All right. Welcome back to tight. We're going to do something different here that we've never done before. Tight. We're going to do a form of different candidates from the same state, [00:00:18] but different districts all running in this election cycle. And we're going to bring them together for different folks from Illinois. And I'm going to co-host it with Marie Newman, former U.S. Congresswoman from Illinois. So we want to get you to know these candidates. [00:00:35] We want to ask them some questions and find out more about them. I'm super excited about it. By the way, why Illinois? Because there's so many open seats in Illinois. And given how close Congress is, Illinois can decide whether Republicans [00:00:50] or Democrats are going to control the entire United States Congress. And, and, I love that we're doing this candidates showcase, and I love that Marie Newman put it together. So Marie welcome back. Thank you. So good to be here. [00:01:05] And so excited to hear from these candidates. Love it. Okay. So now let's bring in the candidates. And Marie and I will alternate in asking them questions. Okay. And actually before we do, Marie, I already said why Illinois? [00:01:22] Illinois is so important. And obviously you're biased because you're from Illinois. But what's your sense of how weighty these races are in this particular point in time? It's really important. So obviously Illinois is a big state. [00:01:38] It is one of the top ten sized states, and we are a blue state, and we are sometimes a very strong bellwether of what is going to happen in the upcoming election. Right. So these four candidates, represent what I often call as the new guard, right? [00:01:53] Is that they are anti-establishment in the sense that the old establishment ways are not working anymore. I mean, I think that the electorate really, really understands this. Unfortunately, some of the establishment doesn't understand that. So I frequently call candidates like on our dais today, [00:02:11] new guard candidates, because they don't take corporate PAC money. They want to get money out of politics. They believe that everybody should have health care and that this economy is rigged but is fixable. Absolutely fixable. Right. And that working families, which is over 95% of the country, [00:02:30] gets the shaft every day. So, I think it's really important to hear these voices. And I think it's really important to hear about what's going on in these races. You know, I, I remember when I was in Congress and, and running, all three of my campaigns. It was, hard in many ways. [00:02:46] But in this environment, when there's five open seats, basically in the state of Illinois and then a bunch of state House and state rep, and state Senate races and county and all the things right. It is a crowded time and making sure that everybody's heard is hard. [00:03:04] So this new guard group, it's really important to listen to them because they're our future. So I'm really looking forward to chatting with them today. Yeah, I mean, I remember when we started just Democrats here on The Young Turks and, we could barely find four people who didn't take corporate PAC money [00:03:19] in the whole country. Right. And now and these are not the only folks in Illinois doing that, but they're. Yeah, but we've been bringing four of them together in a candidate forum. It's amazing. And Maria, of course, was a former just Democrat candidate and congresswoman as well. All right. So let's bring him in now. [00:03:35] We've got Kina Collins from Illinois seven. We got Bushra from Illinois nine. That is a very interesting race. We've got Joey Rusev from Illinois six and Junaid Ahmed from Illinois eight, [00:03:51] and and Junaid my favorite Turkish actor growing up was named Jeanette. So I have a bias towards that. And, Joey and the rest of you. I hope I didn't butcher your names too much. Okay, so at the end, we will do a rapid fire. [00:04:07] That'll be fun, too. But right now, we're going to alternate questions. I'll start first. So, let's start in the order that I said Kena, I'll start with you. What made you want to get into politics in this race in the first place? [00:04:23] Yeah. Thank you so much for having me on and for inviting us. I live in a plurality African American district here in Illinois, and it is flanked by the west side and south side of the city of Chicago. [00:04:39] And too often I saw millionaires and billionaires and wealthy white men, quite frankly, using the city of Chicago as a political punching bag when we talked about issues like gun violence, but nobody was addressing the root causes of how this violence happens. [00:04:55] You can't talk about the violence in black Chicago or the city of Chicago without talking about the economics. So if we are to address those issues, I think we needed people at the forefront who could talk about violence being public. School shutdowns led in our water, toxins in our air, and piss poor leadership [00:05:14] from people like Rahm Emanuel, who was bought and paid for by the billionaire class and corporate class. And so I really saw it as an opportunity for me to represent people who don't come from prestigious political backgrounds. I come from the