What Next - The GOP Killed His District. He’s Not Giving Up.

0:00Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Listen to Washington-wise, an original podcast for investors from Charles Schwab to hear the stories making news in Washington right now. Host Mike Townsend, Charles Schwab's managing director for legislative and regulatory affairs, takes a nonpartisan look at the stories that matter most to investors, including policy initiatives for retirement savings, taxes and trade, inflation concerns, the federal reserve, and how regulatory developments can affect companies, sectors and even the entire market. Mike and his guests offer their perspective on how policy changes could affect what you do with your portfolio. Download the latest episode and follow at Schwab.com slash Washington-wise, or wherever you listen. Today's episode of Slates What Next is brought to you by Olympic hospitality. The Olympic Games are coming to Los Angeles in 2028. This is a once in a generation event that you're not going to want to miss.

1:02It's more than a ticket. It's a story you share with your family and friends, and the ultimate way to get closer to the action is within Olympic hospitality package. Ticket-inclusive packages offer a range of prime seating and lounge access options, venue-dependent priority entry, food and beverage selections from L.A.'s diverse dining scene, and elevated service and continuous support, making your day at the Olympic Games one to remember for a lifetime. Get ahead of the curve with an L.A. 28 hospitality package. Discover more at hospitality.la28.org slash what next. Hey, it's Mary, and I've got a special offer for you. When you have not heard before, so you're going to want to keep listening. By now, you probably know it's pledge-drive season around Slate, but this week, Joining Slate Plus is not just something you can do for yourself.

2:02It's something you can do for the ones you love. Allow me to explain. Right now, you can give the gift of Slate Plus to the person or people in your life that you know want to join us, but can't. Maybe they should be joining, but you can do a little nudge. Maybe Slate Plus is the perfect gift for your sister-in-law, who loves advice columns, or maybe just the thing for that lawyer in your life who adores amicus. Maybe you've got a real news-hound in your brood, and they would love to get ad-free listening with me and Lizzie. Whoever Slate Plus is right for, this is the week to give it to them. We've got a new link for you, Slate.com slash give plus. When you go there, you'll use the same promo code whatnext50 at checkout. That is whatnext50. And you'll be able to dole out Slate Plus like Santa Claus only a few weeks early. Oh, and you'll also be like Santa for ever in our newsroom who could really use your support. So, be generous, be a hero, give Slate Plus.

3:03This week at Slate.com slash give plus. Thanks. We've talked a lot on the show about some kind of blue wave building for Democrats come November. We've talked to analysts who see it in the numbers, candidates who are writing this momentum. But I gotta say, if this wave sweeps Tennessee Democrat Justin Pearson into office, it'd be a really big deal. A brand new poll shows a 4% difference in our race. Even Justin seems to know how big a deal it would be. I know that because online he is gleefully sharing poll results that actually show him behind by only four points, but still. This new poll proves what we've been saying all along. We are still here. Can you talk to me about releasing that video? It was so interesting, it was an interesting choice to me that you put out this video.

4:05This district, when it was gerrymandered, was a plus 21 district for Trump in 2024. So the fact that we are currently within four points is pretty extraordinary. Your basically saying we're so close. We're so close. Let me give you a picture of Justin real quick. He's young, just 31. Already serving as a state legislator. He was actually his colleagues at the state capital who ensured his congressional race would be a tough one. Tennessee you might remember was one of the first states to go all in on gerrymandering. After the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana, V. Kalei, let them have at district nine, the district Justin's running in. It went from being a blue dot to a red blob. At least that's what the map makers hope it will become. I wonder if you can describe what Tennessee's gerrymandering did to your district because I was looking at a map of it.

5:09You see a district that is basically Memphis and some beyond Memphis. It goes from that to this massive amount of land literally going from Memphis to the suburbs of Nashville. It looks like it's like 20% of the state now that your district is responsible for. It's 200 miles. One of the star of our district to the other end. You're exactly right. It was just Memphis pretty much. Shelby County, a little bit of Tifting County. It was a pretty compact district. We've made a lot of sense because we're a large city. We're the largest cities in the state that we had our own Congressperson who would share our interest. Then after the Kalei decision, they decided that they wanted to take away the only majority black district congressional district in our state. They cut Memphis into thirds. We have three different Congress people representing one city now. They stretched it as far as they possibly could to get the adequate number of people that they wanted in there, which is ultimately 750,000.

