need them, 'cause if you and I need it, someone else definitely does too. As always, shoot me any questions, feedback, cookies, at questions@importantnotimportant.com.
• 2:44
  Let's do this. [upbeat music] Tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, and why you're running and what you're running for. So my name is May Thach. I am running for State House District 61 here in Florida.
• 3:02
  And for me, my family immigrated to our district when I was eight years old, and I grew up here basically in the district. I went to all the public schools, a proud graduate of the public school system in our county.
• 3:16
  I didn't go too far. I went to undergrad at University of South Florida in Tampa. And then through that experience, I got the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps, and I was in there...
• 3:27
  Typically it's a 27-month experience, but I really loved it. Mm-hmm. I ended up staying for over three and a half years- Hell yeah... out in Zambia.
• 3:35
  And then coming back, I went to graduate school at University of California San Diego for my graduate degree. And then I've been back home since the pandemic.
• 3:44
  Been working abroad right previously, and I was really hoping to continue that work, but it led me back home here and I've been working the nonprofit space within the reproductive justice sector the past five years.
• 3:57
  Awesome. And all that work really then led me to here, where one of the big things we do at my nonprofit is we engage with Asian American Pacific Islander women and girls around these reproductive justice issues. Mm-hmm.
• 4:10
  Getting them to, you know, know their stories, talk about their stories, and really empower them to engage with the political system- Sure... in Florida, but then also nationally.
• 4:19
  One of the great things we get to do is we get to bring these leaders and advocates to Tallahassee in our capital, and also in DC, talk about the stories and the issues that they care about, and it's really exciting.
• 4:31
  It's probably one of the first times they get to do it. But then the non-exciting part is one across the aisle from you is someone who's not listening, someone who's not caring about what you're talking about, right?
• 4:43
  Because of the representation that we have currently in our state and of course in the capital.
• 4:48
  And then I saw the opportunity that it's like these are the community members and I've been, you know, telling them like, "Hey, we can do anything.
• 4:54
  We just gotta get our information out there, gotta work out, and like vote and things like that." But then still at the table you're greeted with such disappointment and not the representation that you deserve.
• 5:07
  So I thought to myself, "Well, hey, why not me?" Mm-hmm.
• 5:10
  "Why not be that person on the other side of the table who will actually listen to these stories, make sure the issues that they're bringing up will actually be solved in Tallahassee when I become a State House representative?"
• 5:23
  Great. We're done. That was amazing. You're fantastic. No, that was, that was fantastic.
• 5:28
  I really appreciate you sharing what is quite a journey, and I'm glad you mentioned the Peace Corps thing 'cause, 'cause you said, "Oh, I didn't, you know, go very far for, for school," but then you really did.
• 5:39
  Why- [laughs]... the Peace Corps?
• 5:41
  I have a, I have a few friends and friends of friends, maybe five or six folks who, who I can say I confidently know pretty well who've all done it and have said, no question, it was the most formative part of their lives.
• 5:55
  Why did you do it, and why did you decide to stay even longer? I agree with your friend too. I love the Peace Corps. I love that experience. And for me, truthfully, I started volunteering when I was in middle school.
• 6:08
  First for it was because I knew that my mom wanted me to go to a-...
• 6:12
  college, and I knew that I can only go to college if you have scholarship, and I knew that you have to be a well, well-rounded student in middle school. Mm-hmm. [laughs] So that's when I really started volunteering.
• 6:21
  I was volunteering with the multicultural club, so we'll go like on the weekends doing like different community service events. Awesome.
• 6:28
  And then that led to high school as well, doing community service through there, and then ob- obviously in college too with the national Alpha Phi Omega chapter. Mm-hmm.
• 6:37
  And so it's been a part of my experience the whole time that's consistent throughout my life, and during high school is when I learned about the Peace Corps, 'cause we talked about like what are some community things you can do, right?
• 6:48
  Mm-hmm. AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna join the Peace Corps. I wanna go outside of the country." Mm-hmm.
• 6:55
  And then I learned you have to either have five years of experience or a college degree, and I was like- Mm-hmm... "Oh, I guess I'm going to college." [laughs] Not really like I've changed my mind or anywhere.
• 7:05
  My mom would not let me just not go to college. Yep.
• 7:08
  That's why I did the Peace Corps, and then truthfully, senior year I was going to do their graduate program, where you do a year of a graduate program, two years of Peace Corps, and you come back and you finish your graduate degree.
• 7:20
  Hmm. But truthfully, senior year rolled by, I was really burnt out of school, and I was like, "Let me just do the Peace Corps instead." [laughs] And then I specifically did the education program- Okay...
• 7:31
  since I was tutored in college, like tutor a high school student, so I wanted to work education sector. While we were there in Zambia, I was an English teacher there at my community.
• 7:41
  One of the things that I'm really proud that we got, that I got to do while I was there is our community school was... We did another classroom block in order- Hmm...
