Latest / Follow the Leighder / A Veteran Candidate on Christian Nationalism | Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs

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A Veteran Candidate on Christian Nationalism | Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs · Follow the Leighder

• Leigh/@followtheleighder: Howdy folks and welcome back to another episode of Follow the Leighder. I'm your host, Leigh Larson. And I did some little bit of traveling, went over to Virginia for you guys. Today with us in the studio is Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs. Welcome, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be on with you. Leigh/@followtheleighder: folks, ⁓ didn't just go to Virginia for nothing. I went back to interview and find ⁓ Congress, the Virginia First District ⁓ is Elizabeth is running for. ⁓ She's running as a Dem, describing herself as a New Deal Dem, military background, she's a mother. We've got a lot to cover today folks. But first and foremost, Elizabeth, what motivated you to run for Virginia's First Congressional District? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah. So I'm running in Virginia's first congressional district because our current representative is not representing the people. He has sold out to get himself rich, do whatever Donald Trump says. He's an election denier. He's made millions of dollars trading stock and has neglected his community, even people that have voted for him. You know, when people are like, ⁓ you're just running against him because he's a Republican. No, if he was doing his job, I wouldn't have learned it my life to do that, but he's not. So I'm going to step in and I'm going to do his job for him. Because I have four young children at home. And ten years from now they will look at me and they'll say, Mom, what did you do? They'll learn about this. They'll know. They'll see the Epstein files and see Pam Bondi tell us what the Dow was at. They already know about ICE despite us not having any TV at home. But they know. And they're gonna ask me, what did you do when children were being kidnapped off the street? And I refuse to be anything short of everything I possibly could. And that includes running for office. My district has been a Republican stronghold with Rob Whitman in it. And it's now the number one most vulnerable seat that they have. So we talk about flipping seats and taking back the House at midterms and being able to put a stop to this. This is the seat we're gonna do it in. This is one that is incredibly at risk, but it's gonna take something new. It's going to take a bold vision. It's not gonna be the same old, same old playbook of someone who's still just going in for the title and going to get rich. I'm doing this because I love my country and I love my community. This is where I chose to raise my kids. This is my home. You don't just run away from your home. You stay and you fight for it. and I'm pretty good at fighting. I took an oath a few times to the Constitution and I want to continue to honor and respect that oath. So between that and fighting for my kids and for everyone else's kids and for my parents and grandparents, this was the best way to do it. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Well, and you talk about how the incumbent is. ⁓ just not doing his job, not showing up and you're running for Congress, but you're really running. You are covering 480 miles on foot running in, this is real, this is not just me, but this is like, she's actually running, she is a runner and has committed to seeing and setting foot in all 480 miles of her district. And that alone folks should tell you how serious she takes her commitment. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Bam! Leigh/@followtheleighder: It's a doubling down. She didn't have to do that, but she's here. One of the things that ⁓ you have ⁓ a very stacked resume folks, like very awesome candidate. I really hope you'll go down into her website and then look more into Elizabeth's MC bags. She was raised by a retired police officer and a nurse. Her father also served in Vietnam war and She is an Army veteran, you are a tank commander. Talk a little bit about your military experience and your family, how your family sees service. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: It was. Yeah, my family's knee service is something that's not optional. It is a duty that you have just by existing on this planet. Our family's motto is when you have more than you need, you build a longer table, not higher fence. That doesn't just mean money. For some people, that's time. For some people, it is money. We all have different phases, right? And for some people, that is your creativity. That is your compassion. We all have an area where we're overflowing. And I grew up in a household. My dad served in Vietnam. He was actually an armor officer as well, but in the Marine Corps. And then he was a police officer and he had retired from that, but it was really ingrained in me that we take care of our community. And my face is a big part of that. I've taught Sunday school. I've had a crisis face. I hate Christian nationalism, but it's something that caused me to love my neighbor, not ask to see their papers, not care how many hours a week they're working. It caused me to love my neighbor. And I don't have to know every single person who's my neighbor to love them and want them to be okay. ⁓ That led to me going into the military. did Army ROTC. went on a national four-year scholarship. I graduated high school in southern Utah. I'm from Virginia, but my family had moved around some after my brother passed. And ⁓ I went to the University of Kentucky. I actually interned for the Republican Party during that time. And I was like, no, we're good actually. You know, grew up a little bit. I saw the rise of Trump coming, this Christian nationalism, this MAGA movement. We all thought it was a joke at first. And a lot of people left at that time. was one of them. So I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky where I did Army ROTC and I initially went in with the plan to