6:16They wanted to make a majority rural and they wanted to give themselves such an advantage that it would be almost impossible for me or other folks like me to be able to win. We have traveled now all 15 counties more than once to meet people in those districts from Fayette County to Murray County to Williamson County, which is in the suburbs. What's that like? Like walking into a rural district as someone from Memphis and just being like, hey, I want to represent you. Yeah, I love it. I'm having the time of my life. And you know what? They want me to represent them too because they feel like in rural areas that no one sees them that they are always misused actually rather than cared for. And they think that of Republicans and honestly of Democrats too who used to represent these areas. They'd never held town halls. They didn't come back and knock the doors. They didn't organize consistently and continuously. Is that something you're promising to do? Like I'll be back here if I win? I've been back to every county about three times thus far and some more than that because I am committed to showing up in these places.

7:20Right, these places. And here's the shocking thing that people would not expect in a place like Jiles County, right? Polaski or the Ku Klux K. Tell me about Jiles County. I don't know anything about Jiles County. So Jiles County is the county seat is Polaski. Polaski is where the Ku Klux Klan was founded. Right? And so when our new district was created, the city that founded the Ku Klux Klan became part of district nine. So I said, let's go there because we have an amazing organizer, Cassie, who's organizing people and bringing folks together. And she said, okay, probably 12, maybe 20 people. We walked into Polaski, Tennessee, into the community center. There's 150 people there. And we had everybody. We had farmers who were trying to figure things out and you know things are really difficult right now because of beef and also diesel prices to a young lady who was working at the dollar general making $10 an hour. Right? Like we have the spectrum of people who are showing up saying we need a different vision for our community. Did you feel any kind of way about going there? You're a young black man. Yeah. And like you're going to like the seat of the KKK. I don't know. Did you need a beat before you did that?

8:27No, you know, I pray before I give any speech and before I go anywhere, but we are not afraid because I mean, honestly, you know, when they broke up the district, I was like, man, this is going to be tough. I mean, the guy who represented the ninth district for years and years, Steve Cohen, he literally was like, okay, look at this map. I'm out. Yeah, exactly. He tapped out immediately. I mean, he quit as soon as the math passed. And for me, we looked at the numbers. We said, there's a possibility we can do this. And so we're going to go for it because we are quitters. But you never had a moment where you were like, should I do this really? Not really. No. I was like, because for me, when people do things like this, it's always a question that they're asking, is this enough to make them quit? Oh, you feel like it's a challenge to you. It's a challenge. It's another challenge. And we refuse to accept it. Today on the show, my Justin Pearson took on an uphill battle in Tennessee. I'm Mary Harris. You're listening to what next? Stick around. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard to all the financial advisors listening. Let's talk bonds for a minute capturing value and fixed income is an easy bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real lots of firms through a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day.

9:50But not Vanguard. Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional quality is not a tagline. It is a commitment to your clients. It means top grade products across the board. The lineup includes over 80 bond funds. They are actively managed by a 200 person global squad of sector specialists, analysts, traders. Lots of firms love to highlight their star portfolio managers, like it's all about that one brilliant mind making the magic happen. Vanguard's philosophy is a little different. They believe the best active strategies should not be locked away with one person. They should be shared across the team, which is why every client benefits from the collective brain power they've got. Not just one individual's take. The bond markets complex and it's not something one person or small team can realistically keep up with. Vanguard has been in the game a long time. Their scale gives them serious edge. They're able to invest across all kinds of sectors, maturities, and geographies, which means they can spot and act on opportunities others could miss. So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results you're in, you're out. Go see the record for yourself at vanguard.com slash audio. That's vanguard.com slash audio. All investing is subject to risk. Vanguard marketing corporation distributor.