background of two parents who are black manufacturing union workers, [00:05:33] and that's the political praxis I've brought to this race. Yeah. All right. Taking shots at Rahm Emanuel will always score you points on tight. Okay. So, look, guys, since there's so many candidates, we're gonna try to keep it as quick as possible. - So let's go to Bush next. - Yeah. [00:05:50] Jake and Marie, thanks so much for having me today. I decided to jump in this race because for the first time in almost 28 years, we have an opportunity to choose who we want to represent us in Washington. And this is a safe blue seat in a safe blue state. So the type of Democrat that we send is someone who has been born [00:06:08] and raised in this community and lived here my entire life. I'm the daughter of immigrants and Trump's biggest nightmare. I've been elected and serving my community for the past seven years and went on an informal market research tour asking, who can we be excited about? And I'm proud to be that everything candidate in a crowded field [00:06:25] that brings all of that wonderful traits, expertise and experience to the seat. All right. Great, Joey. Hey, Jake, and thank you for having me. I'm a big fan. And thank you to Marie for putting this together. So I am a software engineer who is running for Congress [00:06:41] in Illinois sixth Congressional District, which is actually not an open seat. I'm challenging the current incumbent representative, Sean Casten. One of the main motivating factors for me to get in this race is that this particular district contains the largest number of Palestinians in any congressional district in the entire United States. [00:06:57] And I was sick to my stomach watching my country, tell us that we don't have money to replace the lead pipes in Chicago, to invest in education, to invest in public infrastructure, while all the while we have money to send to Israel to commit a genocide. And Representative Carson has stood by Israel and voted to send more weapons [00:07:14] and money to them at every turn and refuses to meet with his constituents. And I'm also very concerned about artificial intelligence, how it affects the pocketbooks of everyday Americans with algorithmic price fixing, electricity costs going through the roof due to the data centers, and just the moral, effect that it has on children and adults as well. [00:07:33] So, Sean Carson, for those of you at home, is a candidate who, Israel first put up against Marie back in the day because Marie Newman was so courageous and voted against Israel once, and they were livid about it. [00:07:49] And they financed Sean Casten to, in that race. So if Joey knocks out Casten, that would be amazing. And it would be very sweet to see that happen, at least from my perspective. - Jenny. - Yes. [00:08:05] Hi. You know, a couple of things in my life happened that kind of got me thinking as to what policies, how policies can implement impact our lives. Number one, you know, my son was in the hospital for literally one night in two days or hospital bill was almost $10,000. [00:08:22] I was in Germany once for work. I was trying to talk to this guy, a young guy in his 20s. What is your student that look like? It took me a minute to get the question through to him. Then I realized there is no such thing over here. And at that time, for my wife, we were paying very high interest. [00:08:38] And that's the time that coincided with Uncle Bernie running the first time. So that's what was my first run with politics. We started holding Muslims for Bernie. Chai for Bernie. That's how I got into it the first time around. We had an incumbent who was at the time 2018, [00:08:56] who was all about corporate PAC money. Schaumburg area progressives needed someone who is standing for the right causes. And, that's that's when we stood up against the corporate PAC money. This is my second run. This is an open seat now. First time was against an incumbent. This time it is an open seat. [00:09:12] There are eight candidates in the race. So to bring this time again, it's against a field machine person who, who is in this race now? Melissa Bean. But there are eight candidates in the race. We are clearly the race is between the top two. [00:09:29] Okay. So, you know, of course, whenever you criticize Israel, you get called an anti-Semite. So I just told you about Muslims for Bernie. That Bernie is, of course, the the most successful Jewish politician in American history, and almost all of us maybe. [00:09:47] I can't speak for all of us. All of us were in favor and fought like hell to try to get him to be president and super proud of that. - All right, Murray, you're up next. - Well, thank you. So, you know, Congress is a messy place, guys. I you know, I can say that with a great deal of confidence. [00:10:06] So because it is messy and you're dealing with a wide spectrum of people. And remember we talked about the old guard versus the new guard and the establishment. Let's let's play a fun game called we have a Great sweep. In 2026, let's say that we get 35 seats. [00:10:24] You are among that group and you're in and you know, you want to do some transformative work. You're going there to be bold, right? But you also realize