go right into law school to go into the Reserve Corps looking to be an intelligence officer and I absolutely fell in love with it. I fell in love with being in field. I fell in love with leading soldiers and when combat arms opened up to women when I joined ROTC and took my oath of enlistment and went on my contract all those things it was closed but by the time I was looking to commission and graduating with my undergrad, Congress had just lifted the ban and I decided to go for it. I said, I know I'm qualified, I know I'm capable women have been serving in these roles for so long and I had a lot of resistance to that by some cadre. I remember one of them was really supportive but we couldn't figure out how to get my lapel right because the woman's uniform is different than the men's and the branch insignia was so much bigger than it would be on a woman's. They didn't make a woman size of it. but that That was a really cool experience. I was one of the first 50 women to serve in combat arms. And I did my training. I went to Fort Riley, Kansas, where I integrated an infantry battalion. I was the first woman to get to that battalion, the first to serve in my company, and to make sure that it was a safe environment for junior enlisted soldiers to come to as well. ⁓ I actually met my husband while was stationed there too. And so it's another part of the service that we believe in. ⁓ He went to the United States Military Academy. And his mom was an officer in the Air Force. She retired shortly after we got married, after 32 years. And by the time we left the military, I left first, I took a corporate job for a while, and it was just so dissatisfied. You know, I made good money, I was the breadwinner, had a flexible schedule, a lot of things people were looking for. was just like, I need to do something more. I need to serve more. When we left the military, we wanted to become foster parents because that was another way we felt we could serve our community and the way that we felt called to serve our community. Then my husband took it one step further and quit his job to become a firefighter. He took a pay cut, he is in recruit school, so he went back to being bottom of the barrel after being company commander and then working in the Pentagon and these titles and things and money, but he wanted to serve and I fully support him that because it's something that's always been important to me as well ⁓ and something I hope that we are instilling in our kids. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Absolutely. you talk about how you were the first in a lot of ways. You were the pioneer. What has being the only woman in a male-dominated military environment, how have you learned and grown? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah, I had to get very comfortable using my voice and knowing who I am authentically as a leader. It didn't work to pretend to be something I'm not. I'm very comfortable in who I am and I'm secure in who I am as a leader. Does not mean I'm not always learning. I'm 100 % always learning. But there was always that question of doubt of, do you belong? Right? And then we have people like Hegseth who were just feeling that fire, knowing that we belong, knowing that we are qualified, that we've hit all the same qualifications. There were times we'd go to the gunnery range and one of civilians who was retired and ran it had never, had never served a woman in uniform and hadn't even met one of us yet. It was like two in the morning, the range officer. And he goes, so what did you have to do to get here? Like what qualifications did you get? of the other platoon leaders, second lieutenant, just like me at the time, in turn we go, the same thing that I did, dude, what do you mean? Before I could even open my mouth. So there are moments like that. But what it really taught me and what's really going to be important in not just this race, but in leading in Congress, is this idea of leading under opposition. that when I went into this role, I didn't hire a single person who worked for me, who was under my command, who was in my platoon. And they didn't hire me, they didn't pick me, they didn't volunteer to be in this unit. They were thrust into this and they had doubts and they had insecurities. And I listened. And I created a space where they could voice those. And that we could move forward and we could build trust and we could get the mission done. So something much more important than any of us. It was bigger than all of us. And that's what it's going to take when we talk about flipping a seat. Because the reality is, I'm going to need red votes. And there's a lot of red voters who are very tired of what is happening right now, but they need an off-ramp. They need one that's not your traditional corporate Democrat who's just trying to get the title and be in office, who has no desire to serve them, listen to their concerns, because their voice matters. They still deserve representation. And that experience that I had integrating women there and honestly the whole rest of my corporate career as well being in a male dominated field and being a young woman there. gives me the ability to walk in those spaces and be very comfortable. His leadership's hard in any aspect, but when you walk into a rally, you're up on a stage and all those people in that room want you there and maybe they disagree five, 10 % of the way with you. Right, but they're gonna vote for you. That's a lot different than being able to lead when you walk into a room of 600 people who don't want you there, who did not vote for you and who have concerns because they've had a Republican representative for 20 years. And they still, that matters. And when it comes to getting things done in Congress too, we still have to provide an off-ramp for our Republican counterparts to come together and say, you know, we look at healthcare. That's not something that's a red versus blue issue. What does that right? People are hurting with affordability. People are hurting with international security concerns. People are hurting in red and blue districts. And I am going to have to talk. to my red colleagues. And that's good. That's how it should be. That's how it's been before. But I can't cower down to that, right? I can't only lead the people who ideologically are the same as me. That's not how the country goes forward. Leigh/@followtheleighder: And it's, ⁓ we're just like, the toxic bullying coming out of this administration towards anyone who disagrees or defies and it's just, people are exhausted. And... ⁓ I really like to see your campaign so far. It's been, how do I want to say it, bright and energetic for sure. You certainly communicated that passion and that energy, but there's a drive. There's a seriousness. You're not here to play. You're here to win. You're here. Probably like a lot of us, you're pissed off and you're sad and there's a lot of... Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Maybe very clear, the reason there's a space for everybody on this campaign, even if they'd voted for Donald Trump before, or how far left you want to be, there's a space for you in this campaign because you matter and we're all pissed off. And we're going to have dissent. There's going to be people who support me on sides of the aisles that they don't agree with each other on a lot of things. And that's good. In a two-party system that we have, we have to have dissent. But when we have a president who won't allow any, even within his own party, I mean, look at Pete Hexa. He already controls what media is now allowed into the Pentagon, and he's still kicking them out if they dare to ask a question. And the flip side of that is the president and his cabinet positions have created this environment, like you said, of bullying, right? But these catch phrases that to be a fighter and to be able to make change, because a lot of people are pissed off and people should be really pissed off, to be honest. But that fighter and that catch phrase, like it's not a catch phrase. It's not a tweet. You know, we talk about how are we going to fix Medicaid and Medicare access. Like, yeah, you want me to say universal health care. That's not flipping a switch. We want to talk about the actual plan to get there that we can make it happen under this administration. That's not me going up during a press conference yelling and tweeting one line out that people can rally behind. That is. months and months of work and policy as we lead up and we implement universal health care. Yes, yes, I'm going to fight for universal health care. That shouldn't be a question we have to ask. The question is how do we get there? And that's where it gets boring. that's something that, know, politics is boring, but Donald Trump came in and he shook it up and he shook it up through bullying. And that's, you know, we talked about all the failures of Democratic Party and communication and there's a lot. Trust me, there is a lot and I will be the first to criticize the Democratic Party. But part of that does stem from a lot of these are boring. You know, the things that work. that help people, that rebuild trust. Yeah, they're gonna be a little boring, guys. Like, unless you're a nerd and into this, like some of us are, like I am, it's gonna look boring. It doesn't mean that someone's not fighting. It doesn't mean that they're not making change, because, I mean, trust me, I'll throw hands on the floor if I need to. I no problem with that. But what people need is someone who's actually gonna put in the work and is not gonna fight just for one line, one tweet, one rally. who's going to put in the years of work that it will take to rebuild and keep fighting when it gets hard and when they get tired outside of that. It's easy to tweet. It's harder to actually do. Leigh/@followtheleighder: and it's also easier to tweet and blame Biden for everything. And you're like, at some point, guy. All the lies, all the different things. And that's exactly why I love you saying that politics should be boring. ⁓ I think people are just exhausted. ⁓ and the bullying, the toxicity. I want boring politics because bullying people or strong arming them or saying, know, promoting Christian nationalism. I'm like, guys, it's just been tough for a lot of people. You, go ahead. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Well that's the part that's scary. especially, you know, being in a red district and my oldest will start kindergarten in the fall. But as a foster parent, you know, I'm very tapped into the parenting community outside of the ages of my own kids. And so many people who again, voted for Trump like that he came in and shook things up, right? But so many are now seeing the repercussions of that in their children and their school age children. And they're exhausted. mean, exhausted by the hate and division. This isn't funny. It never was. But there was some humor elements to it at first. Like, this reality star is like, no, our country should not be treated like this as a reality show. And the drama and the hate is exhausting everybody. And a lot of it is intentional. It's meant to keep us down, to keep us from rallying because we're fatigued. It's like, we need to go about ICE when you talk about Iran. And we need all these things while you're trying to pay the bills and you're worried about getting evicted and losing custody of your children because we don't have a livable wage and inflation skyrocketing. It's all intentional, but the hatred, people are so tired of that. Hate is exhausting. Leigh/@followtheleighder: It is. It is and ⁓ I know I've seen quite a number of posts online since the civil war started of how angry people are. And I've seen so many things. I have seen the number that the amount of money we've spent since then, what it could do. I've seen it on charts for education, for healthcare. Someone took that amount of money and overlaid how much ⁓ track of rail line we could do for a high speed railway across the country. Like we could have done that in one day that at money we spend in Iran. ⁓ I think, you know, between Iran and DHS and ICE, it is hard for folks to see their money go towards things that aren't helping them. They're not benefiting from this. So talk a little bit about your approach to taxes and you being a New Deal Democrat. What does that mean? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah, absolutely. So this is one of my favorite things to talk about. And again, it comes down to so much messaging with the Democratic Party and failures that we've had, to be honest, that people don't want to be paying more in taxes. No one wants that, right? And right now the working class is exploited by tax code and that is very intentional. So when we talk about these programs that help everybody and we talk about the programs that have returned on investment and you know, I'm an MBA, I do like the business nerdy side of this too and as much as I am fueled by my passion, I also really like data and numbers and we know the playbook on to having a stable economy because we've done it before. None of these things that we're proposing when we talk about being New Deal Democrats, these aren't new. These aren't radical. These aren't anything like these are just going back to how things were and what worked before. This whole idea of trickle down economics, which clearly don't work. We're having repercussions of right now. So we talked about these and a lot of the opposition will hear as well, like you just want to give people handouts and free stuff. These aren't handouts, they're hands up and they're the things, and I know people yell, the dirty word of socialism. Socialism is actually a framework of capitalism. So let's be clear, we don't live in capitalism right now. We are much closer to monopoly and we don't enforce our anti-monopoly and anti-trust laws. And a lot of that comes down to campaign finance reform and all that. But let's talk about how it affects everybody in their day-to-day lives and what that tax code looks like. What I like to see, this idea of taxing the rich, which again, terrible messaging, right? Because people hear that and they think, ⁓ you have 1 million, 2 million in the bank and that is not at all what we're talking about. We're talking about 200 million sitting in bank. You can, you'll earn a million dollars. You can save up $2 million. That is a realistic thing. It's awesome, it's impressive, but that's realistic. Becoming a billionaire is not. The only way to become a billionaire is by exploiting the working class. So when we talk about these handouts, this idea that the public can see a great job of painting of the welfare queen. The real welfare queen is Walmart. And these big corporations, right, they're the companies that don't pay a livable wage. They do internationally, but they don't here in the US. They don't pay a livable wage to almost all of their employees. You Walmart's about 90%. They don't pay livable wage, too. So then, those employees qualify for SNAP benefits, which they turn around and spend at Walmart, which Walmart then turns around and gets a tax break for accepting. You know, when Trump turned off SNAP benefits for political power, and I'm a foster parent, my kids rely on those, Their parents rely on those. When he turned them off, knowing people would die, like, let's be very clear, that was allowing people to die of starvation in this country. He didn't turn them back on, because he's a good person. He turned them back on because Walmart was going to lose $5 billion. And that's one of his biggest funders. So we talked about what this means for the average household, though. The average household, you will be paying less than taxes, but actually seeing the benefit from them. Because yes, everyone hates paying their taxes. Guys, I get it. I hate paying my taxes, too. But what I really hate is when taxes are going for a genocide in Gaza, when taxes are bombing a school overseas. when taxes are bailing out companies like Walmart so their CEO can get just an insane annual bonus on top of an insane salary. Do I think people have the right to make money and be rich? 100%. Yes. Absolutely. That's not inherently evil. But when it's done through exploitation and it's done even our tax code is so exploitive of the working class. Let me clear and I say working class. Even if you're earning a million dollars a year, you're bordering on working class. If you have to keep that job to pay your bills, you know, a family making $400,000, you are working class. And our tax code is so exploitive of that because where you, know, ⁓ how taxes are being spent doesn't benefit you. Right, we need to invest in programs that actually have a high return on investment and do benefit you, benefit everybody in your community. But also, look at child care. You can't write off the cost of your child care. You get a $1,200 credit and that's only if your kids are under school age. You know mean though? During the summer you still need childcare if you have school-aged children after school, right? But you have to have two parents go work to be able to pay your bills, right? Both those incomes are taxed federally. And then you have to pay for childcare to be able to go to those jobs to pay your federal income tax on that income. But you can't even write off that cost. But a CEO can write off the cost of a private jet as a necessary business expense. Sure, fine, let them write it off. But also we need to allow the families to write off then the cost of their childcare. And it's reframing the tax code in a way that is not, it's closing the loopholes, right? Would I love to have a wealth tax raise that 100 %? 