11:05This episode is brought to you by Monarch. You know, it's funny how your money story changes as you get older, right? Like 20 years back, my biggest goal is probably buying a house. Now I'm thinking about paying for college. That happened fast. What hasn't changed though is that every era has got its own financial goal. It's own milestone to reach for. And getting clarity on progress towards those goals, that's what Monarch's all about. It tracks everything so you don't have to. Our producer Evan is an OG Monarch money user. He says it's really clear. It separates all kinds of information about his money into categories he can easily understand. So if you're looking for an app that's going to help you figure out your own financial goals, Monarch is their view. It's got a weekly recap that can help you catch spending spikes before they become a problem. It's got easy to read diagrams to help you visualize exactly where your money goes each month. It'll compare your investment portfolio against the S&P 500.

12:05So you know how you're really doing a feature I think is pretty cool is called bill split. It lets you split the check on a night out with friends without the headache. You simply scan the receipt. Everyone claims what they got and then settles up. No separate app needed. So ready to give it a try? Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code what next at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. That's 50% off your first year at Monarch.com with code what next? This episode is brought to you by HomeServe. If there is such a thing as an opportune moment for your water heater to go kaput, that is not what it's going to happen. It's going to be when you're mid shower with a face full of shampoo and a meeting you are running late to. Oh, and the repair is going to be pricey. Regular homeowner's insurance doesn't cover a lot of the day-to-day wear and tear. Plumbing failures, HVAC breakdowns, electrical issues. When that stuff breaks, you can feel like you're on your own. That's where HomeServe comes in.

13:07It's like a subscription for your home. For as little as $4.99 a month, they have your back. It's super simple. You choose a plan for your needs and budget. And when something on your plan goes wrong, you just call their 24-7 hotline to start their repair process. They've helped homeowners like you for over 20 years with a trusted national network of over 2000 local contractors. As someone who's about to pay a pretty penny to get my boiler fixed, I know how frustrating it can feel to suddenly get hit with a home expense and feel like you don't know where to turn or what's a reasonable cost. With HomeServe, they have you covered. You can join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe for 50% less year first year by going to HomeServe.com slash what next? That is HomeServe.com slash what next for 50% less savings compared to renewal price void in Florida. Okay, I want to tell a few different threads of your story if we can. And I guess first thing I want to emphasize is that you have been running for Tennessee's ninth for a while.

14:10Like I think you announced almost a year. About a year ago. And at that point, you were primarying the Democratic representatives, Steve Cohen, who had represented the district for a while. You'd actually interned for him, I think. Is that right? Yeah, and that's like 15 and 19 when you're 15. What are you doing for Steve Cohen when you're 15? I mean, you never see the car. I mean anyone who's ever injured, you never see these people. I was picking up the phone talking to folks. Yeah, great. What'd you learn from that? I just love talking to people and trying to meet their needs and connect them with the other constituent services representatives. And you know, being that young, it was just it was a lot of fun. And even being in DC, I think what I realized working up there. And again, you never really see the car. It's a lot of fun. You see the car is person, but when you are watching, was happening on the floor, I think what was really interesting to me. I remember explained to my parents, I was like, I watched one person say that there was a good imagine there's an imaginary car in the center of the well. And one person got up and was like, it's a blue car. And the screaming about it being a blue car. And another person was saying, it's a purple car, scream about a purple car. And I was like, but it's a yellow car.

15:15like what is going on? They just talk past each other and not talk about the thing. That's something that I witnessed sort of firsthand. It was very disconcerted by. Some people would like see that and be like these people are idiots and out. Sounds like you want the opposite direction. I want the opposite direction. I said there are better people that are needed in government. And I do believe that. I believe we need more people who run for office who are smart. And unfortunately we have a lot of people in office who are self-centered and self-interested and are not that smart. Wow. I mean it sounds like you gave a courtesy call to Steve Cohen to be like, hey I'm coming for your job. I did. I did. Pist. Yeah. I know. He was irate. It's so funny. He said I started running for office the day Justin gave me that phone call. You've been in office for a while friend. Exactly. He was like I ran for reelection the night he gave me that phone call. When the intern told me he was coming. I mean some folks just don't. I mean, hey now we here's where we are and he's retiring. So you were running and then you're a state legislator. So then what happened after that is that Kale goes through and the legislators in Tennessee are