• 7:50
  to fully equip our teachers and have students go, because teachers would have to double work each, each every other day in order- Right...
• 7:59
  to teach both the middle school and the elementary school, 'cause there wasn't an additional classroom block, but into ac- So when you say classroom block, I'm sorry, do you mean like a physical space, or more time, or more teachers, or all of the above?
• 8:12
  So we already have a teacher to teach it, but they were to double. So they'll teach elementary in the morning, and then afternoon would have to teach the middle schoolers. I got to help write a $10,000 grant- Hmm...
• 8:24
  in order for us to build the classroom block.
• 8:26
  But one of the great things about the Peace Corps that I still continue to work on is that grassroots organizing is that you have to buy in from the community that you're working with, right?
• 8:38
  So sure, I could have written a grant, but if nobody really wanted it, who's gonna build those bricks for us to actually physically make the- Mm-hmm... building? Mm-hmm.
• 8:46
  And so for me, we were told that don't come into your community and say, "Hey, I know how to solve the problem." You come here, you have resources, you have knowledge just the same as your community does.
• 8:58
  They should bring to you to say, "Hey, Mae, we really need this thing." And so they did, and I was like, "Well, you all can say that, but how are you really showing me that you really want this?"
• 9:08
  And so the teachers and like the PTA basically said every family has to make 100 bricks or something like that. Hmm. And then literally I went on a trip, came back, and there were like bricks everywhere in my community.
• 9:22
  Oh, man. And they're like... I was like, "What is this for?" And they're like, "For the classroom block." And I was like, "Oh, okay. Let me go back to [laughs] the office, start writing this grant." [laughs] Yeah.
• 9:34
  It's like, "Okay." They did their part. Yeah. Yeah. They're like, "Yeah, you asked for bricks, and here they are." So I was like, "Okay." Yeah.
• 9:39
  So yes, I went back and then wrote this grant, and then we were ready to build it.
• 9:42
  Throughout that experience too, we also worked with some, our middle school students on leadership and things like that, like leadership training- Hmm...
• 9:49
  for both boys and girls, and that's what I ended up doing my second time around. Because I started- Okay...
• 9:55
  traveling on the continent after my 27 months, and people were like, "Oh, what were you doing in the Peace Corps? What did you like to do?" And things like that.
• 10:03
  And one of those foundations was us hosting these week-long trainings to basically empower boys and girls to know that they matter, and the- Mm-hmm... issues that they care about, there are things that they can do.
• 10:15
  And then we also train our host country partners too, our Zambian counterparts, to then have these boys and girls clubs in their schools after they come back from camp. And so that's kind of the ongoing work that we did.
• 10:27
  And so when I came back for my second stint, I did that as well, and then I helped also train teachers in comprehensive sexuality education framework within the school system, because the Department of Education there wanted to roll this out, but they didn't have capacity to do this with their current teachers.
• 10:47
  Mm-hmm. So I would help train their teachers, and then go back to those schools, help those teachers train their teachers at their schools, and then just basically build that from there. Thank you for doing that.
• 10:58
  It would be tough to leave. It's okay. I mean, you are having such a intimate impact on specific lives.
• 11:06
  It's also another piece of like how I view like leadership and just doing work on the ground, like just anywhere, right, is that you're never important enough where if, if you leave it and the whole thing dismantles, right?
• 11:19
  That I feel like you actually didn't get to do the work you were supposed to do. 'Cause then I'm, aside from that, right, I was able to build these classrooms, but then now we have teachers who are maintaining it.
• 11:30
  We have the PTA that's maintaining the building. So it's not going empty, which is exactly what we don't want, right? That they got this physical thing and then now no one uses it.
• 11:40
  Same with the comprehensive sexuality education framework is if I only change those teachers and they didn't feel invested to train their other teachers, then that wouldn't then be within the classroom, within the county to continue that work.
• 11:53
  And then of course laying the foundation so then the Peace Corps volunteers who comes after me to continue this work, they now have an infrastructure to continue that work as well. Hmm.
• 12:04
  And that's kinda how I see all of this work that we do is that can you say that you are a leader if you also don't have followers as well, right? Hmm. Mm-hmm. And you can only be a very great...
• 12:16
  leader is if you're a follower yourself. Have you followed great leaders before you- Hmm... who then also impacted you to say, "Hey,
• 12:24
  this was my work, was to get you to become a leader, and now you are a leader, then now you need to make more leaders out of that." [laughs] I love that. W- was your mom a leader of some kind?
• 12:36
  I would say so, [laughs] especially in our family. She's one of the older siblings, and I felt like she just was able to lead the family and always making those decisions. In the...
• 12:48
  I have 21 first cousins on my mom's side, so- I have 30. I totally get it Yeah. It's fucking crazy. Yeah, completely. I love them all, but it's crazy. [laughs] It is. Wait, where are you, where are you in the number?