you're with this, this amazing amount of inertia, a body of people that is just really prone to inertia. [00:10:41] Even in the Democratic Party, even some progressives are fear trying to kind of ruffle feathers. So I'm going to ask each of you to share what will be your approach to make sure that you're you're sticking to your values and getting things done and [00:10:58] doing the things that your district wants, but that you're actually working with these kind of old garden, establishments. So tell me a little bit about your approach. And I'm going to start with Bushra. So we see right now that when it comes to principles, [00:11:13] there is no common ground or compromise. If you have someone that's arguing being pro-life and you have someone that wants to infringe on the rights of the LGBTQ plus community, there is no middle ground between that. But when it comes to things such as banning stock trading, as a member of the House of Representatives when it comes to expanding [00:11:31] the economy and supporting middle class and having a progressive tax model, those are certain issues in which there could be bipartisan support. And that is what the North Star comes into. But again, bringing back to being elected in a safe blue seat, the responsibility is on a candidate and House members such as myself [00:11:49] to push the needle and the envelope. And I'm lucky to not be the first. There are many champions in the House who I would be a great cosponsor to for the existing work that they're already doing as well. Great. So I'll go ahead and go to Kenna if you want to share with us what your approach might be. [00:12:06] Yeah, we have to have a co-governance style of of of of running these offices. The reason why Democrats got steamroll is because they we can't stop the hemorrhaging of young people, people of color and women from the party. And it's because we're not giving them the opportunity [00:12:21] to to build and leadership and grow. And really, we run on one thing as a party. And then when folks get in there, they completely forget that. Number two, we can't abdicate our responsibilities as organizers and this role just because you're going to legislate, and we are [00:12:37] holding the purse strings in Congress. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be building up block clubs and precinct captains and really districts like Illinois seven, which, by the way, I didn't mention is also an open seat, should be an organizing hub for the Midwest and the Great Lakes. We know that a Democrat is going to win. It matters who that Democrat is. [00:12:55] And here's the final thing I'll say as a little bit of a bold statement. Marie. I'm not going in just giving my vote over for speaker of the House. If you want to be speaker of the House and you want to represent the folks and the city of Chicago that are flanked by the West side and the South side and places like the [00:13:13] provisos you you cannot take a PAC money, you cannot take corporate PAC money. And so I think that what Democratic leadership has floated on and what Republicans have exploited is the respectability politics of people who come in and just yield to the party. [00:13:30] We want to usher in a new generation of leadership that tells our party leadership and tells the folks in our party, you have to work for it in order to have to represent our people. Great, great. Thank you. Tell us a little bit about how you might do it. [00:13:45] I think it's important to understand who I am. I'm one of the six siblings here. Youngest of the six. So I grew up negotiating and dealing with situations. And I have four kids. I ran I run a successful business. So a lot of negotiation just about all my life. I think when when when I'm in Congress, there are [00:14:03] when I'm knocking doors here first. Let's start with that. The one thing even even when I am, you know, just talking to someone who may be out in the grocery store, who may not be on our side of politics. Right. But when it comes to baseline issues, we are aligned. The people are struggling. Everybody, regardless of where their policies align. [00:14:21] So the issue is really more less than left versus right at this point. I think it's at the bottom versus the top, the billionaires taking away. And that's where I think there is a lot of opportunity for us to come together with people finding common grounds. That would be the first thing. [00:14:36] Now, if there are certain things that we don't agree on, and at that point we have to stand up for what is right, keep the, you know, the doors of communication channels open. And this is the first time ever that, to my knowledge, and maybe we can fact check this. [00:14:52] I don't know of any political party person like state Central Committee woman. Christina Castro has endorsed me. And when I've openly said I'm not going to take any AIPAC money, I think the tide is changing for the movement. Things are heading in the right direction. [00:15:08] They're not there yet, but things are getting better. And I think as I as we talk to the other side of the aisle, we got to focus on common issues that we are having. And then if sometimes we disagree, we agree to disagree and work together where we