16:22like great we're going to redistrict the hell out of this. We're going to do some racist jerrymandering here. So you have a front row seat to that and you're watching what's happening to the district that you're running in. Can you tell me about that because I remember what happened in Tennessee because it seemed so fast. It seemed like as soon as the baton was passed like okay, you can do some jerrymandering here. The Tennessee was ready to go. I mean absolutely right. The senator US Senator Marshall Blackburn put up a map. I generated saying take Memphis's district. The next day the president of the United States called the governor the day of one of our Black colleagues funeral actually and they agreed to take the district and then they called a special session the day of the funeral. It was just it was it was evil. It was a lovely day. I mean the speaker of the house was at the funeral talking and then a couple hours later he was calling us all back to take away the state's only majority Black district. You got to understand and what I try to remind people the hate in vitriol that is required to take away Black representation never disappeared or

17:28dissipated right never disappeared it only dissipated and so it's the same hate that changed constitutions in the late 1800s early 1900s to take away Black political power same hate that lynch Black people quite literally with the firearms are on lynching trees and our nation's history for registering to vote like it dissipated into institutions now they were suits and ties right they don't need to have white hoods anymore and they can use the levers of power to get to an essence the same results which is the political lynching of Black political power but what we are finding in this entire campaign what we're saying is their attempt is going to fail because you are trying to oppress and suppress people who have struggled and have fought for the rights that they had and so we're seeing an increase in participation in Black voting Black folks voting we're seeing an increase in participation in young people voting because they'd actually draw more attention to the need to show up and be present in this moment in time but it was a very visceral experience in three

18:29days to have committee to have our committee meetings the maps drawn the vote happened that be over with and it was this six days since the Cali decision it was the quickest former political deprivation that we've seen in our country's history since the late 1800s and it's the question is that enough to make us quit now we're saying no right I mean you you have a history of basically fighting in the legislature I think a lot of my listeners will remember you in particular from 2023 that's when there was a mass shooting at a Christian school and the Covenant School six people were killed three of them just nine years old and you and some colleagues really wanted to use this moment to talk about gun reform and you were incredibly outspoken about it you to the point where you were expelled from the legislature so it's like you you you made a point to make a scene for these parents and these victims um you got reappointed I think less than a week later so it's

19:36it so it's a very quick thing but certainly like it's where I think you came to prominence in my mind can you can you just tell me about what you learned from that fight because the legislation didn't get passed right certainly we know who you are certainly it was a flashpoint for the movement to think about gun reform in this country but someone say like what it didn't move the needle yeah I think the truth of the matter is we learned a lot from that explosion one of the things that we learned that we are learning as a nation now is the rise of autocracy um is real and rampant and that people who are in positions of power are willing to use manipulate and abuse their power against voices of dissent and we were saying what happened to see really on a national scale with the way that people are being silenced professors are being silenced teachers are being silenced all over the country because of the rise in really authoritarianism that we are seeing and I think that was that was a canary in the coal mine kind of moment for our country

20:37and I guess the people who who expelled you would say like well you were out of order you were doing something against the rules what would you say to them well I would tell them to read the permanent rules of order for the general assembly and go to rule number 19 that when someone is out of order your job is to call them out of order and then they have the ability to just sit down or if they continue to protest you censor them that's what the rules say it does not say that you expelled them they were frustrated and angry about who was protesting and what we were protesting uh which was the end to the gun violence epidemic and their response was obviously an drastic overreaction in a moment where they should have been trying to do everything they could to protect the lives of children and they hated that we drew attention to the lack of action to address the deaths not only of the the the six people killed at the covenant school but the hundreds of people killed across the state of Tennessee including in Memphis and Shelby County due to homicides the thousands of guns that get stolen due to horrible guns and trunks laws the the the