100%, but let's go as moderate as we can on this where everyone can agree. We just closed the loopholes. We close the loopholes and we create a better system for the working class. And that allows us, you know, we talk about all these programs that we know better communities, universal healthcare, light rail, education, all of these things that we have had before with the new deal that we had that grew a booming economy that allowed people to have the stability to go and open a business. We've had that. and it's just now exploited so that it only benefits your billionaires and your mega corporations. The American dream is not possible under the current tax code. know, I told you my dad is a Vietnam vet. him serving Vietnam is the only reason we are where are now. allowed him to get a college degree, but he grew up on the tail end of the Great Depression and lived in a dirt floor shack. But his mom was a waitress. His parents got divorced when he was about 10. mom had two children. His dad died when he was 16. His mom was a waitress and his dad was a janitor. On her own, she was able to buy a home, a two-bedroom, three-bath home in Phoenix, Arizona in the 60s. On her own as a single mom, two kids. By working hard. Now, did she work hard? Absolutely. But you take that situation you put in today's economy, there's no hard work there. There is no hard work that is getting you out of that. You either got lucky or you didn't. Leigh/@followtheleighder: do want to go back to the economy because you're speaking so well to it. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Sorry, I never took out the color. I'm sorry. Leigh/@followtheleighder: No, you haven't. No, no, no. It's a good segue, but I want to talk about the military experience, Hegsath, Christian nationalism and US military policy right now. You know, it seems like every week, every month we are bombing someone new with no congressional approval, no idea of why we're doing it. We're just doing it. And then they tell us after and... Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: It seems messy. We're getting a few days ago, there were reports of military commanders and chaplains talking about Armageddon and biblical law. And the sad thing that I saw was that no one called that out. I didn't expect anyone to call that out in this administration, but that should be called out, right? The DOD should have been like, no, this is not Armageddon, but he didn't. ⁓ Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Just because they don't have an answer. They don't know what the end game is, they don't have a plan. Then you have them walking around saying, ⁓ well, the goal wasn't regime change, but their dream sure did change. Take this seriously, these are people's lives. These are people's lives overseas. are children's lives and these are service members' lives. And you're making jokes and the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief is saying, well, yeah, people are going to die. That's war. We're probably going to lose more. Like, I'm sorry we lost six. We're probably going to lose more. That's war. It's not going to be his kids we're going to lose. It's not going be his grandkids. are his rich friends' kids know it's gonna be my kids, your kids, and you know, anyone watching this, have young kids at home. You might say it will be over, it's not gonna affect them, like, people know what they signed up for. Yeah, I was in kindergarten when 9-11 happened, and then I served as a combat arms officer in that same conflict. These are forever wars. There's no game plan, you can look at all the CIA intelligence. There's no game plan here. Democracy, you can say, we'll bring them democracy. Let's be clear, the regime in Iran was terrible. We're not supporting that regime. That's not what we're advocating for when we're calling out saying that this was wrong. This was poorly executed, it was unplanned, there's been no oversight, no answers from the American people. Anyone asked a question, they get yelled at. We're telling service members that it's Armageddon and that's the reason. Don't worry, this is God's plan. That's the problem. And democracy, it's not found at the bottom of the bomb. It's not found at the end of the gun barrel. It's through the diplomacy. And again, the boring stuff, right? But we played this film out so many times. And how much more money and how many more lives are we going to spend? Because they're two weeks away from nuclear bombs and they're gonna nuke us. No. And it's, mean, that region is so complex, right? That's why no one person can fully understand the complexities of it. But again, there's your boring answers, not your P-hex-eths, little frat boy comments. Leigh/@followtheleighder: something you've talked about early on was how your faith is important to you and yet all of us are watching in horror this Christian nationalism justified by their theology justified by their faith what as as a faith believer you don't have to go too into detail if you don't want to it's up to you but as a faith believer how do you feel about Christian nationalism Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: I hate Christian nationalism. I'm in such a fashion. I walked away from not having idea what my faith was. I really just really dive deep into what do I feel, what do I believe around 17, 18, 19, and then around 2020. I I remember telling my husband, I don't even know if I believe in any of this anymore. And I'm like, and if I do, this isn't right. But I felt so alone in it. I was a brand new mom. It was COVID. We were in the military still, both my husband and I. We were living in Georgia. And so we tried to find a few churches. we walked out of so many sermons. We were just so disgusted. And my husband was raised Catholic. And he had left the Catholic Church before we got married. He would occasionally go to mass. His parents were in town. Now he's fully left it. I mean, it took, we didn't go back to church again until we moved here to Virginia and settled and found one that we loved. like, this is actually about Jesus. Christian nationalism has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. I see with men manipulating the Bible and weaponizing it to take power. And its growth is terrifying and it should not be underestimated. It is terrifying. It's infiltration into our military. mean, look at Hexeth and what he brings into the military. Look at his pastor saying that women shouldn't have the right to vote. That's not funny. And we can laugh and say, ⁓ they're never going to repeal it. A lot of the stuff that we've laughed and said would never happen is happening. These aren't jokes. That's one that, yeah, I teach Sunday school and my faith does guide me, but my faith guides me to love my neighbor. My faith guides me to care for my community, not to grab for power, not to try and