• 13:01
  So I'm, uh... So still gender, right? So I'm, like, the second oldest girl, so basically- Okay... but there's four or five other boys- Okay... up in front- Okay...
• 13:11
  who are older, but because you're the girl you're, like, automatically- Of course you are... legit. [laughs] Yeah, of course you are. That's amazing. I am second, I think. Second or third. Okay.
• 13:21
  I have a, I have a girl cousin. I can't remember which of, [laughs] which one of us was born first. We're both 1,000 now. [laughs] But my older brother's first. But it's incredible, right? Right. It's incredible.
• 13:30
  But so your mom had, and, and you obviously had some real responsibility growing up. I remember growing up and people were like, "Oh, have you had much experience around kids?" I'm like, "Let me tell you. All of them."
• 13:41
  [laughs] Right. All the time. Yeah, absolutely. But it also... Isn't it wild when you see your youngest cousin and you're like, "Wait, you're an adult." That doesn't make sense. An adult.
• 13:50
  Like, I used to change your diapers. With a baby. What? No. [laughs] I'm not dealing with it very well at all. [laughs] And I'm just like, I'm s- I'm turning into dust. Yeah, it's amazing. They're, like, all married.
• 13:58
  It's, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. That's really awesome. That, that... Y- you can't fake that. And, and again, everybody...
• 14:05
  You, you don't choose to grow up that way or be born into a family like that, but you can't fake the experience you get from that and f- and from real community.
• 14:14
  And often, you know, a lot of folks don't have that or burn into a version of that that they want to escape for some reason, or they feel closed in by for whatever reason, and hopefully they can find a version of that.
• 14:25
  But it's, it's really meaningful, and I can see how that would be applicable to, like you were alluding to with Peace Corps, inserting yourself and assimilating into this brand-new community in Zambia, but not- Right...
• 14:42
  bringing your own shit to it, you know? Something that someone had said that really resonated with me is that you don't know better, you know differently. I'm sorry.
• 14:51
  So if you come into a conversation in that, right, everyone knows things differently. How do we actually work together to make the thing better that we all want to work collectively?
• 14:59
  Versus if you come in thinking you know everything, you're gonna assume that people don't know things 'cause you know everything, right? Of course. And someone has to know less. You're not gonna be productive.
• 15:09
  Sounds like you've met my children. Yeah. [laughs] I got yelled at last night.
• 15:13
  We were at one of their little neighborhood swim meets, and I g- I gu- they got a ride from a friend there, and I walked up and my 11-year-old, I watched him walking by with, like, a, like, made with an arm full of Nutella treats that he had somehow...
• 15:29
  Entirely different question, like, where did he get the money to buy these from? The concession stand? And I was like, "What are you doing? You packed your own dinner. Like, your own picnic dinner."
• 15:36
  [laughs] "I don't understand." He's like, "I, I know what I'm doing." And I'm like, "I... No one, no one said you didn't know what you're..." I... [laughs] Yeah. Yes. The ego is very big at that age. [laughs] Yeah.
• 15:50
  And I'm sure we did the same stuff. Exactly. Um, 100%. Okay, so you come back. You, like you said, you've been, you've been back since COVID. You work... You started this nonprofit, is that right?
• 16:01
  It's actually our three-year anniversary now. Um- Wow, congratulations. Yeah. Thank you. And so they... But they never had a Florida chapter. Okay. They did have Okay, cool... 11.
• 16:10
  So I ended up starting the Florida chapter here. I could see how you could go from bringing these folks in to talk about reproductive rights- Yeah... and going into these rooms where there is n-
• 16:23
  you were very kind to say representation who's not listening, which is, like, best case scenario- Right. [laughs]... to eventually saying, "Then I'll be the person on the other side of the table," right? Right.
• 16:33
  Let me be a friendly face when they walk in. Is that... Was that an easy connection for you to make? It felt hard, right?
• 16:39
  It felt, oh, no, because we have this premonition of who is actually a representative, who can actually be a candidate in all these things. And I'm like, I don't... I'm not c- I don't come from money, right?
• 16:50
  Like, my family immigrated here over 20-something years ago. Like- Yeah... you just don't see that kind of trajectory, and so you don't think, "No, you can only be doing this," right?
• 16:59
  Which is bringing advocates to the capital. You just don't see it. But then I'm reminded again, like, I'm... I've done a lot of things for the first time already. Why not this be the first, too, right?
• 17:10
  I'm the first to go to college in my family, first to go into the Peace Corps, first to go to graduate school, and all those steps. So it's like, what's another first if you've already done a few things?
• 17:18
  Well, you're already crushing it, you know? It's like, why not? [laughs] I was talking to one of my children about that kind of idea more recently- Yeah... about building confidence, that you can do things
• 17:30
  if you take the time, which takes a moment as you're growing up, to look back and realize- Yeah... you have done other things for the first time.