can. Excellent. Thank you. So, Joey, you're rounding up the pack. [00:15:25] So tell us a little bit how you might get things done in Congress. Yeah, absolutely. We have to be coalition builders. And I think Kina hit the nail on the head with withholding your vote for speaker of the House for Hakeem Jeffries in order to demand legislative concessions, such as a floor vote on Medicare for all. [00:15:42] I think that's the first thing that we need to do. And then we can work with Republicans and people across the aisle that agree with us on things. I think Ro Khanna is an excellent example of doing this right now with Thomas Massie to push forward the release of the Epstein files. These are common ground issues that are bipartisan support, [00:15:59] massive support across the country. We can also do this with Medicare for all. You know, I have, a lot of conservatives in my family, small business owners, and I talk to them about how Medicare for all will help their small businesses. They can compete with hiring top talent because they can no longer worry about [00:16:16] the question of, do you offer healthcare? They they can avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to the insurance companies for the minimal health care coverage to their employees. They could reinvest that into the business. So these are things that we could talk to and work with to advance legislation [00:16:32] that helps the everyday American. Finally, what I'll say is that we need to use our power in Congress to help other people get elected, so that we build a voting bloc that has to be contended with very similar to how the Republicans did with the Tea Party. We must do that with a progressive movement. We must break the unwritten rule in Congress of not helping people [00:16:50] run against current incumbents, because it's no longer enough to vote blue, no matter who we need to make sure we have anti corporate, antiwar, New Guard Democrats being elected all over the country. Excellent. Well said. And I think you're all ready. [00:17:08] So I'll flip it back to Jake now. Yeah. So my God how the world has changed. Because I remember when we were running the first just Democrat, campaigns back in 2018, just six years ago. Well, actually, bad math. [00:17:25] Now, eight years ago. Okay. But, saying that you would not vote for the speaker of the House on on your own side would have been unconscionable. Right. And now, you know, you guys are talking about not necessarily voting for Jim Jeffries. [00:17:40] Saying anything criticizing Israel would have been unthinkable. And and, even, interestingly enough, working with Republicans, people like Tom Massie. ET cetera. If they're coming to the right side, which is our side, you know, you guys are saying yes, which again, in the past I would not have happened. [00:17:57] So amazing changes here and really interesting actual progressive populist candidates here. So, my question is about Israel. Now there's layers, right? So Ro Khanna had a letter that he passed around Congress saying Palestine [00:18:14] should we should recognize Palestine. So of course he was called an anti-Semite, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. That's very normal. So then Delia Ramirez, also from Illinois, US congresswoman had no more offensive bombs. [00:18:29] Bill, and then the last layer of it is folks who are saying no funding for Israel, not another dollar. Okay, so, let's start with Joey. Joey, how do you respond to all three of those? What would you do? Would you have signed the letter? [00:18:44] Would you have joined Ramirez's bill? And and would you go farther and say, no more money? So I, of course, deplore any type of hatred, anti-Semitism, against any religion or any minority group of people. It's unacceptable and we need to stand up for it. [00:19:01] But criticism of the Israeli government is not anti-Semitism, so I would not agree with that definition. I absolutely would sign on to the Block the Bombs Act put forth by Representative Delia Ramirez. And thank you to her for having the courage to do that and champion that legislation. [00:19:16] Which, by the way, the individual I'm running against has refused to sign on to, which only blocks the offensive weaponry. Right? It right? Doesn't even take away the defensive capabilities. And finally, yes, I would 100% cut off all aid and weapons to Israel immediately [00:19:32] because they have been pursuing a genocide for the last two and a half years. They have starved and slaughtered innocent people. They should not be receiving American tax dollars and weapons aid. Rock the bombs for publicly said that as soon as I went, [00:19:50] I'm going to support platforms. Delia Ramirez is a good friend and she has endorsed me as well. So in terms in terms of, you know, support to Israel, I think it's about time Americans are realizing that we cannot be on the side of a genocide. [00:20:07] More and more, the Electeds may not be there, but the population is there. I'm talking to people, hundreds of people at the doors. It's a non you know, it's a it's an issue that people are unanimously. I'm yet to find someone who says no, I want my tax dollars to go and starve children. [00:20:23] So that policy, I