get rich. And my faith guides me to respect all other religions as well. You know, there's rules in my home. I always say like, my rules as a Christian foster mom, and it's starting with respect and with advocacy. And I always say my job is to raise table flippers. My job is to raise my kids to go out into the world and refuse to be silent in the face of injustice. That is what my faith calls me to do. My faith calls me to stand up and raise my children to do the same, to fight for everybody that does not have the same privilege as us. And my eyes were all children of God. And you can make arguments whether it's about abortion or 10 commandments, being in schools, all these, that's not Christianity. That's about control. That is about power. it's even as a legislator. Sure, my faith can guide me on those moral principles, but my job isn't to legislate. We have separation church estate. I'm going to legislate the Bible. The Bible is written by man too and has been changed and rewritten and all that so many times. I mean, we could talk about that for hours. That's a whole nother conversation. But yeah, I am someone, I am guided by my faith and prayer and it's looked different for me throughout the years. I don't believe that there is one right answer because the Bible changes and churches that preach the same Bible are going to tell you different things. I believe it's something that's incredibly personal. anybody and that we have an obligation the constitution tells us that we have to protect everybody's right to religion and everybody's right from religion as well. So I can respect if you say hey my faith tells me that abortion is horrible and immoral and you'll go to hell under any circumstance. Great the constitution gives you the right to believe that. I don't agree with you. And I don't have to agree with you. The Constitution says you can believe that as long as you are not harming anybody else. Okay. You don't get to legislate that though. You don't get to enforce that on anybody else because it's what you believe. Leigh/@followtheleighder: And not to mention, I mean, I was just watching Texas, Texas public schools and the Ten Commandments. I mean, even from a theological or Christian side, was like, well, hold on, like which version of the Bible? And the Ten Commandments are actually printed four different times, Exodus and Deuteronomy. So like, which of the ten? Which? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Mm-hmm. And they can't answer it because they don't even know and they don't care and they don't follow it. Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: It's just sad. we've talked about the military, we've talked about faith, and talked about how hard things are for folks. And I was reading just a few days ago how DHS and ICE are funded that if they were considered a military, they would be in the top six militaries. And they're DHS, they're ICE, it's a paramilitary. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Talk to me a little bit about your stance on immigration. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah, absolutely. So we have to have the belief that immigration is always going to be an ever-changing policy, right? What worked 20 years ago is not going to work now, and what works now is not going to work 20 years ago. And something I have a lot of respect for is the work that the Biden-Harris administration did, specifically of VP Harris, that, you know, it's boring, so it doesn't get the attention and doesn't get highlighted. But being able to go in into South and Central America, not invest our tax dollars, our federal money, but get corporations to commit millions of dollars to invest in job stability and infrastructure in those regions to address the core cause. Because if someone's leaving their home, I mean, that is the most difficult you can make. It's not what anyone wants to do and I think so many people always believe that because America is the greatest country in the world in their mind. And there are a lot of great things about being here but that you know things don't have to be bad for you to leave and everywhere else is awful so of course everyone wants to come here and that's not true. That's not true. And this country was built on immigration. and it's something we have to protect and we have to have respect for. But you look at DHS budget, nine billion to 90 billion in one year while firing oversight committees, while getting rid of the IG, that's insane. And that's not rooted in any sense of justice, respect, ethics, especially why the court system on the immigration side is so incredibly underfunded and overcrowded. And it's something there's, you know, something people don't want to hear. They especially don't want to hear from their politician is there's never going to be one perfect solution. You know, just like the Middle East, there's never going to be one perfect solution, but we can work towards better and we are going to do better. And that starts with starts with a ball, she nice. And that is a harsh word. That doesn't mean open borders, but means that has been so corrupted. I mean, even this administration is now admitting that it's corrupted. It's been so corrupted that we can't stand by and allow. can't, you know. try and just fix it at this point. You have to get rid of it and you have to rebuild something and it's young. You can say, well was an INS before, that was, yes, it broke off of that when that was dissolved, you because when you abolish federal agencies, but it was broke off of that and their mission was to assist federal law enforcement in horrible crimes. your top-scale crimes, they were meant to assist if someone that was investigated for one of these crimes by the FBI, by the CIA, by even the state police, if they were found to be an immigrant. ICE was there to assist. That's obviously not what's happening now. They strayed so far from that mission. And the idea of, we need to do it the right way, there's no right way. We've made that system so complex. the rooted in racism that it's interesting when I go and I have conversations and I intentionally go and I