Latest / Breaking The Meta / NY-02 Democrat Jess Murphy: Flipping Long Island & Firing Garbarino

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NY-02 Democrat Jess Murphy: Flipping Long Island & Firing Garbarino · Breaking The Meta

• Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meta. My name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Jess Murphy, who's running for United States Congress District 2 in the state of New York. Hello Jess, how are you doing today? Jess Murphy: Perfect. I'm good. I'm very, very excited to be here. No one saw this, but we had some technical difficulties, but we are ready to go and in great spirits. Breaking The Meta: Exactly. We worked our way through it. We figured it out. problem solvers, exactly. So the way we usually like to start this just for just as an introduction is if you wouldn't mind giving us a little just background on who you are and why you decided to run for Congress in the first place because 2026 feels like a crazy time to run for anyone to run for Congress. Jess Murphy: Problem solvers. Yeah, it feels like the craziest time, but also I think the most important moment in most of our lifetimes and just an important moment right now. So my name is Jess Murphy. running in a congressional district too. We do have a primary, so there will be a democratic primary. running as a Democrat and the election for the primary is June 23rd. A little bit about me is I grew up in this district. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: So born and raised and I only left for a little while when I went to DC. So we'll go into that, I'm sure. But yeah, I lived in Long Island my whole life. My parents rented their whole lives. There was no down payment waiting for me. I worked two, sometimes three jobs to pay for my college. And then I continued to work two, three jobs, seven days a week to be able to afford my rent when I lived in DC to also save up to try to buy a home on Long Island and, and, you know, come back here. And, ⁓ I'm still working seven days a week just to be able to afford my mortgage. And this story is not, you know, not my own. It's every single person I talk to. It's all of my friends. Breaking The Meta: Hmm. Jess Murphy: My sister is getting married this year, which we're very excited for, and she does not know how she will be able to afford to stay on Long Island, how she would even fathom to afford a home on Long Island. And these are the real conversations that people are having every single day is how can they afford to stay here when, you know, we can't afford rent, we can't. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Mm. Jess Murphy: for paying rent, how do we save up for a mortgage? ⁓ Working seven days a week is very difficult and not something most people can do. And so that's a little bit about what I'm hearing and what the main reason I'm running. So I work in housing. So I have a unique firsthand experience where I can see how policy really affects everyday renters, buyers, Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mm. Jess Murphy: developers. So, you know, all of that background, I managed multimillion dollar projects, budgets, and I see how the policies in Washington are affecting everyday people. And then not only that, but I'm living through it. Like I, you know, I mentioned. And then I lived, was lucky enough to live in DC. I went to American University and I've worked on Capitol Hill. So I've seen the ins and outs of government. I've seen how We can work across the aisle and create bipartisan support. Housing and affordability is a bipartisan issue that we need to talk more about. And this past November, I was actually a delegate in Iceland at the Reykjavik Global Women's Forum. And yeah, it was awesome. And I got to speak to the president of Iceland, the president of Ireland. Breaking The Meta: Nice. Wow. Jess Murphy: ⁓ women leaders of over 70 different countries. And we were talking about how they have paid family leave, universal healthcare. They've closed the gender gap by 90%. And so I was really hopeful, really excited. And I said, wow, when government actually works for the people, you can create policy that helps the people. Breaking The Meta: Wow. It's like, it's amazing. It's like government should work or something. Jess Murphy: Yeah. So I was really energized when I came back and that's when I decided to run in December. I was looking at some of the other candidates that were running in the Democratic primary and I thought, would I be excited to vote for them? Do my Democratic friends know who they are? Would they be excited to get out and vote for them? And the answer was no. So You know, I decided to step in the ring. We need a new leadership, a new generation of leaders that is actually living through this. The average age of Congress is 68 years old, but this affordability crisis that we're talking about is affecting people under 40 the most. And we need a seat at the table. And I'm not waiting my turn. We cannot wait. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jess Murphy: My friends cannot wait, my neighbors cannot wait, my family cannot wait. And that's really where this kind of stemmed from. And then from there, we really launched our campaign and just started talking to our neighbors, starting figuring out what issues matter to them most. And I'm sure we'll go into that a little more, but realize that most people in my district just want someone to listen to them and understand what they're going through as well. Breaking The Meta: So starting to go into some of that, you did mention obviously the affordability, especially with New York, affordability is obviously always going to be probably near the top of the list when it comes to things on people's minds. But what other kind of things are people talking to you about that they could use your help with in Congress in your district? Jess Murphy: Yeah. Yeah, calling people knocking on doors, we have teams of volunteering right now. We're going through the petitioning process to get on the ballot. So we're actually closing that next week is going to be when we file and we officially get on the ballot, which is super exciting. We are nearing 3000 signatures. So it's exciting. It's energizing. And when we've been talking to people, housing continues to come up. So I will Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: reiterate that no matter the generation, a lot of people are like, ⁓ well, it's just a younger person problem. And, we have a lot of older people in our community as well. And I've talked to those older communities and they're saying, yes, it is an issue. It's an issue for us. It's an issue for our children and it's an issue for our grandchildren. And I don't want to see my grandchildren leaving Long Island. I want them right here so that we can have. Sunday dinner together and go to Tuesday bingo together and grow up together and have that sense of community. and then the second issue that has really come up a lot is ICE. And it's a two part full, think specifically in my district in New York too, because our current congressman is Andrew Garbarino. And he is the chair of the Homeland Security Committee. Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Okay. Of course he is. Jess Murphy: He is in charge of ICE. He is in charge of DHS. He is supposed to be holding hearings, holding our leaders accountable, questioning, all of that good stuff. And he is not doing a good job, continues to just say, fun, fun, fun. And people on Long Island are very upset. ICE, detention centers and offices potentially going up in almost all of our communities on Long Island. So as I mentioned, I work 70s a week, so I also bartend. Immigrants are the backbone of our restaurant industry, not only in New York, but across the country. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ wow. Mm-hmm. Jess Murphy: People are finally waking up and seeing that what is going on with ICE is inhumane, is not okay, and is affecting their daily lives, their communities, their neighbors, and ultimately affecting how they get their cheeseburger for lack of a better, you know, words. And Andrew is, you know, our congressman, is supposed to be listening to us, holding town halls, at least hearing us out. ⁓ And where is he? Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: of course nowhere to be found, doesn't hold a town hall. And so people are really upset. So that has been definitely the number two issue that I have seen when we've been talking to people and knocking on doors. So housing and just affordability in general, and then ICE has been a huge one. I think, like I said, people really feel like we need restructuring. We need to... Breaking The Meta: Of course. Jess Murphy: create more humane ways to deal with this. And we need to create true immigration reform. And that's the conversations we need to be having. And we need elected officials who are going to be accountable, who are going to create reform and push that through and actually listen to the community and the people they represent. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I think one of the other things that I think a lot of voters are struggling with, especially when it comes to our elected representatives, is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when ⁓ in regards, obviously you mentioned that your current representative isn't doing things like town halls, which obviously is one of those things that is often brought up as a way of keeping people accountable. But the question I want to ask to you is, what does accountability just mean to you? And what does being held accountable by your constituents look like? Jess Murphy: Yeah, I think that's the basic job of a member of Congress. And we so often forget that they are supposed to be elected for the people that they represent. So my district is a very unique district. It runs from Massapequa to Mastic, and it also includes Fire Island. So it is the ribbon of the South Shore. And we have all different people that live there. We are electoral demographics is a third, a third, a third pretty much. So we have a third Democrats, a third Republicans and a third independents. And whoever is the Congress person for that district is supposed to represent the people. It's supposed to listen to the people. It's supposed to knock on doors, hold town halls when you need help with your passport. You're supposed to be able to go to your member of Congress and they will help with that. It is those simple things that I think our Congress members often forget are the reason why they are elected and their basic jobs. And I think that kind of ties back into some of the corruption that we currently have in government and something that if I was elected, I would like to change. know, we are seeing that our members of Congress are held to whoever the highest bidder, whoever donates the most money to their campaign. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: or they just side with their party, or in this case, the president. ⁓ Trump has actually tweeted that he loves Andrew Garbarino because Andrew Garbarino does whatever he says and not what the people want or not even listening to what the people want. And so I think we need members of Congress who are gonna go in and are not afraid to stand up for the people. I am the people in the community. Breaking The Meta: Right. Yeah. Jess Murphy: my family, my friends, my neighbors are the people in our community and we need a voice for us and not someone who's just answering to a president, not someone who's answering to money. And we're a grassroots campaign, so we're not taking any PAC money. We are not taking corporate money. We're not working with super PACs. We're all of that because I'm not gonna be tied to anyone but the people in my district. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So that brings up an interesting point because you were talking about how your district is a third, a third, a third. So obviously, it voted Republican two years ago, and that's why you have the representative you have. How has the last year changed in terms of talking with people that have been historically conservative and you know, maybe voted for your current representative, you know, in 2024. Have you noticed that there's been a change in how people in your district are interacting with you that they may not have before? I know New York's a little different. New Yorkers will kind of talk to anybody. But but is is there is there this feeling of, know, we're because you're hearing a lot of other Jess Murphy: Yeah. Yeah. Breaking The Meta: a lot of other districts and a lot of other states, a lot of people saying, I voted Republican my entire life. They have failed us. I am not doing it anymore. Or even, I've voted Republican my entire life. I've never even considered voting Democrat. I will at least hear you out when I wouldn't have listened to you two years ago. What is it like interacting with conservatives ⁓ in your district? Jess Murphy: Yeah. Yeah, I think my district is particularly interesting. I think that the Republicans that I've been speaking to, it's more so that when you speak to them and you speak to them on issues that are affecting their everyday life or the issues that are really at the core of why they're voting or the core of their problems. So if you say, hey, I'm running for office, I'm running to represent you. What are the issues that are affecting you the most? And again, I think it's this theme that we've tied our platform on affordability. Everybody can get behind the fact that they cannot afford to stay on Long Island, no matter how hard they work, no matter who their parents are, anything, it's gas prices are going up. Our insurance bills on Long Island, because we're so close to the water, especially on the South Shore, are... just as much as most people's mortgages. The average price of a home in Suffolk County is, I was just looking at a statistic the other day, was almost $700,000 and that's for like a starter home. And in Nassau County, which also there's a little piece of Nassau County in my district, it was 850,000. Breaking The Meta: That's insane. Jess Murphy: And so when you're looking at those prices and then you're looking at your grocery prices where you used to be able to fill up a whole cart for a hundred, $150 and now you're only filling up a tote bag for a hundred dollars, $150. It's almost impossible for you not to be upset with what's going on in our government because it is affecting everybody. And so Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Jess Murphy: I've really tried to focus on the issues that can bring people together and what we can do to actually solve those because like I mentioned, my district is a third, a third, a third. And then I think on the flip side, my specific district has felt like we are Republican for so long, but they didn't realize how many Democrats there are. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Mmm. Jess Murphy: So we've been really canvassing and there's been a lot of grassroots efforts with a lot of organizing on Long Island. There's been a ton of wonderful organizers organizing together Long Island or Swing Left or you know the list can go on and on and on and they've been finding these blue dots as they say right but we're not blue dots. We're so many of us but it's about Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Jess Murphy: People now willing to be like, hey, I am a blue dot and I'm willing to meet another blue dot. And then you realize, wow, there's 500 blue dots. We were always here. We just didn't get together. And so it's really about organizing those groups of people who have really felt left out, have felt hopeless, have felt like politics and policy is not for them or it's not something that they ever knew about. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: I'll give you an example, my own mom, she never voted in an election until 20 until two years ago. Yeah. So she did not realize that politics was really affecting her until until recently, until, you know, after COVID after, you know, stuff that was going on. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ wow. Mmm. Yeah. you Jess Murphy: And not even me persuading her, just watching the news, talking to the neighbors, saying like, wait, everything is politics. Every single thing that you interact with in your life is boiled down to a policy. And people don't realize that, whether it's your local government, your state government, or federal government like we're dealing with ⁓ in Congress. it's a little bit, I think, a combination of both. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Jess Murphy: really getting the Democrats hopeful and organized that weren't before. And then also talking to Republicans and figuring out what are the issues that matter to you. And, you know, we are a people, we are supposed to, you know, create policy that's going to help us. And we need to, you know, it's people over party. You know, you can say I'm a Democrat, you can say, but I'm going to help. you know, any anybody in my district. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So you mentioned gas prices, and I feel like that is a perfect time to talk about foreign policy. ⁓ over the last 80 years, this administration or this country has been at the head of the table since basically since World War Two. ⁓ In the last year and a few months, this administration has ⁓ pretty much destroyed our place at Jess Murphy: I'm sorry. hehe Breaking The Meta: the table globally, ⁓ whether you're talking tariffs, or Venezuela, or Greenland, or ⁓ leaving the who or leaving the pirate, the Paris Accord or the threats to NATO, and now a war in Iran that is not only hurting this country, but the globe. ⁓ How do you see us going forward? Jess Murphy: Thank Breaking The Meta: foreign policy wise when there is a supreme lack of trust even from some of our closest allies. Jess Murphy: I think that's the first step and that's really what ⁓ I've been talking about as well. We need to get our allies back. We need to get back into these organizations. We were the only ⁓ and I'm blinking right now but we were the only country that voted against women's rights internationally. So we are purposely disaligning us to all of our international allies and putting ourselves in a corner. And so that leaves us not much room for negotiation, not much room to work with our allies. And we need to get back to a level of maturity that we have not seen in this administration. And we need to bridge those gaps and we need to create allies again. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: And, you know, when we want to talk about war and all of this with Venezuela, and now Iran, Congress also needs to step up and say, we need more information. We need more oversight. We need more accountability. And you cannot just take us into war. That is the power of Congress and something that we need information on because it is what we are supposed to do. And it is what we need to provide for the American people and we need a strategy moving forward. And we have not seen any strategy. We have not seen any plans or any future thinking. We have seen rash, quick decisions that have left Congress questioning, that have left the American people questioning. And at the end of the day, who is hurting us? Our children are going to war. Breaking The Meta: Yes. Jess Murphy: Our gas prices are raising and we need to hold our leadership accountable and our president needs to be held accountable for this and Congress needs to have a little bit more of a backbone and step up. Breaking The Meta: I think you're asking a lot here, Jess. I'm just saying. They've got to get their flights home. So I won't. Yeah. Jess Murphy: Ha! Wait, can I say something funny to that comment? I'm not much to follow TMZ or paparazzi media, they actually yesterday came online and said I want you if you see your member of Congress there's 535 of them at Disney World or celebrating on spring break or at a golf course make sure you send in their photos because You know, our TSA wasn't funded at this time and ⁓ we are suffering and we're going paycheck to paycheck and they're just on their vacation in Disney World and that's not okay. And so it's really funny when you have institutions like TMZ where you're like, wow, I kind of agree with you, where I would never say that. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. When TMZ, when TMZ is being a moral high ground, you know we've hit a weird time in the society. Yeah. Jess Murphy: weirdest. I wake up every day and I'm like shocked. Breaking The Meta: Yes, can confirm. ⁓ So I wanna just go a little bit more on the foreign policy because the thing that has always bugged me and has been difficult for me is, and I use the EU as the example, but you can even say this with Canada and Mexico and again, our other closest allies. ⁓ I think the problem of trust is, is a little greater than just us being able to get it back. And the reason I say that is we have agreement, we had agreements, trade agreements with all of these countries. you know, April came along and he just threw tariffs on everybody saying we got to make a deal. The EU made a deal. And then the second the EU didn't agree with this, with him wanting to take Greenland, he said, I'm going to put 100 % tariffs on you if you don't Jess Murphy: to probably raise. Breaking The Meta: back my taking of Greenland. And my brain goes to this idea of why would any country trust any agreement we make with them when they know that four years after they make this agreement with us, someone else could come like say in 2028, we got a democrat and and they like, oh, you know, we were all everything's good. Again, let's start let's start working together and not being shitty. 20 was that 2032 comes around. What if a Republican wins and it's back to where we were? Who's going to want to make a who's going to want to make a trade agreement for four years? Jess Murphy: Thanks for doing that. I'll see you at the end. Thanks for watching! ⁓ I hear you, but I think that goes to the same people that I've been talking to that are like, are we even going to have an election in November? Right. And I hear that and I hear your concern and I always think we need to, you know, focus on the future and focus on policy in the future as well. But right now we are fire after fire after fire and we kind of need to put out some of these current fires. So I think the first, the first step is Breaking The Meta: That's fair. Absolutely. Jess Murphy: obviously taking back the House and hopefully taking back the Senate in November. And so that's why it's important to go for people like me. And we can flip district too. But I think we need, as the American people, we also need to show the world that we're not okay with what our president is doing and what they have decided to do and what Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: you know, and the agreement from there. And so then they'll be able to kind of study us and see a pattern that way. The American people have woken up and they're also agreeing with us. They know that they have made a mistake and they are now going to put their trust into actual leaders that are going to do the right thing. And that has to do with also electing leaders that are not corrupt, who don't have ties to Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: foreign money, big businesses, billionaires, oligarchy, super PACs. And so if we can start to kind of unravel some of that as we're voting, I think that's what the American people can really do. And that's how we're going to then be able to build a better trust internationally as well. I was joking with some of the other day, like, you know, I really, I wish it was, you know, back. to when we had like Mitt Romney and Barack Obama running against each other or like John McCain, George, I would take any of that over what's going on now because they did have more diplomacy, more, you know, respectable, exactly. And you could respect each other across the side, you know, maybe we don't agree on everything. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. They respected each other. Jess Murphy: but we agree that we're supposed to make America better for our people. We're supposed to be a world leader that is respected and is helping other countries and is not only a leader, but an international leader. And so it's gonna take a little bit of work. Yeah, it is. And it's gonna take the work of the American people too. And I think we're starting to see that. We're seeing, we just saw Margot, ⁓ We just saw Florida flip, right in Trump's backyard. And we've seen places in Texas flip that have been plus 12, plus 16. We've seen a rise of young leaders that are willing to say, no, I don't agree with what's going on and we need to take back our country. If we can do that as the American people, how small that seems or how large of a task that seems, I think that will signal internationally that we can be trusted in the future of years. But it starts now, it starts right now. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Absolutely. ⁓ So I want to do a little bit of future casting. ⁓ So June comes around and you've won your primary. Congratulations. November comes around. You also win and flip the seat. Also, congratulations. I know January 2nd comes around and you were sworn in as a congresswoman for the 2nd District of New York. What are the first one or two things that you want to do? Jess Murphy: Yes. How exciting. Best day ever. Ooh, well, you know, I love that question and I want to do so much. Also when you're elected and you're a junior member of Congress, the first thing that I will need to do when elected is I need to make friends in Congress. I think people forget about that. They're like, ⁓ we're going to go. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: You ⁓ yeah. Jess Murphy: write a bill and it's just gonna get passed. No, I'm gonna talk to other leaders that I look up to, other people that I consign to, and let's co-sponsor some bills together. What issues are going to have bipartisan support that we can ⁓ work on together? And for me, again, affordability is going to be the number one focus. So we just saw one of the monumental housing bills that has ever been passed in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren was someone who sponsored it. And while I am so thankful that I got passed, it was voted in the Senate. ⁓ 89 voted yes, nine voted no, and one didn't vote. You know, it still has to get through the House and eventually, you know, get signed into law, hopefully. But that's a bill you never know. I know that's why Breaking The Meta: With this administration, who the heck knows? Jess Murphy: like it's, it's, you know, I'm very Breaking The Meta: They just, at the time of this recording for anyone listening, ⁓ at two or three in the morning, the Senate finally voted unanimously to end the shutdown, or most of the shutdown of DHS. And Mike Johnson has already come out and said, nope. Jess Murphy: Yep. So you never, I really don't know what's going to happen. And in this administration, there is no crystal ball. Breaking The Meta: So. Yeah. So that actually brings up a really interesting question, and it's one that I'm not sure anyone's got a great answer for. But how do you go around and talk to people as you're talking about what you hope to do? Because it's easy to be like this current president and just say, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and do none of it, by the way. And I feel like that's been a problem with a lot of our Jess Murphy: Love. I'm going to do this. I'm going to this. I'm going to ⁓ Breaking The Meta: of our representatives is they say what they're going to do, not say what they want to do, or not be really realistic about what is going to be possible. Because I think for so long, a lot of voters didn't want to hear realistic, they just feel the pain of housing being too expensive and food being too expensive, and they just see things not getting done. So Jess Murphy: Thank you. You want to? ⁓ Yeah, it's a lot slower than the news likes to say. ⁓ But what I will say to this is that I try to be as honest as I can with people when I'm talking to them. And I think Breaking The Meta: How have you handled that reality, especially since you as someone who's been on Capitol Hill and knows kind of how that all works? Yeah. Jess Murphy: A good example of that is, you know, I mentioned when I was in Iceland, we were talking about universal healthcare, right? And I think that is something that a lot of, a lot of Democrats, particularly that I talked to, that is their number one issue. You know, they're number one, we want universal healthcare and we want you to say that you're going to be able to provide universal healthcare. And I think that's a great example of how, if I just said yes, Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jess Murphy: and I just put that on all my flyers, like I would get a lot of support, right? But that's not the truth. It would take so much for us to be able to pass universal healthcare in the way that our system is. So I kind of break it down into two different bullets of what I can do. So I would want to immediately expand the Affordable Care Act. I would want to immediately put caps on prescription drug prices. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Jess Murphy: And I would want to expand Medicare and Medicaid and take out some of the insurance corruption. And those are things that we can definitely get done. We can definitely gain bipartisan support on. And those are the things that can give immediate relief to Long Islanders and the American people. And while I love the idea of universal healthcare and I'm not ruling that out, I am just being realistic and I do think that that is authentic. And I do think that people now are craving leaders that are more authentic and realistic because they've seen or have felt like they have been lied to again and again and again. And that is not, they feel like they've been lied to by the Republicans. They feel like they have been lied to by the Democrats. They feel like they have been lied to from the presidents. know, the list goes down. and on and on and on. And so I think you just need to be truthful. And also if you run on something and you realize when you get in Congress that maybe that's not exactly what you can do, but this is what I can do, then you need to show up for the people, hold a town hall and tell them what you're doing or the process. People are much more willing to understand and listen when you actually tell them the process. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jess Murphy: Honestly, right now, if they're showing up to your town hall and listening to you, they do want the nitty gritty. They're the very involved people. They're the ones that want to know, did you read every line on that bill? And if you didn't, they did. I had someone in my district, they were telling me they went line by line for a budget that was ⁓ the past and they found... ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Jess Murphy: money for the World Cup in two different line item buckets. And I said, yes, I love that. And those that that's the nitty gritty. They actually do want the nitty gritty. And when you talk to them and you're just, you know, real with them, they will understand because they need to know that at the end of the day, your values align with their values and that you're a good person that they're sending and someone that wants to help their community and has a stake in the game. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: I have a stake in the game. I live here. I'm living through the same thing. I also can't afford my house. I also have to work seven days a week. I also have a sister who might move to another state because she can't afford to buy a house here. And so I'm living through the same realities and I'm not, you know, jaded and I'm, I'm, I'm here right now, you know. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Well, as someone who had to move away from all of his family up in Massachusetts for the same reason, the area that I grew up in, I think the average price for a starter home there is in the six hundred six fifties. So I completely understand that problem. That is why we are down where we are. ⁓ Just for everyone that has listened this far and heard everything that. Jess Murphy: Yeah. Thanks. Breaking The Meta: that we have talked about up until this point, what are one or two things that no matter what you would want them to come away knowing about you and your campaign? Jess Murphy: Yeah, I would say that I want them to know that I am someone that is going to listen to you, represent you and show up for you. There is... no, in no world would I not be a leader that is going to represent my people and the people that I represent. And again, that includes all of the people I represent, whether that is Democrats, Republicans, independents. And I think that is just so important for the longterm and also for the primary as well. But just, you know, that is our goal. I also think that if you feel inspired, If you liked anything that I had to say or you want to talk more, again, hold me to what I am saying. You don't have, I don't have to wait to be elected to listen to you, to speak to you, to have a town hall, to hold events. Every, every week I post my weekend schedule. like, I'm going to be at these events. If you're around, come say hi. I post my personal cell phone number up and people can actually give me a call because Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: your representative, your neighbor should be available to help you. And so those are the things that I really want people to come away with this is that we need to be hopeful. We can do better if we elect leaders that can do better. And so we need all of you to vote. We need all of you to grab three friends and tell them to vote and then you need to tell those three friends to then grab three friends and we need to you know get out there and share these these feelings that we're having if we want to create change and ⁓ you know I that's that's really that's me and I'm very active on social media Breaking The Meta: Yep. No. Jess Murphy: ⁓ I try to be a little silly at times to lighten the mood that every day we wake up and there's a new crisis going on. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah. You're going for the... You're going for the Mamdani effect? Jess Murphy: You know, I wouldn't say that. I'm just going for myself. You know, I'm just going for Jess Murphy. I'm, ⁓ Breaking The Meta: That's true. That's fair. That's fair. But I mean, in the sense of it, like, you know, like Jeff Jackson, the former represent like he went on, he went on, he became huge, especially on TikTok for coming on and talking about it. And he's a nice guy. Really nice guy. But he was stoic and bland as hell, like Jess Murphy: Yes. Breaking The Meta: And that is a lot of the people, a lot of representatives that come on and do stuff. Mamdani just felt different because he seemed like a normal person. Like you watched him and you went, I could enjoy hanging out at a restaurant with this guy. Jess Murphy: God. Yeah. And I think that that goes back to the whole the old message. I mean, I remember growing up like I was I think I was in elementary school. I don't know why we're talking about beer. But, know, my dad used to be like, you know, I want a president that I could have a beer with, you know, like, and I think that's that's the gist of it. I think we're getting we've kind of we're going back to that. I want a representative that I can have a drink with or in this case, that can can make my drink. I could make you a Breaking The Meta: Yeah But beer with, yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah, absolutely. Jess Murphy: Margarita, good. Yes, definitely. And I think we could shake things up in Washington. And that's really kind of the goal. And put some humanization into everything that's going on and give people hope. ⁓ I've never felt more hopeful than I do during this election. It's hard. Breaking The Meta: You and AOC can have some conversations with each other. Yeah. Jess Murphy: I barely sleep, my team barely sleeps. ⁓ But we are so hopeful because every day we're talking to more and more people and they feel the same way. And it's exciting because you feel like we're gonna flip New York too. Like there is no doubt in my mind that we are going to flip New York too. And it's exciting, it's energizing and it's a grassroots democracy. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jess Murphy: that we need and we can take back our country. It's just, we gotta do a lot of hard work. Breaking The Meta: Yep. Jess, for anyone that wants to learn more about you or volunteer or donate, where can they find you? Jess Murphy: Absolutely. So you can find me at jessmurphyforcongress.com. That's going to have a lot of my issues stances, more about me, a place to donate, a place to sign up to volunteer, or a place to just join my email list. That way you can get updates on everything that's going on. If you have Instagram, I am at jessmurphyforcongress. If you have TikTok, I'm also at jessmurphyforcongress. And then a platform that I've been really liking is Threads. And that's also Just Murphy for Congress. But I think that has been a great place to engage and talk and have one-on-one conversations. And then this weekend, if anyone's around, there's some No Kings protests going on in Babylon and Pashog tomorrow. And I will be speaking at the rally in Pashog at about 1.30. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yup, tomorrow. Yup. Jess Murphy: And I'll also just be there marching, out flyers, talking to people and, and, ⁓ you know, pro peaceful protesting. And I think that's the most important and that's something that we can do. And I don't think anyone will want to get up that early, but around eight 30, I am also doing a cleanup in the park and Massifika preserve. So yeah, so we got to help our environment as well. So. Breaking The Meta: Ayyyy! Yep. Amen. Jess Murphy: Busy day, that whole schedule is on my social media. We also sent an email blast out. We'll send a follow up again tomorrow, but that's where you can kinda check me out. We are grassroots people powered campaign. So like I mentioned, we're not taking any corporate money. We're not taking any PAC money. So we really do need people to donate to us, even if it's five, 10, $25 to help push this campaign forward. And it goes for things like flyers to get out the message. goes for ⁓ paying for our online email system. It goes for paying for our campaign manager. It goes for paying for postcards. It goes for legal fees as we're getting on the ballot. ⁓ So we're not spending it on frivolous things. We're spending it on things that are actually the only way that our campaign can move forward. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jess Murphy: And so it is very important if you are able to donate, please donate. Breaking The Meta: Jess, thank you so much for sitting down with us for a little bit and letting us get to know you and what you hope to do for your district. I appreciate it. Jess Murphy: Thank Yeah, I appreciate you so much and I thank you for doing this. I've even watched some of your other videos. I think it's awesome. think this is, like what you're doing is really getting everyone's message out there and helping move America forward as well. Breaking The Meta: Thank you. Yeah, for everyone else that listened and watched up to this point, thank you very much as well. Please hit all those buttons down below, like, subscribe, share it. ⁓ It helps make it possible for me to keep doing what I'm doing, which is talk to amazing people like Jess every single day. And in the end, our goal here is to help give them visibility and name recognition, because for people that aren't taking millions of dollars in pack money, that is the best way to get their name out there so they have a Jess Murphy: That's what he did. Breaking The Meta: you know, they have a chance to make all of these changes that we've been talking about in some cases for decades. So please like and share this content, her content, everyone else's content. It's like the easiest thing that we can do to support all of these people that are doing some amazing things here. And for everyone that may be new to this podcast, just so you know, Breaking the Meta is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo and the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity and safety. Jess Murphy: Thank you. that just a nice estimate. Breaking The Meta: Again, Jess, thank you for being here. For everyone else, we'll see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye, guys. Jess Murphy: Thanks.