think, is more and more populous at this point. It's unfortunate that our Electeds are not siding with their own populations. That's that's the direction this Illinois's eighth congressional district. We will be taking and being on the right side of history, and we are going [00:20:39] in with that straight up approach. All right. Keno. So yes, to all, this is such a an important topic for candidates to be talking about. [00:20:55] In 2024 primary, I was actually the only candidate in the entire state of Illinois that AIPAC actively spent money to oppose. Because a month after October 7th, I got arrested with 130 other folks from, [00:21:10] if not now in Jewish Voice for peace. To say we need a ceasefire outside of the Israeli consulate. And at the time, people thought that it was too soon. AIPAC came in and they called me a defund the police candidate because six years ago I called for the abolition of Ice, and they said [00:21:28] I was dangerous for my community. What we're learning is that these special interest groups who are coming in are coming in, and they're actually dangerous for our communities. And once again, a plurality African-American district like mine, that there is such a great grave wealth disparity, [00:21:47] a 30 year life gap based off of a 30 minute car ride between downtown Chicago and the South Side of Chicago. I cannot justify to the families in my community that we do not have money to keep their schools open or have grocery stores, but we constantly have money to go to war. [00:22:04] So this is not just a policy standpoint for me. This is a moral standpoint. And before we get to the point of writing blank checks in the Middle East, let's have a conversation about reparations. Right. Let's have a conversation about education. So yes, to all of those things. [00:22:21] And I'm glad that more candidates are speaking out. - All right Bushra. - So yes, absolutely. Would sign on to a letter to recognize a Palestinian statehood. Seems like table stakes and a no brainer. Absolutely yes. Would be a co-sponsor to Rep Ramirez's piece of legislation. [00:22:38] Block the bombs. And yes, that is not enough. It needs to be $0 of aid and or any type of pennies of our taxpayer dollar that is given to Israel, which is complicit in a genocide in Gaza. And one little caveat I'll share is that I've been elected in Skokie. [00:22:53] Fun fact about Skokie one of the first Holocaust museums in our country is in Skokie, Illinois. I grew up taking anti-Semitism courses and training in high school. The first thing they teach you is any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. I separate the state of Israel from the fate of Judaism, [00:23:11] and that actually, the conflation of two is what is resulting in the rise of anti-Semitism, which is true and real. But that does not take away from my stances on any of these three points today. Yeah. You know, look, we all, respect and love the faith of Judaism. [00:23:27] It doesn't mean that a foreign government, is immune from criticism because of that. That makes no sense. I hope we all love Turks, but we're also allowed to criticize the Turkish government. So these are obvious things. All right. Marie. You're up. [00:23:42] Glad to ask the next question. I think it'll be interesting for particularly this group. So, what I see across progressive candidates is that everybody says, shares a lot of platitudes like, oh, gosh, healthcare is a right. [00:24:00] Of course it is. You know, everyone should have healthcare. But then when you start picking at that scab a little bit, you learn that some candidates have a very different vision of, and remember, there can be a short term strategy that's doing one thing, a longer [00:24:16] term strategy that's doing another. But what? Tell me in specifics and try not to use platitudes, guys. It just is my biggest pet peeve ever. Try not to use platitudes and tell me about your health care proposal. - I'm going to go to Kina first. - Yeah. [00:24:32] So this was my work that I did before I got elected. I was a national organizer with physicians for a National Health Program, and my entire job was to train 20,000 doctors and medical students across the country to fight for single payer. And so this is, like I said, we have a really strong case [00:24:49] here in Illinois, seven, about fighting for Medicare for all, eliminating co-pays, premiums and deductibles. Because once again, we just got off the topic about building an economy from the bottom up. We just seen people's premiums sky rocket through the roof at the top of the year, [00:25:05] because this administration has no plan, a 30 year death gap that exists just based off of a 30 minute car ride, and this is wildly popular across the country. This is the number one way that people are going into bankruptcy. [00:25:21] And so this is an easy talking point for folks. So, my my stance is clear. Not only do I support Medicare for all, I'm coming in with a coalition of physicians who trained me. Right. These are the front line folks who were speaking to, patients that were coming in, and they're advocating for Medicare for all. [00:25:39] And so that means culturally competent, fully accessible healthcare. Marie, for