21:39horrible bill that really started all of this which was taking away people's need for a permit to carry a firearm we were drawing attention to that they didn't want attention drawn to it the NRA didn't want attention drawn to it and so they did a gross overreaction with that which had a deleterious impact obviously on our democracy but it highlighted for a lot of people I think it highlighted just the failures of the republican governance it's the failures of people who want to manipulate and use their power against voices of dissent that's really what it showed yeah I mean I think it was that 2023 protest that really led you to kind of live rent free in some republicans heads like there's video of you as a college student you went to Bowdoin I think in Maine I did yeah and it's become like notorious I think in some GOP circles like I just want to talk about it because if people know about it they know about it but I think a lot of people who maybe listen to my show don't so I'll describe it I think you're running for office as a student you

22:42know student president or something and first of all you look so different you look like a young republican you're in like a suit jacket your hair is so short and like right now you have like a like a little fro and um you're talking about reaching across the aisle you're like I want to work with Republicans and Democrats people are conservative and liberal and I want to find that I think you say radical middle that's right that's what you say and like I don't know like I you sound like you sound different to me and I wonder if you actually think you've changed because I think I think what people why this video went viral or whatever for some people is that people say well he's changed he used to be like this and I don't I actually don't know if you'd see it as a change no I I I look different for sure from when I was 21 to 31 for sure I grew my hair out starting in the pandemic and I'm keeping it because it looks fabulous my mom always cut our hair

23:44and so I learned to cut my own hair so I get myself that haircut that's in that that video because really yeah I save money by doing it she made me buy some clippers and so I say thousands and thousands of dollars for many years what cut my own hair but yeah look the truth of the matter is when I talk about it now I talk about the solidarity dividend yeah you know white folks and black folks rich folks and poor folks you got to get Republicans independence Democrats together on share common values coming ground without sacrificing your values it's the same thing different words because I still believe that we have more in common than we do apart and what they want to say is well you look different and so you believe differently and that's just not the case I think that we have been doped I think the system has been rigged for billionaires and that all they want to do is make us look at one another and find critique right fine fault when the truth of the matter is we need to look up who's really profiting off of our pain who's really hurting and harm our communities from data centers to oil pipelines to the lack of wages right like we can't get distracted

24:47because that's ultimately what they're looking for ways to distract us and by by finding old videos of me that's trying to distract us from the message that I'm sharing and the clip that they use in my speech is a great one by the way so people should know the best part of the speech it sounds like thank you Tucker Carlson I can get that you got me the words and like now you're sharing them to millions of people yeah I mean I think it's so interesting because the implication is you disavow it now but I don't think that you do and I do kind of wonder if the what happened at the covenant school the shooting was actually an opportunity for you to work in what you called back then this like radical middle because I think at the covenant school the parents were not radical Democrats no and I don't think they were necessarily black either like I don't know if they were like one or the other but I'm just saying like I think that was an opportunity for you to work with people who you know you may disagree on some things but you can disagree you can agree on something else I mean the covenant school was extremely wealthy overwhelmingly white conservative

25:52Christians right this is not my quote-unquote base of people but that didn't make me staff feeling you know just the tragedy of that mass shooting and of gun violence in particular you know I'd lost the classmate in January of that year from gun violence he'd been shot and killed the fall before that my mentor Dr. Von Nelson had been shot and killed a few years ago my cousin has been shot and killed TJ and it'd be after that actually on December 1st 2024 where I lost my own brother through gun suicide and so I called 988 if you're ever struggling so this thing is intimately personal for me that we address it because the truth of the matter is it's impacting all of us it's impacting all of us no matter what part of your voting for or or those things these laws these policies have consequences and we deserve to have elected officials who aren't beholden to you know private companies and industry more than they are people and 71% of people in Tennessee