knock on the doors of people who vote for Trump who might even have a MAGA sticker on the back of their truck. Go and I talk and you know when they're willing to have the conversation with me and oftentimes I'm able to convince them to I always ask them like where do you think we differ? Like what do you think we really don't agree on so deeply that we can't even have a conversation? And recently a lot of it's been ICE. And they're like, well, I bet you support abolishing ICE. like, I support law enforcement. I support ICE and the brave work that they're doing. I always ask them, like, well, let's get to the root of that. Like, what do you support about ICE? And to summarize most answers, these have been a lot of conversations, right? But the root of it is, well, I don't want rapists and murderers on the street. My brother in Christ, I have four young kids at home. I don't want that either. So I'm like, what? We actually really don't disagree. But if that's what we want to talk about, let's look at the data. Let's actually look at the numbers we know and how we reduce that. You know, we're like, oh, well, Lake and Riley. Yeah, Lake and Riley was, I mean, the victim of a horrendous crime. A horrendous crime that was done by a man. More ice presence doesn't stop that from happening. We know what does, and that's where we need to invest. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Wake and Riley's perpetrator is in jail. There's justice and it's a strange thing to keep. A, the family has asked folks to stop and all of us are like, that's open and shut. It's horrible, justice was served there. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: I know. Yeah. We're reporting veterans, we're letting children die. We have people who are citizens, mean, even natural born citizens being harmed by ICE. And we don't even have to talk about Alex Pretti, Renee Good, who, I mean, they tragically lost their lives and those are unjust and there will be trials and they will be held accountable to those actions. But you can talk about your neighbor who's afraid to go to the grocery store. Who was born here, but their skin's a little darker and they're afraid to go to the grocery store. I recently spoke to a firefighter who was fearful that his five-year-old is going to get taken from school every day. Both of them and his wife are citizens. Their son was born here. That's not the world we want. Leigh/@followtheleighder: No, and I hear when you were saying that you are trying to give folks an exit ramp, particularly ex MAGA. How have folks, I know you've been campaigning, when folks come to you they say, I've left MAGA, what are some of their concerns about supporting you or joining you? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah. I think something interesting I have to put out there, you know, I told you earlier that I did intern for the Republican party. ⁓ My mom is a pretty big MAGA supporter. ⁓ We have an estranged relationship, well, not just due to politics, well before that. And to this day, my dad will tell you that he's a Republican. He hates Trump. He'll tell you he's a Republican and he kind of looks for the good. And my in-laws, they voted for Trump. My dad never has, but my in-laws have. And... It gives me that experience of I've had to defend these ideals. I didn't grow up in a family that I'm a Democrat because my family was a Democrat. ⁓ And even being in the military. pretty MAGA people a lot and a lot of really leftist and Democrats, but a lot more than you would like to believe. But anyway, so having these conversations with people say to me and not all of them are, I get a lot of DMs of, I left MAGA, I grew up Republican, I still have these conservative values. I'll raise a spot for you here. you have conservative values and we get down to what it means. So like, just really value my faith and I want to make sure I'm able to practice it and that. like, yeah, I want you to be able to practice your faith. I everyone else to be to practice their faith. ⁓ But when there, I get a lot of DMs, know, Xmaga, I really supported Trump. I thought it was going to be a change. ⁓ And even when I go to like the Republican committee town halls and these things in my district, and sometimes I just sit at the fly in the back of the wall to hear what they're A lot of it's so much disinformation. Right? And here's the thing, when we talk to these voters, and I made it very clear when I brought anyone onto my team, I will not say a single negative thing about someone who voted for Donald Trump. Are you even still supports this? Because you know what they did what they thought was best for their family. It doesn't mean they don't love their neighbor. It doesn't mean that they're racist. Are there some that are? 100%. Yeah. That doesn't mean that. It means that when they couldn't pay their bills, when they're worried about feeding their kids and losing their jobs, they thought about their kids first. And they voted in the way that they thought would be best for them. And they relied to. They had a different set of information than we did, not a different set of facts. T plus two is four every day, right? But Donald Trump is very good at playing this game of, things are so bad for you, not because of the billionaires, not because of people like me, but because of your neighbor who loves differently than you. They're so protected. They have more rights. That's why you don't hold a job, because of DEI, not because I put tariffs in place that made your company close down. focusing on transports and, your daughter is going to be attacked, not the island. Right. They did a really good job of that. But what people were looking for and what drew them to that was they needed change because so much of the system was failing them. So much of the system on both sides was failing the majority of Americans. And we talked about banning congressional stock trading. People were like, ⁓ well, Democrats do it too. I'm like, yeah, I know. And I want to ban it for them too. ⁓ These things, right? Citizens United, that really harmed your everyday American. That harmed 98 % of us. And he