we have a saying, everybody in, nobody out. Whether you are documented undocumented, your status should not matter. And we have to make sure that we're protecting the hospitals and safety net [00:25:58] providers as safe zones so that ISIS not coming in and raiding and people are getting the health care that they need. And finally, I'm pushing this more and more eliminate student loan debt so we can get more nurses and primary care physicians. But also we now have to legally protect our providers and our physicians [00:26:17] from for from being criminalized for doing their jobs, like performing abortions. So we need people who are going to go in on the front line, not take corporate PAC money. Call for Medicare for all, really mean it. Work in tandem with the doctors and create a safe zone [00:26:33] for our providers and for patients. Thank you Tina. I'm going to go to Jeanette if you'd like to talk about your health care proposal. Absolutely. I think it goes unsaid. I'm supporting universal health care, Medicare for all. But I think what is important as a legislature is I'll support any policy [00:26:49] that gets us closer to that goal. Understanding that I'll be one of the 435 in the House working towards that policies. Obviously, we'll continue to work on the long term goal of getting Medicare for all. Hopefully we'll build that majority and get there. [00:27:06] But in the short term, smaller things that will come get us closer to that. How do you stop? You know, pharma price gouging you. How do you. How do you. Donald Trump is taking us backwards, right? How do we reverse those cuts and then expand coverage to all Americans in small [00:27:21] steps that will take us closer to Medicare for all, is what I would be going for. Like in short terms, I'm going to be picking smaller policies that will get us closer to that. Working towards the end goal of Medicare for all. Thank you. So I'm going to go ahead and go to Joey if you want to share your proposal. [00:27:39] Yeah. So Bernie Sanders was who got who got me into politics in the first place. So of course I'm a fan of Medicare for all. And we need to include eyes and teeth in that because it's ridiculous that they're not included right now in health insurance. I would also echo what you said and say that any proposal that gets us [00:27:58] closer to Medicare for all is worthwhile. I do not want to be an incrementalist. When I get to Congress, I will always push for Medicare for all. I said previously that I will demand a floor vote for Medicare for all, because that lets us know who we need to primary in the next cycle. Because Medicare for all is a very popular policy position across the country. [00:28:18] And so we need representatives that reflect the will and the desires of the base. And we can make these arguments to the other side, in, in a lot of different ways. I mentioned before that it will help small businesses. Additionally, we can work with Republicans and say, hey, how about, you know, [00:28:37] this is an example from a cousin of mine in Virginia. He's a conservative. Joey, the way that you get Republicans on board is cover pregnant mothers and newborns, 0 to 4 free health care, because that's the most important stage of a child's life, and nobody's going [00:28:53] to be against it, right? God forbid a Republican says that he's against pregnant mothers and newborns. So that's how you get people on board and you move the ball forward while still maintaining your principles of wanting Medicare for all in the end. Wonderful. Thank you. Bushra, will you share? [00:29:08] Of course. So the short term plan is simple. It's bring back the ACA subsidies that have been cut through the Trump administration and expand them, and then close the state level loopholes that currently exist for Medicare and Medicaid. Now, when building through a Medicare for all model, it's the only [00:29:24] logical mode for our country to have a universal healthcare system because this infrastructure already exists. You have the same PA, the same doctors, the same hospitals, and 62% of Americans want a Medicare for all model. And from the 33 industrialized countries in the world, we are the only ones [00:29:42] that do not, because corporate insurance buys our candidates and elected officials on both sides of the aisle. Thank you. Thank you Jen. - Go ahead. - All right. Great. One more question for you guys. And we're going to go to rapid fire. And this one's a tough one. So we're all in favor of getting money out of politics. [00:29:59] None of you take corporate PAC money. Now, the hard question. How, how would you go about trying to get money out of politics on this one? Let's start with Janet. Citizens United, you take care of that first. [00:30:15] Secondly, I think this is this is a nontraditional way. I think what we do is we build I'm an activist. I'm a community organizer. So I'm thinking in those lines. What we do is we pick the top. And we did this in the past, by the way, in 2022, we did it. [00:30:31] What you do is you find your core base of supporters across the country. And then came the Electeds who are taking corporate PAC money. Put them on the spot and call them out from within their districts. [00:30:47] Call