• 17:37
  Maybe not the first time in your family, but your first time on a bike, your first time whatever. Yeah. You can use those. Sidetrack. So you decide to run. Yeah.
• 17:44
  How did you get hooked up with our, our dear friends at, at Run for Something?
• 17:48
  When I was, you know, thinking about it, like, oh, should I, should I, all these things, and so you're looking at all the different programs and things like that to say, okay, let's move on to a thing, and, like, hopefully this will tell you, like, okay, you should do it.
• 18:00
  Yeah. And, like, Run for Something was one of those organizations that I found online. Hmm. And then I, like, worked through their work and worked through their promise, and I was...
• 18:09
  You're right, you have to run for something. Like, you see the issue in your community, like, just go and do it, right? Mm-hmm. Let's just try.
• 18:17
  And I think that's the whole Yeah, honestly, the goal, those of our campaign is let's just try, right? Let- let's just give ourselves- Mm-hmm... a chance. Let's, like, just do it because there is no other option.
• 18:29
  People always ask me, they're like, "Oh, why? Why would you do this? It feels like everything's against you." And I'm like, "Well, I already know what exists now, and I don't like it."
• 18:38
  Versus if I do try, there's a potential chance that I will like what I, I see, because I'm working towards it, right? Sure. I'm fighting for it.
• 18:47
  And you're not someone that's coming to this from a purely academic perspective or theoretical perspective. Like you said, you're in a lot of these rooms.
• 18:55
  You can imagine what that looks like, even if you haven't done that job. But clearly, again, you've done other jobs for the first time. You can do this. Who are some, in this journey- Yep...
• 19:04
  and in the community organizing you've been doing, 'cause that's really what it is here, especially starting- Yep... Florida's first chapter.
• 19:11
  Who are allies you have relied on, people, groups, lawmakers, whoever it might be, other nonprofits along the way there, that are doing work- That one... what's the best way to phrase this?
• 19:24
  Doing work that you know when you are elected- Yep... you're gonna be able to lean on them. So right now, already in my nonprofit capacity, I work with the Reproductive Justice Entity Coalition- Mm-hmm...
• 19:35
  Floridians for Reproductive Freedom. Okay. And so that coalition itself is a statewide coalition just full of, like, organizations, but also advocates, leaders, lawyers, and things like that.
• 19:47
  Folks who are working to make sure that we have reproductive healthcare and reproductive access within our state. Mm-hmm.
• 19:53
  And so this is just, for me, truthfully, even though as I grew up in Florida, I was politically engaged personally, right?
• 20:00
  But people around me or the people in my community weren't engaged 'cause no one really was engaging with us on those issues as an Asian American growing up. So I really wasn't a too... Yeah.
• 20:11
  That's such a specific point you just made. I wasn't engaged because no one was engaging with us. Yeah. That is so... That is the function of the whole thing. If no one's... We, we were...
• 20:22
  I was having a whole discussion with someone else about how few rural neighborhoods, which Florida's got a million of, and I'm in Virginia- Exactly... Western Virginia, we have a million of.
• 20:31
  People who have been like, "No one has ever knocked on my door, ever." Yep. Right? And so again, it's 2026. Sure, you could engage online or this or this, but- Yeah... there is something missing, and often on purpose.
• 20:44
  So I love that. Mm-hmm. Sorry to interrupt you, but that, that is so- No... meaningful, right? I wasn't engaging. I'm a young person, of course.
• 20:49
  You have other things going on, but, but because no one was engaging with me.
• 20:52
  And I think that's the piece, too, around even, again, like coming back to the campaign to tell myself is that if we hear as young folks that's like, "Oh, this doesn't work. Voting doesn't matter.
• 21:02
  We're not gonna get these changes," and all of this like very negative things are surrounding, like, the youth or, like, the young voters. Mm-hmm. It's like, well, I'm a young person, and I- Yeah...
• 21:12
  believe in the end where I'm like, "We can do it," right? Mm-hmm. We just gotta organize ourselves. I'm a young voter. My- Like, I'm a young voter. Like, I'm a voter, too. Yeah. I'm not just a candidate. Sure.
• 21:21
  I also vote. So I also have to do this piece as well. And so it's kind of like if you're a young person, and then you see me, you say, "Well, she's also young, so how did she see this?" Mm-hmm.
• 21:31
  And, like, not think that maybe it's despair and everything is, you know- Mm-hmm... in, in hell, basically.
• 21:36
  But [laughs] I'm like, well, I don't wanna stay here, so that's why I'm doing stuff, and that representation does matter because, again, now you feel maybe hopefully a young person can feel comfortable engaging with this process for the first time because they're seeing, hey, there's other young folks that come to this thing, or hey, there's other things that I can do aside from what I'm doing now.
• 21:57
  Mm-hmm. And so that's a big piece of our campaign and our work as community organizers is go to people where they already are, right? Sure.