came in and he said, I'm not a politician. I'm going to change it. It's going to be different. I was able to capitalize on that because people are hurting. And that grew and grew and it festered. And we've seen this play out before. just, I am not just talking about Germany. The 30s, we've seen it play out before many places, right? Even starting a war with rallying around the flag. We've seen it. When I go and I talk to him, there has to this off ramp of, we're not going to agree on everything. We shouldn't agree on everything, right? My version of gun control reform might be a little different than what you want. My stance on abortion might be a little different than what you'd want. But let's have these conversations because you need an off ramp. And it provides that. mean, know, abortion, that's one. And that's when I talk to my mother a lot about, you don't have to love abortion. You know, no one grows up dreaming of the day that they're going to go get their first abortion. It's not the goal. But we have decades of data to show us what actually lowers the rate of abortion. It's not banned. And people are shocked when we talk about, a six-week ban actually increases the rate of abortion. And we have to talk about those things. And that's where the off-ramp comes from. But if we're just yelling pro-life, pro-choice at each other across the aisle, you're not actually making progress. You're not actually helping anybody. being able to say, can be as pro-life as a Christian as you want. And I respect that if that's your belief. But then you should be voting Democratic because that's what actually lowers the rate. Access to birth control, increased wages, paid parental leave, affordable education, affordable childcare. These are the things that actually support families and reduce. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Elizabeth, you have been fantastic today. Where can folks ⁓ donate, volunteer, or just learn more about your campaign? Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: Yeah, an option. And I'll be honest, when I ask for donations, I mean, I feel yucky every time. And a lot of it comes with education that I don't take corporate money, I don't take APEC money, I don't take foreign interest money. I don't even take party money. What actually keeps my campaign running, and I'm very transparent on where all the money goes towards once a week, I give out a report on exactly what I've spent where... It's only funded by people donating and I hate that that is the system we have. I hate that I have to look at people and say, Hey, if you can commit to $5 a month during this race, you can subscribe to my race, subscribe to democracy, like another subscription. We're all drowning in that actually allows us to go and make change so that we don't have to keep asking for this because we have really good plans when it comes to Citizens United. We have really good plans for campaign finance reform, but those can't happen until I'm here asking you for money for it. And it sucks because I think a lot of people are like, Oh, well like You were picked to run. I wasn't picked to run by the party, but they fund it for you. I'm like, no, they don't. Like there's no, which is though, because I'm not beholden to anybody. I'm beholden to the people I represent. So they, if you are so inclined to donate, it means a lot and it keeps us going. ⁓ You can do that in my website. You can do that for Instagram. So it's Elizabethforvirginia.com and Instagram is Elizabethforvirginia. Same TikTok. I know we went viral on Twitter. So I had to download the X app for the first time in my life. And for volunteering the same thing, our volunteers are also what really helps power us. Even the signatures required to get on the ballot, that's me and volunteers knocking doors. We're not paying $100,000 of your donations to go have someone else do that work for us. I'm out there and I'm knocking the doors and I'm making the phone calls and being there all myself, because that's my job. And it's a really cool job. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Well, you are an awesome, awesome person, awesome candidate. Virginia First District. Y'all, you got a solid rock star right in front of you. Don't forget to check her out. As she said, that is Elizabeth for Virginia. It's also on her socials. You can learn more about her issues, her campaign. Follow how, like I said, she's running and she's actually running, 480 miles. So check that out and... Man, thank you for your service to our country. Thank you to your family's service. ⁓ And I have nothing but good wishes for you and your community because you... ⁓ I appreciate the anger that you're bringing too. ⁓ Thank you. because I... ⁓ yeah. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: It's justifiable rage. Anyone who's feeling this rage here, please know it's justifiable. You're not going crazy. You're not being hysterical. You're not yelling into a void in a wall. This is justifiable rage. And you should be mad, but you have to take that and we have to do something with it. Because I'm not going to let this anger carry over to my children. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Elizabeth, thank you so much for coming to the studio today. ⁓ You and your kids, you've got little ones and you've got a campaign and you've got a lot going on. Thank you again for taking the time to come and chat with me and for caring about Virginia District 1. Folks, that is this year. Keep your eyes open, ears open. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, Virginia District 1. Thank you for coming. Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, VA-01 Candidate: ⁓ I really appreciate the time. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Absolutely. Folks, what do you think? Let me know in the comments. Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe. You know the drill. ⁓ Is there someone in your neck of the woods that I can interview, platform, and support? It's all of us together. It's going to take all of us. My name is Lee. This is Follow the Leighder, and I'll see you next time. Bye.