them out. Someone like, you know, for my be bold enough to call your colleagues that, hey, how are you going to stand for the people when you are taking $1 million from pharma? A million from oil and gas. Somebody that when people when you talk to people again. [00:31:04] I am yet to find someone I've heard from people that they will compromise. There is no other choice but yet to find someone from within my district who says yes, I'm okay with corporate PAC money in politics. They all want to see it gone, but they feel helpless. I think the one way to get there obviously getting Citizens United. [00:31:22] But I think public shaming of elected officials, this is a nontraditional way. I think we can push people towards the right. And then you start, you know, challenging when when people are not ready to give in, that's when you get the right challenger and then you support the challenger. [00:31:39] And I think that's what will eventually help us get there. And this could be a journey that may not necessarily take decades. It may take four, six, eight, ten years if we effectively applied. All right, let's go to Keno. [00:31:55] We have to pass for the People Act. Right. We want to put publicly financed, funded, you know, campaigns across the country. We saw how that worked for Zoran Mamdani. Right. He was able to speak freely about a lot of the ideas that people cared about. [00:32:11] In New York City from working class, you know, families. And he was able to match the donations that he was raising. And I think that the way that we have poured or have people have had to pour money into these campaigns is criminal. It is absolutely criminal. [00:32:26] And I also think the fact that we have major corporations and big donors who can shield and hide behind how much money they put into these campaigns is ridiculous. So, yeah, we need to overturn Citizens United. And I wouldn't even just say like rank candidates, I agree. [00:32:44] I think we need to be running single issue campaigns on educating the public about it, but we also need to be training them on grassroots tactics to push back, like house parties. Right. Let's go back If we're saying we want to pull the people in. The money is great, but people vote, and we want to make sure [00:33:01] that we're getting those folks on our side and building those relationships. All right. So, again, times are different. I love the shaming of others taking the money, but that that is not an answer that we would have gotten in the past. And, and all of you guys are saying things that are, very different. [00:33:21] So not different from today, but different from the past, which is which is what I love. All right. Let's go to you. So Jenny and Kena summarized it very well, and Citizens united with this, which essentially turns off any dark and disclosed undisclosed money [00:33:37] and unlimited money in politics. That also means that. Agreed, we should have public financing for elections. Also, I think we need the integration of ranked choice voting across every single state for every single election level. And then finally, for House seats, we need term limits, [00:33:53] but also the House term should be longer. I feel like all of that is baked into this conversation, because once you get elected to the house you spend, you start campaigning for your upcoming term. That happens too, which I think has a negative impact on legislating for me. I was offered corporate PAC money the very first time I ran [00:34:10] for public office eight years ago, and I made a fancy video on YouTube thinking it would go viral and people would applaud me for declining that money. And it didn't. But I agree, times are different and it's trending now. So glad to be a part of this wave. Great. And Joey. [00:34:27] Yes, so shorter election cycles would help this. You don't have enough time to spend all that money. Spending caps on elections would be great because Citizens United is going to take, constitutional amendment to overturn. So that's going to be a bigger lift. [00:34:43] Not something that can just be done at the federal Congress. But I'm also a proponent of democracy dollars, which is a federal tax cut to every individual US citizen that they can only spend on elections. And so that way we are washing out the corporate PAC money. [00:34:58] It doesn't matter how much they bring in or how much they have. The people have money to give to the candidates that they feel represent their interests the most. And of course, I also agree with the ranked choice voting aspect as well. - Every candidate gave great answers. - Yeah. [00:35:14] Democracy dollars, I believe, was from Professor Larry Lessig. He came up with that idea a while back. Godfather. The money out of politics movement. Love it. All right. So now we're going to do rapid fire. These are going to be mainly fun questions, but I'm going to sneak [00:35:30] in maybe a political question or two. So let's go, the original order that I had. So we'll go, no, you know what? I'll mix it up. Bushra. Joey. Junaid kena. Okay. Each time. So, Bushra, let's start with you. [00:35:47] Deep dish or tavern style deep dish. - Oh. Joey. - Sorry. Tavern style on the deep dish for special