• 22:05
  Instead of trying to invite them into this space where they might feel certain ways or they haven't been engaged with, let's go to where they are and say, "Hey, all the things you're doing now, this is how this also our government can help with this," or, "This is how we can still engage with this politically," because nine out of 10 times, whatever you're doing now is politically motivated- Mm-hmm...
• 22:25
  even if you don't see there's a straight line to it. It feels cliche sometimes and lazy and ineffectual when someone's like, "Well, I don't do politics." And it's like, do you do fire departments?
• 22:38
  I don't know what to tell you. [laughs] Like, that's... Yeah. Do you like roads, uh, among everything else? But also do you, like you said, do you like reproductive rights?
• 22:45
  Like, roads and fire departments seem so, so simple and such a gimme. They're not.
• 22:49
  But also there's much, much more that people deserve that are being deprived from them, and that's where you have to engage, like you said. You said- Yeah... you're a voter, too, right? Who, who engaged with you first?
• 23:00
  Let's connect the dots there. When did you become engaged? When were you like, "Oh, shit. Okay." I would love to believe that I'm like, oh, I'm a person who made, like, decisions the day of, and, like- Mm...
• 23:11
  things don't just happen, you know? Like, I mean it. But then during this journey, I'm, like, retracing of, like you said, like what was that time? How did you get there, and things like that.
• 23:20
  And I can remember always thinking about my seventh grade social science teacher. Okay. He's, like, this cool, younger teacher. Like, he's probably in his, like, mid-20s when he was our teacher. Mm-hmm.
• 23:32
  So we are- But you thought he was 1,000, of course. No, I was like- Oh... "This guy is really cool." [laughs] He, I remember you saying- Oh, come on, May... I know. Oh, yeah. I had a crush on him.
• 23:45
  And then, so truthfully, before that moment, I was of a student where I'm like, I just did my schoolwork. I didn't speak in class. Yeah. Nothing like that. Just did my work.
• 23:53
  And then in his class alone, he would ask us a question, and people would raise their hand, and I was in the back, and I don't raise my hand, and he'll actually call me out and be like, "May, what's the answer to that?"
• 24:04
  And I was like, oh, someone's talking to me. Like, I have to com- like, I have to communicate- Oh... and involve myself in this space.
• 24:11
  And then before you know it, it was like one of the big things he said, too, was, "Look, don't just blindly listen to authority." Mm. "You should always question everything." Mm.
• 24:21
  And I'm like, wait, but you're authority, and you're telling me that. Right. Like, that, oh, like, was such a... I've never heard it before, right? Mm-hmm. I'm like, "I didn't know that was possible." Mm-hmm.
• 24:31
  And the wild thing was, like, one of the videos he showed us, which I'm, like, thinking back now, hopefully he doesn't get in trouble. It's been a million years now, but- [laughs]...
• 24:38
  it was a video, like, you're seeing the point of view as, like, you're, like, a sheep, right? You're just, like, walking and there's- Mm... other sheep in front of you, and you just keep walking blah, blah.
• 24:47
  You don't think anything. And it keeps zooming out and zooming out, and eventually you see the carpet. It's like the sheeps are just walking over a ledge. Mm-hmm.
• 24:54
  Like, they're just not even looking around, questioning why we're walking, where are we going. [laughs] They just keep going. And then he's like... And then he literally ended with, "Question everything," you know? Yeah.
• 25:04
  "Don't just follow blindly," you know? Yeah. Oh my gosh, he's right. Mm. And that he was like, he actually built that confidence to say, "Hey, you know this stuff already. You know the answer. You can raise your hand.
• 25:14
  You can answer it. And even you didn't know it, you can still ask us these questions, right, if you're confused."
• 25:19
  And somehow from that transition in sixth grade where I never spoke in class, just did my homework, in eighth grade I decided, let me run for eighth grade office. Like- Wow, that's a jump, Mae. [laughs] In class.
• 25:32
  Holy shit. I know. [laughs] You watched one sheep video. Yeah. Right. Exactly. One sheep video from Mr. Bob Charles. Yeah. And so I ran and I won, and I was eighth grade president for my middle school.
• 25:45
  [laughs] What was your... Wait, hold on. This is important. Okay. What was your campaign? What were you promising? Oh my gosh, what was I promising? I- I mean, a lot of times it's, like, vending machine.
• 25:54
  You know, it's like- Yeah... what moved the needle? Probably, I think it was probably, like, prom or, you know, making sure we get- Uh-huh. Spirit week... candy and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 26:02
  You know, making sure we get all that. But I do remember I had, like, a... I don't remember the brand, but it was, like, The Monkees, and it had a Vote For Me shirt, and I wore that as, like- Oh...
• 26:13
  my little, like, spiel. You know? I was like, this is on point. This is campaign material right here. So this isn't your first time running for office then. Got it. I guess not. Now- Wow...