26:54want gun safety laws including mega Republicans and so they're outside out of step with their own base but what I'm articulating is something that we can all get behind you have reached prominence as someone known for speaking out and making noise when you feel like you need to make noise and I wonder how you think about how your approach would change if you went to Washington and I say that because I feel like the mission of being a Democrat in the Tennessee legislature is different than the mission of someone in Congress in Congress so much of your job is bringing resources home and you can do that in a way that you can't necessarily as a Democratic legislator and the state legislature the general assembly in Tennessee and I feel like your opponent Brent Taylor is kind of trying to make that a thing he he likes to talk about you as being a chaos candidate quote unquote what would you say to someone

27:56who thinks like you're a protester not a legislator yeah no I think to people who think that I am a legislator I read every single bill that comes before me I have not only read every bill that comes before me that we voted on every time we get an opportunity to write a bill I filled up my slots every time the question is why haven't they passed an expansion to Medicaid that would give 300,000 people access to health care why haven't we increased the minimum wage to at least 20 25 dollars an hour which is legislation that I brought forward and so my opponent he doesn't want to take credit for the failures of the current status quo the reality that we have the highest mortality maternal mortality of any state in the country we have the lowest amount of spending for people spending in the United States of America we've transferred 600 million dollars of public dollars to private schools those are the things he doesn't want to take credit for but he should because Republicans have the house the Senate and the governors mansion so this level of poverty that we have the hurt and harm that our farmers are feeling is because of Republican

28:57being in power for a long time in our state and then you look at federally they have the house the Senate and the White House why aren't our lives improving why is everything costing more why are we struggling more why are we suffering more and he's a Trump endorsed candidate and he is wanting to continue those saying policies that are hurting the people in the state currently and so again he's trying to distract with these little quips and things but the reality is I've always brought forward solutions to the problems that we have and that my constituents continue to articulate for me in the Congress I will be able to have more power than being in a super minority which we currently are in the state house and I'm going to leverage that to bring resources to our farmers to bring resources to our communities in urban areas where poverty is skyrocketing and people are suffering in fact Tennessee is one of the only states where poverty increased and that's because of the leadership of people like my Trump endorsed a opponent Brett Taylor they want to keep that status quo going because it's benefiting those at the top even those not benefiting working class people and my job I read that Brent Taylor won't even debate you he won't he won't

30:00Brent Taylor Trump endorsed Brent Taylor will not debate me because he is scared he's scared of the facts right the facts that he got fired he says he won't debate you because you don't respect law enforcement I believe was his line all he has to say is the truth is that he's scared right my sister in love is a police officer right my cousin or Schemeff is police department it's not about that he is afraid of staring standing on a stage next to me with no vision with no plan with no ideas about how we got into this mess and how we're going to get out of it and he doesn't want to take ownership of the fact that the failures of him and all of his colleagues are the reason why Tennessee is a struggle in the day we'll be back after a quick break don't forget though it is pledge drive season and this week you can give slate plus go over to slate.com slash give plus and use the offer code what next 50 to give slate plus to whoever you want

31:05decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day but what policy changes should investors be watching listen to Washington wise an original podcast for investors from Charles Schwab to hear the stories making news in Washington right now host Mike Townsend Charles Schwab's managing director for legislative and regulatory affairs takes a nonpartisan look at the stories that matter most investors including policy initiatives for retirement savings taxes and trade inflation concerns the federal reserve and how regulatory developments can affect companies sectors and even the entire market Mike and his guests offer their perspective on how policy changes could affect what you do with your portfolio download the latest episode and follow at Schwab.com slash Washington wise or wherever you listen this episode is brought to you by home chef can I tell you what my next month looks like I've got like five family birthdays two weekends with house guests

32:07a little trip out of town and oh yeah every day we all got to eat it'd be pretty nice to eat without actually having to cook while simultaneously not feeling that post takeout hangover I sometimes get this is where home chef comes in home chef delivers restaurant quality meals right to your door for less than eating out with way less stress than meal planning home chef makes cooking simple it's fresh food delivered easy recipes to follow and meals that taste great it takes the stress out of your week with convenient weekly deliveries it'll keep your fridge stocked and it'll eliminate meal planning and grocery runs no shopping lists no complicated prep it's perfect for busy schedules and right now as we head into the holiday season it's pretty busy home chef is also not one size fits all they've got 30 meal options each week with choices for different tastes and dietary needs including calorie conscious and even GLP one friendly meals and people really love it