occasions. Interesting. Okay. Johnny. Deep dish. Any time. [00:36:04] Gina. I'm going to go tavern. Deep dish is a sick joke. We play on tourists here in the city of Chicago. Oh, my. No. Square cut tavern. You get a slice of pequod's. [00:36:22] Okay. I like how that one split the. That's the first question you guys disagreed on. Okay, so that's hilarious. All right. Bushra. Pet peeve. People that walk. Really slow when we're all walking outside. [00:36:38] I'm a public transit person. Biggest pet peeve? - Okay, Joey. - People who chew loudly. - At Junaid. - I was going to say something. [00:36:54] I'm going to change it up. Sorry. I think, you know, just, Not people. I think, my son burping on the on the dining table. God, I love how honest these answers are. Okay. - What do you got? - I hate a bandwagon fan. [00:37:12] Like, we just experienced this with the bears, so, like, I, - I can't stand a bandwagon person. - Yeah. Okay. I love that one, too, because when I was growing up, the Mets win the World Series. All of a sudden, there's nothing but Mets fans. [00:37:27] I never saw any Mets fans growing up in Jersey. They were all Yankees fans until the World Series anyways. - Exactly. - Okay. Would you rather, Bush or would you rather do call time or a root canal? Root canal? Haven't had it, but I assume. [00:37:46] Joey. Call time. I don't want physical pain. What? - All right, you need. - A call time. - Okay. - I don't I don't want to hurt. Root canal. But my root canal. [00:38:01] But my poverty trauma is is leaking out. I hate asking people for money. - Yeah, yeah. - That's. No, no, that's super fair. And no one likes that. It is. That's why it's a tough question. Okay. All right, what is a skill you have that voters wouldn't expect? [00:38:20] I don't know if they'll do anything with this, but I'm really good at the toy claw machine. - Like to pick out a toy? - Oh, okay. Could be useful. Okay. It could be useful for Junaid's son. Okay. Joey. [00:38:36] I don't know. I can, dunk the basketball pretty well. What are you talking about? That's awesome. Yeah, I want a dunk contest in Valencia, Spain. Okay. Amazing. We hope you dunk on Shawn Carson. [00:38:53] I, I can write AI programs. - Ooh, that's very fancy. - Fancy. Okay, we might be able to use that to, All right. Kena. [00:39:11] Muted. - I can jump double Dutch really well. - That's my girl. - A hood classic a hood classic. - You got that one on me. For me Kena wins that round I'm not gonna lie. [00:39:26] Okay. Top priority for you in Congress. Ooh. - Snuck that one in. - Bushra advocating for paid family leave. Especially with whether it be sick. Leave your own personal mental health, leave caring for aging, retiring parents and or young children. [00:39:43] You have a kid? All the above. Joey. Breaking up monopolies to address the affordability and cost of living crisis across every major industry in the United States. - That's the top priority. - Janine. [00:39:59] Pretty much very close to what Joey said. I was going to say affordability. But on top of that, I think, childcare. I'm hearing at the doors a lot of people struggling with childcare, with working moms going back to work. So that's something I'm going to be on top. [00:40:16] Reopening the Office of Violence Prevention and advocating for permanent funding. It got closed. The 40,000 deaths per year by way of guns are 40,000 deaths that are preventable. Yeah. All right. Last one, an extracurricular activity you did in high school. [00:40:34] Could be music, could be sports, could be anything. Bushra debate was my sport in high school. It was obviously very cool. Yeah. Me too. Joey. Automotive technology, learning the basics of how to take care of a car. [00:40:51] - Oh. All right, I like it. - Jeanette I also did automotive. - I love fixing cars. - Okay. You guys are from the Midwest in New Jersey. We didn't do any of that. Okay. All right. Kenna. [00:41:06] I took Korean in high school. - Oh. Okay. - Oh, okay. You gotta check out, physical 100, physical Asia. There's so many good Korean shows now. All right. [00:41:21] And that's badass that you could understand it in the original Korean. All right, guys, this has been amazing. So first of all, I want to thank Marie Newman. I actually think a literal American hero. So she showed courage when? When it was super, super difficult. [00:41:38] She paid a high price for it that others wouldn't pay. And she put this together for us and we love it. Thank you Marie, we appreciate you so much. And to all the candidates, guys, we're going to put the links to all their websites in the description box. So make sure you're checking that out. [00:41:54] If you want to find out more about them go to their websites. And that's a great way to find out more if you want to support them. Remember, they're not taking corporate PAC money. So when people act courageously like that, you got to back them up, okay? Otherwise we're never going to be able to take back Congress. [00:42:10] So Kina Collins, Bushra, Joey and Junaid Ahmed, we appreciate you guys so much. Thank you for joining us today on tight. You're very much for having us. Thank you. Thank you for having me. All right. Much love everybody. - We'll see you on Monday. - Okay.