• 26:23
  I'm realizing, I was like, man, I really lied on all those endorsements when they asked me, like- Seasoned politician... what have you promised. Right. Gotcha. Gotcha.
• 26:30
  [laughs] You've, you have already found out that running is much easier than actually governing. I actually really am excited for governing. I think that's the, I think that's the whole piece, right?
• 26:40
  I think what I was saying before is even in my job now is I feel like I'm ready to move on to another thing. If I can give you the infrastructure and, like- Sure...
• 26:49
  the papers that I had built and give it to you, and you can make, and you can do it, then I'm done. That job is no longer there. Mm-hmm.
• 26:56
  So, like, I really like the aspect of let's make these infrastructures, build these blocks, and then, like, we can then have folks come in and continue the work that we're building on, right?
• 27:06
  And that's what I think governance is all about, is how do we continue to build programs, make policies that are then benefits to our communities, and continue to build on it and progressing on it based on what the people need in each moment.
• 27:22
  But you still have to build that, that, like, engagement and, like, that whole process of making sure... 'Cause right now people don't trust the government, right? They don't trust- Or anything... the government at all.
• 27:32
  Yeah. Or anything. Yeah.
• 27:34
  But I, like, one of the things that I has been speaking with someone before is that, like, governance itself, that vehicle, it does work, it's just that it's not working for the people it's supposed to serve- Mm-hmm...
• 27:47
  which is the people. Mm-hmm. Right? Governance as the vehicle is working for everyone else that has infiltrated itself into governance. Mm-hmm.
• 27:56
  And so the people you need in governance that needs to work for the people have to be people who works for the people, right?
• 28:04
  And so when you hear about elected officials, politicians, and all these things, that, "Oh, well why would I choose them?" It's, yeah, you're right, 'cause they're only caring about special interests.
• 28:14
  And so then when they're in governance, they will only work for special interests- Mm-hmm... because that's who got them elected. A representative is functionally supposed to be representative of me and, and- Yeah...
• 28:27
  what I need, and the people around us in this district, and it is functionally, measurably not that in most places. It's very easy to understand and empathize with that at this point. And again, like, the...
• 28:42
  Look, are there a lot of processes that are broken? Of, of course. And, and by the way, many of them are not broken, they were designed to be that difficult. Medicaid is a big function of that. A, a million of them.
• 28:53
  Healthcare in general.
• 28:56
  But at the same time, you, you can elect people, and this is what I love about Run for Something and a lot of other groups we work with, is they go, "No, we're gonna put people in office who are renters, who can- Right...
• 29:07
  help people who are renters 'cause they know what it's like to rent, to be a single parent, you know, to, to, to depend on the first of month.
• 29:15
  Like you said, if you go into these rooms and no one's ever experienced these things, or they ha- had kids but it was 50 years ago, you know? Mm-hmm. There's nothing there. There, there...
• 29:25
  You just don't have a shot, right, at this person going, "I'm gonna look out for what you need," inherently. What's day one look like for you, Mae?
• 29:32
  What are you fighting for on, on day one besides, "Oh my God, I gotta remember everybody's name"? Yeah. [laughs] I have a trick for that, 'cause I was an orientation leader, so- Please te- Oh my God. [laughs] Wait.
• 29:41
  I do, I've been waiting to meet you my whole life then. [laughs] Like, how do I do it?
• 29:46
  The trick is you have to remember, if their name is M, the easiest is trying to find an adjective or something that starts with the letter of their name, so then when you think of it, you then would be like, oh, let's say it's Matthew or something like that.
• 30:00
  Mm-hmm. Like, that's their name. Uh-huh. And so you think, oh, Matthew is... Let me think of an M name, like an N- an M adjective that I can think of and will associate myself with Matthew.
• 30:10
  So the next time you see them it could be like, I don't know, I'm like, now off the top of my head thinking, like, what can I say for Matthew 'cause I can't see him. Mm-hmm.
• 30:19
  But maybe he's, like, like, in math class or something. You can be like, oh- Interesting... Matt, Matthew. But some kind of distinction, 'cause then you, that helps your brain to trigger back. Oh, it's M. Okay. M, M, M.
• 30:31
  Oh, Matthew. 'Cause there's only so many-... Matthew May. So like, and they- Sure. No, I'll give you that Nope. Yeah. [laughs] I am a disaster.
• 30:40
  I will remember a face for the rest of my days on this rock, and I will forget a name the second. Anyways, well, that's great. Okay, so what else are you doing on day one while I'm fumbling around?
• 30:51
  Day one is definitely policy-wise, working on affordability. I think, I'm sure, again, from listening to the podcast, right, like everyone is talking about that because that is the reality, right?
• 31:03
  There's just no way around it, that everyone is struggling. That's just... And honestly, the unfortunate fortunate part of that is now we're all in the same boat, that we're all struggling with affordability.