33:09home chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality convenience value taste and recipe ease customers say they spend less time planning shopping prepping meals plus they say it's affordable home chef customers say they save an average of 86 bucks a month on groceries for a limited time home chef is offering my listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life just go on over to home chef dot com slash what next that's home chef dot com such what next for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life home chef dot com slash what next must be an active subscriber to receive the free dessert what's the number one thing you would want to debate him about like if you if you had one exchange where are you going yeah let's talk about big money and politics and why he's taken millions or supporting Elon Musk taking thousands and thousands of dollars from them in his campaign while they're building data centers in our community that's polluting the air that we breathe

34:12taking millions of gallons of our drinking water and making life harder for us and they're planning to do that not just in Memphis but in Lawrenceburg and other places in our state uh I would like to hear his response to that I mean I was looking at his campaign ads to just be like what is he running on he seems to be running on um the idea that Tennessee is unsafe and he wants it to be safer but then also just kind of vibes he has this like line tougher than hickory solid as an oak but I do wonder his candidacy because he seems to believe that he can vibe his way into office um I do it puts the pressure on someone like you to like find the points of agreement you can make in your incredibly large incredibly diverse district and I do wonder how you're doing that because you know you have your uh your opponent saying things are unsafe I think his line was um more chaotic than the squirrel in a bait shop or something like that's it criminals coming into

35:15Tennessee and you know in Memphis you have Donald Trump sending a task force to Memphis to you know federally oversee what's happening there people have been shot but people who don't live in Memphis who are part of your district may see it very differently than the constituents you want to represent in Memphis so how do you get those people talking to each other and um uniting behind a vision exactly I mean uh my trepid and dorshtripon it is completely out of touch with the reality that people are dealing with uh the farmers in bidford county uh are not worried about the crime that you're talking about in Memphis they're worried about putting food on the table and we know the root cause of crime in the first place is poverty and people who are Memphis and Shelby county are dealing with the minimum ways that seven dollars and 25 cent that he and none of his colleagues have sought to change because they want to continue to perpetuate a system of corporate and political and poverty exploitation my job is to address the coordinates that people have which have been threefold

36:15and affordability crisis brought on by an illegal Iran war uh and a need for universal child care second universal access to health care because we have the highest medical debt in the country we i just got a report that 12 rural hospitals are imminently closing uh in the state of Tennessee in addition to 16 we've already lost this 2005 that's what people are are telling me they are concerned about not squirrels and bait shops and the last thing though were the word about data centers the word about people like my trump and dorshtripon and rentailler uh saying you know he he sees nothing wrong with data centers and that they're good for the economy and he doesn't care how many people that they hire they're terrified about their aquifers uh running dry they're worried about the noise pollution of the air quality pollution that they're going to be dealing with and that he's just going to you know green light these projects and complete support of them we had to speak to the needs of the people in district and i and that's what i'm doing what do you see as a victory when it comes to data centers like no data centers or do you see it as leveraging clearly these people with deep

37:18pockets who want to build something and saying hey if you want to build data center you better be funding x or y or z yeah i mean the truth is there's no amount of funding that they can offer for these data centers that is worth your life or mine it's just no band and the truth of the matter is right now what they are asking is that we sacrifice the lives of some of our community members for the profits of their shareholders to the tune of billions of dollars and that's not a sacrifice unwilling to make why do you say sacrifice the lives you mean because of pollution because of pollution the amount of nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde even in menthousin Shelby County that's coming from xai's facilities in menthousin and in earth mesisipi is likely to kill dozens of people prematurely every year send people to the hospital due to asma copd in cancer and this is research that's come out by some Harvard researchers just if they had 41 gas turbines but now we know they have 59 gas turbines in north mesisipi in 15 here in menthous and so the levels of pollution that are increasing is increasing the amount of deaths that we're going to have do you think you can really stop