• 31:16
  So it's like this is the thing that people care about, and they can start to see the connection on how our government affects that directly. Because of before it felt like, oh no, it's this, it's that that affects it.
• 31:29
  But truly our governance and what they can do to either alleviate your affordability issue or exasperate it, right?
• 31:37
  First day is working on affordability issues, and that is making sure that we actually do something about our property insurance here- Yeah... in the state. Yeah.
• 31:48
  But honestly, all insurance in our state, just because like auto insurance is high, home insurance high, renter's insurance is high.
• 31:55
  Because again, we have just been, like we as in our current governance, have just been giving tax breaks to these corporations.
• 32:05
  And so these tax breaks, again, like first they'll double charge us because we're already paying in our tax dollars that they're giving a tax break- Mm-hmm...
• 32:13
  to each corporation, and these corporations say, "Hey, we have to hike up your prices because of some inflated thing. Oh, there's a thing here or there's a thing there, so we have to inflate it."
• 32:22
  Versus actually putting pe- like putting money into your pocket by reducing insurance costs.
• 32:29
  And a big part that, for me in my district, because we have the beaches, and I mean we're Pinellas County, I don't know how familiar- Mm-hmm... you are with Florida- Yeah... but it's surrounded by water, right? Yeah.
• 32:38
  So no matter where you go, there's always gonna have to do something with storms, especially during our hurricane season.
• 32:45
  So for us is we have a state program where you can in fact, like you can then actually be insured by the state, but we can get more people insured by that if we actually put our own, like the state money into the program so more people can be insured.
• 33:01
  And the more people are insured with our state program, that would bring more private insurance back into the market, into our state, because they'll feel there's less risk now.
• 33:11
  Because if everyone has a base level of, hey, everyone has this insurance provided by the state, which is honestly, for me, I almost don't like the term provided by the state because it's actually provided by us, 'cause we're the one that's giving our money- That's it.
• 33:25
  Yeah... to the state, right? Yeah. Like this is you. Like you, the, the state isn't providing it. Correct. They're just holding it. But it's your money, right? Yeah.
• 33:32
  So if we all have that kind of base level of protection from insurance already, then private companies can come say, "Oh, if you need additional, we can provide this."
• 33:42
  So then a- that also gives them confidence that, okay, maybe we won't get all these fraudulent things. Mm-hmm.
• 33:48
  Which is the issues that we have now with our insurance is both sides where insurance company will, you know, file fraudulent claims.
• 33:55
  Vice versa, some folks will also take advantage of the system and also file frau- fraudulent claims.
• 34:00
  And you're just in litigation, and that just keeps bubbling up 'cause every time you use a lawyer it's gonna be X amount of dollars, and it just keeps adding higher and higher until one insurance company like, "Okay, forget it.
• 34:11
  Y'all have hurricane season every year for six months." Yeah. "We can't afford it anymore." Can't do it. "Give us leave."
• 34:17
  And then now we have this monopoly, and then people, there are people who are like, "I would rather just put money in the bank by myself, and then that will be my thing and not be insured at all."
• 34:27
  And we know that- Yeah... it's not sustainable. It's not. Right? I've done a number of shows about this and, and many, many more offline conversations. I feel like I think about home insurance 23 hours a day. Yeah.
• 34:38
  We were out in Los Angeles and dealt with the fire stuff and earthquake and all this, and we talked about- Yeah...
• 34:43
  the Florida situation with a, a reporter a couple years ago, and it, it really is, it's, there's some real stress fractures at, at least- Pretty much, yeah... in, in a, in a system that is
• 34:53
  increasingly, obviously- Right... under threat from all of a sudden everyone, including the state, being completely exposed. It's a lot. It's really hard, and that's scary.
• 35:01
  And you go, get why people go, "Okay, I'll just put it under a mattress or something, 'cause I don't know if we'll get it back." At least then I don't have to fight the insurance company every time to say, "Hey- Yeah...
• 35:11
  this should be covered." I think there's a piece of policy that they say we don't cover damage from windy rain. And we're like, "What is a hurricane, if not windy rain?" Yeah. What are you actually covering then?
• 35:26
  Like what is that? And that's, again, like you said, that's on top of the day-to-day affordability stuff. It was, yeah. You know? It's like a health scare. You, I was already having a hard time. Yeah. And so
• 35:35
  I, I am thankful that, that you are, and so many other young folks, it's amazing. I'm, one, glad to be 1,000, but also so glad to be able to, not to abdicate, but to, to be able to
• 35:48
  forcefully [laughs] support and encourage folks like yourself, again, who, who go to the Run For Something website. And by the way, it's not subtle. They're like, "Yes. In fact, you should fucking run right now." Yeah.
• 35:57
  "And here's what you should run for." There's no wiggle room about it, which I love.
• 36:01
  I'm very thankful for that because I imagine it's really reassuring for some folks to go, "Oh, this person who gets me on so many levels-" Of course...