38:24these these data centers by going to congress like what would be your move now my first thing is we need to pass a national moratorium on data centers so that we develop regulations that do three things protect the Bernie Sanders myself it's it's Bernie plus some it needs to protect people's health it needs to protect the environment and it needs to protect the workforce and that's what I want to add is a federal jobs guarantee we know a lot of displacement is going to happen due to automation artificial general intelligence we need to guarantee that people are going to have work that they can do and have the dignity of work because if we have 15 to 30 percent of our workforce interrupted by artificial intelligence particularly if it continues on this scale and the largest use case is really the replacement of people's jobs we need to ensure that people have a job after that happens how much do you think about what your life might look like on November fourth I don't I'm just worried I'm doing the third that's election day you don't think about

39:28you like you're just like I'm just driving towards that and like the election day itself absolutely I'll leave it to somebody else to think about what happens to me before but maybe I was to win I know him but third I was spending every weekend how we're doing that talking to good people like you raising lots of money going to a lot of a lot of events to get people to turn out because that's what we need we need to turn out tsunami as it relates to voter participation this fall and I think with us getting that we're going to go to Congress I think if you don't go to Congress I wonder what you think it means yeah I think we're going to have to keep building power no matter what happens and that's what I've told a lot of people in the communities where we are we are talking to them and meeting them that we are building power this is not where it stops Tennessee politics will never be the same again after our race and after our election to Congress we're going back because we want county commission seats we want city council seats we want people serving in the office of mayor and on town councils and so our project isn't just this electoral

40:33victory it is making sure that we have a stronger state by the end of this and so my my work as it relates to how we support and serve these 15 counties is going to extend beyond just constituent services which is a big very big part but it's actually going to be how do we get the right people in positions of power and I mean I'll be honest I've got Republicans are coming to my rallies right who are in elected office who I'm like okay I would tell people to support them because they got the right mind about things they they understand the issues and they want to address them in a meaningful way for everybody in the community they're not lost to sort of mag off like my opponent is but rather they they have some the principled Republicans and those are people you can work with one of my strongest supporters she's leading one of our counties as a as a core volunteer voted for Trump in the past they want to have people in office who actually care about people who are going to do everything they can to make their lives better what's the number one thing you've learned from someone like that someone who's working on your campaign who voted

41:34for Trump yeah to be authentic I think I think that's what matters more than anything I don't agree with anybody about everything including my own beautiful lovely wife but I think what Trump voters and I guess you call them Trump Pearson voters are showing and telling me is you know we have to be authentic to what we believe and how we believe and even if you have people disagree with you you don't buy into the corruption and you don't sell out and you don't go with where the wind blows right I have principles on pragmatic and I'm progressive and I'm not ashamed of any of those things Justin I'm really grateful for your time thanks for coming on the show I'm grateful for the time with you thank you so much for having me I really am happy to be here with you State Representative Justin Pearson is running for Congress in Tennessee's 9th District and that's our show what next is produced by Evan Campbell Madeline Temsdusharm and Patrick Fort Pay Jozburn is the senior supervising producer of what next and what next TVD

42:34Miele Bell is the executive producer of podcast here at Slate Ben Richmond is the senior director of podcast operations and I'm Mary Harris go talk me down to Blue Sky I'm at Mary Harris thanks for listening catch you back here next time this year's girls trip to tell you where I was the best we won up ourselves with my Sapphire preferred card and with five times points on Chase travel plus three times points on vacation homes with top brands we got this incredible cabin it was a mansion and with three times the points on dining we ordered a wangyu steak dinner and that pistachio gelato was too good so we should be going next year I've got ideas Chase Sapphire preferred the card that's preferred for a reason cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC Subjector Credit approval terms I know the gyms done meant to be easy man the winter doing it in the dark is hard doing it alone

43:40is hard doing it cold is hard doing it when you don't want to it's hard even doing it when you do is hard doing it went too early for this is hard doing it when there's every reason not too is hard doing it again and again and again is hard and we wouldn't want to be doing anything else gym shark we do gym