• 36:09
  "inherently, who has already been through so much and been so many places and has a, this wide variety of lived experience, but is also doing the work in the community, wants to represent." Right.
• 36:20
  The reason why people are saying government's supposed to be by the people, for the people, and so far on both ends of it, we haven't been engaging the people. Mm-hmm.
• 36:30
  And I think even as someone who grew up here, I think people- Pretend to believe that we haven't been indoctrinated to believe that we don't matter, our voice doesn't matter, our vote doesn't matter.
• 36:45
  You know, sometimes we'll say that, and we're like, "No, no, I'm, like, I am not propagandized. That's just not me. That's not, that's not what I'm really feeling." I'm like, then why aren't you trying? Right?
• 36:55
  Like, there has to be a level of admitting that- Yeah... it worked. They did what whittle us down to say, "Hey- 100%... we don't need to. You don't need us," right? Like- Yeah... just live your life.
• 37:04
  Try to make things work for yourself. You know, find a hack or something like that to live your life. And I was like, "Why are we finding a hack? That is not life. That's not life."
• 37:13
  For our district, and just our state in general, in Florida, Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing population in the state, and yet we have zero representation.
• 37:24
  Not even one Asian representative in our state at all, even though we make about 4% to 5% of the population. And in my district alone, it's the same. We're about 5% of the population, too.
• 37:35
  But again, in my nonprofit work where we, all we did was engage with the Asian population, I will knock on doors, and I've had multiple conversations where someone's like, "Oh, I've been living here for 25 years, but no one's ever knocked on my door before to ask me what are the issues you care about?"
• 37:51
  Mm-hmm.
• 37:52
  You know, so it's like, so, so then, like, the narrative that we've been trying to fight against for people who are saying that, "Oh, Asian Americans, like, they're just apathetic, or they don't engage, or they don't vote."
• 38:01
  And I'm like, do they not do it because they never felt welcomed into it or been educated into it?
• 38:07
  There literally was a survey back in 2024, so not that long ago, where they surveyed people, Asian voters, and said over 40 something percent of those that they surveyed said they had zero communication from either party.
• 38:22
  So no one reached out to you. So you had to find it on your own that, hey, there's an election happening, or, hey, there's a presidential, right? Or all these things, like, or a nonprofit told you. It's not the party.
• 38:33
  So can you say if there's no investment in this population and then they don't turn out, and then you blame them to say, "Oh, well, they never turn out, so why should we invest in them?"
• 38:42
  So that's one of the big piece that I am so thankful I get to do in my nonprofit space, is myself and others who are in this work, we started a statewide coalition space where all we do is make sure we're engaging with the Asian population- Wow...
• 38:56
  around civic engagement, just because we know that our voices matter, right? Yeah. And that the issues that's happening now also affect our community. It's not like we're an exception. We're not like...
• 39:06
  I think, I don't know if you've heard of it, like, the model minority myth around- Mm-hmm... Asian population. Yeah. Where they just assume everyone's affluent, but that's not the reality.
• 39:15
  'Cause again, they're also throwing everyone under this bun, under their abbreviation, right? Yeah. So it's like we're 50 different countries- Yeah...
• 39:23
  100 different languages, and yet we're supposed to be this one monolith that everyone's doing fine.
• 39:27
  So honestly, it's been really, I've been really grateful to be able to, to do that work and do this work, 'cause again, we are only ever gonna be better when we all work together, right?
• 39:39
  One of the things is that, like, we are better together, and my whole point of it is because every time they're like, "Oh, I don't do politics, it's so divisive, it's so divisive," I'm like, that's on purpose.
• 39:49
  Because if we realize, oh, wait, wait a minute, politics is actually pretty unified. It's unified in making sure that the people are not getting what they earned, right? That's very unified.
• 40:00
  And so for us, if we actually want the government to work, we do have to work together and figure out who is it that's actually pulling these strings to make it harder for me and my neighbor to be able to live the life that I want to live.
• 40:14
  I think that's a pretty great place to stop, May. Thank you. Yes. That was fantastic. Maythach.com, the world's easiest URL. Everybody else is like May Thach for Florida Congress.
• 40:25
  It's like you don't have to do any of that. You're owning it. Yeah. Crushed it. Folks, you can go to maythach.com to support your campaign, to learn more about you and about your district in Florida, which, boy, could
• 40:36
  everywhere, but especially Florida, use folks like yourself, so. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks to your mom, and your, what did you say? 21 cousins. Mm-hmm. Yep.
• 40:45
  Everybody who, who, like you said, you can look back and go, "Oh, that's what got me here. Fascinating." We're engineer. Didn't see that coming. That's it.
• 40:52
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• 41:05
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• 41:16
  We've got great stuff. And of course, almost everything we make is free to you, not to us, so you can support that by joining the membership and get some bonus episodes too at importantmembership.com. Thanks.